5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Fun they Had

Exercise - 1 : .................................................................................................. ......................................................... 13
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 95

The Lost Child

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 14
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 95

The Road Not Taken

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 15
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 96

Subject-Verb Concord
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 97

The Sound of Music

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 18
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 97

The Adventures of Toto

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 98

Wind
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
 6

Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 99

Direct and Indirect Speech

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 21
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 99

The Little Girl

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 23
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 99

Iswaran the Storyteller

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 25
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 100

Rain on the Roof

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 101

A Truly Beautiful Mind

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 28
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 101

In the Kingdom of fools

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 30
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 102

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 32
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 103
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Prepositions, Phrases & Clauses

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 33
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 91
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 103

The Snake and the Mirror

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 35
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 104

The Happy Prince

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 37
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 104

A Legend of the Northland

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 39
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 105

My Childhood
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 41
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 106

Reading
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 43
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 106

Writing Extra
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 45
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 107

Writing - Descriptive Paragraph

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 46
 8

Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92

Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 107

Writing - Diary Entry

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 47
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 108

Writing
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 48
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 108

Tenses
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 49
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 109

Active Passive Voice

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 51
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 109

Modals
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 53
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 109

Determiners
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 55
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 92
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 109

Determiners Sentence Transformation

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 57
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 110
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Weathering the Storm in Ersama

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 58
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 110

No Men are Foreign

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 59
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 111

Packing
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 60
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 112

The Last Leaf

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 61
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 112

The Duck and The Kangaroo

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 62
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 113

Reach for the Top

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 63
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 113

A House is not a Home

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 64
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 114
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On Killing a Tree
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 65
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 114

The Bond of Love

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 66
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 115

The Accidental Tourist

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 67
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 116

The Snake Trying

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 68
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 116

Kathmandu
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 69
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 117

The Beggar
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 71
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 117

A Slumber did my Spirit Seal

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 73
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 118

If I were you
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 74
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Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 93

Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 119

Reading Extra
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 76
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 119

New Reading Hacks

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 78
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 119

Phrases & Clauses

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 80
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 120

Writing - Informal letter

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 82
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 120

Reported Speech
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 83
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 120

Prepositions
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 85
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 121

Understanding Characters
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 86
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 121
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Grammar Revision (Integrated Grammar)

Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 88
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 121

Recap of Writing
Exercise - 1 : ........................................................................................................................................................... 90
Answer Key ............................................................................................................................................................ 94
Solution .................................................................................................................................................................. 122
THE FUN THEY HAD
EXERCISE – 1 : THE FUN THEY HAD
1. “ He pointed without looking because he was busy
reading.” Who is ‘he’ here?
(a) Tommy is referred to as ‘he’ here.
(b) Margie is referred to as ‘he’ here.
(c) The robot is referred to as ‘he’ here.
(d) The policeman is referred to as ‘he’ here.
2. Where was Margie’s schoolroom?
(a) Margie’s schoolroom was next to Tommy’s garage.
(b) Margie’s schoolroom was next to her bedroom.
(c) Margie’s schoolroom was attached to her
grandmother’s kitchen.
(d) Margie’s schoolroom was near to her father’s
office.
Direction (3 to 6) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following questions-
“He was a round little man with a red face and a whole
box of tools with dials and wires.”
3. Who is the ‘round little man’ here?
4. Why had the ‘round little man’ come to Margie’s
house?
5. What did ‘he’ carry with him when he went to meet
Margie?
13
6. Write the antonym for the word, ‘partial’ from the
extract given above?
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following questions-
“Margie went into the school room. It was right next to
her bedroom and the mechanical teacher was on and
waiting for her. It was always on at the same time
every day except Saturday and Sunday because her
mother said little girls learned better if they learned at
regular hours.”
7. What do you mean by ‘Mechanical teacher was on’.
8. Who said little girls learned better if they learned at
regular hours?
9. Write the antonym of ‘regular’.
10. Describe the County Inspector in your own words?
11. “She was thinking about the old schools they had
when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy.”
What did Margie think about the old schools?
12. “Gee,” said Tommy, “what a waste.” Explain why did
Tommy consider the old books as funny and a big
waste?
13. Why was studying in an old school advantageous?
14. Margie wondered that the old kind of school must
have been fun. Explain.
THE LOST CHILD 14

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LOST CHILD

6. Why does the child shriek at the highest pitch of his
1. Why did the child’s throat ‘tore into a thousand shrill
voice?
sobs’?
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract given below and
a. Because he was extremely scared
answer the following question-
b. Because he wanted to be united immediately with
The man headed towards the place where the snake-
his parents
charmer still played on the flute to the swaying cobra.
c. Because he was extremely angry “Listen to that nice music, child!” he pleaded.
d. Because he was extremely happy 7. What does the man want the child to do?
(a) Only a 8. Why does the child not obey the man?
(b) Only b 9. Which word from the passage means ‘moving
(c) a and b rhythmically’.

(d) Only d 10. What different things did the child do on his way to
the fair?
2. How does the child know that ‘his plea would not be
heeded’? 11. What has left the child spell-bound? Explain.

(a) As his parents are wicked and would beat him if he 12. How does the lost child’s behaviour change after his
asks for anything. separation from his parents in the fair?

(b) As his parents are strict disciplinarians and have 13. How did the child respond to the various offers made
always refused to grant him his wish by the unknown man?

(c) As his parents are deaf and cannot listen to his plea. 14. How did the stranger in the fair, try to comfort and
soothe the lost child?
(d) None
Direction (3 to 6) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“The poor child struggled to thrust away between their
feet but, knocked to and fro by their brutal movements,
he might have been trampled underfoot, had he not
shrieked at the highest pitch of his voice.”
3. Where is the poor child located at this point in time?
4. What is the child doing there?
5. The child could have got trampled. Do you agree?
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
EXERCISE – 1 : THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
1. What dilemma does the speaker come across?
(a) He is unable to decide which city to travel to.
(b) He is unable to decide which road to take to
continue his journey.
(c) He is unable to decide which shoes to wear to
continue his journey.
(d) None of the above
2. Identify the rhyme scheme for the stanza given below-
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth”
(a) aaabb (b) abaab
(c) aabba (d) abbbb
Direction (3 to 6) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day !
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.”
3. What does the word ‘both’ refer to in the given
extract?
(a) Two trees that the speaker sees in the forest
(b) Two roads that diverged into the yellowed forest
(c) Two villages that the speaker wants to travel to
(d) None
4. What does the poet mean when he says ‘no step had
trodden black’?
(a) He intends to underline the freshness of both the
roads that morning.
(b) He intends to underline the freshness of the fruits
that he saw on the trees
(c) He intends to underline the colour of the cemented
roads
(d) He intends to underline the freshness of both the
roads that evening.
5. The poet kept the first for another day, yet he doubted
something. What was his doubt?
15
6. Why does the poet have such a doubt?
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth”
7. "_____ long I stood." Where is the poet standing?
(a) The poet is standing at a divergence in the woods.
(b) The poet is standing at a divergence in a busy city
(c) The poet is standing at a divergence near his
apartment
(d) The poet is standing by his window
8. What is the poet doing while standing there?
(a) He is staring down the road and wondering if he
should travel that day.
(b) He is staring down the road and wondering which
road he should take.
(c) He is observing the people around him
(d) He is counting the number of trees in the forest
9. Why can't the speaker travel on both roads?
(a) being an individual, it is possible for him to travel
only one road at a time.
(b) he wants to travel one road only
(c) he is not allowed to travel the other road by the
authorities
(d) he was extremely sure that he was not going to
come across both the roads again.
10. How certain was the speaker that he would be able to
travel the road he had left for another day?
11. What is meant by “It was grassy and wanted wear”?
12. Discuss the title of the poem “The Road Not Taken”.
Is it appropriate for the poem?
13. How relevant is the theme of ‘The Road Not Taken’ in
the contemporary world?
14. The road is used as a metaphor for life in this poem.
Can you think of another metaphor and explain why
that has been used to describe life.
SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD
EXERCISE – 1 : SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options:
(a) Collective nouns (team, couple, staff, etc.) take a
___________. (plural verb/singular verb)
(b) Some countable nouns in English such as earnings,
goods, odds, surroundings, proceeds, contents, and
valuables take a __________. (plural verb/singular
verb)
(c) Two singular subjects connected by ‘or’, ‘either/or’
require a __________. (plural verb/singular verb)
2. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) Each of the shirts has a green collar.
(b) Each of the shirts have a green collar.
(c) Each of the shirts having a green collar.
(d) Each of the shirt having a green collar.
3. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) This singer, along with a few others, play the
harmonica on stage.
(b) This singer, along with a few others, plays the
harmonica on stage.
(c) This singer, along with a few others, playing the
harmonica on stage.
(d) This singer, along with a few others, were played
the harmonica on stage
4. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) Sandals and towels are essential gear for a trip to
the beach.
(b) Sandals and towels is essential gear for a trip to the
beach.
(c) Sandals and towels essential gear for a trip to the
beach.
(d) None
5. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) The president or the vice president are speaking
today.
16
(b) The president or the vice president is speaking
today.
(c) The president or the vice president am speaking
today.
(d) The president or the vice president speaking today.
6. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) Either Cassie or Marie pays the employees this
afternoon.
(b) Either Cassie or Marie pay the employees this
afternoon.
(c) Either Cassie or Marie paying the employees this
afternoon.
(d) Both A and C
7. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) Rice and mashed potatoes, my favorite dish,
reminds me of my native Colorado.
(b) Rice and mashed potatoes, my favorite dish,
remind me of my native Colorado.
(c) Rice and mashed potatoes, my favorite dish, being
remind me of my native Colorado.
(d) Rice and mashed potatoes, my favorite dish, has
being reminding me of my native Colorado.
8. Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb
agree.
(a) Aanchal is the only one of those candidates who
have lived up to the potential described in the
yearbook.
(b) Aanchal is the only one of those candidates who
has lived up to the potential described in the
yearbook.
(c) Aanchal is the only one of those candidates who is
lived up to the potential described in the yearbook.
(d) Aanchal is the only one of those candidates who
has living up to the potential described in the
yearbook.
SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD 17

Direction (9 to 14) : Complete the paragraph given below 12. “An elephant's trunk ____ actually a long nose used
by filling in the blanks with the correct option from for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, ...”
below-
(a) Is (b) Are
Elephant ears __________ heat to help keep these
(c) Were (d) Am
large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is
too much. Elephants are fond of water and _______ 13. The trunk alone _______ about 40,000 muscles.
showering by sucking water into their trunks and (a) Contains (b) Contain
spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often
_______ their skin with a protective coating of dust. (c) Had contained (d) Containing

An elephant's trunk ____ actually a long nose used for 14. African elephants have two finger-like features on the
smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for end of their trunk that they can _____ to grab small
grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The items.
trunk alone ________ about 40,000 muscles. African (a) Uses (b) Use
elephants have two finger-like features on the end of
their trunk that they can _____ to grab small items. (c) Usage (d) Using

9. “Elephant ears __________ heat to help keep these

large animals cool.”
(a) Radiate (b) Radiates
(c) Radiating (d) Radiator
10. “Elephants are fond of water and _______ showering
by sucking water.”
(a) Enjoy (b) Enjoys
(c) Enjoying (d) Being enjoying
11. “Afterwards, they often _______ their skin with a
protective coating of dust.”
(a) Sprays (b) Spraying
(c) Spray (d) None
THE SOUND OF MUSIC 18

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SOUND OF MUSIC

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option to
complete the sentence given below-
With the opening of the _________________in 1938
came Bismillah’s big break.
(a) All India Radio in Hyderabad
(b) All India Radio in Lucknow
(c) All India Radio in Allahabad
(d) All India Radio in Gandhinagar
2. Which character traits of Evelyn enabled her to
overcome the challenges of deafness?
(a) Evelyn’s firm determination, industrious nature,
and her clarity of aim
(b) Evelyn’s fearfulness, tiredness, anger, and her
clarity of aim
(c) Evelyn’s confused mindset, and her clarity of aim
(d) Evelyn’s fear of failure and procrastination
3. Which of these statements are true about Bismillah
Khan?
“I suddenly realised she hadn’t heard,’ says Isabel
Glennie. For quite a while Evelyn managed to conceal
her growing deafness from friends and teachers. But
by the time she was eleven her marks had deteriorated
and her headmistress urged her parents to take her to a
specialist.”
4. Who was Isabel Glennie?
5. What had Evelyn not heard?
6. She tried to conceal her deafness from ___________.
7. Find the synonym from the extract that means
‘worsened’?
Direction (8 to 10) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“Ustad Faiyaz Khan patted the young boy’s back and
said, “Work hard and you shall make it.” With the
opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow in 1938
came Bismillah’s big break.
8. Who is the ' young boy’ referred to in the extract ?
9. Who patted the ‘young boy’ and why ?

A. Bismillah Khan was a devout Muslim. 10.
B. He was nostalgic about his homeland.
11.
C. He used to sing, ‘Chaita’ in Bihariji Temple and
practise shehnai in Vishnu Temple
D. He spent his early life in USA 12.
(a) Only A
How old was he when he participated in the Allahabad
Music Conference?
Why was Evelyn waiting on the underground train
platform? How did she feel when she sensed the train
approaching?
How did the barber transform a pungi into the
melodious Shehnai?

(b) Only B 13. Bismillah Khan was an internationally recognised

musician. Do you agree?
(c) Only A,B and C
14. Why does Evelyn say “Everything suddenly looked
(d) Only A and D black”?
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and 15. What message does the prose piece ‘The Shehnai of
answer the following question- Bismillah Khan’ convey to its readers?
THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO 19

EXERCISE – 1 : THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO

1. Why did the narrator and his grandfather have to hide 5. Why does the speaker say the above extract?
the monkey they bought from the tonga-driver?
(a) The speaker says this to describe Toto’s
(a) Because Grandmother was always upset whenever mischievous nature.
an animal was brought home.
(b) The speaker says this to describe Toto’s kind
(b) Because they wanted to save Toto from being nature.
stolen.
(c) The speaker says this to describe Toto’s religious
(c) Because they did not want grandmother to take nature.
notice of Toto
(d) The speaker says this to describe Toto’s friendly
(d) Both A and C nature.
2. Why did the ticket collector not charge for the 6. Give an example of the mischief referred to here.
tortoise?
(a) Toto was always tearing things into pieces
(a) Because no fare was charged for any pets for that
(b) He would tear a hole in aunt’s dress
particular day.
(c) Both A and B
(b) Because there was no charge mentioned for the
tortoise in the charge list (d) Toto was not mischievous

(c) Because there was no charge mentioned for the 7. What does the writer mean by “devoted to” in the
dogs in the charge list given extract?

(d) Because he liked animals very much and wanted to (a) ‘focused on something exclusively’
adopt the tortoise as his pet. (b) ‘focused on nothing exclusively’
3. Which of these statements are true about the writer’s (c) ‘NOT focused on something exclusively’
grandfather ?
(d) Being indifferent to something
A. The writer’s grandfather loved animals.
8. When grandfather saw that Toto had pulled the peg out
B. He often travelled with one or another animal with of the wall, how did he react?
him.
9. Elucidate why Grandfather takes Toto to Saharanpur
C. He did not enjoy Toto’s cleverness and action and how he does so.
(a) Only A (b) Only B 10. Describe how Toto came to be a part of grandfather’s
(c) Only A and B (d) Only A and C private zoo.

Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and 11. Narrate the incident when Toto almost boiled himself
answer the following question- alive?

“If there is a part of the brain especially devoted to 12. ‘If there is a part of the brain especially devoted to
mischief, that part was largely developed..” mischief, that part was largely developed in Toto.’
Justify the statement. Why did grandfather realize that
4. Who is spoken about in this given sentence?
Toto was not the sort of pet they could keep for long?
(a) Grandfather (b) Toto
(c) Grandmother (d) The buffalo
WIND 20

EXERCISE – 1 : WIND
5. “He won’t do what you tell him”, what does this
1. How can you befriend the wind?
mean?
(a) By building strong homes and strong bodies and
(a) The wind never follows our commands
hearts.
(b) The wind has a very obedient nature
(b) By building strong roads.
(c) The wind always attends to our requests and
(c) By letting it break the shutters of the window
pleadings
(d) By letting it scatter the papers.
(d) The wind has a weak cognitive capacity
2. Which character traits of the wind does the speaker
6. Find a word from the extract that means
focus on in the poem, ‘Wind’ ?
“committed/faithful”.
(a) Manipulative power
(a) Strong (b) Steadfast
(b) Destructive and constructive power
(c) Firmly (d) None
(c) Powerlessness
7. What would be the consequences of making the houses
(d) Greed for power and money and doors strong?
3. What different pleadings does the speaker make to the (a) It will help us become victims of the fury of the
wind? strong winds.
A. The speaker asks the wind to come softly. (b) It will help us withstand the fury of the strong
B. He requests the wind not to break the shutters of the winds.
windows. (c) It will help us withstand the fury of the weakest
C. He requests the wind to throw down the books from winds.
the shelf. (d) It will help us celebrate the power of the strong
(a) Only A (b) Only B winds.

(c) Only A and B (d) Only A and C 8. Who does the wind disturb?

Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and 9. Is the speaker praising the wind in the second stanza?
answer the following question- Explain.

He won’t do what you tell him, 10. “The wind god winnows and crushes them all”
Elucidate the extracted line.
So, come, let’s build strong homes.
11. How is personification used in the poem?
Let’s joint the doors firmly
12. What lesson do you learn from the poem ‘Wind’?
Practice to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.
4. What does the speaker advise here in this extract?
(a) Build strong homes and join doors firmly
(b) Join the doors loosely
(c) Build weak homes
(d) Never close doors
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
EXERCISE – 1 : DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options:
(a) ___________(Direct Speech/Indirect Speech)
reports the speaker’s message in the exact words as
spoken by him.
(b) ___________(Direct Speech/Indirect Speech)
reports the message of the speaker in our own
words.
(c) No _____________(conjunction/verb) is used if a
sentence in Direct Speech begins with a question
word as the question word itself acts as a joining
clause.
Direction (2 to 6) : Change the following Direct Speech
into Indirect Speech-
2. I haven’t seen them since last week.
(a) She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous
week.
(b) She said she hadn’t seen them since the last week.
(c) She said she hasn’t seen them since the previous
week.
(d) She said she hadn’t saw them since the previous
week.
3. He said, “Where do they live?”
(a) He asked me where they live.
(b) He asked me where they lived.
(c) He asked me where they would live.
(d) He said to me where I lived.
4. "I will do it for you," she promised.
(a) She promised that she would do it for me.
(b) She promises that she would do it for me.
(c) She promised that she will do it for me.
(d) None
5. “I am playing the guitar”, she explained.
(a) She said that she will be playing the guitar.
(b) She explained that she was playing the guitar.
(c) She explained that she had been playing the guitar.
(d) She explained that she will have to play the guitar.
21
6. He said, “Irvin arrived on Monday.”
(a) He said that Irvin had arrived on Monday.
(b) He said that Irvin arrived on Monday.
(c) He said that Irvin has arrived on Monday.
(d) Both A and C
Direction (7 to 11) : Change the following Indirect Speech
into Direct Speech-
7. She said that she would be in Russia the next day.
(a) She said, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
(b) She said, “I will have been in Russia tomorrow.”
(c) She said, “I have been in Russia tomorrow.”
(d) She exclaimed, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
8. He requested him to complete it.
(a) He said to him ‘Complete it now’.
(b) He said to him ‘Please complete it’.
(c) He said to him ‘Will you complete it’.
(d) He said to him ‘Can you complete it’.
9. The man exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.
(a) The man said, ‘Ah! Am I ruined?’
(b) The man said, ‘Ah! I am ruined.’
(c) The man said, ‘Ah! She is ruined.’
(d) The man said, ‘ I am ruined.’
10. David said that he would be making tea.
(a) David said, “I would be making tea.”
(b) David said, “I will make tea.”
(c) David said, “I will be making tea.”
(d) David said, “I will have made tea.”
11. Salina said that she had met James the day before.
(a) Salina said, ‘I meet James yesterday.’
(b) Salina said, ‘I had met James yesterday.’
(c) Salina said, ‘I met James yesterday.’
(d) Salina said, ‘I will meet James yesterday.’
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH 22

Direction (12 to 14) : Choose the correct options to fill in 13. (ii)
the blanks to complete Aunt May’s narration-
(a) ordered that
(b) refused that
(c) questioned that
(d) replied that
14. (iii)
(a) has heard that people who has
(b) was hearing that people who were
Aunt May : Chandni, what are you doing sitting all (c) had heard that people who had
alone here?Chandni: Aunt, I’m trying to win a gold
(d) did hear that people who had
medal. Aunt May: How will sitting in my orchard help
you win a gold medal? Chandni: because, that’s how
it’s won. I’ve heard that the women who have won
gold medals were all sitting out in various orchards.
Aunt May: Oh!
“I saw Chandni sitting all alone in the orchard. When I
-(i)- doing there, she -(ii)- she was trying to win a gold
medal. I was confused and enquired how sitting in the
orchard would help her do so. She stumped me by
saying that she -(iii)- won gold medals had all been
sitting out in their orchards!
12. (i)
(a) exclaimed what she was
(b) told her what she was
(c) asked her what she was
(d) says to her about what
THE LITTLE GIRL 23

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LITTLE GIRL

(b) Yes, Kezia’s grandmother was authoritative
1. “What’s the matter? What are you looking so wretched
towards her, just as same as her mother
about? Mother, I wish you taught this child not to
appear on the brink of suicide..” (c) No, Kezia’s grandmother was affectionate towards
her, unlike her father.
What character trait do you see in the speaker here?
(d) Kezia’s grandmother would not talk to her.
(a) Timidness (b) Authoritarianism
5. What was the grandmother's motive behind asking
(c) Liberalism (d) Obedience
Kezia to make a gift for her father?
2. What was Kezia’s opinion about her father’s
a. to build a close relationship between a father and a
appearance?
daughter
(a) According to Kezia, her father appeared stout and
b. to help Kezia get rid of the fear she had for the
short
father
(b) According to Kezia, her father looked like a giant. c. To teach Kezia how to make cushions
(c) According to Kezia, her father always appeared (a) Only a (b) Only b
happy and cheerful.
(c) Only a and b (d) Only a and c
(d) According to Kezia, her father always appeared to 6. What incident followed just after Kezia started making
be fat and ugly. the cushion?
3. What orders were passed to Kezia when her father (a) She tore up some of her father's official papers
returned home from the office? unknowingly to fill the cushion.

A. To take off her father’s shoes and put them outside. (b) When this was known, her father beat her up with a
scale.
B. To put her father’s teacup back to the tea table.
(c) When this was known, her mother beat her up with
C. To make cushions every day. a scale.
(a) Only A (a) Only a (b) Only b

(b) Only B (c) Only a and b (d) Only a and c

7. Find the synonym of ‘suggested’ from the given
(c) Only A and B
options.
(d) Only A and C (a) Ordered (b) Advised
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and (c) Guiled (d) Misguided
answer the following question-
Direction (8 and 9) : Read the extract given below and
“One day, when she was kept indoors with a cold, her answer the following question-
grandmother told her that father’s birthday was next “What’s the matter? What are you looking so wretched
week, and suggested she should make him a pin- about? Mother, I wish you taught this child not to
cushion for a gift out of a beautiful piece of yellow appear on the brink of suicide... Here, Kezia, carry my
silk.” teacup back to the table carefully.”

