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GENERAL ENGLISH (SERIES-A)

Maximum Marks: 100 Time: 3 Hours
Cool off time: 15 minutes

(Section A) Literature 40 Marks

A. Answer one of the following question in 100-150 words:
I. What major idea is the writer of The Sniper trying to convey? How far has he
succeeded in doing so?
II. Discuss the character of Mringanko Babu on the basis of your study of The
Scarecrow.
(1x7=7 marks)
B. Answer three of the following questions in 80- 100 words.
I. Why did Bob‟s hands begin to tremble as he finished reading the note?
II. List the objects that most people remember.
III. Why does the writer feel that Leh is different from Antarctica and the Sahara?
IV. How did Fatima‟s coming to the village affect the villagers?
V. Write a note on C V Raman‟s philosophy of life.
VI. What happened to Abhiram after being sacked from Mringanko Babu‟s house?
(3x4 = 12)
C. Answer one of the following questions in 80-100 words.
I. Give a critical appreciation of The Sunrise.
II. Once upon a Time is a satire on modern life. Explain.
( 1x5 = 5)
D. Answer briefly any three of the following questions.
I. Why is the sky angry and how does it express its anger?
II. How is After Apple Picking related to human life?
III. Give one example of visual imagery and one example of sound imagery from
the poem Punishent in the Kindergarten.
IV. What does „a pane of glass‟ refer to? What is the poetic device used here?
V. Which poetic device has the poet used to describe the plight of trees in When
Autumn Came?
( 3x2 =6 )
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E. Explain one of the following with reference to the context:

I. It is a very methodical man, I imagine, who can always remember to take the
medicine his doctor has prescribed for him. This is the more surprising
because medicine should be one of the easiest things to remember. As a rule, it
is supposed to be taken before, during, or after meals, and the meal itself
should be a reminder of it. The fact remains, however, that few but the moral
giants remember to take their medicines regularly.
II. Finding that the doctors could not help in any way beyond telling her not to
place her trust in me, or, in other words, to forget I was a human creature,
rather to regard me as just something to be fed and washed and then put away
again, Mother decided there and then to take matters in her own hands. I was
her child, and therefore part of her family. No matter how dull and incapable I
might grow up to be, she was determined to treat me on the same plane as the
others, and not as the „queer one‟ in the back room who was never spoken of
when there were visitors present.
(1x5 = 5)
F. Explain one of the following with reference to the context.
I.
Today the world is a little more my own.
No need to remember the pain
A blue-frocked woman caused, throwing
Words at me like pots and pans, to drain
The honey-coloured day of peace.
„Why don‟t you join the others, what
A peculiar child you are!‟
II.
So, I have learnt many things, son,
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
( 1x5 = 5)
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(Section B) Reading Comprehension 15 Marks

A. Read the following poetic passages and answer the questions given at the end:

The words are muffled now, the laughing

Faces only a blur. The years have
Sped along, stopping briefly
At beloved halts and moving
Sadly on. My mind has found an
Adult peace. No need to remember
That picnid day when I lay hidden
By a hedge, watching the steel-white sun
Standing lonely in the sky.

Questions:
1. Why are the words muffled now?
2. What does „adult peace‟ mean?
3. Why does the poet lay hidden by the hedge?
4. What are the „beloved halts‟?
5. Whose faces have become a blur?
OR

My long two-pointed ladder‟s sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still
And there‟s a barrel I didn‟t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn‟t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Questions:
1. In what position is the ladder?
2. Has the poet filled the barrel? How do you know?
3. What do the apples signify?
4. Why is the poet done with apple-picking?
5. Explain „Apples I didn‟t pick upon some bough.‟ (1x5 = 5)
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B. Read the following unseen prose passages and answer the questions given at the
end.
The present age can rightly be described as the age of the predominance of Western
philosophical thought and learning. The Western ideas about the nature of man and
the universe are strongly upheld all around the world. Having taken shape roughly
two hundred years ago, these ideas were continuously affirmed and reinforced by
theorists and philosophers. Though politically, the present day world may be divided
into a number of blocs, one single philosophical point of view prevails throughout.
This attitude has colored all human civilization and culture at the global level. No
doubt some alternative view points are also found here and there, but they are of
marginal importance. The people, both in the Occident and in the Orient, who really
have a say in public affairs, political as well as social and cultural, are without
exception adhering to this viewpoint. The dominance of Western culture and
philosophical thought is so pervasive and universal that even the point of view of such
people as are struggling against it in some countries turns out on closer examination to
be itself greatly influenced by the West. Indeed, they are themselves to a great extent
Western in their approach and method and even in their purported ideology. They too
think in terms of Western philosophy and ideology with the result that they lose their
impact and efficacy to oppose it.
Questions:
1. How can the present age be described?
2. Why are the western ideas about the nature of man and the universe being
strongly upheld?
3. How is Western culture and philosophical thought pervasive and universal?
4. The impact of Western thought can be felt at
a) the local level b) the global level
c) the national level d) the state level
5. Which word in the passage means “to state something as true”?

