VISHWA BHARATI PUBLIC SCHOOL, NOIDA

CLASS: XI (2024-25)

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

Unit/Topic: Hornbill, The Portrait of a Lady

Question1. (1 Mark Each)

My grandmother, like everybody's grandmother, was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty
years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty, and had even had a husband, but
that was hard to believe. My grandfather's portrait hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room. He wore a big
turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long, white beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a
hundred years old. He did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children. He looked as if he could
only have lots and lots of grandchildren. As for my grandmother being young and pretty, the thought was almost
revolting. She often told us of the games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd and undignified on her
part and we treated it like the fables of the Prophets she used to tell us.
(A) Which literary device has been used in ‘Like everybody’s grandmother’?
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Transferred epithet
(d) Enjambment
(B) How do you feel about the character of the grandmother in the chapter?
(a) Emotional
(b) Strong
(c) Selfless
(d) Loving
(C) Why was it hard for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty?
Question2. (3 Marks Each)
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
(A) How does the author describe his grandfather?
(B) What stories of the grandmother did the author treat as ‘Fables of the Prophets’? Why?
(C) Describe the author’s grandmother. Was she young and pretty once?
(D) Elucidate the phrase ‘not pretty but beautiful’ with reference to the chapter.
(E) Bring out the contrast between the school education in the village and in the city.
Question3. (6 Marks Each)
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
(A) Suppose you are the Khushwant Singh. Your grandmother dies just after your returning from abroad. Write a
letter to your friend describing him the end of the great lady. Don’t forget to include the strange behaviour of the
sparrows at her death.
(B) Gradually the author and the grandmother saw less of each other and their friendship was broken. Was this
distancing in the relationship deliberate or due to demand of the situation?