4. The extract mentions Kezia’s grandmother. How was
her attitude about Kezia? Did she treat Kezia as her
father treated her?
(a) Yes, Kezia’s grandmother was rude and
unaffectionate towards her, just as same as her
father
8. What does this extract tell about the speaker?
(a) He is authoritative in nature
(b) He is submissive in nature
(c) He is liberal
(d) He has an optimistic attitude
THE LITTLE GIRL 24

9. What did Kezia’s father want her to learn?

(a) Not to appear on the brink of suicide.
(b) To make cushions
(c) To make tea for her father everyday
(d) To create beautiful paintings
10. Why was Kezia scared of her father?
11. How did Kezia make a pin-cushion for her father?
12. How was Mr Macdonald as a father, and how was he
different from Kezia’s father?
13. How close was Kezia with her grandmother?
14. Every father has a love for his child whether he
expresses his love or not. Comment on the basis of the
story “The Little Girl”.
ISWARAN THE STORYTELLER 25

EXERCISE – 1 : ISWARAN THE STORYTELLER

1. What was Mahendra’s duty as a junior supervisor? 6. What conclusion did he arrive at, after the incident?
(a) To keep an eye on the activities at the worksite (a) It might be a real ghost that he saw
(b) To keep an eye on the activities at the school (b) It might be a thief that entered his house
(c) To lend loans to the local people (c) It must have been some sort of autosuggestion,
some trick that his subconscious self had played on
(d) To keep an eye on the activities of his authorities
him.
2. Why did Iswaran cook a delicious dinner that night?
7. Which word from the passage means ‘breathing
(a) As it was his birthday quickly and loudly’?
(b) As it was an auspicious day on which people
prepared delicious food for their ancestors.
(c) As cooking was his hobby
(d) As it was an auspicious day on which people
prepared delicious food for their grandchildren.
3. “He would miraculously conjure up the most delicious
dishes made with fresh vegetables within an hour of
arriving at the zinc-sheet shelter at the new workplace”
What does this line tell about the cook?
(a) Only a (b) Only b
(a) The cook was very resourceful and quick in action
(c) Only c (d) Only a and b
(b) The cook was very lazy
Direction (8 and 9) : Read the extract given below and
(c) The cook was very dishonest answer the following question-
(d) The cook was a bad cook “ At first he put it down to a cat prowling around for
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and mice. But the sound was too guttural for a cat. He
answer the following question- resisted the curiosity to look out lest he should behold
“There, not too far away, was a dark cloudy form a sight which would stop his heart.”
clutching a bundle. Mahendra broke into a cold sweat 8. What curiosity did he resist?
and fell back on the pillow, panting.” (a) He resisted the curiosity to look out through the
4. What did Mahendra see at night? window on the moonlit night.
(a) Mahendra saw a dark cloudy form clutching a (b) He resisted the curiosity to get out of his bed on the
bundle at night. moonlit night.
(b) Mahendra saw a bright light entering from the (c) He resisted the curiosity to open his eyes as he was
window. scared
(c) Mahendra saw an angel floating in the air 9. Which word from the extract means ‘move about
(d) Mahendra saw Ishwaran stealing all his belongings. restlessly and stealthily to catch prey?
5. Why was he scared? (a) Guttural (b) Prowling
a. because he had heard from Iswaran about a female (c) Curiosity (d) Resisted
ghost holding a foetus in her hand 10. Why was Mahendra fond of Iswaran?
b. As he was shocked to see a similar figure that 11. What did Iswaran do when Mahendra left for work?
Ishwaran described. 12. Mahendra called ghosts or spirits a figment of the
c. Because a thief had entered his kitchen and was imagination. What happened to him on a full-moon
stealing his belongings night?
(a) Only a (b) Only b 13. How was Iswaran different from other domestic helps?
(c) Only a and b (d) Only c and a 14. Attempt a brief character sketch of Mahendra.
RAIN ON THE ROOF 26

EXERCISE – 1 : RAIN ON THE ROOF

1. “When the humid shadows hover. (a) Imagery (b) Alliteration

Over all starry spheres” (c) Sarcasm (d) Personification
What are ‘humid shadows’ referred to here? Direction (5 to 8) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
(a) The dark clouds in the sky
“When the humid shadows hover.
(b) The stars in the sky
Over all starry spheres
(c) The hail-storm
And the melancholy darkness
(d) The moonlight
Gently weeps in rainy tears,”
2. The poem describes the speaker’s thoughts and
memories on a __________. 5. Choose the picture that correctly represents the image
in the lines below:
"Over all starry spheres"
(a)

Direction (3 and 4) : Read the extract given below and (b)

answer the following question-
Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their air-threads into woof,
As I listen to the patter
(c)
Of the rain upon the roof.
3. Choose the correct explanation of the metaphors used
in ‘And a thousand recollections, Weave their air-
threads into woof,”.
a. Here the recollections are compared to weavers
b. Memories are compared to fabrics
c. Memories are compared to collections of books
(a) Only a (b) Only b and a
(d)
(c) Only c and a (d) Only b
4. Which poetic device is used in the last line of the
stanza?
RAIN ON THE ROOF 27

8. Which word from the extract means ‘to remain in the

air in one place’?
9. When does the speaker remember his mother? What
does it show about him?
10. How does the speaker enjoy the patter of the soft rain
lying in his bed?
11. Describe in your own words the sights and sounds that
6. Why does the speaker call ‘darkness’ melancholy ? are described in the poem.
(a) As the darkness makes him feel sorrowful and sad 12. Elucidate the recollections the different sights and
(b) As the darkness makes him feel joy and happiness sounds in that dark evening bring to the speaker.

(c) As the speaker disliked darkness and rain 13. Do you think that the poem, ‘Rain on the Roof’, is
lauding the healing power of the rain? Explain.
(d) As the speaker was not able to fall asleep because
of the darkness
7. Which poetic device can be found in the second line of
the extract?
(a) Alliteration (b) Personification
(c) Metaphor (d) Simile
A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND
EXERCISE – 1 : A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND
1. ‘The discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had
American physicists in an uproar”. Why?
(a) As they were happy that Germany would make an
atom bomb
(b) As they were afraid that Germany would make an
atom bomb
(c) As they were afraid that Italy would make an atom
bomb
(d) As they were afraid that France would make an
atom bomb
2. What would Einstein call his desk drawer at the patent
office?
(a) “the bureau of theoretical physics.”
(b) “the bureau of experimental physics.”
(c) “the bureau of advanced physics.”
(d) “the bureau of theoretical chemistry.”
3. What did the headmaster opine about Einstein?
(a) Einstein would never be successful in his life.
(b) Einstein would be successful in his life.
(c) Einstein had a bright future.
(d) Einstein was the smartest person he ever saw.
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“............ Franklin D. Roosevelt, on 2 August 1939, in
which he warned: “A single bomb of this type . . .
exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole
port together with some of the surrounding territory.”
His words did not fail to have an effect. The
Americans developed the atomic bomb in a secret
project of their own, and dropped it on the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.”
4. Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to in the
extract?
(a) The President of the US during the Second World
War in 1939
(b) The President of the US during the Second World
War in 1983
(c) The President of Australia during the Second
World War in 1900
(d) The President of South Africa during the Second
World War in 1939
28
5. What did Einstein warn about in his letter to Franklin
D. Roosevelt?
(a) about the dangers of neutron bombs.
(b) about the dangers of atomic bombs.
(c) about the dangers of electromagnetic pulse
(d) about the dangers of Agni Missiles I-VI
6. Where did the Americans develop the atomic bomb?
(a) in a secret project created by the Indian army.
(b) in a secret project created by the French army.
(c) in a secret project that they themselves had created.
(d) none
7. Find a word from the extract which is a synonym of
‘confidential’.
(a) Exploded (b) Territory
(c) Secret (d) Port
Direction (8 to 10) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the
destruction. This time he wrote a public missive to the
United Nations. In it, he proposed the formation of a
world government. Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this
one made no impact.”
8. What did Einstein write and to whom?
(a) Einstein wrote a research paper to the United States
proposing the formation of a world government.
(b) Einstein wrote an essay to the United States
proposing the formation of a world government.
(c) Einstein wrote a public missive to the United
Nations proposing the formation of a world
government.
(d) Einstein wrote a public missive to South Africa
proposing the formation of a world government.
9. Why did he write a letter to Roosevelt earlier?
(a) To warn him of a bomb blast that could cause
massive destruction.
(b) To warn him of a Government Report that could
cause massive destruction.
(c) To wish him a happy birthday.
(d) To convey regards to Roosevelt’s parents.
A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND 29

10. Find the word from the extract that means – “a 13. ‘Einstein was an unusual child with no indication of
long,official letter”. his potential greatness’. Comment.
(a) Exploded 14. ‘Great men are different from ordinary people’.
(b) Missive Comment on the statement with reference to the
chapter ‘ A Truly Beautiful Mind’
(c) Secret
(d) Port
11. ‘Einstein is celebrated as a visionary and world citizen
as much as a scientific genius.’ Elucidate.
12. Draw a pen picture of Mileva Maric?
IN THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS
EXERCISE – 1 : IN THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS
1. “It is believed that fools are so dangerous that only
very wise people can manage them.” Who are the wise
men who managed the fools in the story”?
(a) the king and his minister
(b) the guru and his disciple
(c) The village elders
(d) The king’s father
2. “The king’s bailiffs searched for the goldsmith, who
was hiding in a corner of his shop” What do you mean
by the word ‘bailiff’?
(a) a law officer who makes sure that the decisions of a
court are obeyed.
(b) a teacher who makes sure that the decisions of a
court are obeyed.
(c) a law officer who makes sure that the decisions of
the religious gurus are obeyed.
(d) the king himself is called a bailiff
3. How did the king change night into day in the
Kingdom of Fools?
(a) He asked the people to stay asleep at night and not
work in their fields.
(b) He asked the people to stay awake at day, till their
fields and run their businesses only before dark.
(c) He asked the people to stay awake at night, till their
fields and run their businesses only after dark.
(d) None
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“ Everything was cheap here. All he wanted was good,
cheap food. The guru said “They are all fools. This
won’t last very long, and you can’t tell what they’ll do
to you next.” But the disciple wouldn’t listen to the
guru’s wisdom. He wanted to stay. The guru finally
gave up and said, “Do what you want. I’m going,” and
left. The disciple stayed on, ate his fill every day —
bananas and ghee and rice and wheat, and grew fat like
a street-side sacred bull.”
4. “All he wanted was good, cheap food.” Who was ‘he’
here?
(a) The guru
(b) The disciple
(c) The king
30
(d) The minister
5. Why did the guru advise the disciple to leave the
kingdom of fools?
(a) Because there was an absence of unpredictability in
the kingdom.
(b) Because the guru did not want the disciple to grow
fat.
(c) Because fools do not last long and are very
unpredictable.
(d) None
6. What made the disciple grow fat like a ‘street-side
sacred bull?
(a) Hunger and scarcity of money
(b) Lack of physical exercise
(c) He ate his fill greedily as the food was cheap.
(d) None
7. he disciple’s greed for ______ made him stay back.
Direction (8 and 9) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“That may be true. But it’s the royal decree that we
should find a man fat enough to fit the stake,” they
said, and carried him to the place of execution. He
remembered his wise guru’s words: “This is a city of
fools. You don’t know what they will do next.” While
he was waiting for death, he prayed to his guru in his
heart, asking him to hear his cry wherever he was. The
guru saw everything in a vision; he had magic powers,
he could see far, and he could see the future as he
could see the present and the past. He arrived at once
to save his disciple, who had got himself into such a
scrape through love of food”
IN THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS 31

8. What did the fat disciple do while waiting for death? 10. What is the theme of the story?
(a) He prayed to his guru in his heart, asking him to 11. Why was the rich house owner summoned to the
hear his cry wherever he was. king’s court? How did he escape the persecution?
(b) He resolved to ask for forgiveness from the king 12. What were the two strange things that the guru and the
for the murder he did not do. disciple noticed in the Kingdom of Fools?
(c) He was planning to escape secretly 13. The king wanted to do things differently from others.
9. How do you know that the guru had magical powers? Do you think this was a wise decision on his part?
Why or why not?
(a) The guru saw what was to happen in a vision.
(b) He could see the future, the present and the past.
(c) He had a magic lantern that he would carry every
place he visited
(a) a is true
(b) b is true
(c) a and b are true
(d) a and c are true
THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE 32

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

1. Innisfree is NOT used as a symbol to represent a place (b) Happiness

of __________ (c) Sacredness
(a) Tranquillity (d) Grandioseness
(b) Peace 6. How does the speaker daydream about Innisfree?
(c) Fulfilment (a) He thinks about the lake water lapping with low
(d) Busy streets of a city sounds by the shore.
2. How does peace commence in Innisfree? (b) He thinks about the seawater lapping with high
sounds by the shore.
(a) Dropping slowly from the veils of the evening to
where the speaker sings. (c) He thinks about the busy streets in Innisfree
(b) Dropping slowly from the veils of the morning to (d) He imagines the oceans and voyages that he could
where the cricket sings. experience in Innisfree
(c) Dropping quickly from the veils of the afternoon. 7. What is the poet’s core desire?
(d) Peace does not come in Innisfree. (a) To travel to the nearby city
3. “And evenings full of the linnet’s wings”. What is a (b) To go to Innisfree
linnet? (c) To stay at home
A. Linnet is a small brown and grey horse with a short (d) To buy an island at Innisfree
tail. 8. What did the speaker forethink of doing when he
B. Linnet is a large brown and grey fish. reaches Innisfree?
C. Linnet is a small brown and grey bird with a short (a) Build a small cabin using clay and wattles
beak. (b) Have ten bean-rows and a hive for the honeybee
(a) Only C (c) Build a small cabin using bricks
(b) Only B (d) Have eleven bean rows.
(c) Only A and B 9. Does the environment picturised in these lines stand in
(d) Only A and C contrast with the actual life that the speaker was
Direction (4 to 9) : Read the extract below and answer the living?
following question- (a) Yes
“I will arise and go now, for always night and day (b) No
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the (c) May be
shore; 10. “....peace comes dropping slow /Dropping from the
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements veils of the morning to where the cricket sings”. What
grey, do you understand by the words extracted above?
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.” 11. How did the poet express the contrast between
4. Who is the composer of the given stanza? Innisfree and the city he lives in?
(a) William Shakespeare 12. Does the place Innisfree actually exist? Why do you
think the poet want to visit the place?
(b) Subramania Bharati
13. How does the poet express his deepest desire to go to
(c) William Butler Yeats
Innisfree?
(d) Robert Frost
14. What are the different themes used in this poem?
5. Which trait of the speaker is highlighted in the given
stanza?
(a) Longingness
PREPOSITIONS, PHRASES & CLAUSES 33

EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS, PHRASES & CLAUSES

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options: (a) Don’t ask his opinion
(a) The Pronoun following the Preposition should be (b) unless you are
an _________ (subject/object) form. (c) ready for a frank answer
(b) A __________ (clause/phrase) is a group of words (d) Opinion unless
without a subject-verb component, used as a single 7. Identify the noun phrase in the following sentences.
part of speech.
The bewildered tourist was lost.
(c) A ________ (subordinate/main) clause contains a
(a) The bewildered tourist
subject and a verb but it depends on the main
clause for making sense as it does not make (b) tourist was lost
complete sense on its own. (c) bewildered tourist was
2. Identify the subordinate clause in the following (d) The bewildered
sentences. 8. Identify the verb phrase in the following sentences.
I waited for him until he came. He was eager to eat dinner.
(a) I waited (a) was eager to eat dinner.
(b) until he came (b) He was eager
(c) for him (c) to eat
(d) I waited for him until (d) He was eager to
3. Identify the subordinate clause in the following 9. Identify the gerund phrase in the following sentences.
sentences. Taking my dog for a walk is fun.
The teacher said that honesty is the best policy. (a) Taking my dog for a walk
(a) teacher said that (b) is fun
(b) that honesty is the best policy (c) my dog for a
(c) said that honesty is (d) a walk is fun
(d) is the best policy 10. Identify the gerund phrase in the following sentences.
4. Identify the Noun Clause in the following sentences. Going for ice cream is a real treat.
The king ordered that the traitor should be put to (a) is a real treat
death.
(b) ice cream is a real
(a) that the traitor should be put to death
(c) going for ice cream
(b) The king ordered
(d) ice cream is real
(c) ordered that the traitor
11. Identify the clause in the following sentences.
(d) The king ordered that the traitor
The bull that charged us is back in the field.
5. Identify the Main Clause in the following sentences.
(a) The bull
He said that he was giving me a friendly warning.
(b) Is back
(a) He said
(c) That charged us
(b) that he was giving
(d) In the field
(c) that he was giving me a friendly warning
(d) He said that he
6. Identify the Main Clause in the following sentences.
Don’t ask his opinion unless you are ready for a frank
answer
PREPOSITIONS, PHRASES & CLAUSES 34

Direction (12 to 17) : Fill in the blanks with the correct 14. (c)
Prepositions- (a) By (b) About
Jim is not as afraid ______(a) the captain as others: he (c) Up (d) Out
sees how often the captain drinks himself into a stupor.
15. (d)
Other guests are scared _______(b) the captain’s
stories ______(c) hangings, walking the plank, and (a) By (b) About
other sea adventures. Jim’s father worries that the (c) In (d) Out
captain will drive away business, but Jim thinks the 16. (e)
fascination he inspires ______(d) others is good for (a) Of (b) About
them.Jim’s father doesn’t seem to have the same kind
(c) In (d) Out
______(e) pluck and quick wit ______(f) his son—he
is a flat character who doesn’t last long. 17. (f)
12. (a) (a) As (b) About
(a) Of (b) On (c) In (d) Out
(c) Up (d) Out
13. (b)
(a) By (b) From
(c) Up (d) Out
THE SNAKE AND THE MIRROR 35

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE AND THE MIRROR

1. Why did the doctor feel that he was a poor, foolish and 5. The earth-shaking decision that the doctor took that
stupid doctor? day was to always keep a ____________.
(a) because in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t know (a)
how to cure malaria
(b) because in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t know
how to cure pneumonia
(c) because in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t know
how to cure a scorpion bite
(d) because in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t know (b)
how to cure a snake bite
2. Why did the speaker use the phrase “A stone image in
the flesh”?
(a) To mean that the snake sat dumbstruck and
motionless like a statue made of flesh.
(b) To mean that the doctor sat dumbstruck and (c)
motionless like a statue made of flesh.
(c) To mean that the doctor sat energetically like a
statue made of flesh.
(d) None of these
3. What character traits do you NOT see in the doctor?
A. Vanity (d)

B. Arrogance
C. Extravagant
(a) Only C
(b) Only B
(c) Only A and B 6. What were the two special qualifications of the
(d) Only A and C narrator as mentioned by him?

Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract below and answer the a. He was married
question that follows- b. He was a bachelor
“I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an c. He was a professor
attractive smile. I made another earth-shaking d. He was a doctor
decision. I would always keep that attractive smile on (a) Only a
my face ... to look more handsome. I was after all a
(b) Only b and d
bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!”
(c) Only c
4. What is evident about the doctor’s attitude as per these
extracted lines? 7. Find out the antonym of ‘repulsive’ from the given
extract.
(a) Decisiveness and optimism
(a) Earthshaking
(b) Pessimism
(b) Attractive
(c) Lethargy
(c) Both A and B are correct
(d) Sorrow
THE SNAKE AND THE MIRROR
Direction (8 to 10) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“Immediately I smeared oil all over myself and took a
bath. I changed into fresh clothes. The next morning at
about eight-thirty I took my friend and one or two
others to my room to move my things from there. But
we found we had little to carry. Some thief had
removed most of my things.”
8. Who did go to the doctor’s room that morning?
(a) The doctor’s maid and a friend
(b) The doctor’s friend and the snake
(c) The doctor’s friend and one or two others
(d) None
9. Why did the doctor find it necessary to take a bath and
change his clothes?
(a) A snake had fallen on him and touched his arm
(b) The small boy had spit on him
(c) He had not taken bath since long and he was
stinking
(d) He was a well-disciplined man who took a bath
everyday
36
10. What happened to the doctor’s belongings?
(a) The doctor’s belongings were found intact in his
house when the doctor reached home the next
morning.
(b) A thief entered his room at night and took away
most of the doctor’s belongings.
(c) The doctor sold all his belongings to the thief
(d) The doctor donated his belongings to the poor
11. What did the doctor decide after having a close look at
his own face in the mirror?
12. “Birds of the same feathers flock together” goes the
saying. Elucidate if the encounter between the snake
and the doctor in the story “The Snake and the Mirror”
support the saying?
13. Without the mirror, the story will lose its charm and
reality. Explain in your own words.
14. God has a lot of ways of controlling our lives. Discuss
this in the light of the story ‘The Snake and the
Mirror’.
THE HAPPY PRINCE
EXERCISE – 1 : THE HAPPY PRINCE
1. “I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State
ball,” she said. “I have ordered flowers to be
embroidered on it, but the seamstresses are so lazy.”
Who had her dress and Why?
(a) The flower-girl had her dress because the maid of
honour had ordered her to embroider flowers on it.
(b) The Happy Prince had her dress because the maid
of honour had ordered her to embroider flowers on
it.
(c) The playwright had her dress because the maid of
honour had ordered her to embroider flowers on it.
(d) The seamstress had her dress because the maid of
honour had ordered her to embroider flowers on it.
2. Why was the Happy Prince considered a beautiful
statue?
(a) As it was covered with fine silver leaves all over
his body, he had gold for eyes and a ruby in his
sword.
(b) As it was covered with fine gold leaves all over his
body, he had sapphires for eyes and a ruby in his
sword.
(c) As it was covered with fine iron leaves all over his
body, he had sapphires for eyes and a ruby in his
sword.
(d) As it was covered with colourful clothes all over
his body, he had diamonds for eyes and a ruby in
his sword.
3. What character traits do you NOT see in the Happy
Prince?
A. Compassion
B. Generosity
C. Extravagant
(a) Only C
(b) Only B
(c) Only A and B
(d) Only A and C
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“the square below,” said the Happy Prince, “there
stands a little match girl. She has let her matches fall in
the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat
her if she does not bring home some money, and she is
crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little
37
head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her,
and her father will not beat her.” “I will stay with you
one night longer,” said the swallow, “but I cannot
pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”
“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince,
“do as I command you.” So he plucked out the
Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He
swooped past the matchgirl, and slipped the jewel into
the palm of her hand”
4. Why is the girl shedding her tears?
(a) All the match girl’s matches fall in the gutter and
are all spoiled
(b) Her father will beat her if she does not bring home
some money
(c) She had no money to buy ice cream
(a) Only a (b) Only b
(c) Only a and b (d) Only c
5. What does the Happy Prince offer for the matchgirl?
(a) The Happy Prince offers to pluck out the sapphire
from his eye to give to the matchgirl.
(b) The Happy Prince offers to pluck out the gold
leaves from his eye to give to the matchgirl.
(c) The Happy Prince offers to pluck out the silver
eye-ball from his eye to give to the matchgirl
(d) The Happy Prince offers to pluck out the emerald
from his eye to give to the matchgirl
6. Where did the swallow slip the jewel?
(a) The swallow slipped the jewel into the shoes of the
match girl.
(b) The swallow slipped the jewel into the palm of the
match girl’s hand.
(c) The swallow slipped the jewel inside the window
of the match girl.
(d) The swallow slipped the jewel into the bag of the
match girl.
7. Where did the matchgirl stand to sell her matchsticks?
(a) The matchgirl stood at the square below the tall
column where the Happy Prince statue was located.
(b) The matchgirl stood outside the city gate
(c) The matchgirl stood at the front porch of her house
(d) The matchgirl stood nearby the hut of the
seamstress
THE HAPPY PRINCE
Direction (8 and 9) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State
ball,” she said. “I have ordered flowers to be
embroidered on it, but the seamstresses are so lazy.”
8. Why does the maid of honour call the seamstresses
lazy?
(a) because she lacks an understanding of the
sufferings of the poor people.
(b) because the seamstresses were actually lazy and
less hardworking
(c) because the seamstress to whom she gave her dress
was actually lazy
(d) because she was a disciplinarian and wanted every
work to be done on time
38
9. Is she right in considering the seamstresses to be lazy?
(a) Yes, because the seamstresses in the city were
living a lavish lifestyle and were lazy to finish their
works.
(b) No, because it is hunger, cold, and fatigue that has
interrupted the completion of order in time.
(c) May be
10. Why did the Happy Prince request the swallow to stay
back with him the first time?
11. What lesson do you receive from the story, “The
Happy Prince”?
12. “Sorrow was not allowed to enter the palace.” What
picture do you get about the palace from the words
above?
13. Elucidate the theme of the story in your own words.
A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND 39

EXERCISE – 1 : A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND

1. ‘For she was changed to a bird’. Why was the little To give him a single one.
woman changed into a bird? 4. Why did he seem to be fainting?
(a) As she did not give anything to eat to Saint Peter, (a) Because of weak health conditions
he punished her by changing her into a bird. (b) Because he was hungry and had not eaten anything
(b) As she did not allow the saint to enter by the since morning
orchard, he punished her by changing her into a (c) Because he had been walking for a couple of hours
bird. at a stretch
(c) As she cursed the saint, the saint punished her by (d) None
changing her into a bird.
5. What did he ask the little woman for?
(d) As she told a lie to the saint, he punished her by
changing her into a bird.
2. Identify the usage of ‘Repetition’ in the following
extracted lines-
a. Stanza 9: And rolled and rolled in flat
b. Stanza 1: Where the hours of the day are few,
c. Stanza 13: By boring, and boring, and boring.
d. Stanza 2: To the sledges, when it snows
(a) Only a
(b) Only a and c
(c) Only d
(d) Only c and d 6. Did he receive what he asked for?