OR
Archaeologists generally use certain strategies to find out whether there were social or
economic differences amongst people living within a particular culture. These include
studying burials. Some of the massive pyramids of Egypt were contemporaneous with
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the Harappan civilisation. Many of these pyramids were royal burials, where
enormous quantities of wealth were buried. At burials in Harappan sites the dead were
generally laid in pits. Sometimes, there were differences in the way the burial pit was
made – in some instances, the hollowed-out spaces were lined with bricks. Could
these variations be an indication of social differences? We are not sure. Some graves
contain pottery and ornaments, perhaps indicating a belief that these could be used in
the afterlife. Jewellery has been found in burials of both men and women. In fact, in
the excavations at the cemetery in Harappa in the mid-1980s, an ornament consisting
of three shell rings, a jasper (a kind of semi-precious stone) bead and hundreds of
micro beads was found near the skull of a male. In some instances the dead were
buried with copper mirrors. But on the whole, it appears that the Harappans did not
believe in burying precious things with the dead.
Questions:
1. Why do archaeologists study burials?
2. What does the inclusion of pottery and ornaments in graves indicate?
3. What was found in the excavations in the mid-1980‟s?
4. Some of the Harrapans buried their dead with?
a) copper coins b) copper plates
c) copper mirrors d) copper beads
5. Which word in the passage means „a hole or cavity in the ground‟?

(2x5 = 10)

(Section C) Writing Skills 20 Marks

Complete any four of the following writing tasks in 80-100 words each.
A. Write a paragraph on „Global Warming‟
B. You are a news reporter who recently visited the state science fair. Write a
report describing the arrangements of the fair and the working models
displayed by the students
C. Write a letter to the Principal of your school requesting him/her to start sports
activities in the school.
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D. Make a diary entry of your day‟s activities on the annual day celebrations in
your school.
E. Write a dialogue between two friends about the ill effects of polythene use.
F. You have come across an advertisement for the post of Nursery Teacher in a
reputed school of Anantnag. You consider yourself eligible and suitable for
the job. Draft a resume for the said purpose.
(4x5 = 20)

(Section D) Grammar 25 Marks

A. Supply appropriate modals:
“Where are you going for holidays?”
“I‟m not sure. I _________ go to New York”
“The weather in Tokyo is great nowadays. You _________ go there.” (02 marks)
B. Use the appropriate forms of the verbs supplied within brackets:
This beach _______ (be) quite empty last year. This year the government __________
(decide) to open an exhibition nearby. They __________ (think) the decision
_____________ (increase) the number of tourists. (04 marks)
C. Supply appropriate articles:
We have______ breakfast at eight. My mom is ______ great cook. ______ omelet
she makes is divine. (03marks)
D. Supply appropriate prepositions:
Kay left ______ Malaysia last week. He is leading a team ______ doctors.
(02 marks)
E. Supply conjunctions:
He plays squash ______ and rugby ______ he cannot play baseball. (02 marks)

F. Combine the two sentences using a relative clause:

My brother came to see us. He is an army officer.
(02 marks)
G. Complete the following sentences:
i. If you took more exercise, _______________________________.
ii. I would have gone to see him if _______________________________.
(02 marks)
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H. Transform/combine the following sentence(s) as directed:

i. Search his pockets and you‟ll find the watch. (into a complex sentence)
ii. He said that he was innocent. (into a simple sentence)
iii. We must eat to live. (into a compound sentence)
(03 marks)
I. Change voice of :
i. The people will make him king.
ii. I opened the door.
(02 marks)
J. Change the narration:
i. He said, “My friend is leaving the school.”
ii. I said I didn‟t believe him.
iii. “Are you coming home with me?” my mother said.
(03 marks)