M.C.KEJRIWAL F.M.

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V I D Y A P E E T H
FINAL ASSESSMENT 2020-2021 Time 2 Hrs.
SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE (ENGLISH PAPER -1)
CLASS: 9

(Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper.)

Attempt all five questions.

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ]. You are advised to spend not
more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20 minutes in answering Question 2.

Question 1
(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)
Write a composition (300 - 350 words) on any one of the following: [20]

(a) Write an original short story beginning with the line: “There he stood with a lost look…”

(b) The Municipal Corporation has started a programme called ‘Clean City, Green City’ involving all the
localities of your city. Describe the measures taken to make your locality a clean and green one. Write how the
condition of your locality has improved after this drive.

(c) Imagine you are travelling by train. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the train stops with a jerk. You
look out of the window and see only darkness all around. Narrate what happens next.

(d) “Teenagers should be allowed more freedom.” Express your views either for or against the statement.

(e) Study the picture given below. Write a short story or a description or an account of what it suggests to you.
Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it; however, there
must be a clear connection between the picture and your composition.

This Paper consists of 4 printed pages. Page 1

Question 2 [10]
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select any one of the following:

(a) You have just returned from a holiday at a hill station. Write a letter to a friend mentioning what you
found the most exciting about the place. Give two reasons to explain why you consider it an ideal place for a
vacation.

(b) Write a letter to the Commissioner of Police of your district complaining about the increase in the crime
rate in your city and requesting him to take steps to solve the problem.

Question 3

(a) An inter-house cooking competition is being organized by the Cookery Club of your school for the
students of Classes 9 and 10. As the Secretary of the club, write a notice for the school notice board, giving all
the details of the event. [5]

(b) Write an email to the Home Science teacher of a neighbouring school, requesting him/her to be the judge
for the event. [5]

Question 4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

From the edge of a steep ridge, I peered down into the Redstone Valley. Like many summer days in north-
west Alaska, the morning had begun bright and wind-swept, but now a dark cloud was drifting in from the
east. I decided to move on. Camp was still three kilometers down the hill.

It had been eighteen years since I had first come to this vast untamed wilderness. Still there was a lure
of the place – the chance to live, move and breathe. Settled in Ambler, a small village in the Kobuk 5
Valley, I’d found life among the Inupiat Eskimos as rich and textured as the Arctic landscape around us.
However, even a bright summer day could mean trouble.

As I slung my pack onto my shoulders, a big Arctic mosquito thudded against my cheek. There had
been a few of them through the day, but it was early in the season – the ice had melted just two weeks
before and I had scarcely noticed the mosquitoes. But now as I wound down the ridge, the last breeze 10
faded and they were on me. Rising in clouds from the soggy Tundra, they pelted against my face. I looked for
the repellent in my bag, but in vain.

I was flailing away, nailing five or six at a whack, but there were thousands mobbing me now. They
were diving in nose-first, piercing me right through my clothes, dozens at a time. Four hands wouldn’t
have been enough. Years of Alaskan experience had taught me what to do in a situation like this. I turned 15
up my collar, cinched my pack straps tight and sprinted. When I saw my tent, I was still going strong. So
were the mosquitoes. They trailed me in a whining veil. Each time I slowed down; the attack resumed.
Pausing just long enough to unzip the screen door, I dived through to safety. It took me fifteen minutes to
hunt down the hundred or so that entered the tent with me.

After I’d cornered the last one, I took stock and tried to relax. My hands and neck were smeared with 20
blood, and every centimeter of the exposed skin was punctured. Outside, the insistent wail was nearly
deafening. Mosquitoes settled over the tent, making a strange pattern on the nylon mesh. Not until later
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that night, when a cold rain swept in and scattered the mob, did I stick my own itching nose outside again.
Local legend has it that an animal, or human being for that matter, caught in one of these mosquito attacks,
can be sucked dry. 25
Blood thirsty though they are, the big Arctic mosquitoes are frail creatures. These infamous ‘Alaska state
birds’, averaging a little over half a centimeter in length, can’t even withstand a substantial breeze. They’d
wither under bright sunlight. Too hot or too cold, too much or too little rain, they run for cover. They spend
most of their brief lives hiding under leaves, waiting for the right feeding conditions. A still humid cloudy
evening is perfect. 30

The upper Kobuk Eskimos know how to handle mosquitoes. As soon as the river is clear of ice, many Ambler
people load up their boats and head for the chilly, wind-swept coast to spend the summer. Of course, they also
fish and hunt seals, but it’s no coincidence that this annual migration sidesteps the worst of the mosquito
season.

(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. One-word answers or short phrases
will be accepted. [3]

(i) peered(line 1)
(ii) soggy(line 11)
(iii) frail(line 26)

(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:

(i) Why did the narrator feel that he should move on? [2]
(ii) Why did the narrator like his life among the Inupiat Eskimos? [2]
(iii)What did the local legend say about the Arctic mosquitoes? [2]
(iv) Give two reasons to prove that the Arctic mosquitoes are frail creatures. [2]
(v) In which season was the mosquito menace at its peak? [1]

(c) In not more than 50 words, describe how the narrator managed to escape from the attack of the
Arctic mosquitoes. [8]

Question 5
(a) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets.
Do not copy the passage, but write in correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank
space: [4]

Example:
(0) rising

The great advantage of early (0) ______________ (rise) is the good start it (1) ______________ (give) us in
our day’s work. The early riser (2) ________________ (do) a large amount of hard work before other men (3)
___________ (get) out of bed. In the early morning, the mind (4) ____________ (be) fresh and there are few
sounds or distractions so that work done at that time is generally well (5) _____________ (do). In many cases,
the early riser also (6) ________ (find) time to (7) _____________ (take) some exercise in the fresh morning
air and this exercise (8) __________ (supply) him with a fund of energy that will last until evening.

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(b) Fill in each blank with an appropriate word: [4]

(i) Since it began to rain heavily, the parade was called ________.
(ii) Look __________ my children when I am away.
(iii) He was fascinated __________ the idea of becoming a doctor.
(iv) She called _____ help when she was in trouble.
(v) His success is a result ______ hard work.
(vi) He is so rude that it is difficult to put _______ with him.
(vii) Tom pounced _____ Jerry.
(viii) What a contrast ________ the two brothers!

(c) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so: [4]

(i) You copied my essay. Do you deny it?

(ii) It was a boring show. We left before the end.
(iii) He has not submitted his project file. I know the reason.
(iv) I got the message. I went to his house immediately.

(d) Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other [8]
changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence:

(i) All the windows had to be opened as it was a warm night.

(Begin: It being…)

(ii) If you give me your book, I will lend you my stamp collection.
(Begin: Unless…)

(iii) She sang well but did not win the prize.
(Begin: Although…)

(iv) This car is faster than the red one.

(Begin: The red one…)

(v) He showed generosity even to his enemies.

(Use “generous” and rewrite the sentence.)

(vi) They have pulled down the old house.

(Begin: The old house…)

(vii) These mangoes are so cheap that they cannot be good.

(Begin: These mangoes are too…)

(viii) He said to me, “Are you going away tonight?”

(Begin: He asked…)