3. What character traits do you NOT see in the little (a) Yes, the little woman gave the saint a piece of cake
woman? to eat
(b) No, the little woman did not give the saint a piece
of cake to eat
(c) May be
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
Then good Saint Peter grew angry,
For he was hungry and faint;
And surely such a woman
Was enough to provoke a saint.
(a) Only c 7. Why was Saint Peter angry?
(b) Only b
(a) because the woman didn’t give him any cake to eat.
(c) Only a and b (b) because the woman shut the door and not answer
(d) Only a and c the saint
Direction (4 to 6) : Read the extract below and answer the (c) because the saint did not like the cake that the
question that follows- woman gave to him
And being faint with fasting, (d) because the woman forgot to serve water for him to
For the day was almost done, drink
He asked her, from her store of cakes,
A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND 40

8. What does ‘such a woman’ imply here? 10. The poet says, “And such a woman was enough to
(a) ‘Such a woman’ implies a generous woman. provoke a saint”. Who was the woman and how did
she provoke the saint?
(b) ‘Such a woman’ implies a rich and happy woman.
11. Describe the tone of the poem ‘A legend of the
(c) ‘Such a woman’ implies a greedy and selfish
Northland’.
woman.
12. Justify the title of the poem, ‘A Legend of the
(d) Such a woman’ implies a compassionate woman.
Northland’.
9. What is the rhyming scheme of the above stanza?
13. Draw pen pictures of Saint Peter and the Little Lady.
(a) The rhyming scheme of the stanza is ‘abcb’.
(b) The rhyming scheme of the stanza is ‘abab’.
(c) The rhyming scheme of the stanza is ‘abbb’.
(d) The rhyming scheme of the stanza is ‘abdb’.
MY CHILDHOOD
EXERCISE – 1 : MY CHILDHOOD
1. The image of him weeping when I shifted to the last
row left a lasting impression on me.” Why was he
weeping?
(a) Because his close friend Abdul Kalam, who was
sitting beside him, was asked to go and sit in the
last row.
(b) Because his father, who was sitting beside him,
was asked to go and sit in the last row.
(c) Because he was punished by the teacher
(d) Because he had a headache
2. How did Sivasubramania react to his wife’s behaviour
when she refused to serve Kalam in her kitchen?
(a) He was NOT mentally prepared for the behaviour
that his wife showed.
(b) He served Kalam with his own hands and sat
beside him to eat his meal without getting angry or
upset.
(c) He was angry and screamed at his wife for refusing
to serve Kalam food.
(d) He was extremely happy at her behaviour
3. What character traits do you NOT see in Abdul
Kalam?
A. Humility
B. Hardworking
C. Dishonesty
D. Boastful
(a) Only C (b) Only B
(c) Only A and B (d) Only D and C
Direction (4 to 6) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
“One day when I was in the fifth standard at the
Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came
to our class. I used to wear a cap which marked me as
a Muslim, and I always sat in the front row next to
Ramanadha Sastry, who wore the sacred thread. The
new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest’s son
sitting with a Muslim boy.”
4. What did the new teacher notice when he entered the
classroom?
(a) The students were eager to learn new things
(b) The students were making noise in the classroom
41
(c) A Muslim boy was sitting next to a Hindu priest’s
son.
(d) The students were very obedient to the teacher.
5. What marked the speaker as a Muslim?
(a) He took with him a bag that marked him as a
Muslim
(b) He wore a cap that marked him as a Muslim
(c) He wore a traditional shirt that marked him as a
Muslim
(d) He was not wearing a Janeu
6. Who was Ramanadha Sastry?
(a) Abdul Kalam’s friend and the son of the chief
priest of the temple of Rameshwaram.
(b) Abdul Kalam’s friend and the daughter of the chief
priest of the temple of Rameshwaram.
(c) Abdul Kalam’s uncle and the son of the chief priest
of the temple of Rameshwaram.
(d) Abdul Kalam’s class teacher
Direction (7 to 10) : Read the extract below and answer the
question that follows-
He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in
the last row. The image of him weeping when I shifted
to the last row left a lasting impression on me.
7. What attribute does ‘he’ show here?
(a) Joy
(b) Gratefulness
(c) Sorrow
(d) Cleverness
8. Why was the narrator’s seat shifted?
(a) Because the teacher did not want a Hindu priest’s
son to sit with a Muslim boy.
(b) Because the narrator would disturb the other
students in the class.
(c) Because the priest’s son was aggressive and could
harm the narrator.
(d) Because the teacher wanted the narrator to sit alone
for that particular day.
MY CHILDHOOD 42

9. What does the instance mentioned in the extracted 11. What is the theme of the prose piece ‘My Childhood’?
lines say about the teacher? 12. “ I would say mine was a very secure childhood, both
(a) That the teacher had a biased and conservative materially and emotionally.” Elucidate.
attitude. 13. “Once you decide to change the system, such problems
(b) That the teacher had a liberal attitude. have to be confronted.” What system is being referred
(c) That the teacher had an unbiased attitude. to? What are ‘such problems’ here?
10. Find a word from the extract which means 14. “Parents play the most crucial role in a child’s attitude
‘disheartened’. towards life” Do you agree? Explain the quote in
context of Abdul Kalam’s parents’ influence in
(a) Utterly (b) Shifted
Kalam’s life.
(c) Downcast (d) Lasting
READING 43

EXERCISE – 1 : READING

Direction (1 to 10) : Read the following passage to answer education. It meant additional resources and policy
the given question given below: guidance to enable the system to expand its capacity
for enrolling children. The District Primary Education
The other day, a student asked me what exactly the
Programme (DPEP), which later mutated into Sarva
word ‘liberal’ mean. She wanted to know whether
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), symbolised the ‘safety net’
‘liberalisation’ promotes ‘liberal’ values. She had
approach. It was designed to cushion the harsh effects
noticed that institutions of higher education, which are
that ‘structural adjustment’ under liberalisation was
supposed to promote liberal values, were finding it
expected to cause in welfare sectors like children’s
difficult to resist ideological and commercial pressures
education and health. The DPEP and SSA efficiently
triggered by the process of economic liberalisation. So,
served this role, creating an ethos in which children’s
was economic liberalism different from political
education seemed to have become a major priority of
liberalism? And what do people mean when they refer
the state. The success of these programmes
to neo-liberal policies? The questions she was asking
emboldened the government to push the Right to
could hardly be addressed without invoking the
Education (RTE) law through Parliament.
political economy that has emerged over the last three
Governments of many States registered their anxiety
decades.
over their capacity to fund the implementation of RTE
When liberalisation of the economy started to receive after the Central assistance provided under SSA
common consent in the mid-1980s, few people thought runs dry.
of examining what it would mean for education. Then,
In higher education, the new economic policy designed
in 1991 came the dramatic announcement of a new
on the principles of liberalisation offered no safety net.
economic policy, accompanied by a package of steps
From the beginning, the assumption was that higher
to be taken for ‘structural adjustment’ of the Indian
education ought to generate its own resources. An
economy. The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate
accompanying idea was that higher education should
India’s integration into the global economy. Even then,
respond to market demands in terms of knowledge and
education didn’t receive specific attention. Some
skills. Over the last three decades, these two guiding
critics of the new economic policy expressed anxiety
ideas have dented the established system of higher
about the consequences of state withdrawal from its
education in all parts of the country. Both Central and
prime role and responsibility in sectors like education
State universities have been starved of financial
and health. The national policy on education drafted in
resources. Cutting down on permanent staff, both
1986 had mostly adhered to the established state-
teaching and non-teaching, has emerged as the best
centric view. A major review in the early 1990s
strategy to cope with the financial crunch. A complex
vaguely resonated with the new discourse of
set of outcomes, specific to different universities,
liberalisation but offered little evidence of change in
makes any general analysis difficult. In some, self-
the basic perspective. The Programme of Action
financed courses, mostly vocational in nature, have
announced in 1992, stopped short of admitting that the
provided a means of income. In others, such courses
state’s role in education was about to change. Nobody
have been resisted by teacher unions. However, these
could imagine at that point that over the following
unions have gradually lost their power and say because
decades, the state’s role in education would change so
they are broken from within.
much that the Constitution would begin to sound like
rhetoric. 1. A safety net was offered for primary education by
_________
In order to examine what happened, we must make a
distinction between school and higher education. (a) Government of India
When Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao spoke (b) Australian Government
about liberalisation as the central theme of the new (c) World Bank
economic policy, he also referred to the ‘structural
(d) The District Primary Education Programme
adjustment programme’. Under this programme, the
World Bank offered a ‘safety net’ for primary
READING 44

2. Which of the following statements is NOT false 6. Choose the synonym of the word printed in bold as
according to the passage? used in the passage.
(a) The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate Triggered
India’s integration into the global economy. (a) Started (b) Stopped
(b) It was designed to cushion the harsh effects that (c) Accompanied (d) Adjusted
‘structural adjustment’ under liberalisation was not
7. Choose the synonym of the word printed in bold as
expected to cause in welfare sectors like children’s
used in the passage.
education and health.
Liberal
(c) The national policy on education was drafted in
1909. (a) Free and permissive

(d) The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was NOT to facilitate (b) Strict

India’s integration into the global economy. (c) Narrow-minded
3. The central idea of new economic policy according to (d) Intolerant
the given passage is __________ 8. Choose the antonym for the word printed in bold as
(a) Liberalization (b) Culture and religion used in the passage.
(c) Right to vote (d) Right to Education Rhetoric
4. The new economic policy brought a package (a) Prosaic (b) Oratory
of___________ steps with it. (c) Eloquence (d) Articulation
(a) structural damage (b) structural adjustment 9. The higher education should respond to market
(c) Online education (d) Online banking demands in terms of ______________.
5. Which of the following statements is false according to (a) knowledge and integrity
the passage? (b) knowledge and reading skills
i. The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate (c) positive attitude
India’s integration into the global economy. (d) knowledge and skills
ii. The national policy on education drafted in 1986 10. The national policy on education, 1986 had a
had mostly adhered to the established state-centric _____________.
view.
(a) State-centric view
iii. In 1991 came the dramatic announcement of a new
(b) Community-centric view
economic policy, accompanied by a package of
steps to be taken for ‘structural adjustment’ of the (c) Culture-centric view
Indian CULTURE. (d) Profit-centric view
iv. All are true.
(a) Only (i) (b) Only (ii)
(c) Only (iii) (d) (ii) and (iii)
WRITING EXTRA 45

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING EXTRA

1. Which of the following is NOT TRUE about an
Informal letter?

(a) It consists of sender’s address

(b) It is written to your friend/parents/relatives

(c) We cannot write an Informal letter in a casual tone

(d) It consists of salutation

2. Which of the following CANNOT be an Informal

Letter?

(a) Letter to a friend congratulating for his success.

(b) Letter to father asking for money.

(c) Letter to your brother describing your recent U.S

trip.

(d) Letter to the editor of a newspaper drawing his

attention towards the failing health infrastructure.

3. Which of the following is a valid sign-off for an

Informal letter.

(a) Yours truly

(b) Yours obedient student

(c) Your loving friend

4. Write a letter to your father requesting him to buy you

a cycle.

5. Write a letter to your father requesting him to engage a

tutor for you.
WRITING-DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH 46

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING-DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

1. Write a descriptive paragraph on your ‘best friend’ ?

Hints-

(i) Describe about friendship

(ii) describe your friend

(iii) activities/games you enjoyed together

2. Write a short paragraph describing a journey,

imaginary, or you have undertaken. You can follow
the steps given below:

(i)Write your travel experiences

(ii) Describe the place

WRITING-DIARY ENTRY 47

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING-DIARY ENTRY

1. In a diary entry, one writes freely what they feel,
without any fear of judgement.

(a) True

(b) False

2. Which among these can one write about in their diary

entry?

(a) Historical facts

(b) His/ her day at school

(c) Physics formulae

(d) His or her Bio data

3. The tone of a diary entry should NOT be ____.

(a) confessional

(b) casual

(c) formal

4. You are Indrajeet/Indrani. You observed a quarrel

among some children of your neighbourhood. Make a
diary entry giving an account of the quarrel you saw
and how you reacted.

5. You are Sonam/ Suman. Write a diary entry on one of

the big fat Indian weddings that you have attended.
Write your opinions on the wastage of resources at the
wedding.
WRITING 48

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING
1. Which part of the Descriptive paragraph identifies the
topic and briefly explains its significance?
(a) Concluding sentence
(b) Body
(c) Topic sentence
(d) Supporting sentence
2. Which of the following is the most effective piece of
description?
(a) A really nice vase of flowers was on the window
ledge
(b) A wonderful display of flowers was on the window
ledge
(c) The vibrant colours of the vase of flowers on the
window ledge seemed to bring the whole room to
life
(d) Both a and b
3. What should be included in a descriptive paragraph?
(a) Detail
(b) Descriptive language
(c) Appeal to senses
(d) All of the above
4. One of your friends, Rahul, is very gentle and polite to
you. You regard him as your best friend. Describe him
in 100-150 words.
5. One day you were commuting in a DTC bus.
Unfortunately, you left your wallet at home. The
conductor gave you the ticket for free. You are moved
by his gesture. Describe him in 100-150 words.
TENSES 49

EXERCISE – 1 : TENSES

1. Choose the correct options :

Which tense is used to show the completion of an
action by a certain time in the future?
(a) Future perfect tense
(b) Present indefinite tense
(c) Future perfect continuous tense
(d) Both (A) and (C)
2. Choose the correct type of tense according to their
usage in the centre:

(a) Past Perfect Tense

(b) Present Perfect Tense
(c) Future Perfect Tense
(d) All of the above
6. Fill in the blank with the present perfect continuous
tense form of the verb given in the bracket:
(a) Option (i) (b) Option (ii) “Manoj __________ a health regime everyday.”
(c) Option (iii) (d) Option (iv) (follow)
3. Choose the future perfect tense form of the given (a) Follows
sentence: (b) Have been following
“Charlie is the head boy of our school.” (c) Has been following
(a) Charlie will be the head boy of our school. (d) Has followed
(b) Charlie has been the head boy of our school. 7. When you called, I ______ in the garage. (work)
(c) Charlie have been the head boy of our school.
(a) will be working
(d) Charlie will have been the head boy of our school. (b) was working
4. Fill in the blanks with suitable verbs: (c) worked
You ____ an accident if you go on driving like that. (d) works
(a) Are having 8. Fill in the blanks with the suitable simple past tense of
(b) Will have the verb given in the following sentence:
(c) Would be having I ________ all my childhood in South India. (spend)
(d) Will have been having (a) was spending
5. Choose the correct tense of the highlighted words in (b) will be spending
the following sentence: (c) spent
(d) will have been spending
9. Choose the correct answer:
Tomorrow, at this time, I ____ to London for two
hours. (fly)
(a) Shall have been flying (b) Should be flying
(c) Shall be flying (d) None
TENSES 50

10. Choose the correct sentence 13. Place the correct word/words in the blank below:
(a) He visit the temple frequently. You must wear your cap. The weather forecast says it
(b) He visits the temple frequently. _______ cold today.
(c) He had visiting the temple frequently. (a) will
(d) He have had visited the temple frequently (b) would
11. She said that she ________________ help me. (c) would be
(d) will be
14. Fill in the blanks with suitable tenses of the words
given in the bracket:
Kate Middleton may (a) …………….(be) looked
dainty and fairy-like in her wedding gown but talks
doing the rounds (b) ……………. (be) that the dress
bore a striking similarity with Grace Kelly’s wedding
outfit. Royal wedding fans couldn’t (c) …………….
(help) noticing that both the brides (d) …………….
(wear) dramatic gowns with similar V-shaped
necklines and long white lace sleeves at their
(a) ought respective weddings, (e) ……………. (report) the
(b) shall New York Daily.
(c) should
(d) would
12. _________ at work in the afternoon? I'd like to talk to
her today.
(a) Will Shalini must
(b) Will Shalini be
(c) Would be Shalini
(d) Shalini will be
ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE
EXERCISE – 1 : ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options:
(a) While changing __________ sentences into the
passive voice, we use the form: Am/is/are + subject
+ being + participle form of verb + by + agent?
(interrogative/ imperative )
(b) When the __________ of a sentence performs the
verb’s action, we say that the sentence is in the
active voice. (subject/ object)
(c) While converting an active sentence into passive
voice the places of subject and object are
___________.( not changed/ interchanged)
2. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
Johnsy changed the flat tyre.
(a) The flat tyre had been changed by Johnsy.
(b) The flat tyre was changed by Johnsy.
(c) The flat tyre is being changed by Johnsy.
(d) Johnsy has been changing the flat tyre.
3. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
Let the window be opened.
(a) Is your window opened
(b) Your window should be opened.
(c) Open the window.
(d) You should let your window be open.
4. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
Sheetal is baking a brownie.
(a) A brownie is being baked by Sheetal.
(b) A brownie has been baked by Sheetal.
(c) A brownie will be baked by Sheetal.
(d) A brownie is going to be baked by Sheetal.
5. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
An interesting novel is going to be read by me.
(a) I will read an interesting novel.
(b) I am going to read an interesting novel.
(c) I should read an interesting novel.
(d) I should have read an interesting novel.
51
6. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
I had paid fifty thousand rupees.
(a) Fifty thousand rupees has been paid by me.
(b) Fifty thousand rupees had been paid by me.
(c) Fifty thousand rupees is being paid by me.
(d) Fifty thousand rupees shall be paid by me.
7. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
Did she recognise you?
(a) Did you recognised by her?
(b) Was you recognised by her?
(c) Were you recognised by her?
(d) Was she recognised by you?
8. Choose the option which has the correct conversion of
the voice of the given sentence:
When was the letter written by you?
(a) When have you written the letter?
(b) The letter was written when?
(c) When did you write the letter?
(d) Was the letter written by you?
9. Which of the given sentences is/are in active voice?
(i) Help the poor.
(ii) Who can help me?
(a) Only (i)
(b) Only (ii)
(c) Both (i) & (ii)
(d) Neither (i) nor (ii)
10. Which of the given sentences is/are in passive voice?
(i) "A Hard Day's Night" was written by the Beatles.
(ii) The city disposes off waste materials in a variety of
ways.
(a) Only (i)
(b) Only (ii)
(c) Both (i) & (ii)
(d) Neither (i) nor (ii)
ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE 52

Direction (11 to 15) : Choose the correct options to fill in 13. (iii)
the blanks to complete the passage. (a) is damaged
The Titanic _______ (i) in 1912. It was designed in a (b) was damaged
new way and it __________(ii)to be unsinkable.
(c) had got damage
Because of this, it wasn’t given enough lifeboats for
the passengers and crew. The hull ________ (iii) by a (d) were damaged
collision with a huge iceberg and it sank very fast. A 14. (iv)
total of 1513 people _________(iv) that day. Because (a) was drowned
of this disaster, a lot of magazines were printed in (b) was drown
many languages, new international safety laws were
(c) has been drowned
passed and Ice Patrol was established. In 1985 the
wreck _________(v) on the sea bed and the ship was (d) were drowned
explored. 15. (v)
11. (i) (a) was located
(a) has been build (b) were located
(b) was built (c) are located
(c) were built (d) locates
(d) is build
12. (ii)
(a) is thought
(b) were thought
(c) was thought
(d) think
MODALS 53

EXERCISE – 1 : MODALS

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options: 8. Choose the correct function of the modal in the
sentence below:
(a) Modal verbs are ____________(similar to/
different from ) ordinary verbs. He could swim by the time he was five.
(b) Modals are never used alone and are always (a) Suggestion (b) Permission
followed by _________.(a principal verb/ an (c) Ability (d) Prediction
adjective) 9. Which among these is not a semi- modal?
(c) The modal _______, expresses past habits, polite (a) Ought to (b) Have to
request, wish/preference or an imaginary
(c) May (d) Need to
condition.( ‘can’/ ‘would’)
10. Choose the correct modal to fill in the blank.
2. Which among these can be used as a modal of
‘prediction’: You ___________be a member if you want to go to
this club, it's open to the public.
(a) dare (b) might
(a) shouldn’t (b) needn’t
(c) ought to (d) had better
(c) can’t (d) haven’t
3. Fill in the blank with the correct modal:
11. Choose the option that has a sentence in which the
You ______ go to school on time.
modal of prohibition is used.
(a) can (b) could
(a) You cannot drive in India without a valid driver’s
(c) must (d) mustn’t license.
4. Fill in the blanks using suitable modal: (b) I would like to travel more.
Come what may, I _________ finish the work by (c) We aren’t able to make a reservation tonight
today.
(d) I can’t see my mother crying.
(a) have to (b) could
Direction (12 to 17) : Choose the correct options to fill in
(c) can (d) might the blanks to complete the letter.
5. Fill in the blank with a suitable modal of advice: Dear Kartik,
A: It's really cold outside. Hope you are doing good my friend. I got to know that
B: You _______ wear a sweater. your exams are starting next month from your letter
(a) might (b) will and you mentioned that you need some help in
Chemistry.
(c) should (d) dare
Personally I feel that you ________ (i) first find out
6. Choose the best modal of ability for the sentence
what the problem areas are for you in this subject. You
below:
_______ (ii) find out whether it is the organic
____________ horses fly? No, of course not!. chemistry or inorganic chemistry that you need help
(a) should (b) must with. Whatever is your weak area, leave that to me as I
(c) dare (d) can promise that I ______(iii) help you understand it.
7. Pick the modal from the below sentence and identify For instance, if you think that your organic chemistry
its type: is stronger, then you _______ (iv) start working on it.
“Could I please have some water?” Make sure that you pen down all the important
formulae at one place so that you can refer to them at
(a) please- modal of polite request
any point in time. This ______ (v) infuse you with a
(b) Could- modal of permission lot of confidence and _______ (vi) definitely add on to
(c) have- modal of ability your performance. Put aside all your fears and just
(d) some - modal of prohibition study with complete focus.
MODALS 54

All the best for your exams and preparations. 15. (iv)
Regards (a) shall (b) could
Simran (c) might (d) must
12. (i) 16. (v)
(a) shall (b) should (a) would (b) can
(c) could (d) may (c) might (d) shouldn’t
13. (ii) 17. (vi)
(a) will (b) might (a) need to (b) would
(c) must (d) can (c) might (d) have to
14. (iii)
(a) may (b) will
(c) should (d) dare
DETERMINERS 55

EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option: (c) an hour (d) her bus
(a) ______________(Demonstrative/Possessive/ 9. Select the most appropriate interrogative determiner
Distributive) determiners are used to identify or from the given options:
point to a particular person, event, or object. _________restaurant did you like the best?
(b) _____________(Demonstrative/Possessive/ (a) Which (b) Those
Quantifiers) provide approximate or specific (c) When (d) This
answers to the questions "How many?" and "How
10. Select the type of determiner for the underlined words.
much?"
I'll take these pills for my headache later.
(c) _____________(Distributive/Quantifiers)
determiners are used to refer to a group or (a) Demonstrative Determiner
individual members of the group. (b) Distributive Determiner
2. Identify the demonstrative determiner used in the (c) Interrogative Déterminer
following sentence. (d) Articles
I like these kinds of cookies. 11. Select the type of determiner for the underlined words:
(a) kinds (b) these It takes some effort for me to do exercise
(c) cookies (d) I like (a) articles
3. Identify the Quantifier used in the following sentence. (b) demonstrative Determiners
I didn't take many holidays last year (c) possessive Determiners
(a) many (b) didn’t take (d) quantifiers
(c) holidays (d) last year Direction (12 to 17) : Complete the following passage with
4. Identify the ordinal in the following sentence. suitable determiners:
The first horse was disqualified. You’re going to take the life away of (a)
(a) first (b) horse ______________ man with (b) ______________
belief that you will give it back. This is (c)
(c) was (d) disqualified
______________ enormous step. (d) ______________
5. Q5: Identify the Ordinal in the following sentence. precious life is at stake. You must perform to the best
They're celebrating their fifty-first anniversary in of (e) ______________ ability to save (f)
August. ______________ patient’s life.
(a) celebrating (b) fifty-first 12. (a)
(c) anniversary (d) in August (a) a
6. Identify the Cardinal in the following sentences. (b) an
Four of them came towards us. (c) the
(a) them (b) four 13. (b)
(c) towards (d) of (a) a
7. Pick the article in the following sentence. (b) an
The beaches in Puducherry are beautiful. (c) the
(a) the (b) in 14. (c)
(c) are (d) beautiful (a) a
8. Pick the pre-determiner in the following sentence. (b) an
Her bus will arrive in half an hour. (c) the
(a) half (b) will arrive
DETERMINERS 56

15. (d)
(a) those
(b) am
(c) his
16. (e)
(a) your
(b) you
(c) this
17. (f)
(a) the
(b) those
(c) these
DETERMINERS SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION
EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate
Determiners:
1. He didn’t make……….. progress. (much, many)
2. He has forgotten…………………… of the details,
(some, many)
3. The District Magistrate visited………………….
flood affected area, (every, either)
4. ………….. villa is this? (Whose, What)
5. He is the…………… boy who has joined this gym.
(first, whose)
2. Choose the correct determiner from the options given
below:
Mona saw _____ shooting star yesterday.
(a) A (b) An
(c) The (d) None
3. Identify the type of Determiner used in the following
sentence:
I regret those times when I've chosen the dark side.
I've wasted time being unhappy.
(a) Times- Definite Article
(b) Dark- Possessive Determiner
(c) Wasted- Distributive Determiner
(d) Those- Demonstrative Determiner
4. Fill in the blanks with suitable determiner:
____ people do not care about their hygiene.
(a) Or (b) Neither
(c) Many (d) Either
5. Fill in the blanks with the correct determiner and state
its type:
Each owner is responsible for _____ dog. (its/their)
(a) Its- Possessive Determiner
(b) Their- Possessive Determiner
(c) Both are correct
6. Identify the kind of determiner in the following
sentence.
A good book is a light to the soul.
(a) a- Definite determiner, the- Indefinite determiner
(b) a- Indefinite Article, the- Definite Article
(c) a- Possessive Determiner, the- Demonstrative
Determiner
(d) None of the above
57
7. Rewrite the following sentences by removing the
adverb ‘too’.
1. The patient is too weak to go upstairs.
2. This house is too expensive for me to buy.
3. Anil is too lazy to get up early in the morning
4. Rakesh is too slow to win the race.
5. Anika is too short to touch the painting.
8. Rewrite the following sentences by removing
‘enough’.
1. Mohan is smart enough to impress the company.
2. Rathika is foolish enough to believe the people.
3. Kalpana is tall enough to clean the ceiling fan.
4. Meenu is fast enough to catch the train.
5. Anamika is rude enough to insult her seniors.
9. Transform the following sentence into Assertive:
How gorgeous is the sunset!
(a) How is the sunset so gorgeous?
(b) The sunset is gorgeous, isn't it?
(c) The sunset is very gorgeous.
(d) How gorgeous the sunset is!
10. Transform the given sentence into superlative.
No other metal is as expensive as gold.
(a) No other metal except gold is expensive.
(b) Gold is expensive of all the metals.
(c) Isn't gold the most expensive of all metals.
(d) Gold is the most expensive of all metals.
11. Transform the given sentence using an adjective?
She treated me respectfully.
(a) She treated me with respect.
(b) She respectfully treats me.
(c) She was respectful to me.
(d) She treats me with respect.
12. Transform the given assertive sentence into an
interrogative sentence.
Everybody has heard of Amitabh Bachan.
(a) Has everybody heard of Amitabh Bachchan?
(b) Isn't that everybody has heard of Amitabh
Bachchan?
(c) Everybody has heard of Amitabh Bachchan, isn't
it?
(d) Amitabh Bachchan is known to all, isn't it?
WEATHERING THE STORM IN ERSAMA 58

EXERCISE – 1 : WEATHERING THE STORM IN ERSAMA

1. Choose the correct word from the options below: Direction (8 to 10) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
What was the name of Prashant’s village?
“The group succeeded and swam through the floods to
(a) Ersama
get food for the crowd. No one was bothered by the
(b) Palikuda fact that the rice was getting rotten because they were
(c) Kalikuda starved and were ready to eat even the rotting rice. The
(d) Balasore branches of broken trees were used to kindle a fire. As
2. Choose the main theme of the story, ‘Weathering the they were wet, burning a fire was an arduous task.”
Storm in Ersama’ from the options given: 8. What was the task that the group succeeded in?
(a) Storm 9. Why were people not bothered by the rotting of rice?
(b) A young boy and his job 10. Find the antonym of ‘effortless’ from the extract.
(c) Importance of courage and positive attitude 11. Give a brief account of the role of Kalikuda women
towards life during the time of distress.
(d) Survival skills 12. Why did Prashant feel emotional on reaching his
3. What catastrophe was faced by the people of Odisha in village?
the story? 13. Give two instances from the story describing how
(a) Landslide Prashant emerged as a hero.

