English Question Paper

Marks: 40
Time Allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes

Section A
Reading Skills

Q1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that
follow:

(1) Hundreds of thousands of our qualified youngsters take off from international airports every
year for higher studies or highly lucrative jobs in the US, UK, Germany, France and Australia, and
most of these Indians prefer to settle down abroad, attracted by the facilities and the higher
quality of life provided by these countries. We have been crying hoarse about the brain drain
from India over the last five decades or more, without going in for a well-set blueprint to check
the counter-productive phenomenon. Some of the public schools in our metros and our IITs
(Indian Institutes of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) are providing
world-class education. One might wonder that having spent a lot on infrastructure, training and
other facilities and the best teaching staff, can the government and the people of India look
away as the talent, assiduously nurtured in India, is utilised by other countries for their
development and excellence in different fields?
(2) Critics ask that when other developed countries provide higher facilities, pay packages and
perks, how can you dissuade our youngsters from going abroad? What has been our loss has
been the gain of the countries where our youth has migrated. Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-
American women astronaut in space, had been a role model for every woman - world over
including India. Though she became an Indian American, we still recognise her as a citizen who
could climb to the summit of excellence, when given a chance. Two distinguished scientists who
won Nobel Prize for their meritorious work in Physics and Medicine in 1983 and 1968, were Dr.
S. Chandrasekhar and Dr. Hargobind Khorana, respectively. They were working in the US. One
might ask, had they been working in India, would they have ever got the highly prestigious prize
like the Nobel Prize?

(3) During the decades-long debate on the brain drain, it was said that our youngsters leave
India just because excellence is neither recognised nor rewarded in India. This could have been
partly true at the beginning of this debate. But today, things have changed beyond recognition
and talented people can reach the highest position possible if only they are prepared to work
hard.

(4) Youngsters from India - whatever be the field they are working in - are today suitably
recognised and rewarded.

(5) Take the field of sports where many of the celebrities are household names - Sania Mirza,
Narain Karthikeyan, Sachin Tendulkar, Anju Bobby George, P.T. Usha and several others.
Innovation and managerial skill get recognition when Indians can vie with others in excellence
from any part of the world.
(6) If there is one individual who has catapulted India to the number one position in milk
production in the world, it’s none other than Dr. Verghese Kurien, the father of the White
Revolution. A top engineer who completed the Konkan Railway in record time, Mr. E.
Sreedharan has build up the world class Delhi Metro. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is no longer a
megastar of the Indian screen only. His presentation of Kaun Banega Crorepati and other
ventures have made him a living legend of global proportions. Take the story of the Ambani
brothers, the Tatas, the Mittals and others who are having their footprints in different
continents. We have had so many Indian film and theatre actors who rose to the summit and
earned so much acclaim not just in Bollywood, but also globally. In the wake of globalisation,
India has produced a galaxy of eminent entrepreneurs in IT; biotechnology, civil aviation, steel
production and the like. Just mention a field and we are already in the vanguard or moving
ahead at a frantic pace. A time may come when India would be capable of reversing the so-
called brain drain to India’s supreme advantage.

(7) And happily enough, this is already happening now. A report released by a high-tech
lobbying group in the Silicon Valley in 2005 revealed that the highly-skilled Indian-born talent
that once flocked to the US was returning home, “turning America’s brain drain into India’s brain
gain.” Titled “Losing the Competitive Edge : The Challenge of Science and Technology in the US”,
the report said that countries like India and China, through the restructuring of their economies,
were dramatically increasing the skill sets of their work force, thereby posing a challenge to the
US leadership in the technology domain. Public-private partnerships (in India) have invested in
technical universities and communication infrastructure to create cutting edge technology parks
in place like Bangalore in Karnataka. This will make India more competitive and alluring to
investors and multinational companies. The report further said : “They are dramatically
increasing the skill sets of their workforce, investing in research and development, and adapting
advanced technologies, all to create wealth and spur economic growth.”

Answer the following questions, based on the passage.

1) Who is the individual who catapulted India to the number one position in milk
production in the world? (1M)

2) The scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1968 is: (1M)
A. Dr. S. Chandrasekhar

B. Dr. Verghese Kurien

C. Mr. E. Sreedharan
D. Dr. Hargobind Khorana

3) “What has been our loss has been the other countries’ gain”. What do you
understand by this statement? (1M)

4) Choose an appropriate title for the passage (1M)

A. India and the Problem of Brain Drain
B. Youngsters of India
C. US Stealing the Indian Youth
D. India’s Progress in IT
5) Choose an antonym of the word ‘neglectful’ from paragraph 1 (1M)

Section B
Writing Skills and Grammar

Q2) Choose the correct option to fill in the blank. (1M)

Your father _________ so proud of your achievements today if he was here
with us.