(b) Earthquake 14. What did Prashant do for the orphans and widows?

(c) Cyclone 15. Elaborate on all the reformation that was brought out
by Prashant.
(d) Tsunami
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“The next morning Prashant realized that he had to get
over his emotions and take charge of the situation. The
huge crowd of around 2500 people in the shelter was
full of sadness as they had lost everything in the storm.
86 people had been killed by the super cyclone. They
had been at the shelter for the last four days. They had
been eating raw coconuts but now these were
insufficient for the large number of people.”
4. What was the situation that Prashant had to take
charge of?
5. How did the people survive in the shelter?
6. The Super Cyclone hit Odisha in the year ______.
7. Find the word from the extract that means ‘scant’.
NO MEN ARE FOREIGN 59

EXERCISE – 1 : NO MEN ARE FOREIGN

1. Choose the correct word from the options below: 5. Choose the poetic device used by the poet in the
following line:
According to the poet, how can we win strength?
“Of hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence”
(a) By courage
(a) Alliteration
(b) By perseverance
(b) Personification
(c) By love
(c) Metaphor
(d) By war
(d) Smile
2. Choose the correct synonym of the following word:
6. Choose the correct rhyming scheme of the poem from
the options below:
(a) aabb
(b) bbab
(c) aabc
(d) no rhyming scheme, it is free verse
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
(a) Option (i) “Let us remember, whenever we are told
(b) Option (ii) To hate our brothers, it is ourselves
(c) Option (iii) That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.
(d) Option (iv) Remember, we who take arms against each other”
3. Choose the main theme of the poem from the options 7. Who do you think tells us to hate our brothers ?
given below:
8. What is the reason that compels us to hate our brothers
(a) All men are equal sometimes?
(b) No men is free 9. How shall we dispossess ourselves ?
(c) God is omnipotent 10. According to the poem, how are we all equal?
(d) All men are our brothers 11. What can you infer from the intention that the poet
Direction (4 to 6) : Read the extract given below and called harvests ‘peaceful’ and ‘war’ as winter ?
answer the following question- 12. In one of the stanzas, the poet finds similarity in the
“It is the human earth that we defile. human hands. What is the similarity ?

Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence
Of air that is everywhere our own,
Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries
strange.”
4. What is the significance of the line ‘our hells of fire
and dust outrage the innocence’?
13. How can we recognise and understand ‘common life’
in every land?
14. Apart from the differences of lands, races and
uniforms, there lies the same body—the human body.
Justify the statement in accordance with the poem.
PACKING
EXERCISE – 1 : PACKING
1. Choose the correct answer from the options below:
How many characters are there in the narrative
‘Packing’?
(a) Two (b) Three
(c) Four (d) One
2. Choose the correct synonym of the following word:
(a) Option (i) (b) Option (ii)
(c) Option (iii) (d) Option (iv)
3. When Montmorency could get his highest aim
accomplished,
(a) His mood would get happiest
(b) His conceit would become unbearable
(c) His anger would go beyond tolerance
(d) He would become tired and sleepy
Direction (4 and 5) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
They began in a light-hearted spirit, evidently
intending to show me how to do it. I made no
comment; I only waited. With the exception of
George, Harris is the worst packer in this world; and I
looked at the piles of plates and cups, and kettles, and
bottles, and jars, and pies, and stoves, and cakes, and
tomatoes, etc., and felt that the thing would soon
become exciting. It did. They started with breaking a
cup. That was the first thing they did. They did that
just to show you what they could do, and to get you
interested.
4. Which among the following is true according to the
extract?
(a) Jerome expected the packing scene to become
boring.
(b) Jerome genuinely wanted to help his friends out
rather than just watching.
(c) Jerome considered Harris to be the finest packer.
(d) Harris and George wanted to show Jerome that
they could pack well
5. Which action of Harris marked that he was the worst
packer?
60
(a) He packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato
and squashed it.
(b) He managed to pack properly
(c) He was competing with George
(d) He was lethargic
6. What is the tone of the narrator while describing the
packing skill of George and Harris from your
understanding of the above passage:
(a) Happy (b) Light-hearted
(c) Disturbed (d) Sarcastic
Direction (7 to 9) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
They began in a light-hearted spirit, evidently
intending to show me how to do it. I made no
comment; I only waited. With the exception of
George, Harris is the worst packer in this world; and I
looked at the piles of plates and cups, and kettles, and
bottles, and jars, and pies, and stoves, and cakes, and
tomatoes, etc., and felt that the thing would soon
become exciting. It did. They started with breaking a
cup. That was the first thing they did. They did that
just to show you what they could do, and to get you
interested.
7. Choose the synonym of the word ‘light-hearted’ from
the options given below:
(a) Confused
(b) Joyous
(c) Disturbed
8. a. What does “they’ refer to in this passage?
b. How did they start their programme?
c. Trace out the word from the passage that means
similar to “wishing”.
d. What was their intention behind breaking the cup?
9. Find a word in the extract that means
‘planning/meaning to do’.
(a) Evidently (b) Exception
(c) Intending (d) Piles
10. Describe briefly the butter incident in your own words.
11. How and where did the narrator find his toothbrush?
12. What did the narrator say about his own energetic
nature?
13. What does Jerome say was Montmorency’s ambition
in life? What do you think of Montmorency and why?
14. Of the three, Jerome, George and Harris, who do you
think is the best or worst packer? Support your answer
with details from the text.
THE LAST LEAF 61

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAST LEAF

1. In the month of ______ Johnsy was struck by 5. Which among the following is true according to the
pneumonia. extract?
(a) December (b) October (a) Johnsy is depressed about her illness
(c) November (d) January (b) Johnsy is going to die
2. Choose the correct synonym of the highlighted word. (c) Her illness is gradually increasing
‘She would lie in her bed without moving, just gazing (d) Behrman does not like painting
out of the window.’ 6. Which value of Sue’s character is revealed in the
above passage?
(a) A fake friend to Johnsy
(b) A trustworthy friend to Johnsy
(c) A self-centred friend to Johnsy
(d) A friend who give efforts to remove negatives
thoughts of Johnsy
7. Choose the correct image from the below options that
depicts what Johnsy did while she was in the bed:

(a) Option A (b) Option B 8. “Because I want to see the last leaf fall. I have done
(c) Option C (d) Option D enough waiting.” Comment on the tone of Johnsy in
3. What misconception had Johnsy developed in her this particular statement.
mind? (a) Dreadful
(a) she was great (b) Optimistic
(b) she can be cured (c) Hopeful
(c) she would die with the fall of last the leaf on the (d) Hopeless
creeper 9. What was the doctor’s observation regarding Johnsy’s
(d) all the above case?
Direction (4 to 8) : Read the extract given below and 10. Briefly state who was Behrman? How did he earn his
answer the following question- living?
“Tell me as soon as you have finished,” said Johnsy. 11. What was bothering Johnsy as she lay in her sickbed?
She closed her eyes and lay white and still. “Because I 12. Justify the title ‘The Last Leaf.’
want to see the last leaf fall. I have done enough 13. Briefly analyze the characteristics of Behrman
waiting. I have done enough thinking. I want to go highlighting the sacrifice he made to save Johnsy’s
sailing down, down, like one of those leaves.” “Try to life. Do you think he was a true friend in need?
sleep,” said Sue. “I must call Behrman to come up
here. I want to paint a man in this picture, and I’ll
make him look like Behrman. I won’t be gone a
minute. Don’t try to move till I come back.”
4. What does Johnsy refer to by the phrase - ‘sailing
down, down’:
(a) Falling down (b) Getting hurt
(c) Death (d) Loss of faith
THE DUCK AND THE KANGAROO 62

EXERCISE – 1 : THE DUCK AND THE KANGAROO

1. What did the Duck do to make himself fit to have a
ride on the Kangaroo’s back? 7. Choose the correct rhyme scheme of the above stanza:
(a) bought four pairs of worsted socks
(b) bought a cloak
(c) began smoking a cigar daily
(d) all of the above
2. The first four stanzas of "The Duck and the Kangaroo"
take place within the _______.
(a) Nasty pond 8. Why was the Duck fascinated by the Kangaroo’s
(b) House hopping?
(c) Shade 9. How did the Duck convince Kangaroo for the ride?
(d) River 10. What was the Kangaroo’s reaction to the Duck’s
3. Why does the duck praise kangaroo? request?
(a) for its ability to hop and move to places 11. What were the preparations done by the Duck for the
(b) for its size ride?
(c) for its appearance 12. What do you think is the theme of the poem?
(d) none 13. The poem, ‘The Duck and the Kangaroo’ is known as
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and ‘nonsense verse’. Bring out the humour in the poem.
answer the following question-
Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,
‘This requires some little reflection;
Perhaps on the whole it might bring me luck,
And there seems but one objection,
Which is, if you’ll let me speak so bold,
Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,
And would probably give me the roo-
Matiz!’ said the Kangaroo.
4. Why was the Kangaroo uncomfortable as mentioned in
the above stanza?
(a) Its feet are wet
(b) The cold was sickening
(c) He was hungry
(d) Both a and b
5. Which of the sentences is true from the above stanza?
(a) The Kangaroo thinks that giving a ride to the Duck
would bring him luck.
(b) The kangaroo is very rigid
(c) The duck is a bad swimmer
(d) The duck is very unfriendly
6. Choose one word from the below options that explain
the appropriate character trait of the Kangaroo in the
above stanza:
(a) Timid
(b) Insensitive
(c) Narrow
(d) Bold
REACH FOR THE TOP 63

EXERCISE – 1 : REACH FOR THE TOP

1. Which dream kept Sharapova going? (c) Progressive (d) Shrewd

(a) To become the wealthiest tennis player
(b) To become number one in the world
(c) To become an inspiration for many
(d) To travel around the world
2. Sharapova has expressed to play the _________ for
Russia if allowed.
(a) Wimbledon (b) Olympics
(c) National League (d) Australia’s Open
3. Santosh was fully equipped with ________.
(a) an iron will (b) physical endurance
(c) mental toughness (d) all of the above
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“From the very beginning I was quite determined that
if I chose a correct and a rational path, the others
around me had to change, and not me.
Direction (8 to 10) : Read the below extract carefully and
answer the questions:
“Instead of letting that depress me, I became more
quietly determined and mentally tough. I learnt how to
take care of myself. I never thought of quitting because
I knew what I wanted. When you come from nothing
and you have nothing, then it makes you very hungry
and determined ... I would have put up with much
more humiliation and insults than that to steadfastly
pursue my dream.”
8. Which of the following is the exact reason that might
have disturbed Maria?
(a) She was unwell
(b) She lost her match
(c) She couldn’t cope up with the food
(d) Her roommates would ask her to clean the room
late at night

4. Choose the correct speaker of the above line: 9. “When you come from nothing and you have nothing,
then it makes you very hungry and determined …”
What is the meaning of ‘hungry’ here?
(a) Driven and motivated (b) Starving
(c) Empty (d) Delicious
10. Find out the adverb from the above passage:

5. Which of the following statements is true?

(a) Santosh Yadav was humble because she was from
a village.
(b) Santosh Yadav loved to disobey her parents.
(c) Santosh Yadav had dreams and she was quite (a) Determined (b) Humiliation
different from a traditional village girl.
(c) Quietly (d) Moreover
(d) None of the above
11. Give a background of Maria Sharapova.
6. What does she mean by a rational path?
12. “Maria Sharapova cannot be pigeon-holed or
(a) Logical and not based on myths and traditions categorised. Explain
(b) Conventional 13. Write briefly about the incident that exhibits Santosh’s
(c) Comfortable strength of character, according to you.
(d) Very sophisticated 14. ‘Santosh’ means happiness and contentment. Was
7. Choose the most appropriate character trait of the Santosh really happy and content as her name
speaker from the above passage. suggested?
(a) Bold (b) Clever
A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME 64

EXERCISE – 1 : A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME

1. Where did the author and his mother spend their night 6. What does he mean by ‘diminish’ in the above
after the fire accident? passage?
(a) in their grandparent’s house (a) To shrink
(b) in their neighbour’s house (b) To develop
(c) in the fire brigade building (c) To prolong
(d) in the author’s school (d) To raise
2. What was the author doing when he saw smoke 7. What can be learnt from the above passage?
pouring in through the window? (a) Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
(a) playing in the courtyard (b) Do or die
(b) doing his homework (c) Kindness is a myth
(c) taking his meal (d) All of the above
(d) watching Television 8. What does the narrator mean when he said, “My cat
3. What did the mother bring out of the burning house? was back and so was I”?
(a) a metal box full of important documents (a) He found the lost cat
(b) some pictures of the author’s father (b) Uniting with the cat has given him hope
(c) both (a) and (b) (c) He never wanted to see the cat again
(d) none of the above (d) Both a and b
Direction (4 to 8) : Read the extract given below and 9. Why is the author deeply embarrassed the next day in
answer the following question- school? Which words show his fear and insecurity?
“As I sat there with my friends and my cat curled up in 10. What actions of the schoolmates change the author’s
my lap, all the overwhelming feelings of loss and understanding of life and people, and comfort him
tragedy seemed to diminish. I felt gratitude for my life, emotionally? How does his loneliness vanish and how
my new friends, the kindness of a stranger and the does he start participating in life?
loud purr of my beloved cat. My cat was back and so 11. How did the author get rid of his feelings of loss and
was I.” tragedy ?
4. Choose the tragic situation in the life of the narrator. 12. Why does the writer say that bad news travels fast?
13. The cat and the author are very fond of each other.
How has this been shown in the story? Where was the
cat after the fire? Who brought it back and how?

5. Which of the following statements is true?

(a) The cat was rescued by a neighbour
(b) The cat was rescued by a stranger
(c) The cat was adopted
(d) All of the above
ON KILLING A TREE 65

EXERCISE – 1 : ON KILLING A TREE

1. Gieve Patel’s ‘On killing a tree’ is ______
(a) A ballad
(b) A meditative poem
(c) An ironical poem
(d) A dramatic poem 5. ‘Miniature boughs which if unchecked will expand
2. Choose the correct figure of speech of the word in the again to former size.’ Which of the following options
center: means the same as the highlighted word in the given
stanza?
(a) Resolved
(b) Arrogant
(c) Ignored
(d) None of the above
6. What is the meaning of ‘bleeding bark’ in the above
(a) Option (i) stanza?

(b) Option (ii) (a) The branches are bleeding

(c) Option (iii) (b) Tree is oozing out blood

(d) Option (iv) (c) Hollow on the tree

3. According to the poet a tree procures food from (d) Wound on the tree that is caused by hacking
______. 7. What does the poet try to convey through these lines?
(a) Core of the soil 8. How will the ‘bleeding bark’ heal?
(b) Crust of the soil 9. Is it easier to chop off a tree or grow a new one?
(c) The sap 10. Why has he called the root sensitive?
(d) All of the above 11. What has the poet referred to by ‘Leprous hide’?
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and 12. How has the poet described the killing of a tree in the
answer the following question- poem, “On Killing a Tree”?
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size.
4. Choose the appropriate picture from the below that
means the same as a ‘bough’:
THE BOND OF LOVE 66

EXERCISE – 1 : THE BOND OF LOVE

1. What did the author’s son and the author advise his 5. Which aspect of Bruno’s character is revealed from the
wife when Bruno was grown up? above passage?
(a) to sell him (a) Bruno is a coward
(b) to leave him in the forest (b) Bruno is a strong black bear
(c) to give him to the zoo at Mysore (c) Bruno is manipulative
(d) all of the above (d) All of the above
2. What was the effect of barium carbonate on Bruno? 6. Find the word from the passage that means ‘screams’:
(a) he became paralysed (a) Disdainfully (b) Stertorous
(b) he was vomiting (c) Hypodermic (d) Squeals
(c) he was breathing heavily 7. Choose the appropriate meaning of the line, “Ten
minutes later: breathing less stertorous”:
(d) all of the above
(a) Breathing issues increased because of illness
3. What does this story highlight?
(b) Having severe cold
(a) the bond of love and care between human beings
and animals (c) No noisy breathing
(b) care of animals (d) Both a and b are correct
(c) animals are not always dangerous 8. Which among the given words from the extract is an
adverb:
(d) animals need love
Direction (4 to 8) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question-
“Hold him, everybody! In goes the hypodermic—
Bruno squeals — 10 c.c. of the antidote enters his
system without a drop being wasted. Ten minutes
later: condition unchanged! Another 10 c.c. injected!
Ten minutes later: breathing less stertorous— Bruno
can move his arms and legs a little although he cannot
stand yet. Thirty minutes later: Bruno gets up and has (a) Antidote (b) Disdainfully
a great feed! He looks at us disdainfully, as much as to
(c) Quiet (d) Stertorous
say, ‘What’s barium carbonate to a big black bear like
me?’ Bruno is still eating” 9. Was Bruno a loving and playful pet? Why, then, did he
have to be sent away?
4. Which of the following refers to the meaning of the
word ‘Hypodermic’ as used in the above passage? 10. Bruno once got paralysis. Why? How was he cured?
11. How did Bruno and the narrator’s wife feel after
getting separated?
12. What special arrangements were made for Bruno at the
narrator’s house when he was brought back home from
the zoo?
13. ‘Love is natural’. Illustrate with reference to the story
‘The Bond of Love’.
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST 67

EXERCISE – 1 : THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

1. After an accident on the plane, the author’s teeth (a) The narrator’s finger was bleeding because he was
looked _____. chopping fruits.
(a) green (b) red (b) The narrator cut his finger while trying to open the
zip on the bag.
(c) ivory white (d) navy blue
(c) The narrator was trying to staple the book and got
2. Choose the most appropriate character trait of Bill.
hurt.
(a) Clear minded (b) Clumsy
(d) The narrator was trying to cut pieces of the clothes
(c) Intelligent (d) All of the above and got a cut.
3. What did Bill knock on the lady sitting next to him 7. ‘I can’t believe you do this for a living’. What can be
while travelling? inferred from this statement?
(a) A glass of cold drink (a) The narrator’s wife is happy
(b) A water bottle (b) The narrator’s wife is agitated
(c) Cup of coffee (c) The narrator’s wife is mad at him
(d) Ice Cream bar (d) The wife found the reaction of the narrator strange
Direction (4 to 8) : Read the extract given below and 8. Which among the given words is the synonym of
answer the following question- ‘Wrath’?
“It was at this point that my wife looked at me with an
expression of wonder — not anger or exasperation, but
just simple wonder — and said, “I can’t believe you do
this for a living.” But I’m afraid it’s so. I always have
catastrophes when I travel.”
4. Choose the appropriate incident that had caused the
narrator’s wife to look at him with wonder.

(a) Fury
(b) Expression
(c) Wonder
(d) Living
9. What happens when the zip on the narrator’s carry-on
5. Which of the following words implies the same bag gives way?
meaning as ‘catastrophes’?
10. Bill Bryson “ached to be suave”. Is he successful in his
(a) Happiness mission? List his ‘unsuave’ ways.
(b) Success 11. How does Bill Bryson end up in a ‘crash position’ in
(c) Mercy the aeroplane?

(d) Disasters 12. Why do you think Bill Bryson’s wife says to the
children, ‘Take the lids off the food for Daddy’?
6. Which of the following is true according to your
understanding of the story? 13. What kind of picture do you get of the writer’s
character from the lesson ‘The Accidental Tourist’?
THE SNAKE TRYING 68

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE TRYING

1. What did the snake do when it found someone chasing (d) OBSERVE
him ? Direction (7 and 8) : Read the extract given below and
(a) It slithered away to save itself. answer the following question-
(b) It rushed to bite the chaser He glides through the water away
(c) It started a negotiation with the chaser so that the from the stroke. O let him go
chaser wouldn't hit him. over the water into the reeds to hide
2. Which trait of the snake does the speaker NOT focus without hurt. Small and green
on in the poem ? he is harmless even to children.
(a) Harmlessness 7. How does the snake appear?
(b) Beauty
(c) Green colour
(d) Aggressiveness
3. How does the poet describe the snake?
A. Graceful and beautiful
B. Large and black in colour
C. Charming and green in colour
(a) Only A
(b) Only B
(c) Only A and B
(d) Only A and C
Direction (4 to 6) : Read the extract given below and
answer the following question- 8. Pick the option that correctly classifies fact/s (F) and
Along the sand opinion/s (O).
he lay until observed
and chased away, and now
he vanishes in the ripples
among the green slim reeds (a) Facts- A,B; Opinion-C
4. What was the snake doing lying along the sand? (b) Facts-A; Opinions-B,C
(a) The snake was idly lying on the sand, basking in (c) Fact-C; Opinions-A,B
the sun. 9. Which literary device is used in the following lines?
(b) The snake was feeding on its prey. “The snake trying
(c) The snake was trying to bite its chaser. to escape the pursuing stick,”
5. Why did the snake feel the need to vanish in the 10. Why is the chaser willing to kill the snake?
ripples? 11. What idea do you recieve of the speaker’s attitude
A. Because he was chased by a man with a stick with towards all living creatures?
an intention to hurt him. 12. Why does the speaker want the snake to be spared?
B. Because he was chased by another snake with an 13. The poem inspires us to cultivate a sympathetic
intention to harm him. attitude towards all living creatures. Elucidate.
C. Because he wanted to catch a prey inside the waters
(a) Only B and C
(b) Only A
(c) Only C
(d) Only B
6. Find the word that is NOT the synonym of “Vanish”.
(a) DISAPPEAR
(b) FADE
(c) EVANESCE
KATHMANDU 69

EXERCISE – 1 : KATHMANDU

1. Identify the temple the author visited in Kathmandu ? A. The crowd of worshippers made way for the
princess.
B. The crowd of worshippers bowed down to her.
C. The westerners found it difficult to enter the main
gate as the policeman was not convinced that they
were ‘the Hindus’
(a) Fact-A,B, Opinion -C
(b) Fact-A,C, Opinion -B
(c) Fact-B, Opinion -C, A
(d) Fact-A,B,C
5. Which place is being talked about in the above
extract?
(a) Devi’s Temple, Pokhara
2. The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca (b) Pashupati Temple
Cola.” What does ‘all this’ refer to? (c) Mahendra Caves
A. Eating the fruits served to the writer by the (d) Bindhyabasini Temple
Nepalese tourist guide
6. Why do the saffron-clad Westerners struggle for
B. Eating a corn-on-the-cob roasted in a charcoal permission to enter?
brazier on the pavement
(a) Because the temple allows entry only to Hindus.
C. Eating a bar of marzipan
(b) Because the temple did not allow entry to saffron-
D. Reading the holy books at Pashupati temple clad people.
(a) Only A and D (c) Because the princess of the Nepalese royal house
(b) Only B, C did not allow them to enter.
(c) Only D (d) Because the temple allows entry only to only
(d) Only A saffron-clad Indians.
3. What does Vikram Seth compare to the quills of a Direction (7 and 8) : Read the extract given below and
porcupine? answer the following question-
(a) The ten tablas protruding in all directions from the It weaves its own associations. Yet to hear any flute is,
pole it seems to me, to be drawn into the commonality of all
(b) The fifty or sixty flutes protruding in all directions mankind, to be moved by music closest in its phrases
from the pole and sentences to the human voice. Its motive force too
is living breath: it too needs to pause and breathe
(c) The fifty or sixty flutes not protruding in any
before it can go on.
directions
7. What does ‘it weaves its own associations’ mean here?
(d) The worship songs of Pashupati temple
A. Each kind of flute produces a different and unique
Direction (4 to 6) : Read the extract given below and
type of music.
answer the following question-
B. This unique type of music is associated with some
“A princess of the Nepalese royal house appears;
particular place.
everyone bows and makes way. By the main gate, a
party of saffron-clad Westerners struggle for D. Each kind of Mridangam produces unique sounds.
permission to enter.” (a) Only A (b) Only A and B
4. Pick the option that correctly classifies fact/s (F) and (c) Only A and C (d) Only C
opinion/s (O).
KATHMANDU 70

8. Pick the statements that are true-

A. The music of the flute is closest to the human voice
B. The extract discusses about musical instrument such
as percussion and tanpura
C. Pauses and breaths are needed to produce musical
notes of the flute
(a) Only A is true
(b) Only B is true
(c) Only A ,B, C are true
(d) Only A and C are true
9. What contrast does the author notice between the flute
seller and the other hawkers?
10. What is the belief at Pashupatinath about the evil
period of Kaliyug?
11. “To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality
of all mankind.” Elucidate.
12. How does Vikram Seth describe Kathmandu’s busiest
streets in his prose piece?
13. The author has drawn powerful images and pictures.
Pick out examples of “ the atmosphere of ‘febrile
confusion’ outside the temple of Pashupatinath”
(for example: some people trying to get the priest’s
attention are elbowed aside...)
THE BEGGAR 71

EXERCISE – 1 : THE BEGGAR

1. At the beginning of the lesson the beggar claims that (d) the cook had promised to chop wood for him.
before becoming a beggar he was a__________ 6. Read the following statements and choose the option
(a) woodcutter that lists the statement/ s that are FALSE according to
the extract:
(b) farmer
1. The beggar had a scarecrow with him.
(c) school teacher
2. The beggar was under the influence of alcohol.
(d) Postmaster
3. The beggar was in the best of his health.
2. “I can’t get along without lying. No one will give me
anything when I tell the truth, what can I do?” 4. The beggar had no desire to do hard work.
Who is the speaker of these lines? (a) Only 1, 2 & 3
(a) Sergei (b) All the statements are false
(b) Lushkoff (c) Only 1 & 3
(c) Chekov (d) Only 1
(d) Olga 7. The word ‘gait’ in the extract refers to the
3. “I haven’t five copecks for a lodging,”
‘Copecks’ used here are
(a) Russian coins
(b) Russian houses
(c) Russian blankets
(d) Russian currency notes
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract and answer the (a) Option a
question that follows: (b) Option b
The scarecrow of a beggar shrugged his shoulders, as (c) Option c
if in perplexity, and went irresolutely after the cook. It
(d) Option d
was obvious from his gait that he had not consented to
go and chop wood because he was hungry and wanted 8. Choose the characteristics displayed by Lushkoff in
work, but simply from pride and shame and because he the extract.
had been trapped by his own words. It was obvious, (a) stubborn
too, that his strength had been undermined by vodka (b) humble
and that he was unhealthy and did not feel the slightest
(c) gullible
inclination for toil.
(d) bossy
4. Lushkoff found it difficult to work due to his
Direction (9 to 11) : Read the extract and answer the
(a) heavy weight
question that follows:
(b) alcoholism
“Thank you for your kind words and deeds. I am very
(c) big dreams grateful to you and to your cook. God bless that good
(d) bad medical condition and noble woman! You spoke finely then, and I shall
5. The beggar went after the cook because be indebted to you to my dying day; but, strictly
speaking, it was your cook, Olga, who saved me.”
(a) Sergei had asked him to go with the cook to chop
wood.
(b) Sergei had asked the cook to give him a copying
job.
(c) the cook had promised to give him food.
THE BEGGAR 72

9. Which among these best represent the work that Olga 11. Which word does ‘indebted’ not correspond to?
did for Lushkoff? (a) grateful
(b) obligated
(c) beholden
(d) unappreciated
12. Why did Lushkoff agree to work for Sergei?
13. Why did the beggar say that he could not get on
without lying?
14. Why do you think the beggar is described as a
scarecrow?
15. Olga behaved very rudely with the beggar. Do you
think Olga’s behaviour was real? Give reasons for
your answer.
16. ‘Patience and love are required to bring in a positive
transformation’. Do you agree? Write your answer
with reference to the chapter ‘The Beggar’.
(a) Option (i)
(b) Option (ii)
(c) Option (iii)
(d) Option (iv)
10. How did Olga speak to Lushkoff when she took her to
the shed to give him some work?
(a) finely
(b) sensitively
(c) courteously
(d) inconsiderately
A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT SEAL 73

EXERCISE – 1 : A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT SEAL

1. What fact is the speaker trying to accept? (b) Only a and b

(a) That his friend, Lucy is no more. (c) Only c and a
(b) That his friend, Lucy is alive again. 6. Find a word that has the same meaning as ‘diurnal’.
(c) That his friend, Lucy, is about to visit him.
2. What changes did the slumber bring upon the poet’s
feelings?
(a) The slumber brought peace to his mind
(b) He realised that his beloved had become part of
nature and would always remain around him.
(c) The slumber brought chaos to his mind
(a) Only a
(b) Only a and b
(c) a,b and c
(d) Only b
(a) Only a and b
3. “She seemed a thing that could not feel
(b) Only d
The touch of earthly years.”
(c) Only c and d
Which of the following poetic devices is used in the
7. Why does the speaker’s friend neither hear nor see?
line given above?
(a) As she was deaf and blind since her birth
(a) Enjambment
(b) The “earthly years” have taken these senses away
(b) Personification
from her and have confined her to death.
(c) Simile
(c) As she is reluctant to hear and see.
(d) Metaphor
(d) The “earthly years” have taken these senses away
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract given below and from her and have confined her to death.
answer the following question-
8. How does the poet respond to his loved one’s death?
“No motion has she now, no force
9. Why does the speaker not feel any human fears?
She neither hears nor sees,
10. What does the poet mean by ‘spirit’? In what state of
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course mind was the poet dwelling?
With rocks and stones and trees.” 11. Explain the theme of the poem, ‘A Slumber in my
4. What rhyme scheme is used in the given stanza? Spirit Seal’?
(a) cdcd 12. Analyse the poem, “A Slumber did My Spirit Seal” in
(b) adcb your own words.
(c) dacd
(d) abcd
5. What do you infer from the given stanza?
(a) The speaker’s friend cannot move anymore
(b) She has become one, physically, and spiritually,
with the rocks, and stones.
(c) She was deaf and blind when alive.
(a) Only a
IF I WERE YOU 74

EXERCISE – 1 : IF I WERE YOU

1. Gerrard was a __________ by profession. (a) That would help him imitate Gerrard better
(a) detective (b) He was curious
(b) police (c) He was collecting data about playwrights
(c) playwright (d) He wanted to rob Gerrard
(d) poet 6. Read the following statements and choose the option
that lists the statement/ s that are TRUE according to
2. “Put those paws up!”
the extract:
Here paws refer to
1. Gerrard wanted to hide his belongings from the
(a) backpack intruder.
(b) hands 2. A lot of people visited Gerrard everyday.
(c) stick 3. The intruder was in a light mood.
(d) feet 4. Gerrard found the intruder to be more interesting
3. How did Gerrard react when the intruder said that he than the baker and the milkman.
was going to kill Gerrard? (a) Only 1, 2 & 3
(a) Remained unruffled (b) All the statements are false
(b) Became nervous (c) Only 1 & 3
(c) Was puzzled (d) Only 4
(d) Started screaming for help 7. The author uses the phrase ‘round the corner’ in the
Direction (4 to 7) : Read the extract and answer the extract. Which among these does not collate with
question that follows: ‘corner’ to make a phrase?
GERRARD : Are you American, or is that merely a
clever imitation?
INTRUDER : Listen, this gun’s no toy. I can hurt you
without killing you, and still get my answers.
GERRARD : Of course, if you put it like that, I’ll be
glad to assist you. I do possess a car, and it’s in the
garage round the corner. (a) Option 1
INTRUDER : That’s better. Do people often come out (b) Option 2
here?
(c) Option 3
GERRARD : Very rarely. Surprisingly few people
(d) Option 4
take the trouble to visit me. There’s the baker and the
Direction (8 to 11) : Read the extract and answer the
greengrocer, of course; and then there’s the milkman
question that follows:
— quite charming, but no one so interesting as
yourself. INTRUDER : Sit down there, and no funny business.
(Motions to a chair, and seats himself on the divan by
4. By stating that the gun was no toy, the intruder wanted
the bag.) Now then, we’ll have a nice little talk about
to
yourself!
(a) sympathize with Gerrard.
GERRARD : At last a sympathetic audience! I’ll tell
(b) scare Gerrard. you the story of my life. How as a child I was stolen
(c) make Gerrard comfortable. by the gypsies, and why at the age of thirty-two, I find
(d) showoff his weapons. myself in my lonely Essex cottage, how ...
5. The intruder kept on asking for different details from INTRUDER : Keep it to yourself, and just answer my
Gerrard because questions. You live here alone? Well, do you?
IF I WERE YOU 75

GERRARD : I’m sorry. I thought you were telling me, 11. Choose the correct meaning of the word ‘inflection’ as
not asking me. A question of inflection; your voice is used in the extract:
unfamiliar. (a) a change in topic
8. Choose the characteristics displayed by Gerrard in the (b) a change in attitude
extract.
(c) a change in meaning
(a) stubborn
(d) a change in the modulation of voice
(b) having good sense of humour
12. Who actually was the intruder in Gerrard's house?
(c) gullible
13. Is the intruder more intelligent than Gerrard? Why/
(d) adventurous Why not?
9. What did the intruder want Gerrard to keep to himself? 14. What logic does the speaker give for misinterpreting
(a) His identity the inflection of the intruder’s voice?
(b) His life history 15. Write a short note on the theme of the drama ‘If I were
(c) His suggestion You’.
(d) His wealth 16. How did Gerrard’s action of packing his bag at the
beginning of the play help him outwit the intruder?
10. ‘At last a sympathetic audience!’ What do you think is
the tone of this comment by Gerrard?
(a) sensitive
(b) serious
(c) sarcastic
(d) angry
READING EXTRA 76

EXERCISE – 1 : READING EXTRA

Direction (1 to 10) : Read the following passage and (b) politics

answer the questions that follow. (c) self development
Peace is not understood only in terms of avoiding war; (d) economics
peace is to establish an active culture of living in 3. Which among these means the same as ‘inevitable’?
peace. Since ages, we have found excuses to fight. If
(a) unavoidable
we do not work for individual transformation, talking
about world peace is just one more form of (b) assured
entertainment. (c) both a & b
Without attending to individual human beings, trying (d) neither a or b
to bring about any kind of change in the world, always 4. According to the author what is violence?
leads to more problems. If there are no peaceful human (a) destruction of properties and lives by extra
beings, there is no peaceful world. terrestrial creatures
Today, the world’s focus is on economics. Since the (b) difference in attitude between people of different
planet’s resources are limited, and our lives are driven countries
by the engine of economics, war is inevitable. Unless
(c) war between two sects
subtler aspects of life become important, peace
remains a dream. (d) destruction of life, beyond the need for one’s
survival
Any destruction of life, beyond the need for one’s
survival, is violence. Religion and quarrelling cannot 5. Which among these is NOT TRUE according to the
go together. Somewhere, we have lost the basic sense passage?
of what religion is. (a) war is inevitable because the planet’s resources are
True religion is an inward step. But, today, it has limited
become only about belonging to this group or that (b) in the present day religion means to belong to this
group. This has only brought hatred, conflict and group or that group
separation among people. What the world needs is not (c) peaceful individuals can make the world peaceful
more religions or more followers, but people
(d) peace can be attained through slogans and
committed to becoming peaceful themselves.
statements
If people just learnt how to be absolutely still with
6. What has religion brought into today’s world?
great intensity, you would see all violence simply
evaporate from the planet. (a) hatred
It is not slogans and statements that will bring peace to (b) conflict
the world, but a lifelong striving to produce peaceful (c) separation among people
human beings. Peace is not in terms of just avoiding (d) all of these
war, but establishing an active culture of living in
7. What according to the author do the people need to
peace in the world.
learn?
1. To bring change in the world one should try
(a) to understand their religion
to________.
(b) to talk peacefully among themselves
(a) attend the graver problem of the world
(c) to be absolutely still with great intensity
(b) attend to individual human beings
(d) the meaning of peace
(c) attend to one’s own problems
8. The author attempts to __________________ the
(d) none of these
readers through this write-up.
2. According to the author today’s world’s focus is
(a) rebuke
on________
(b) question
(a) geography
READING EXTRA 77

(c) offer aid to

(d) offer advice to
9. Select the option that makes the correct use of
“striving”, as used in the passage, to fill in the blank
space.
(a) The company always ________to satisfy its
customers
(b) Always try to ________ for more or better
(c) We should always be _______ to become better.
(d) I will_______ to overcome these problems.

10. Choose the option that best captures the central idea of
the passage from the given quotes.

(a) Option (a)

(b) Option (b)
(c) Option (c)
(d) Option (d)
NEW READING HACKS
EXERCISE – 1 : NEW READING HACKS
1. Choose the correct statement: 4.
(a) Comprehension is the act of memorising facts.
(b) Comprehension is the act of understanding what
you read.
(c) Comprehension is the act of discovering new words
while reading.
2. While reading a passage we should try to look for 5.
(a) the sentences that are easy to memorise.
(b) the words that have easier spelling.
(c) the main idea.
3. To answer multiple choice questions, one should
(a) randomly mark any option
(b) only read the first two options and mark any one of 6.
them
(c) go through all the options and then mark the correct
answer.
Direction (4 to 13) : Read the following passage and
answer the questions that follow.
It was still dark when he awoke, and, looking up, he
could see the stars through the half-destroyed roof. I 7.
wanted to sleep a little longer, he thought. He had had
the same dream that night as a week ago, and once
again he had awakened before it ended.
He arose and, taking up his crook, began to awaken the
sheep that still slept. He had noticed that, as soon as he
awoke, most of his animals also began to stir. It was as
if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of the 8.
sheep, with whom he had spent the past two years,
leading them through the countryside in search of food
and water. "They are so used to me that they know my
schedule," he muttered. Thinking about that for a
moment, he realized that it could be the other way
around: that it was he who had become accustomed to
their schedule.
But there were certain of them who took a bit longer to 9.
awaken. The boy prodded them, one by one, with his
crook, calling each by name. He had always believed
that the sheep were able to understand what he said. So
there were times when he read them parts of his books
that had made an impression on him, or when he
would tell them of the loneliness or the happiness of a
shepherd in the fields. Sometimes he would comment
to them on the things he had seen in the villages they
passed.
78
Why did the boy lead the sheep through the
countryside?
(a) To sell them
(b) To look for food and water
(c) To take them to their master
(d) None of these
“...as soon as he awoke, most of his animals also began
to stir.” This line means that
(a) the sheep began to run here and there
(b) the sheep started bleating together
(c) the sheep started waking up from their sleep
(d) the animals started moving out silently
Choose the option that correctly states the meaning of
the phrase ‘the other way around’, as used in the
passage.
(a) Moving in the opposite direction
(b) Moving in the same direction
(c) The opposite of what is expected
(d) Telling the same thing again and again
From the reading of the passage we come to know that
the boy was
(a) a farmer
(b) a butcher
(c) a merchant
(d) a shepherd
The boy read parts of his books to his sheep because
(a) he thought that the sheep would get entertained that
way.
(b) he thought that the sheep could understand him.
(c) he thought that the sheep moved faster if he read
out to them.
(d) he thought that the sheep enjoyed listening to him
The word ‘crook’ used in para 2 is
(a) a weapon
(b) an instrument used to measure time
(c) a dishonest person
(d) a long stick with a curved end, carried by a
shepherd
NEW READING HACKS 79

10. Which among these is NOT TRUE according to the 12. From the passage we can infer that the boy
passage? (a) loved sleeping and dreaming.
(a) The boy moved around with his flock of sheep in (b) was an avid reader.
search of food.
(c) did not like his job as a shepherd.
(b) The boy felt that he had some kind of connection
(d) was an arrogant boy.
with his sheep.
13. Select the option that makes the correct use of
(c) The boy told stories of his glorious past to his
“certain” (para 3), as used in the passage
sheep.
(a) Certain members of the audience may disagree
(d) The boy had spent two years with his flock.
with what I am saying.
11. What did the boy do to wake the sleeping sheep?
(b) One thing is certain - he won't resign willingly.
(a) Poked them
(c) I can't say for certain how long I'll be there.
(b) Called them by their names
(d) Oil prices are certain to rise after the elections.
(c) Played loud music
(d) Both A & B
PHRASES & CLAUSES 80

EXERCISE – 1 : PHRASES & CLAUSES

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options: (c) ordered that the traitor
(a) Adverbial clauses of _____ (condition/time/place) (d) The king ordered that the traitor
often begin with ‘if’, ‘unless’, or ‘provided that’. 7. Pick the Relative Clause in the following sentences.
(b) A __________ (clause/phrase) is a group of words I bought a cell phone that has internet access.
without a subject-verb component, used as a single (a) that has internet access.
part of speech.
(b) a cell phone
(c) Adverb clauses of _____ (condition/time/place) tell
(c) I bought a
us about when something happens.
(d) phone that has
2. Identify the subordinate clause in the following
sentences. 8. Pick the Adverb Clause in the following sentences.

I waited for him until he came. The dogs started chasing my car once they saw it turn
the corner.
(a) I waited
(a) once they saw it turn the corner.
(b) until he came
(b) The dogs started
(c) for him
(c) chasing my car
(d) I waited for him until
(d) my car once they
3. Identify the Main Clause in the following sentences.
9. Pick the noun phrase in the following sentence.
Don’t ask his opinion unless you are ready for a frank
answer The bewildered tourist was lost.

(a) Don’t ask his opinion (a) The bewildered tourist

(b) unless you are (b) tourist was lost

(c) ready for a frank answer (c) bewildered tourist was

(d) Opinion unless (d) The bewildered

4. Identify the clause of time in the following sentence. 10. Identify the verb phrase in the following sentence.

By the time they finished, she had cooked dinner. She can smell the pizza.

(a) They finished (a) Can smell

(b) By the time they finished (b) The pizza

(c) She had (c) She can

(d) Cooked dinner (d) She can smell the

5. Identify the relative clause in the following sentence. 11. Identify the Adverb clause in the following sentences.

Yesterday I met a man who works in the circus. Jennifer scrubbed the bathtub until her arms ached.

(a) met a man (a) Jennifer scrubbed

(b) who works in the circus (b) the bathtub

(c) Yesterday I (c) until her arms ached.

(d) met a man who (d) scrubbed the bathtub

6. Identify the Noun Clause in the following sentences.
The king ordered that the traitor should be put to
death.
(a) that the traitor should be put to death
(b) The king ordered
Direction (12 to 16) : Pick out the phrases in each of the
given sentences-
(a) Anand speaks _____________. (b)_____________,
his oratory skills are excellent . (c)He won the award
___________. (d) And now, he is a public figure
____________. (e) He is a man ____________.
PHRASES & CLAUSES 81

12. (a)
(a) born orator a like
(b) a born like orator
(c) like a born orator
13. (b)
(a) Beyond a doubt
(b) Doubt a beyond
(c) A beyond doubt
14. (c)
(a) All the difficulties inspite of
(b) Inspite of all the difficulties
(c) Of all the difficulties inspite
(d) Difficulties inspite of all
15. (d)
(a) Immense importance of
(b) Immense of importance
(c) of immense importance
16. (e)
(a) of wonderful patience too
(b) too of wonderful patience
(c) Patience of wonderful too
(d) Of patience wonderful too
WRITING-INFORMAL LETTER 82

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING-INFORMAL LETTER

1. Choose the correct sentence.
(a) An informal letter may talk about more than one
thing.
(b) An informal letter must consist of only one
paragraph.
2. An informal letter is written in the
(a) first person
(b) second person
(c) third person
3. Which of these phrases can be used to end an informal
letter?
(a) Best wishes to all of you.
(b) Thank you very much for your letter.
(c) I received your letter today.
(d) Thank you for your letter of 6th March.
4. You are a Simi from Greater Kailash, New Delhi.
Write a letter to Manasi, congratulating her for
securing an internship with a leading designer house in
Mumbai.
5. You are Sparshi, a resident student of St Jude’s
School, Bengaluru. Write a letter to your uncle,
describing your new school and hostel life.
REPORTED SPEECH
EXERCISE – 1 : REPORTED SPEECH
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options:
(a) ___________(Direct Speech/Indirect Speech)
reports the speaker’s message in the exact words as
spoken by him.
(b) ___________(Direct Speech/Indirect Speech)
reports the message of the speaker in our own
words.
(c) No _____________(conjunction/verb) is used if a
sentence in Direct Speech begins with a question
word as the question word itself acts as a joining
clause.
2. Change the following Direct Speech into Indirect
Speech-
I haven’t seen them since last week.
(a) She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous
week.
(b) She said she hadn’t seen them since the last week.
(c) She said she hasn’t seen them since the previous
week.
(d) She said she hadn’t saw them since the previous
week.
3. Change the following direct speech into Indirect
speech-
He said, “Where do they live?”
(a) He asked me where they live.
(b) He asked me where they lived.
(c) He asked me where they would live.
(d) He said to me where I lived.
4. Change the following Direct Speech into Indirect
Speech-
"I will do it for you," she promised.
(a) She promised that she would do it for me.
(b) She promises that she would do it for me.
(c) She promised that she will do it for me.
(d) None
5. Change the following Direct Speech into Indirect
Speech-
“I am playing the guitar”, she explained.
(a) She said that she will be playing the guitar.
(b) She explained that she was playing the guitar.
(c) She explained that she had been playing the guitar.
83
(d) She explained that she will have to play the guitar.
6. Change the following Direct Speech into Indirect
Speech-
He said, “Irvin arrived on Monday.”
(a) He said that Irvin had arrived on Monday.
(b) He said that Irvin arrived on Monday.
(c) He said that Irvin has arrived on Monday.
(d) Both A and C
7. Change the following Indirect Speech into Direct
Speech-
She said that she would be in Russia the next day.
(a) She said, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
(b) She said, “I will have been in Russia tomorrow.”
(c) She said, “I have been in Russia tomorrow.”
(d) She exclaimed, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
8. Change the following Indirect Speech into Direct
Speech-
He requested him to complete it.
(a) He said to him ‘Complete it now’.
(b) He said to him ‘Please complete it’.
(c) He said to him ‘Will you complete it’.
(d) He said to him ‘Can you complete it’.
9. Change the following Indirect Speech into Direct
Speech-
The man exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.
(a) The man said, ‘Ah! Am I ruined?’
(b) The man said, ‘Ah! I am ruined.’
(c) The man said, ‘Ah! She is ruined.’
(d) The man said, ‘ I am ruined.’
10. Change the following Indirect Speech into Direct
Speech-
David said that he would be making tea.
(a) David said, “I would be making tea.”
(b) David said, “I will make tea.”
(c) David said, “I will be making tea.”
(d) David said, “I will have made tea.”
REPORTED SPEECH 84

11. Change the following Indirect Speech into Direct 12. (i)
Speech- (a) exclaimed what she was
Salina said that she had met James the day before. (b) told her what she was
(a) Salina said, ‘I meet James yesterday.’ (c) asked her what she was
(b) Salina said, ‘I had met James yesterday.’ (d) says to her about what
(c) Salina said, ‘I met James yesterday.’ 13. (ii)
(d) Salina said, ‘I will meet James yesterday.’ (a) ordered that
Direction (12 to 14) : Choose the correct options to fill in (b) refused that
the blanks to complete Aunt May’s narration-
(c) questioned that
(d) replied that
14. (iii)
(a) has heard that people who has
(b) was hearing that people who were
(c) had heard that people who had
(d) did hear that people who had

Aunt May : Chandni, what are you doing sitting all

alone here?Chandni: Aunt, I’m trying to win a gold
medal. Aunt May: How will sitting in my orchard help
you win a gold medal? Chandni: because, that’s how
it’s won. I’ve heard that the women who have won
gold medals were all sitting out in various orchards.
Aunt May: Oh!
“I saw Chandni sitting all alone in the orchard. When I
-(i)- doing there, she -(ii)- she was trying to win a gold
medal. I was confused and enquired how sitting in the
orchard would help her do so. She stumped me by
saying that she -(iii)- won gold medals had all been
sitting out in their orchards!
PREPOSITIONS 85

EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS
1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option: Karan and Juhi have been in the same class since first
(a) A preposition is a word that is used __________a grade.
noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to (a) Preposition of cause and effect
another word. (after/before) (b) Preposition of manner
(b) _________ may be used instead of ‘in’ with (c) Preposition of time
periods of the day, months, seasons, years, decades (d) Preposition of possession
and centuries to express the idea that something 9. Which among the following sentences does not have
continues throughout the whole of a specified the correct use of preposition?
period. (during/for)
(a) We couldn't afford to go there by airplane.
(c) ‘By’ and ‘With’ are commonly used as prepositions
(b) Lunch is served at two o'clock
of ________. (manner/ place)
(c) Yuvan was at the zoo on four hours.
2. Which among these can be also used as a preposition
(d) She met me at the North main street .
of time:
10. Choose the correct preposition to fill in the blank.
(a) Beside (b) At
My friend’s father is a man ___wealth.
(c) Next to (d) Above
(a) at (b) of
3. Fill in the blank with the correct preposition:
(c) by (d) beside
I'll be ready to leave ____ about ten minutes.
11. Choose the option that has a sentence in which a
(a) with (b) in
preposition of cause and effect is used.
(c) on (d) at
(a) The reason for my late arrival is the horrible traffic.
4. The preposition ‘to’ in the sentence below is a
(b) Beside his house there is a beautiful park.
preposition of ________:
(c) Mr. and Mrs. Jindal have been married since 2004.
The house on the mountain belongs to my
grandmother. (d) Daniel is very good at maths.
(a) possession (b) instrument 12. (i)
(c) manner (d) time (a) at (b) of
5. Fill in the blank with a suitable preposition: (c) for (d) on
The situation is _____ control. 13. (ii)
(a) of (b) above (a) on (b) at
(c) under (d) about (c) in (d) behind
6. Choose the best preposition of instrument for the 14. (iii)
sentence below: (a) in (b) on
May I finish my homework ___ your computer? (c) at (d) beside
(a) in (b) on 15. (iv)
(c) at (d) of (a) on (b) since
7. Pick the preposition from the below sentence and (c) for (d) at
identify its type: 16. (v)
Their sales increase through effective marketing. (a) of (b) by
(a) Their- preposition of manner (c) in (d) about
(b) through- preposition of cause and effect 17. (vi)
(c) increase- preposition of possession (a) behind (b) beside
(d) Effective- preposition of place (c) across (d) between
8. Choose the correct type of the preposition used in the
sentence below:
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS
EXERCISE – 1 : UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS
1. Choose the correct statement:
(a) The physical look of a character does not help in
building his character sketch .
(b) A character’s vocabulary, tone, choice of topics
gives a lot of information about him/her.
(c) It is not possible to know about a character by
studying the effect he/she has on other characters.
2. Traits of a character can mostly be revealed through
(a) his name
(b) the setting of the story
(c) the character’s behaviour
3. A __________is the leading character of a drama or
literary work.
(a) protagonist
(b) antagonist
(c) author
Direction (4 to 8) : Read the following poem and answer
the questions that follow.
Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden
Paw—
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying
Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s
not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of
gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s
not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up
in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not
there!
Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are
sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is
highly domed;
86
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are
uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements
like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide
awake.
4. The above poem is about
(a) a cat who is also a detective
(b) a villainous and wicked cat
(c) a pet cat
5. Macavity is called ‘Hidden Paw’ because
(a) He has one paw hidden behind another.
(b) He has an injured paw.
(c) He can escape from the law every single time.
(d) he can float in the air without his paws being seen.
6. Which among these physical features of Macavity can
help you to recognize him?
(a) He is short and plump
(b) He is jet black in colour
(c) He has a dusty coat
(d) He has protruding eyes
7. Which among the following is NOT true about
Macavity?
(a) Macavity is not an ordinary cat.
(b) Macavity is very quick and fast.
(c) Macavity is well-dressed and is smart looking.
(d) Macavity is a trickster.
8. Write a character sketch of Macavity, the mysterious
cat.
Direction (9 to 13) : Read the following passage and
answer the questions that follow.
To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and
avoided. Every morning before going to work he came
into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she
responded with “Goodbye, Father”. And oh, there was
a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the
carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long
road! In the evening when he came home she stood
near the staircase and heard his loud voice in the hall.
“Bring my tea into the drawing-room... Hasn’t the
paper come yet? Mother, go and see if my paper’s out
there — and bring me my slippers.”
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS 87

“Kezia,” Mother would call to her, “if you’re a good 12. Which among these sentences from the passage
girl you can come down and take off father’s boots.” suggest that Kezia was afraid of her father?
Slowly the girl would slip down the stairs, more (a) “To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and
slowly still across the hall, and push open the drawing- avoided.”
room door. By that time he had his spectacles on and
(b) “….there was a glad sense of relief when she heard
looked at her over them in a way that was terrifying to
the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter
the little girl. “Well, Kezia, hurry up and pull off these
down the long road!”
boots and take them outside. Have you been a good
girl today?” “I d-d-don’t know, Father.” (c) “By that time he had his spectacles on and looked
at her over them in a way that was terrifying to the
“You d-d-don’t know? If you stutter like that, Mother
little girl.”
will have to take you to the doctor.” She never
stuttered with other people — had quite given it up — (d) All the above
but only with Father, because then she was trying so 13. What impression do you form of Kezia's father from
hard to say the words properly. reading the passage?
9. From the reading of the passage we can easily infer
that
(a) Kezia’s father was a very motivating person .
(b) Kezia’s father was a very serious person.
(c) Kezia’s father was a very funny person.
10. According to the passage, what is the main problem
faced by Kezia?
(a) She was ill treated by her family.
(b) She had difficulty speaking properly.
(c) She found her father to be terrifying.
11. Which of the following traits is most suitable for
Kezia’s father?
(a) authoritative
(b) cunning
(c) considerate
GRAMMAR REVISION 88

EXERCISE – 1 : GRAMMAR REVISION

1. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate options: 6. Identify the adverb clause in the following sentence:
(a) The simple past tense usually changes to the I will meet you here, after my class ends.
__________tense in reported speech. (past perfect / (a) I will
past perfect continuous/ future perfect) (b) after my class ends
(b) Determiners are words placed in front of a (c) class ends
_______to make it clear what it refers to. (verb/
(d) I will meet you here
noun/ adjective)
7. Identify the subordinate clause in the following
(c) When the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s
sentences:
action, we say that the sentence is in the ________.
(active voice/ passive voice/ present tense) Samantha danced gracefully, even with a leg injury

2. Choose the correct option to complete the sentence: (a) Samantha danced gracefully

Suddenly, my sports bike broke down. It (b) Samantha danced

____________ well for a long time. (c) even with a leg injury
(a) has not been run (d) a leg injury
(b) had not run 8. Fill in the blank with the correct modal:
(c) had not been running Dad says we _____ watch TV after we've finished our
(d) is not running homework.