A. will be C. may

B. would have been D. should have been

Q3) Identify the error and supply its correction for the given sentence. (1M)
There are a few health myth that need to be broken

Q4) Choose the correct option to fill in the blank. (1M)

This singer, along with a few others, __________ the harmonica on the stage.
A. is played C. play

B. plays D. have played

 Q5) Read the conversation between the two individuals and fill in the blank.
(1M)
Seth: Are you Anne George?

Anne: Yes, I am Anne George.

Seth: Your dad died in a car accident yesterday.
Seth asked if she was Anne George. She confirmed that she was Anne George.
Seth informed her _____________________________.

Q6) Fill in the blank with the appropriate form of the verb. (1M)

He _________ while stealing the test papers

A. caught C. had caught

B. was caught D. is caught

Q7) Fill in the blank by using the correct form of the word in the bracket, for the
given portion of a letter: (1M)
Dear Sir
This is with reference to committee’s letter of recommendation that ________
(highlight) the nominations for ‘Safe Residential Area’ award for this current year.

Q8) Attempt the following question (5M)

You are Sunidhi Prakash, the Vice Captain of Brilliant Vidyalaya, Barra, Kanpur. You have
recently noticed several posters around your school premises conveying a hazardous
message:
Lose weight in just a month! “A WONDER DIET comes to your rescue ………A privilege
available for only a few!”
Write a letter to the Editor of The DWA, in not more than 120 words, drawing attention
towards harm caused by such advertising. Propose the implementation of “Wholesome
Lunch Month’ in schools as an idea to address such practices, mention the advantages
and share suggestions to foster healthy eating routines and develop positive body
image among youngsters

Q9) Attempt the following question (5M)

Tsering, of class X, is contesting for the post of the Junior School Captain, in the
upcoming student council elections. Given below is her character traits’ graphic, shared
in the public domain, by the school counsellor, for the awareness of student voters, at
school.
All Tsering’s peers have been asked to write a paragraph in about 120
words, analysing these traits, to either support or oppose her
candidature. As one of her peers, write this analytical paragraph, by
selecting some of the traits that support your analysis.

Section C
Literature

Q10) Read the given extracts and answer the questions.

The question he tried to answer was simple: What is the purpose of the
twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?
“Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental,” Ebright said.
“But Dr Urquhart didn’t believe it.”
To find the answer, Ebright and another excellent science student first
had to build a device that showed that the spots were producing a
hormone necessary for the butterfly’s full development. This project
won Ebright first place in the county fair and entry into the International
Science and Engineering Fair. There he won third place for zoology. He
also got a chance to work during the summer at the entomology
laboratory of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

1) Which phrase would correctly substitute 'a chance', in the

given sentence from the extract. (1M)
He also got a chance to work during the summer at the entomology
laboratory of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
2) State any two inference about Dr Urquhart from the given
context: (2M)
Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental,” Ebright said.
“But Dr Urquhart didn’t believe it.”

3) State TRUE or FALSE. (1M)

None of the terms (a) -(d) below, can be applied to the question - What
is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?

(A) A hypothesis - a proposed explanation for a phenomenon

(B) An assumption - something that is taken for granted or assumed to
be true without proof
(C) A premise - a proposition that forms the basis of an argument
(D) A theory - a well-substantiated explanation for a natural
phenomenon

Q11) Answer ANY THREE of the following four questions, in about 40-
50 words.

1) Justify the opinion that the traditional baker and his bread play a
significant role in the cultural and social fabric of Goan society. (3M)

2) How does Leslie Norris use vivid imagery and metaphorical language
in A Tiger in the Zoo, to effectively depict the confinement and
oppression, experienced by the captive tiger. (3M)

3) Explain how the description of the devastation caused by the

hailstorm reflects the sadness within Lencho, in A Letter to God?
Refer to the given lines, from the text - Not a leaf remained on the
trees. The corn was totally destroyed. The flowers were gone from the
plants. Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. (3M)

4) Kitty was a trusted friend to Anne. Elaborate (3M)

Q12) Answer ANY ONE of the following two questions, in about 100-
120 words

1) Imagine that M. Loisel, from The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant,

writes a diary entry, exploring the theme of class and social status, and
the nature of social mobility, in the context of his own experience. Write
a diary entry, as M. Loisel, in about 120 words. (6M)

OR

2) A character arc is the transformation or development of a character

throughout a story and refers to the changes a character undergoes as a
result of their experiences, challenges, and interactions with other
characters. In the light of the above information, trace the character arc
of the thief in Ruskin Bond’s The Thief’s Story, in about 120 words. (6M)