3. Choose the correct verb form to complete the sentence: (a) can

Neither the yellow dress nor the black dress _______ (b) ought to
for now in our shop. (c) have to
(a) is available (d) couldn’t
(b) are available 9. Pick the modal from the below sentence and identify
(c) were available its type:

(d) was available Where is my purse? I saw it earlier, so it must be in

this room.
4. Change the following sentence into reported speech.
(a) My- modal of advice
“We are not visiting New York during our trip.”
(b) Must- modal of possibility
(a) He told me that they was't visiting New York
during their trip. (c) Be- modal of suggestion

(b) He told me that they weren't visiting New York (d) Saw- modal of ability
during their trip. 10. Choose the correct determiner to complete the
(c) He told me that he wasn't visiting New York during following sentence:
their trip. His theories are so complex that only _____ people
(d) He told me that they will not visit New York understand them.
during our trip. (a) few (b) a few
5. Change the following sentence into passive voice. (c) the few (d) None of these
We do not clean our rooms. 11. Choose the correct determiner to complete the
(a) My rooms is not cleaned by me. following sentence:

(b) Rooms are not cleaned by us. I want ____ boat which would take me to the island.

(c) Our rooms had been cleaned by us. (a) the (b) an

(d) Our rooms are not cleaned by us. (c) those (d) a
GRAMMAR REVISION 89

Direction (12 to 17) : Choose the correct options to fill in 15. (iv)
the blanks to complete the article: (a) at
MasterChef Australia’s 12th chapter featured some (i) (b) off
__________the show’s best participants (ii)_______
(c) about
previous editions. From 'MasterChef royalty' Poh Ling
Yeow and Callum Hann to Tessa Boersma and Simon (d) on
Toohey from the last season, this chapter raised the 16. (v)
stakes and the temperature (iii) _____ the kitchen - (a) in
pretty high. (b) on
But it was Melbourne-born psychology and (c) at
management graduate Emelia Jackson who took home
(d) since
the coveted trophy along with $250,000 in award
money. Jackson had first appeared (iv) _________ the 17. (vi)
show (v)______ 2014 (season 6) where she was (a) since
eliminated (vi)________ the semi-finale round, having (b) till
attained the third position in the competition.
(c) during
12. (i)
(d) towards
(a) of
(b) with
(c) at
(d) from
13. (ii)
(a) on
(b) from
(c) about
(d) of
14. (iii)
(a) on
(b) at
(c) in
(d) into
RECAP OF WRITING TOPICS 90

EXERCISE – 1 : RECAP OF WRITING TOPICS

1. How should you NOT start an informal letter?
(a) It’s been ages since I’ve heard from you.
(b) I hope you enjoyed your trip to Europe.
(c) It's been a long time since we last met each other.
(d) With due respect, I wish to draw your attention
towards...
2. What element of a short story might be described as
the 'series of related events'?
(a) Characters
(b) Theme
(c) Conflict
(d) Plot
3. The first sentence in a descriptive paragraph is called-
(a) The topic sentence
(b) The conclusion
(c) The supporting sentence
(d) Plot
4. Your school recently held a silver jubilee celebration.
Write a letter to your friend who was unable to attend,
giving details of the function and your role in it.
5. Write a short story in 200 – 250 words, with the help
of the cues given below. Give a suitable title to the
story.
Hints- It was Mohini’s first day at the new school. She
was feeling very nervous. She stood in a corner and
watched the students who were laughing and talking
excitedly. When she saw four senior students
advancing towards her, she ... … …
ANSWER KEY 91

ANSWER KEY
EXERCISE – 1 : THE FUN THEY HAD
1. (a) 2. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LOST CHILD

1. (c) 2. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b) 9. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD

2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b) 9. (a) 10. (a)
11. (c) 12. (a) 13. (a) 14. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SOUND OF MUSIC

1. (b) 2. (a) 3. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (c) 7. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : WIND
1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b) 9. (b) 10. (c)
11. (c) 12. (c) 13. (d) 14. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LITTLE GIRL

1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (c) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (b) 8. (a) 9. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : ISWARAN THE STORYTELLER

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (b) 8. (a) 9. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : RAIN ON THE ROOF

1. (a) 3. (b) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND

1. (b) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (c) 7. (c) 8. (c) 9. (a) 10. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : IN THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS

1. (b) 2. (a) 3. (c) 4. (b) 5. (c) 6. (c) 8. (a) 9. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (b) 8. (a) 9. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS, PHRASES & CLAUSES

2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (a) 9. (a) 10. (c)
ANSWER KEY 92
11. (c) 12. (a) 13. (a) 14. (b) 15. (c) 16. (a) 17. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE AND THE MIRROR

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (b) 8. (c) 9. (a) 10. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE HAPPY PRINCE

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (a) 8. (a) 9. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (b) 6. (b) 7. (a) 8. (c) 9. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : MY CHILDHOOD
1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (c) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (c) 8. (a) 9. (a) 10. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : READING
1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (c) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (a) 9. (d) 10. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING EXTRA

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING - DIARY ENTRY

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : TENSES
1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (b) 8. (c) 9. (a) 10. (b)
11. (d) 12. (b) 13. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE

2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (b) 7. (c) 8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (a)

11. (b) 12. (c) 13. (b) 14. (d) 15. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : MODALS
2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (c) 6. (d) 7. (b) 8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (b)

11. (a) 12. (b) 13. (c) 14. (b) 15. (d) 16. (a) 17. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS
2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (b) 7. (a) 8. (a) 9. (a) 10. (a)

11. (d) 12. (a) 13. (c) 14. (b) 15. (c) 16. (a) 17. (a)
ANSWER KEY 93

EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION

2. (a) 3. (d) 4. (c) 5. (b) 6. (b) 9. (c) 10. (d) 11. (c) 12. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : WEATHERING THE STORM IN ERSAMA

1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : NO MEN ARE FOREIGN

1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (d) 5. (c) 6. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : PACKING
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (b) 4. (d) 5. (a) 6. (d) 7. (b) 9. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAST LEAF

1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (c) 5. (a) 6. (d) 8. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE DUCK AND THE KANGAROO

1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (d) 5. (a) 6. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : REACH FOR THE TOP

1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (d) 5. (c) 6. (a) 7. (c) 8. (d) 9. (a) 10. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (c) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : ON KILLING A TREE

1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (b) 5. (c) 6. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE BOND OF LOVE

1. (c) 2. (d) 3. (a) 5. (b) 6. (d) 7. (c) 8. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (a) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (d) 8. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE TRYING

1. (a) 2. (d) 3. (d) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (d) 8. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : KATHMANDU
2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (b) 8. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : THE BEGGAR

1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (c) 7. (d) 8. (b) 9. (b) 10. (d)

11. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT SEAL

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (b) 7. (b)

EXERCISE – 1 : IF I WERE YOU

1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (d) 7. (d) 8. (b) 9. (b) 10. (c) 11. (d)
ANSWER KEY 94

EXERCISE – 1 : READING EXTRA

1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (c) 4. (d) 5. (d) 6. (d) 7. (c) 8. (d) 9. (c) 10. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : NEW READING HACKS

1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (b) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (d) 8. (b) 9. (d) 10. (c)
11. (d) 12. (b) 13. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : PHRASES & CLAUSES

2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (a) 9. (a) 10. (a)
11. (c) 12. (c) 13. (a) 14. (b) 15. (c) 16. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING - INFORMAL LETTER

1. (a) 2. (a) 3. (a)

EXERCISE – 1 : REPORTED SPEECH

2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b) 9. (b) 10. (c)
11. (c) 12. (c) 13. (d) 14. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS
2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (c) 6. (b) 7. (b) 8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (b)
11. (a) 12. (b) 13. (c) 14. (b) 15. (d) 16. (a) 17. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS

1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (c) 9. (b) 10. (c)
11. (a) 12. (d)

EXERCISE – 1 : GRAMMAR REVISION (INTEGRATED GRAMMAR)

2. (c) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (c) 8. (a) 9. (b) 10. (b)

11. (d) 12. (a) 13. (b) 14. (c) 15. (d) 16. (a) 17. (c)

EXERCISE – 1 : RECAP OF WRITING TOPICS

1. (d) 2. (d) 3. (a)
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
EXERCISE – 1 : THE FUN THEY HAD
1. Tommy is referred to as ‘he’ here.
2. Margie’s schoolroom was next to her bedroom.
3. The ‘round little man’ in the extracted line is the
County Inspector.
4. Margie was not performing up to the mark in her
Geography tests. So her mother was worried. She
wanted the County Inspector to check if there was
some problem with the child or with the virtual
teacher.
5. When the county inspector visited Margie, he
carried a whole box of tools with dials and wires
with him.
6. The antonym for the word, ‘partial’ from the extract
given above is ‘whole’.
7. The mechanical teacher was a robot who taught
Margie on its computer screen. By ‘Mechanical
teacher was on’, it is meant that the computer was
on.
8. Margie’s mother said that little girls learned better if
they learned at regular hours.
9. ‘Irregular’ is the antonym of ‘regular’.
10. The County Inspector was certainly a kind-hearted
man. Instead of finding fault with Margie, he gave
her an apple and told her mother that if Margie was
not performing well it was not her fault, but the fault
of the mechanical teacher. He aligned the speed of
the Geography sector keeping in mind the level of
the girl. Before leaving he patted Margie on her
head and expressed satisfaction at her performance.
11. Margie kept thinking and imagining that all the kids
from the whole neighbourhood came, laughing and
shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the
schoolroom, going home together at the end of the
day. She thought about how they learned the same
things, so they could help one another with the
homework and talk about it.
12. Tommy thought that the pages of the books were a
big waste as they cannot be reused like the screen of
their mechanical teacher. When people were through
with the real book, they would just throw it away.
But the television screen had a million books on it
95
and it’s good for plenty more. So, it could not be
thrown away.
13. The advantages of studying in an old school was that
everyone used to learn the same thing and could
help each other with homework. The children could
go and come together also.
14. Margie loathed school since it was not fun to study
on the screen. Her mechanical teacher used to teach
her consistently at the same time. It was a repetitive
and boring experience. Now, she had been doing
badly in the geography tests that her mechanical
educator had been giving her. The part that she
detested the most was inserting the homework and
test papers in the slot on the mechanical instructor.
She believed that the old kind of school must have
been fun as she envisioned every one of the children
from the whole neighbourhood meeting up, laughing
and shouting in the schoolyard. She envisioned that
they would sit together in the classroom and go
home together toward the day’s end. They would
take in similar things and could help each other with
homework and discuss it. Additionally, educators
were individuals. All these viewpoints influenced
her to believe that the old type of school must have
been enjoyable.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE LOST CHILD
1. a and b
2. As his parents are strict disciplinarians and have
always refused to grant him his wish
3. At this point in time, the child is amidst a crowd of
people in the shrine.
4. The child has reached the shrine searching for his
parents as he had got lost in the fair.
5. Yes, the child could have got trampled because the
shrine was very crowded and he was so small that
people did not realise his presence around their feet.
6. The child shrieks at the highest pitch of his voice
because he was terribly scared as he had got
separated from his parents.
SOLUTION
7. The man wanted the child to get amused by the
snake charmer and stop crying.
8. The child does not obey the man and just keeps on
crying because he wanted his parents back and
nothing else.
9. The word from the passage that means ‘moving
rhythmically’ is ‘swaying’
10. On his way to the fair, the child came across a
flowering mustard field. He stopped there to watch
the little insects and worms that were coming out
from their hiding places. He then tried to gather the
petals of falling flowers and ran gaily in circles
around a banyan tree.
11. As the child walked away from the balloon-seller, he
saw a snake-charmer playing the flute to a snake. He
was attracted to the swinging hood of the snake
swinging gracefully like the neck of a swan. The
music of the snake charmer’s flute also made him
spell-bound.
12. The boy was very excited and happy with the stalls
of toys and sweets but as soon as he gets separated
from his parents and starts crying. He runs hither
and thither in search of his parents, but in vain.
Since the place was overcrowded, he got petrified.
He started crying as he was all alone. A kind-hearted
man offers him many things but he refuses. The
child who wanted everything from the fair was now
not interested in any of these things as he only
yearned to be with his parents.
13. The child simply wailed inconsolably. In between
his sobs, he expressed his desire to be with his
mother and father. He refused to even glance at the
various things offered by the man in an attempt to
quieten him.
14. The stranger who had saved the little boy from
getting trampled by the crowd in the shrine tried all
possible ways to comfort and soothe the scared boy.
He was very kind to the boy when he asked him
about his parents. When the child did not respond
but only kept crying, he did not lose patience.
Instead, he offered the lost child all the little things
that he wanted from his parents. He lifted him up in
his arms and tried to distract his attention by
offering a ride on the roundabout and making him
hear the music of the flute. He offered to buy sweets
and balloons to soothe him.
96
EXERCISE – 1 : THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
1. He is unable to decide which road to take to
continue his journey.
2. abaab
3. The word ‘ both’ refers to the two roads that
diverged into the yellowed forest.
4. The poet uses the phrase ‘ no step had trodden
black’ with reference to the two roads and their
condition that day. He intends to underline the
freshness of both the roads that morning. Since the
leaves haven’t been trodden black till then, it shows
that the roads haven’t had many walkers.
5. Even though the poet makes his decision and leaves
the first road for another day, he doubts whether he
will get an opportunity to come back and travel on
the left out road.
6. The poet has this doubt since he knows that once he
has taken a decision and proceeded on a particular
road, it will lead to another and then another road. In
such a scenario it would be difficult to renegotiate
on the same path.
7. The poet is standing at a divergence in the woods.
8. He is staring down the road and wondering which
road he should take.
9. The speaker can’t travel both roads because being an
individual, it is possible for him to travel only one
road at a time.
10. The poet promised himself that he would come back
some other time and take the often travelled road,
Though he knew in his heart that he won't be able to
keep his promise because the decision, once taken,
can't be changed, as one decision will lead to
another.
11. By “It was grassy and wanted wear”, it is meant that
the road was full of grass and had not been used by
travellers as it did not seem to be disturbed or
crushed.
12. The title "The Road Not Taken" is quite appropriate.
It focuses on lost opportunities and dilemmas that
one faces in life. The road that the speaker did not
take represents the lost opportunity that could have
made a difference in his life. The title brings out the
theme of the poem in which every person at some
stage of his life comes across a situation where he
has to make decisions. The decision taken to do
SOLUTION 97

things differently makes one stand out of the 5. The president or the vice president is speaking
crowd.The title is figurative as the roads symbolize today.
the dilemmas of life. The title “The Road Not
6. Either Cassie or Marie pays the employees this
Taken’ is fully justified.
afternoon.
13. Decisions play an important role in our life. Making
7. Rice and mashed potatoes, my favorite dish, reminds
the right decision is really tough. We don't know if
me of my native Colorado.
our decision is going to prove beneficial in the long
run. Yet, we have to make a decision. Once we 8. Aanchal is the only one of those candidates who has
make a choice, we cannot go back, as one decision lived up to the potential described in the yearbook.
leads to another. To restart life from a convenient 9. Radiate
point is not an easy life. We can't go back and
correct ourselves, as we have travelled a long 10. Enjoy
distance. What we can do is that we have to be very 11. spray
wise and careful, while making a decision. We have
to visualise the possible consequences of our 12. Is
decisions and then make the best decision as far as 13. contains
possible.
14. use
14. In the poem, "The Road Not Taken", the road is
used as a metaphor for life. The two roads that
diverge symbolize life's many choices. In much the
EXERCISE – 1 : THE SOUND OF MUSIC
same way that people are generally unable to see
what the future holds, the speaker is unable to see 1. All India Radio in Lucknow
what lies ahead on each path.
2. Evelyn’s firm determination, industrious nature, and
Another metaphor that has been used in the poem is her clarity of aim
‘yellow woods’. The yellow woods are the metaphor
3. Only A,B and C
of making decisions during the hard times of a
person’s life. Both the metaphors emphasize the 4. Isabel Glennie was Evelyn’s mother.
importance of different decisions we make in
5. Evelyn had not heard her name being called for
various situations and the impacts that these
playing the piano on stage.
decisions have on our lives.
6. She tried to conceal her deafness from her teachers
and friends.
EXERCISE – 1 : SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD 7. The synonym from the extract that means
‘worsened’ is ‘deteriorated’.
1. (a) Collective nouns (team, couple, staff, etc.) take a
singular verb. 8. The ‘young boy’ referred to in the extract is
Bismillah Khan
(b) Some countable nouns in English such as
earnings, goods, odds, surroundings, proceeds, 9. Ustad Faiyaz khan patted the ‘young boy’ for his
contents, and valuables take a plural verb. performance in the Allahabad Music Conference.

(c) Two singular subjects connected by ‘or’, 10. He was only fourteen years old when he participated
‘either/or’ require a singular verb. in the Allahabad Music conference.

2. Each of the shirts has a green collar. 11. On the underground train platform, Evelyn was
waiting for a train to London where she was to go
3. This singer, along with a few others, plays the
and join the prestigious Royal Academy for Music.
harmonica on stage.
As she sensed the train approaching, she felt both
4. Sandals and towels are essential gear for a trip to the nervous and excited.
beach.
12. The barber chose a pipe with a natural hollow-stem.
It was longer and broader than 'pungi’. He made
SOLUTION
seven holes on the body of the pipe. When he played
it he found that soft and melodious sounds were
produced. The barber played it before the royalty
and it came to be known as Shehnai.
13. Bismillah Khan became the first Indian to be invited
to perform at the prestigious Lincoln Centre Hall in
the United States of America. He also took part in
the World Exposition in Montreal, in the Cannes Art
Festival and in the Osaka Trade Fair. He became so
well-known internationally that an auditorium in
Tehran was named after him.
14. When Evelyn was advised to use hearing aids and
join the school for the deaf, she felt that her future
was bleak and dark. She was depressed, as all hope
for great achievements seemed to have vanished.
She had now become a disabled child who could not
have easy access to normal life.
15. This life sketch of Ustad Bismillah Khan teaches us
an important lesson about Indian Music, that is very
rich. Great musicians like Bismillah Khan not only
adopted traditional music but also enhanced it with
their original contribution. He says “ Teach your
children music, this is Hindustan’s richest tradition;
even the West is now coming to learn our music.’’
Another message that the lesson gives is that one
must love one’s country and rise above all
communal feelings. Ustad Bismillah Khan’s life is a
perfect example of the rich, cultural heritage of
India, one that effortlessly accepts that a devout
Muslim like him can very naturally play the shehnai
every morning at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO
1. Both A and C
2. Because there was no charge mentioned for the
tortoise in the charge list
3. Only A and B
4. Toto
5. The speaker says this to describe Toto’s
mischievous nature.
6. Toto was mischievous. Toto was always tearing
things into pieces, he would make every effort to
catch the author’s aunt’s dress and tear a hole in it.
7. By “devoted to” the writer means to be ‘focused on
something exclusively’.
98
8. Grandfather felt that Toto was a clever and cunning
monkey. So when he saw that Toto had taken out the
peg from the wall, he was delighted by Toto’s
actions and cleverness.
9. Grandfather took Toto along with him to Saharanpur
because he was mischievous. It was not safe to leave
him alone at home. He would disturb the rest of the
animals in the zoo. A bag made of strong canvas
material was arranged. Some straw was placed in it.
Toto was placed inside the bag and the bag was
sealed with a zipper.
10. The writer’s grandfather loved animals. One day, he
saw a monkey tied to a feeding-trough beside a
tonga-driver. It seemed to the grandfather that the
monkey did not belong there, so he decided to buy
it. He paid 5 rupees for Toto.
11. One day, Toto jumped into a kettle of water kept on
the stove for boiling as he found it warm enough for
a bath. As the water grew hotter, he thought of
ascending but the cold weather made him go back
into the kettle. Toto kept on doing this for a while
till he was spotted by the grandmother. She pulled
him out of the kettle in time or else he would have
boiled himself that day.
12. It is true that Toto had a very fertile and
mischievous brain. He was always up to one
mischief or the other. His fingers were quick and
wicked. His presence was kept a secret to
grandmother. He bit the ornamental wallpaper to
pieces. The peg had been pulled out of the socket.
The school blazer of the narrator was in shreds. But
grandfather was pleased with Toto’s performance.
On the Dehradun railway platform, he suddenly
poked his head out of the bag and gave the ticket
collector a wide grin. He was classified as a dog and
grandfather had to pay three rupees extra as his fare.
One day Toto nearly succeeded in boiling himself
alive. He was always tearing things to pieces. The
family couldn’t afford the frequent loss of dishes,
clothes, curtains and wallpaper. Even grandfather
realized that Toto was not the sort of pet they could
keep for long. So, grandfather found the Tonga-
driver and sold Toto back to him for three rupees.
SOLUTION 99

EXERCISE – 1 : WIND tough and physically strong in order to survive the

hardships of life. A weak person breaks down like a
1. By building strong homes and strong bodies and weak building and crumbles. We must make these
hearts. destructive forces our friends, with our strength and
determination.
2. Destructive and constructive power
3. Only A and B
4. The speaker advises to build strong homes, join the EXERCISE – 1 : DIRECT AND INDIRECT
door firmly, and make our body firm and strong.
SPEECH
5. The extracted line means that the wind does not
follow our commands. He is quite indifferent to 1. (a) Direct Speech reports the speaker’s message in
pleadings and commands. the exact words as spoken by him.

6. The word from the extract that means (b) Indirect Speech reports the message of the
“committed/faithful” is ‘Steadfast’. speaker in our own words.

7. The houses and doors should be made strong to (c) No conjunction is used if a sentence in Direct
withstand the fury of the strong wind. Speech begins with a question word as the question
word itself acts as a joining clause.
8. The wind disturbs only those people who are not
determined. The self-confident people overcome the 2. She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous
obstacles put before them by the wind. The wind week.
does not have the knack to disturb the peace of mind 3. He asked me where they lived.
of such people. The wind blows out weak fires and
4. She promised that she would do it for me.
makes strong fires roar and flourish.
5. She explained that she was playing the guitar.
9. No, the speaker is not praising the wind by
enumerating its activities. On the contrary, he is 6. He said that Irvin had arrived on Monday.
poking fun of the wind by asserting that it is too
7. She said, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
weak and afraid to fight with the strong ones. He
blames that the wind overpowers only the 8. He said to him ‘Please complete it’.
weaklings.
9. The man said, ‘Ah! I am ruined.’
10. According to the speaker, the wind god winnows
10. David said, “I will be making tea.”
and crushes the weak at heart like the wind separates
grain from the chaff by winnowing. In the same 11. Salina said, ‘I met James yesterday.’
manner, the wind can remove weak things and leave 12. asked her what she was
only those who are strong enough to face them.
13. replied that
11. The dominant figure of speech used in the poem is
personification. The wind is personified in the poem. 14. had heard that people who had
When the poet says ‘you’re very clever’, he is
referring to wind as ‘you’ which means he is treating
wind as a person. He is attributing human features to
a non-human thing i.e the wind.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE LITTLE GIRL

12. The poet has poured out his heart in the present 1. Authoritarianism
poem. He says that people must be strong at heart 2. According to Kezia, her father looked like a giant.
because only the weak at heart are troubled by
difficulties. Here wind symbolises difficulties that 3. Only A and B
have the power to devastate life on the earth. But if 4. No, Kezia’s grandmother was affectionate towards
the people are strong at heart, they face the her, unlike her father.
challenges thrown out by difficulties. They struggle
5. Only a and b
and at last come out of it. We should be mentally
SOLUTION 100
6. Only a and b making her future more secure. When she tore his
papers unknowingly, he beat her harshly. But in the
7. The word from the extract that means ‘advised’ is
end, we find him a very loving and caring father.
‘suggested’.
Thus it is true that every father loves his child but
8. He is authoritative in nature the way of love is different from one person to
9. Not to appear on the brink of suicide. another. Most fathers live their dreams with their
children. Their strictness is also a kind of love.
10. Kezia’s father was a busy man and had little time for
the little girl. Being a very disciplined man, he was
strict with Kezia as well and she would at times get
harsh words of scolding and physical punishment EXERCISE – 1 : ISWARAN THE
from him. He never displayed any soft feelings for
his little daughter nor did he play with her like Mr
STORYTELLER
Macdonald. All he did was giving her a perfunctory 1. To keep an eye on the activities at the worksite
kiss rather than a loving one. Moreover, he was a
large man, and his size, too, terrified the little girl. 2. As it was an auspicious day on which people
So scared was Kezia of him that she felt relieved prepared delicious food for their ancestors.
when he was gone from home. 3. The cook was very resourceful and quick in action
11. Kezia made a pin-cushion for her father’s birthday. 4. Mahendra saw a dark cloudy form clutching a
She had given all her heart to make the cushion as bundle at night.
beautiful as possible. After sewing three sides of the
5. Only a and b
cushion, she went all through the house in search of
cotton to fill it. Having failed to secure cotton, she 6. It must have been some sort of autosuggestion, some
found a pile of papers on which her father had trick that his subconscious self had played on him.
written an important speech which he had to deliver
7. The word from the passage that means ‘breathing
to the Port Authorities. She tore those papers and
quickly and loudly’ is ‘panting’.
filled them into the cushion and stitched the opened
side. 8. He resisted the curiosity to look out through the
window at the moonlit night.
12. Kezia’s father was always busy with his official
work. He had no time to talk to her. For Kezia, her 9. The word from the extract that means ‘move about
father was a figure to be feared and avoided. On the restlessly and stealthily to catch a prey is ‘prowling’.
other hand Mr Macdonald, the neighbour, always
10. Mahendra was fond of Iswaran because Ishwaran
played with his children. He had time to spend with
was a very resourceful person and took very good
his children. According to Kezia, Mr Macdonald
care of him. He was a trained cook and could also
was a different kind of father. He laughed with the
arrange for things at a desolate place. In addition to
children and was not strict like her father.
this, he took very good care of Mahendra.
13. Failing to get an expression of affection from her
11. When his master was away, Iswaran would use his
parents, especially her father, Kezia feels drawn to
time to finish off daily chores and have a leisurely
her grandmother. She turns to her to fulfil her need
bath after that. After lunch, he would read for a
for love and protection. Grandmother too showers
while and then take a nap.
abundant love upon the little girl.
12. Mahendra summoned ghosts or spirits as a figment
14. Fathers are not alike. Some play with their children
of the imagination as he did not believe in ghosts.
while others love and care for them. They show their
Iswaran told him about a female ghost holding a
love to them by working hard and giving them all
foetus in her arms. On a full-moon night, he woke
the facilities as well as for instructions. Though they
up from his sleep and looked outside the window.
never express their love they have deep love for
He got shocked to see the same figure and began to
their child. Kezia’s father belongs to the second
sweat profusely.
type. He did not believe in showing off his affection
for his daughter. He believed in showing his love by
SOLUTION
13. Iswaran was a class by himself. He was highly
resourceful and a big help to Mahendra. He would
miraculously conjure up the most delicious dishes
made with fresh vegetables within an hour of
arriving at a new workplace. He was a trained cook
and to top it he narrated captivating and interesting
stories to Mahendra at night.
14. Mahendra used to work as a junior supervisor in a
firm. He was unmarried and a simple man. He was
quite accommodating and adjusted well to odd
conditions that he faced at different places.
Mahendra was very fond of his cook Iswaran whom
he considered being an asset. He relished the food
cooked by him and enjoyed listening to his stories.
He was a good listener and never interrupted
Iswaran even when he exaggerated. He was very
patient and would wait for Iswaran to return and
complete the unfinished story.
Mahendra was a rational man and did not believe in
ghosts or spirits but could not help getting
influenced by what Iswaran told him about the
female ghost. He tried to ignore the strange sounds
at night but got scared when he saw the apparition.
However, his rationality made him forget the
previous night’s experience.
EXERCISE – 1 : RAIN ON THE ROOF
1. The dark clouds in the sky
2. on a dark night
3. Only b and a
4. Alliteration
5. Over the starry night sky
6. As the darkness makes him feel sorrowful and sad
7. Alliteration
8. The word from the extract that means ‘to remain in
the air in one place’ is ‘hover’.
101
9. The speaker remembers his mother when he listens
to the patter of the rain on the roof. He feels her fond
look on him. It shows that he was very fond of his
mother. He remembers the care and concern that she
showed towards him and his brother.
10. The speaker, lying in his cottage-chamber bed
watches the humid shadows hovering the starry sky.
He feels the melancholy darkness gently weeping in
the form of raindrops. Pressing his pillow, he is
listening to the patter of the soft raindrops falling on
the roof of the cottage.
11. Humid showers hover over all the starry sky. The
melancholy darkness gently weeps in the form of
raindrops. The rain creates an echo in the poet’s
heart. It also brings thousand dreamy fancies alive to
his mind. The poet listens to the patterns caused by
the sounds of the raindrops on the roof.
12. At this moment the memory of his mother comes
alive into his mind. His mother is no more but the
memory is still alive. He still feels her fondness of
looking at him. The memory is still fresh while he is
writing this song of rain. He also listens to the sound
of the rain falling upon the shingles.
13. The musical sound of raindrops falling on the
rooftop at night has the ability to revive sweet
memories and rouse fancies in an otherwise busy
mind. The rain thus soothes and comforts an
overworked mind by taking it back to its lovely past.
The poet is appreciating rain, especially when he
hears it from a cosy bed in a lovely cottage. The rain
and its sound have resurrected the fondest memory
of the poet’s mother in his mind. As the rain
continues, the poet tries to recollect all that caused
him pain, yet at the same time lifted his spirits.
EXERCISE – 1 : A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND
1. As they were afraid that Germany would make an
atom bomb
2. “the bureau of theoretical physics.”
3. Einstein would never be successful in his life.
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president of the USA
during the Second World War in 1939.
5. Einstein wrote in his letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt
about the dangers of atomic bombs.
SOLUTION
6. The Americans developed the atomic bomb in a
secret project that they themselves had created.
7. Secret
8. Einstein wrote a public missive to the United
Nations proposing the formation of a world
government.
9. To warn him of a bomb blast that could cause
massive destruction.
10. Missive
11. Einstein is a visionary because he could look into
the future and think about it in a creative and
intelligent manner. Einstein did not believe in
nationalism. He always felt confined and inhibited
by the idea of belonging to one nation. He was a
citizen of the world. He served humanity. His
discoveries have improved the condition of human
life in general. He did not serve the interests of a
single nation.
12. Mileva Maric was a young intelligent woman from
Serbia who had come to Switzerland to study at the
University of Zurich. She was a great lover of
literature, arts and music like Albert Einstein. Both
fell in love and married in 1903. After marriage,
Mileva started losing her intellectual ambition and
becoming an unhappy housewife. After years of
constant fighting, the couple finally divorced in
1919.
13. Einstein’s head was larger than the usual head. He
was called “Brother Boring” because he never
mixed up with his classmates. He left school
because he was not happy with the strict
regimentation. He loved mechanical toys and
thought his sister to be a toy. The headmaster
thought of him to be stupid and good for nothing
and that he would never succeed in life. He also told
Einstein’s father that whatever profession he chose
would not matter, because “he will never be a
success at anything”. This proves that Einstein was
an unusual child with no indication of his potential
greatness. He was just like any other ordinary child.
14. No, I don't agree with the statement. It is not as
though great people are born with a special sign that
allows us to recognise them instantly!
This lesson is a short biography of Albert Einstein
where some of his qualities have been highlighted.
The story of Einstein tries to show him as a human
being, a fairly ordinary person who had his likes and
102
dislikes, his streaks of rebellion, and his problems.
The title - ‘A Truly Beautiful Mind’ makes one
wonder how a scientist’s mind can be beautiful. It is
so because in this lesson we come across another
aspect of Einstein- the humanitarian aspect.
EXERCISE – 1 : IN THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS
1. the guru and his disciple
2. a law officer who makes sure that the decisions of a
court are obeyed.
3. He asked the people to stay awake at night, till their
fields and run their businesses only after dark.
4. The disciple
5. Because fools do not last long and are very
unpredictable.
6. He ate his fill greedily as the food was cheap.
7. His greed for cheap food
8. He prayed to his guru in his heart, asking him to
hear his cry wherever he was.
9. The guru saw everything in a vision. He could see
far, and he could see the future as he could see the
present and the past. This is how we know that the
guru had magical powers.
10. The theme of the story “The Kingdom of Fools”
portrays the dangers posed by foolish people. The
foolish people take harmful and foolish decisions
and are unpredictable by nature. One doesn’t know
what the fools will do the moment next. And foolish
people can only be managed by wise and calm
people.
11. A thief died when the weak walls of the house fell
upon him. And as the house belonged to the rich
house owner, the thief’s brother accused him of his
brother’s death. Hence, the rich house owner was
summoned by the king to be trialled and questioned
regarding the incident.
As the house owner was too thin to fit the stake, the
king asked his men to bring another person who
would fit the stake to be executed in place of the
owner. This is how he escaped the persecution.
12. The two strange things that the guru and the disciple
noticed in the Kingdom of Fools are that the people
stayed awake at night, tilled their fields and ran their
SOLUTION
businesses only after dark, and went to bed as soon
as the sun came up. Even the cattle had been taught
to sleep by day.
13. The king was stupid and wanted to do things
differently from others. And in order to do so, he
would go at any length to manifest his foolish ideas
and orders. He ordered that the day should be treated
as nights and vice-versa. And anyone who does not
obey him will be put to death. The king had no sense
of what justice was. He termed the thief’s accidental
death as a murder and tried to punish the innocent
people for the murder. His foolishness got him into
the Guru’s trap and he intentionally got himself
executed believing that it would make him born as a
king in the next birth
EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE
1. Busy streets of a city
2. Dropping slowly from the veils of the morning to
where the cricket sings.
3. Only C
4. William Butler Yeats
5. Longingness
6. He thinks about the lake water lapping with low
sounds by the shore.
7. To go to Innisfree
8. Build a small cabin using clay and wattles
9. Yes
10. As per the words given above, the speaker of the
poem expresses here how peaceful Innisfree feels
like when the crickets sing in the morning. The
peace comes slowly dropping from the veils of the
morning when the crickets sing.
11. Innisfree had simplicity, natural beauty and peace
which contrasted the roads and pavements of the
city where the poet lived in. The pavements on
which the poet walked are grey in colour which
represents a lack of peace and a place devoid of
natural beauty and colours. This is how the poet
expressed the contrasts between Innisfree and the
city he lived in.
12. Yes, Innisfree is an actual place and it is situated in
Ireland. The poet wants to visit the place from his
103
heart’s core and it can be understood by how he
describes the things he wants to have when he will
visit Innisfree. For example, the small cabin, the
bee-hive. The way he describes the different
sections of the day also expresses his longing to visit
Innisfree. He misses the peaceful mornings when the
cricket sings.
13. In the third stanza of the poem, the speaker Yeats
expresses his deepest desire to go to Innisfree. He
misses the place so much that he keeps pondering
about it night and day, even while standing on the
roadway or on the grey pavements. He daydreams
about the lake water lapping with low sounds by the
shore that he once saw in Innisfree in his boyhood.
14. The themes that are presented in this poem are
nature, imagination and nostalgia. The poem
revolves around the natural beauty, peace and
pleasure in a country area called Innisfree. The place
is free from the chaos and corrupting influences of a
city. There are crickets, lake,bean-rows, beehives
etc. The second theme is imagination which reflects
in the poem when the poet daydreams day and night
to go to Innisfree even when he is walking on the
roads and pavements. The third theme, nostalgia is
reflected throughout the poem every time when the
poet expresses his longings to be at Innisfree as
same as his good old days of boyhood.
EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS, PHRASES &
CLAUSES
1. (a) The Pronoun following the Preposition should be
an object form.
(b)A phrase is a group of words without a subject-
verb component, used as a single part of speech.
(c)A subordinate clause contains a subject and a
verb but it depends on the main clause for making
sense as it does not make complete sense on its own.
2. until he came
3. that honesty is the best policy
4. that the traitor should be put to death
5. He said
6. Don’t ask his opinion
7. The bewildered tourist
SOLUTION 104
8. was eager to eat dinner 12. Yes, the story supports the saying which means that
the people of similar habits and tastes find each
9. Taking my dog for a walk
other. The doctor enjoyed self-appreciation and
10. going for ice cream could not resist the temptation of looking at his
11. That charged us reflection in the mirror. He also takes a number of
decisions, so as to improve his looks. The snake that
12. Of coiled itself on the doctor’s arm, kept staring at its
13. By reflection in the mirror for a long time, enjoying its
beauty and appreciating its form. The snake was so
14. About much engrossed in its beauty that it forgot as to why
15. In it had come to the author’s house.

16. Of 13. The story would lose its charm and reality without
the mirror because it fascinates both the characters
17. As i.e., the doctor and the snake. The doctor makes two
important decisions – shaving daily and growing a
thin moustache to make himself look more
EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE AND THE handsome and keeping a smile on the face all the
time while looking at himself in the mirror. The
MIRROR
snake also feels attracted to look at his face in the
1. because in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t know mirror and leaves the doctor’s arm. It sits on the
how to cure a snake bite table in front of the mirror and the doctor finds an
opportunity to move away to save himself. Thus, the
2. To mean that the doctor sat dumbstruck and
story does revolve around the mirror and therefore
motionless like a statue made of flesh.
it's important.
3. Only C
14. Our life is definitely in the hands of God. He is the
4. Decisiveness and optimism supreme power in control of our lives. At times we
forget this like the young doctor. He was under the
5. To always keep an attractive smile on his face.
false belief that he was the one who would decide
what was going to happen in his life. He was sitting
in front of the mirror with a lot of pride thinking
about his future. The snake was a symbol of God’s
control over him. It made him realize that he was
close to death. He realized that he was not the
master of his life.
6. Only b and d
7. Attractive
EXERCISE – 1 : THE HAPPY PRINCE
8. The doctor’s friend and one or two others
1. The seamstress had her dress because the maid of
9. A snake had fallen on him and touched his arm honour had ordered her to embroider flowers on it.
10. A thief entered his room at night and took away 2. As it was covered with fine gold leaves all over his
most of the doctor’s belongings. body, he had sapphires for eyes and a ruby in his
11. After having a close look at his face in the mirror, he sword.
decided that he would shave daily and grow a thin 3. Only C
moustache to look more handsome. He looked into
4. All the match girl’s matches fall in the gutter and are
the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile. He
all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not
made another earth-shaking decision that he would
bring home some money so she is crying.
always keep that attractive smile on his face to look
more handsome.
SOLUTION 105

5. The Happy Prince offers to pluck out the sapphire EXERCISE – 1 : A LEGEND OF THE
from his eye to give to the matchgirl.
NORTHLAND
6. The swallow slipped the jewel into the palm of the
match girl’s hand. 1. As she did not give anything to eat to Saint Peter, he
7. The matchgirl stood at the square below the tall punished her by changing her into a bird.
column where the Happy Prince statue was located. 2. Only a and c
8. because she lacks an understanding of the sufferings 3. Only b
of the poor people.
4. Because he was hungry and had not eaten anything
9. No, she is not right in considering the seamstresses since morning
to be lazy because it is hunger, cold, and fatigue that
5. A single cake from her store of cakes
has interrupted the completion of order in time.
6. No, the little woman did not give saint a piece of
10. The Happy Prince was generous and kind. He saw
cake to eat
that the seamstress was sad and her little son was ill.
She had nothing but river water to give to her son. 7. because the woman didn’t give him any cake to eat.
The Happy Prince felt pity for her and wanted to
8. ‘Such a woman’ implies a greedy and selfish
help her. So he asked the swallow to stay back with
woman.
him that night so that the swallow could go and
handover the red ruby to the seamstress and thus 9. The rhyming scheme of the stanza is ‘abcb’.
help her.
10. The selfish and greedy woman who was making
11. The message that we receive from the story, “The cakes is referred to in this line.
Happy Prince” is that true happiness and fulfilment
The Saint was very hungry and felt like fainting. So
comes from serving the needy and less fortunate
he asked the woman to give him a piece of cake.
people. In the story, the Happy Prince sacrifices his
The woman kept baking one cake after another,
precious jewels to help the needy and poor people
smaller than the prior every time but still, she felt
and the swallow carries out all the prince’s
that the cake was too big to give away to the Saint.
instructions and helps the people. Being generous
This provoked Saint Peter very much.
and kind to people brought joy into their heart.
11. The poet though declines all responsibility for the
12. From the words above, we get a picture of the palace
authenticity of the story, yet she narrates it because
as a beautiful place that is completely isolated from
she wishes to convey the message of generosity and
the misery and poverty of the city people. The
kindness. Her tone is preachy and sanctimonious as
environment and beauty of the palace contradicted
she narrates the story. Though she doesn’t believe in
the outer world which was harsh and full of pain.
the story, she ends on a warning note when she says
13. ‘The Happy Prince’ is a beautiful story based on the that the old woman may still be seen in the forest
themes of compassion and sacrifice. The story is an boring into wood for food.
allegory and portrays that whoever acts with
12. The poem has an apt title. A legend is an old
compassion and kindness for others get as much joy
traditional and popular story that is told to convey a
as those who receive their kindness and charity. The
message. The title of the poem clearly states that the
themes of compassion and sacrifice become more
poem is about a legend of North- Land. Like most of
evident at the end of the story when outward beauty
the stories, it seems to have passed on from
was shown as insignificant but the lead heart of the
generation to generation.
Happy Prince and the dead swallow which was full
of compassion and love for the needy was chosen as The legend which is part of the folklore of
the most valuable things in the eyes of God. Northland teaches the lesson of kindness and
generosity.
13. Saint Peter was a great saint who did exemplary
work in the spread of Christianity as per the poem.
He was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. In the
SOLUTION
poem ‘Legend of Northland’ one of his earthly life
incidents has been portrayed, which has become a
legend. He was living a strict ascetic life for
heavenly pursuits. He fasted, prayed and preached a
lot; and for subsistence, he depended upon alms.
The Little Lady is described to be mean as well as
selfish because, at no point, she was willing to share
the food she had with Saint Peter. He kept on baking
one cake after another and every cake seemed too
big to give away. Because of the lady’s selfishness,
she did not share even a small cake and as a result,
became a victim of Saint Peter’s wrath.
EXERCISE – 1 : MY CHILDHOOD
1. Because his close friend Abdul Kalam, who was
sitting beside him, was asked to go and sit in the last
row.
2. He served Kalam with his own hands and sat beside
him to eat his meal without getting angry or upset.
3. Only D and C
4. A Muslim boy was sitting next to a Hindu priest’s
son.
5. He wore a cap that marked him as a Muslim
6. Abdul Kalam’s friend and the son of the chief priest
of the temple of Rameshwaram.
7. Sorrow
8. Because the teacher did not want a Hindu priest’s
son to sit with a Muslim boy.
9. That the teacher had a biased and conservative
attitude.
10. Downcast
11. The lesson ‘My Childhood’ is based on the theme of
how experiences shape up our lives. Here the author
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam talks about some incidents
that left an indestructible impression on his mind.
Kalam's secure childhood, inspiring parents,
supportive friends and honest teachers instilled great
values in him that gave him the wings to fly high.
12. APJ Abdul Kalam called his childhood a secure one
because he had loving and caring parents who gave
love and guidance to their children and took care of
their emotional and physical needs. His father used
to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries.
106
However, all necessities were provided for, in terms
of food, medicine or clothes. Both his parents never
stopped him from chasing his dreams and supported
him a lot emotionally.
13. Here system refers to a system of discrimination on
the basis of religion. The system includes the
narrow-mindedness and poison of social inequality
and communal intolerance. The Brahmins did not
allow Muslims to enter their kitchen or sit beside
them. The science teacher, Sivasubramania Iyer was
a rebel by nature. He invited Kalam to his home and
proved that if one is determined to face problems
and change the system, he will definitely succeed.
Though such indifferences are found in a society, a
person should have a broader outlook and the will to
fix such problems. Only then one can change these
ill practices of our society.
14. Abdul inherited honesty and self-discipline from his
father and kindness and faith from his
mother.Kalam’s parents, Jainulabdeen and
Ashiarruna, were tall and good looking. Though
they did not have abundant resources, both of them
were very generous and fed a lot of outsiders.
Practising the values of honesty and self-discipline,
they led a simple life that did not have any place for
inessential luxuries. However, Kalam’s father made
sure that all basic necessities were provided for. He
was very liberal and didn’t believe in thrusting his
thoughts on his children. He had a secular approach
and contributed fully during the celebration of
Hindu festivals like Shri Sita Rama’s Kalyanam
ceremony. Kalam’s mother was an ideal support to
her husband. She had faith in goodness and was a
very kind-hearted woman. Kalam inherited the
simplicity and humility from his parents. Hence, it is
rightly said that parents play the most crucial role in
a child’s attitude towards life.
EXERCISE – 1 : READING
1. World Bank
2. The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate India’s
integration into the global economy.
3. Liberalization
4. structural adjustment
5. Only (iii)
6. Started
7. Free and permissive
8. Prosaic
9. knowledge and skills
10. State-centric view
SOLUTION
EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING EXTRA
1. We cannot write an Informal letter in a casual tone.
2. Letter to the editor of a newspaper drawing his
attention towards the failing health infrastructure.
3. Your loving friend
4. 70, Shastri Nagar
Bhiwani
25th April 2020
Dear Dad,
Hope you are in good health. You will be glad to
know that I have secured 86 per cent marks in class
VIII final examination.
Our classes for the new academic year have already
started. I am finding it really interesting. I wish to
inform you that classes for standard IX and X are
held in the new south block building which is 2
kilometres away from my hostel. Till now, our
classes were near to our hostel buildings and we
could easily walk to our classes. But since our new
classrooms are very far from our hostel, it takes a lot
of time to walk especially now that summer has
arrived. Hence I would request you to buy me a
bicycle so that it is less tiresome for me to attend my
classes and also I would never reach my classes late.
I have done some research on bicycles and have
shortlisted a few affordable yet good bicycles. If you
agree to buy me a bicycle, I shall send you the list in
my next letter.
Give love and affection to mother. I will be waiting
eagerly for your reply to this letter.
Your loving son
Parvesh
5. Kabir Hostel
St. Kabir Public School Panipat
16th June 2020
Dear Dad
I hope this letter finds you and mother in the best of
health and cheer.
I have just received the report card of the first term
tests. I have not secured well in mathematics and
science. In other subjects I have fared very well. My
poor score in maths and science are worrying me.
Therefore, I request you to engage a tutor for me in
these subjects only. I would suggest Mr. Khanna’s
name for guidance. He is an excellent teacher in our
school. He charges Rs. 500 as tuition fee.
I hope you will agree to my urgent need. I am
waiting eagerly for your reply. I will talk to Mr.
Khanna about his availability once I receive a
positive response from your side.
107
Your loving son
Umesh
EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING - DESCRIPTIVE
PARAGRAPH
1. Friendship is an extraordinary gift in one’s life.
Friends are pretty much family. You and your
friends will share numerous things. You spend most
of the time with your best friend.
I am, for sure, fortunate to have my school
companion, Rachel, as my best friend even at this
point. It started on the third day of my L.K.G
class.She was always a pretty child with blue eyes
and freckles on her cheeks.She was plump and loved
to wear pink dresses very much.
I earned the dearest friend of my life when I was
only four years of age. I do accept that she is the
best thing at any point in my life. She is still there as
an inspiration.We played together, giggled together,
cried together, grew up together, gained experiences
together. Lastly, when twelve years of school life
came to an end, we said farewell and separated our
ways.
Even though miles separated, we either call or send
messages every day. We are connected by heart and
give time to each other. We talk about the occasions
in our lives and cherish every minute together, think
back to our past times, and miss each other.
Life proceeds with its fantastic journey, such a large
number of close companions came all through my
life, yet none substituted the sole position saved for
my best friend, who remained close by during the
back and forth movement of my little life.
2. We decided to go to Dehradun last month. I was too
excited to think of what it would be like. We booked
the tickets and when the time came, packed our
things. When we landed at the airport after a journey
of about five hours, I had jet legs but soon forgot
about seeing the beauty all around. We checked into
the hotel and rested for some time. It was a
wonderful day and we enjoyed a large meal. We
hired bikes and toured half of the island relishing the
local life that was so lively and full of activity.
Fascinating history and intriguing mythology meet
at the crossroads of this beautiful hill-station, one of
the most popular in the country. Just 240 km from
SOLUTION
Delhi, nestled in the rolling Doon Valley and at the
foothills of the Himalayas, Dehradun is surrounded
by high mountains and lush Sal forests. Known for
its pleasant year-round weather and scenic
surroundings, the city is a gateway to several
popular hill-stations like Mussoorie and pilgrimage
sites like Haridwar and Rishikesh.
Offering a blend of unparalleled landscape and
modern amenities, bustling Dehradun is a city for
both business and leisure. Once a retirement haven,
today it buzzes with excitement, yet has managed to
retain its laid-back vibe. Quaint cafés and lounges
rub shoulders with heritage monuments and bazaars.
On our way, we tasted delicacies of the local
cuisine. Mostly it was spicy food. We visited
tropical jungles and witnessed the beauty and
splendour of nature. We were overwhelmed by the
serenity and beauty of the place. Soon the time to go
back arrived. It was a sad feeling to think of leaving
this extraordinary calmness. It was the best journey
of my life.
EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING - DIARY ENTRY
1. True
2. His/ her day at school
3. formal
4. Preet Vihar, New delhi
Monday, 22nd March, 2021
9:00 pm
Dear Diary,
Today, when I was coming back from my swimming
classes, I saw some children at the corner of the road
quarrelling among themselves. I could hear them
yelling at each other. When I went nearer, I could
recognise two of them. They were Rahul and
Shyam. I could sense the danger prevailing there as
some older boys had sticks with them.
At once I ran towards Rahul’s house and informed
his father about the quarrel. He rushed towards the
spot along with some other elders. As soon as the
older boys saw all of us approaching, they ran away.
Rahul felt relaxed when he saw his father. Some
older boys from the neighbouring colony were
bullying him and Shyam. They were asking them to
give away their money and other valuables and
calling them bad names. I advised Rahul not to talk
to people whom he didn’t know. I told him not to
play far away from their building. Rahul’s father
thanked me for my prompt action.
108
Today I am feeling proud because I could keep my
head calm and act promptly. Keeping a cool mind
can actually help us sail through such situations.
Indrajeet
5. Lake Town Apartments,
Kolkata
17th March 2021, Monday
10:00 PM
Dear Diary,
Last night, I attended the big fat Indian wedding of
one of my cousins Ritam with Radhika. Right from
the wedding invitations to decorations, catering,
return gifts, everything was very very expensive.
What bothered me was the wastage of resources that
we witnessed there. The light decorations in the
wedding consumed much electricity and were
releasing undesirable pollutants into the air. I also
saw people wasting so much food. They filled their
plates with much more food than they could
consume. The disposal of food was improper
because of which flies and insects were seen
everywhere. A lot of water was wasted by the
people over there. The wastage of resources might
lead to water scarcity, global warming, pollution,
etc. I wish people would understand the effects of
this. People should really be mindful about spending
their money in this way.
Suman
EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING
1. Topic sentence
2. The vibrant colours of the vase of flowers on the
window ledge seemed to bring the whole room to
life
3. All of the above
4. I have many friends. Of them, Rahul is my best
friend. He is the friend I have always longed for. We
are also classmates. He always stood by me in
support during misfortunes. He is also a healthy
critic as his criticism always helps me improve my
behaviour and personality. Being a topper in the
class, he also helps me in my studies. To conclude,
he has been a boon to me. In the evening, he comes
to me. We do homework together. Then we go to the
park for playing and workout. Whenever I am wrong
he explains to me my mistakes and tells me what to
do next? I pray to God to bless upon our company
forever.
5. One day I was commuting on a DTC bus.
Unfortunately, I left my wallet at home. I had no
money to buy the ticket and it was useless to plead
SOLUTION 109

before the conductor. Every moment was adding to 11. was built
my anxiety, lest I should be caught by the ticket
12. was thought
checker and further consequences. The conductor
asked me to take the ticket but after knowing the 13. was damaged
truth he offered me the ticket. I looked at him as if I 14. were drowned
was asking the reason and he just smiled. The
conductor was a conscientious and kind-hearted 15. was located
person. He understood my problem and so did not
charge me for my ticket. I deboarded the bus EXERCISE – 1 : MODALS
thanking him from the deep of my heart. I was 1. (a) different from
moved by the behaviour of the conductor and it had (b) a principal verb
been an unforgettable experience of my life. (c)‘would’
2. might
EXERCISE – 1 : TENSES
3. must
1. Future perfect tense 4. have to
2. Option (ii) Simple present 5. should
3. Charlie will have been the head boy of our school. 6. can
4. Will have 7. Could- modal of permission
5. Past Perfect Tense 8. Ability
6. Has been following 9. May
7. was working 10. needn’t
8. spent 11. You cannot drive in India without a valid driver’s
9. Shall have been flying license.
10. He visits the temple frequently. 12. should
11. would 13. must
12. Will Shalini be 14. will
13. will be 15. must
14. (a) have 16. would
(b) are 17. would
(c) help
(d) wore
EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS
(e) reports 1. (a) Demonstrative determiners are used to identify
or point to a particular person, event, or object.
EXERCISE – 1 : ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE
(b) Quantifiers provide approximate or specific
1. (a) interrogative answers to the questions "How many?" and "How
much?".
(b) subject
(c) Distributive determiners are used to refer to a
(c) interchanged group or individual members of the group.
2. The flat tyre was changed by Johnsy. 2. these
3. many
3. Open the window. 4. first
4. A brownie is being baked by Sheetal. 5. fifty-first
6. four
5. I am going to read an interesting novel. 7. the
6. Fifty thousand rupees had been paid by me. 8. half
9. Which
7. Were you recognised by her?
10. Demonstrative Determiner
8. When did you write the letter? 11. quantifiers
12. a
9. Both (i) & (ii)
13. the
10. Only (i) 14. an
SOLUTION 110
15. his correct time to feel sad about the events, rather he
16. your would focus on changing the situation.
17. the 5. The shelter was occupied by the people for quite a
EXERCISE – 1 : DETERMINERS SENTENCE while then. They had to survive on raw coconuts and
even that was insufficient to feed the large mass.
TRANSFORMATION
6. The Super Cyclone hit Odisha in the year 1999.
1. 1. He didn’t make much progress.
7. The word from the extract that means ‘scant’ is
2. He has forgotten some of the details.
‘insufficient’.
3. The District Magistrate visited every flood
affected area. 8. Prashant formed and led the group of villagers, that
4. Whose villa is this? included both old and young. They planned to force
5. He is the first boy who has joined this gym. the local merchant to give them the stock of grains
2. A and rice to feed the people. This was the task that
3. Those- Demonstrative Determiner they succeeded in.
4. Many
9. People were not bothered by the rotting of rice
5. Their- Possessive Determiner
because they were already prepared to eat it. They
6. a- Indefinite Article, the- Definite Article
had been starving for days together and had no
7. 1. The patient is so weak that he cannot go upstairs.
complaints in surviving on rotten rice.
2. This house is so expensive that I cannot buy it.
3. Anil is so lazy that he cannot get up early in the 10. The antonym of ‘effortless’ from the above extract is
morning. ‘arduous’.
4. Rakesh is so slow that he cannot win the race. 11. Kalikuda women worked as a team under the
5. Anika is so short that she cannot touch the leadership of Prashant. They helped him in
painting. pressurising the local merchant to feed rice to the
8. 1. Mohan is so smart that he can impress the survivors. They cooked food by collecting branches
company. from fallen trees. They cleaned the shelter of filth,
2. Rathika is so foolish that she can believe the urine, vomit and floating carcasses and took care of
people. the people with wounds and injuries. They also
3. Kalpana is so tall that she can clean the ceiling helped to create new foster families made up of
fan. childless widows and children without adult care.
4. Meenu is so fast that she can catch the train. The women also worked with an NGO in their food-
5. Anamika is so rude that she can insult her seniors. for-work programme.
9. The sunset is very gorgeous.
10. Gold is the most expensive of all metals. 12. Prashant’s heart sank on seeing the extent of damage
11. She was respectful to me. that his village had sustained. He saw nothing but
only the remains of the roof of his house. Some of
12. Has everybody heard of Amitabh Bachchan?
the family belongings were caught in the nearby
EXERCISE – 1 : WEATHERING THE STORM branches of trees. His family was nowhere to be
seen.
IN ERSAMA
13. Prashant emerged as a hero when he helped people
1. Kalikuda
in various ways that might have been difficult for a
2. Importance of courage and positive attitude towards young boy of his age to accomplish. The two
life instances from the story wherein he proved himself
to be a hero are:
3. Cyclone
(i) He formed a group of volunteers and got rice for
4. Prashant got emotional by the overcrowded shelter
the people.
that occupied 2500 people and each one of them was
distressed from the destruction of the cyclone. He (ii) He and his volunteers cleaned the shelter and
then braced himself up thinking that it was not the helped the injured.
SOLUTION
14. Initially the government planned to set up
institutions for orphans and widows. Prashant and
his volunteers thought out of the box and resisted the
idea, because they felt that isolation would increase
their sadness. They wanted to settle them in foster
families of their own community where they would
love and support each other.
15. Prashant is a hero and a good leader because he
managed to help a mass of people from their
devastating experiences of Cyclone. Composing
himself up from all the personal losses and mental
breakdown, he helped people with all his heart.
When he was on his way to his home, he witnessed
some of the horrific sights of dead carcasses flowing
through the flood waters. Prashant’s house was
shattered too and he saw the belongings hanging on
the branches of the trees. He wept as he felt that he
had lost his beloved family. He went to the Red
cross shelter in search of them. Prashant saw a
crowd of 2500 people at the shelter, all devastated
and hopeless. Many had lost their families in the
disaster. For the last 2 days they had survived on
coconuts but they were running out of stock.
Prashant took control of the situation. He formed a
group with some elders and young people. They
forced the merchant to give them the stock of rice
and were successful. After 4 days the crowd ate a
meal. Then the group of volunteers cleaned the
shelter and tended to the injured people. Prashant
engaged the widows to work in the NGO named
“Food for work”. He engaged the children by
arranging sports matches for them. The volunteers
managed to set up foster families consisting of the
widows, orphaned children and lone men who
would form a family and support each other. Like
this Prashant overcame his grief and learnt to smile
even in the face of adversities.
EXERCISE – 1 : NO MEN ARE FOREIGN
1. By love
2. Option (iii) Deprive
3. All men are our brothers
4. ‘Our hells of fire and dust’ directs towards the evil
side of human nature. Whenever war happens, it
leads to a lot of bloodshed, fire and death. These
dead bodies accumulate on the surface (Earth) and
make it impure. The eruption of fire of war gives
rise to the smoke and dust. This results in polluting
the air. Thus, the dust is so dirty that it pollutes and
outrages the purity of the air.
111
5. Metaphor
6. no rhyming scheme, it is free verse
7. The opportunist, power-hungry leaders and
politicians, who are at the helm of affairs during
war-time, tell us to hate our brothers.
8. We sometimes hate our brothers because we allow
vested and unscrupulous politicians and religious
leaders to instigate us. We are taken in by their lies
about our differences and we start to consider our
brother strange and foreign.
9. We dispossess ourselves by hating our brothers in
other parts of the world when we are told by the
politically motivated people to do so.
10. We all are alike. We have the same body structure.
All of us need air to breathe, sun to get sunlight and
warmth and water for many purposes. Our daily
routine is also almost the same. We get up in the
morning, take a bath, have breakfast and go to work
or school. All of us long for love. We all sleep at
night and wake up in the morning. When our needs
and feelings are the same, then we should treat all
people equally. We should not look down upon
anybody on the basis of his/her colour, caste, region
or gender. We should treat everyone as our brothers
and sisters.
11. Harvests are called ‘peaceful’ because they bring
abundance and prosperity and they thrive in peaceful
times only. War, on the other hand, is like the severe
and harsh winter that ruins the crops and starve the
people.
12. The poet feels that the people of all countries have to
work hard in similar fashion to earn their livelihood.
This is done by them with the help of their hands. It
is the hands that do all the work in the world and it
is the hands which are a source of all creativity.
13. All human beings are woven in the wreath of
humanity. If our vision is not clouded by narrow
ideas, we can recognise and understand ‘common
life’ in every land. All men are born and brought up
in the same way. They love, hate and sleep in the
same way. Peace and love bind them together.
14. No doubt, geography, religion, cultures and races
divide lands and people. These divisions lead to
conflicts and wars. Such man-made differences
pollute the minds of people. Wars and conflicts
defile the earth which is ours. Beneath all these
divisions and differences, we should understand and
recognise ‘common life’ which is the same in every
land. Hating the people of other lands means hating
humanity and mankind. Let us weave ourselves in
the common wreath of humanity. Let us not defile
SOLUTION
and destroy this earth which is ours. Let us
understand once for all that all divisions of men are
only superficial. The same soul runs through all
men. The same heart throbs in all—the heart of man.
EXERCISE – 1 : PACKING
1. Four
2. Option (iii) Deprive
3. His conceit would become unbearable
4. Harris and George wanted to show Jerome that they
could pack well
5. He packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato
and squashed it.
6. Sarcastic
7. Joyous
8. a. “They” refer to George and Harris.
b. They start their programme by breaking a cup.
c. Intending
d. Their intention behind breaking a cup was to
attract the attention of people so that they can show
you what they can do.
9. Intending
10. George trod on to the butter and it stuck to his
slipper. When they came to know about it, they
scrapped it off from the slipper. They put the butter
on the chair. Harris unknowingly sat on the chair
and it got stuck behind him. They searched all over
the room for the butter. At last, they found it
sticking on Harris’s behind. This butter incident
created a lot of humour in the story.
11. The narrator turned everything out of the bag but
couldn’t find the toothbrush. The narrator found
Harris and George’s toothbrush eighteen times over
but couldn’t find his own. He put the things back
one by one, held everything up and shook them.
Finally, he found the toothbrush inside a boot.
12. The narrator said that he was an energetic person.
He said that he can’t sit still and see another man
slaving and working. He wanted to get up and
superintend, and walk around with his hands in his
pockets, and tell him what to do.
13. According to Jerome, Montmorency’s ambition in
life is to interfere with others and be abused. He is a
mischievous little dog who loves creating troubles
for others. If people shout at him or throw things at
his head, he feels his day has not been wasted. His
highest aim and object was to get somebody to
stumble over him and curse him steadily for an hour.
Montmorency, a dog, is born with such silly
characteristics or says the sins that make him do
things like that.
112
14. Of the three, Harris is the worst packer in this world.
But none of them is the perfect packer. All of them
are confused and do not know what is to be placed
and where. So far as Jerome is concerned he
unpacked the bag to find his toothbrush in a boot.
He also packs his spectacles in the bag. Harris and
George start their work in a light hearted spirit.
There are piles of plates, cups, kettles, bottles, jars,
pies, stoves, cakes and tomatoes. They break a cup.
Harris packs the strawberry jam on top of a tomato
and squashes it. They have to pick out the tomato
with a teaspoon. George treads on the butter. He gets
it off from his slipper and puts it in the kettle. He
puts it down on a chair and Harris sits on it. It sticks
to him and then they look for it all over the room. In
this way they created chaos in the room.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE LAST LEAF
1. November
2. Option C. Looking
3. she would die with the fall of last the leaf on the
creeper
4. Death
5. Johnsy is depressed about her illness
6. A friend who give efforts to remove negatives
thoughts of Johnsy
7. Johnsy used to watch an old tree outside her
window.
8. Hopeless
9. The doctor examined Johnsy. He was not confident
about her ability to fight off pneumonia which had
dragged her to the verge of death. He told this to Sue
but assured her that Johnsy still had chances of
survival if she has the will to live. He promised to
give the best medicine but advised Sue to do
everything possible to inject some hope and
willpower back to Johnsy.
10. Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground
floor beneath Sue and Johnsy. He was old and past
sixty and a failure in art. He used to earn his living
by serving as a model to those young artists in the
colony who could not pay the price of a
professional.
11. Pneumonia had ravaged Johnsy’s body and mind.
She convinced herself that the time to depart had
come. She became obsessed with an old vine creeper
that was shedding leaves one by one due to the
season. She linked the dwindling number of vine
leaves to her remaining life span. She concluded that
the fall of the last leaf would indicate her death.
Thus, she waited for the last leaf to fall.
SOLUTION
12. Johnsy felt that when the last leaf from the ivy vine
would fall, she would also die. Behrman painted a
leaf on the ivy branch when the last leaf fell before
he died. It was his first and last masterpiece. It saved
Johnsy’s life. So the title ‘The Last Leaf’ is apt.
13. Despite his rough exterior, Behrman was a man with
a golden heart. Compassion, humanity and readiness
for extreme sacrifice were the hallmarks of his
nature. When he realized that Johnsy would cling to
her life only as long as the last leaf remained in the
creeper, he decided to paint an identical leaf on the
creeper to make Johnsy feel that the night’s storm
had failed to dislodge the leaf. Doing this, he
managed to save a precious life but lost his own. He
could not resist a pneumonia attack that was
triggered by exposure to the rain, wind and chill of
the night. The painting was no doubt his masterpiece
which he had all along boasted about without
accomplishing it. The sad thing was that he didn’t
live to receive the adulation.
Yes, indeed, Behrman was a true friend by all means
as he didn’t think twice about the consequence of
staying out in the cold, autumn night and tried to
save his friend’s life-risking his own.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE DUCK AND THE
KANGAROO
1. all of the above
2. Nasty pond
3. for its ability to hop and move to places
4. Both a and b are correct
5. The Kangaroo thinks that giving a ride to the Duck
would bring him luck.
6. Bold
7. ababccdd
8. The Duck was fascinated by the Kangaroo’s
hopping because he himself could not hop and roam
around. He had to stay in the unpleasant and boring
pond for the whole day. That’s why, he admired the
hoping of the Kangaroo over the fields and the water
bodies.
9. The Duck praised the hopping of the Kangaroo and
spoke to him in a very respectful manner. The Duck
also found a solution to the Kangaroo’s objection
and made arrangements accordingly- like he bought
four pairs of worsted socks, a cloak and a cigar. He
followed all the instructions given by the Kangaroo.
Due to his politeness, the Kangaroo accepted the
proposal and gave him a ride.
113
10. The Kangaroo was a very sensible and wise
creature. When he was requested for a ride, he was
slightly apprehensive as he knew that the wet and
cold feet of the Duck may afflict him with
rheumatism and body pain. So before accepting the
proposal, he wished to give a deep thought to the
request, even though giving a ride could bring him
good luck.
11. Before accepting the proposal of the Duck’s desire
to ride, the Kangaroo had one objection that the
Duck’s wet feet would make him fall sick. So, the
Duck prepared everything accordingly. He bought
four pairs of worsted socks to cover his web feet, a
cloak to avoid the cloak and also bought a cigar to
smoke every day on his journey.
12. The message of the poem The Duck and The
Kangaroo is that life is meant to be enjoyed. The
duck is tired of living in a small pond. Hence he
desires to escape from the small space and go for an
adventure with the kangaroo. We should also travel
the world and gather experiences. We should not
spend our valuable lives sitting in the same place
and fretting.
In addition, there is also another theme which is the
theme of friendship. The kangaroo tells the duck that
he is irritated by the wet and cold feet of the latter.
The duck acknowledges this and buys three pairs of
socks, a cloak and cigars to avoid irritating the
kangaroo. Hence their friendship is based on
sacrifice and compromise.
13. The poem, ‘The Duck and the Kangaroo’ is a
nonsense verse and full of humour. The structure of the
poem is a conversation between a Duck and a Kangaroo,
where the Duck requests the Kangaroo to give him a ride,
which is shown in an amusing way. The manner in which
the Duck pays compliments to the Kangaroo for his hopping
skills is quite funny. Then the imaginary names of the
places, ‘Dee’ and ‘Jelly Bo Lee’ which the Duck wishes to
visit is funny. The other funny element in the poem is
distorting rheumatism to ‘roo-matiz’. The way in which the
Kangaroo gives a deep thought about the proposal of the
Duck is very comical. The humour is subtle and well-woven
throughout the poem.
EXERCISE – 1 : REACH FOR THE TOP
1. To become number one in the world
2. Olympics
3. all of the above
4. These lines had been spoken by Santosh Yadav.
5. Santosh Yadav had dreams and she was quite
different from a traditional village girl
SOLUTION
6. Logical and not based on myths and traditions
7. Progressive
8. Her roommates would ask her to clean the room late
at night
9. Driven and motivated
10. Quietly
11. Maria Sharapova is a Russian citizen, who moved to
the United States to make a mark for herself in the
game of tennis. She was barely nine years of age
when her father took the initiative to launch his
daughter on the path of success and stardom. She
endured a lot of hardships, faced them bravely, and
secured the position of World No. 1 on 22nd
August, 2005 at the tender age of eighteen. She was
rewarded for her hard work and dedication.
12. Maria Sharapova was a little girl who was not born
with a silver spoon in her mouth. It was her grit and
determination that helped her climb the ladder of
success. She was fond of reading, singing, dancing
and wearing sophisticated gowns on one hand and
on the other, she loved pancakes with chocolate
spread and a fizzy orange drink. It was her talent and
sacrifice that lifted her to the top of the world.
Therefore, she cannot be categorised into any
particular group or class of people. She was one of a
kind.
13. According to me, the incident that exhibited her
strength of character was when Santosh helped her
co-climber. On her trek up the Everest, two of her
co-climbers were seen in a distress situation, due to
empty oxygen cylinders. One of them succumbed,
but she rescued Manoj Singh by sharing her oxygen
cylinder till they reached their destination.
14. The name Santosh was given to the little girl
because everyone was very happy and content when
a girl was born after the five boys. But Santosh was
not very content because she could not adhere to the
traditional and restricted lifestyle that was expected
from a girl-child.
EXERCISE – 1 : A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME
1. in their neighbour’s house
2. doing his homework
3. both (a) and (b)
4. The tragic situation in the life of the narrator is the
burning down of his house.
5. The cat was rescued by a stranger
6. To shrink
7. Every dark cloud has a silver lining
8. Uniting with the cat has given him hope
114
9. The author was deeply embarrassed the next day in
school because he was not wearing the proper dress.
He had lost everything in fire. He was still wearing
the dress he had worn to church that morning. He
had no shoes. He was wearing the tennis shoes that
he borrowed from his aunt. He was totally
embarrassed by everything. He had no books or
homework, and his backpack was gone. Words that
show his fear and insecurity are ‘outcast’, ‘geek’,
‘curl up and die’ ‘had my life in that backpack’
‘zombie’, ‘surreal’ and ‘security …ripped away’.
10. Zan’s classmates were sympathetic and understood
his situation. They arranged all necessities for him
like clothes, books, stationary items. They invited
him over to their place. All this comforted Zan. He
came out of the negativity and made new friends. He
realized that he was getting a new life.
11. His new friends in the new school and the kindness
of the lady, who returned his cat, helped the author
in getting rid of his feelings of loss and tragedy. He
regained confidence. Now he wanted to live happily
in his new ‘home’.
12. The writer says this because he realised that
everyone at school, including his teachers and
classmates, were aware of the fire incident at his
home and about his plight even before he could tell
it to anyone.
13. The cat and the author were very fond of each other.
She kept sitting beside him when he did his
homework and other household work. When the
author disturbed her, she would get out of the bed,
climb up his robe and crawl into his pocket to fall
asleep. He was very depressed and sad when he
couldn’t find his cat after the fire. He missed her
terribly.
After the fire the cat had been so freaked that she ran
a mile away from the house. A woman found her
and took her in. She tried hard to find out whose cat
it was. She located the author’s number on the cat’s
collar but she couldn’t reach him as the phone had
been disconnected due to the fire. However, she
made personal efforts to find the author.
One month later, when the author was at his house
that was being rebuilt, the woman came there with the cat
and asked him if the cat belonged to him. He hurriedly
grabbed the cat from her hands and held it close and cried
into its beautiful orange fur. The cat purred happily.
EXERCISE – 1 : ON KILLING A TREE
1. An ironical poem
2. Option (iii) Metaphor
SOLUTION
3. Crust of the soil
4. ‘Bough’ refers to the branches of a tree.
5. The poet is telling man not to ignore the small twigs
that grow out of the stub of the chopped tree.
6. Wound on the tree that is caused by hacking
7. The poet tells the inconsiderate human being not to
do an incomplete job. He warns them of the
possibility of the tree growing back, if the sprouting
shoots are not destroyed completely.
8. Despite the pain and injury the woodcutter has
inflicted on the tree, it will bleed for a while, and
heal in the normal course. The tree is protected by
the mother earth, who will ensure that healing takes
place.
9. The chopping, uprooting and killing of a tree may
perhaps take a month or two. Just as it takes only a
second to kill a man and bury him. However, for the
chopped tree to grow to its original size and glory
would take many, many years.
10. The poet has called the root sensitive because it is
the life guard of the tree. It is kept safely under the
ground, so that life is ensured. Just as a baby bird is
protected by a mother under her wings, and a human
being protects the child from all dangers, the mother
earth also protects the strength of the tree, the nerve
centre of the tree, her child, the root within the
safety of her bosom (close to her).
11. The poet has referred to the bark of the tree which
has been discoloured with the passage of time as
leprous hide . The poet says that the bark of the tree
looks like a person who has leprosy and the skin of
the body has been discoloured because of old age.
12. The poet Gieve Patel has presented a very beautiful
yet ironical poem, ‘On Killing a Tree’. He starts the
poem with an ironic statement—It takes much time
and strength to kill a tree. Then he explains the
process of a tree’s growth—it grows slowly and
rises out of the earth by absorbing years of sunlight,
air and water. So, it is not easy to kill a tree with a
single stroke of a knife. One may cut off the trunk of
a tree and all its branches, but the root continues to
keep it alive. The tree has deep roots which draws its
sap from the earth. It gives rise to tiny twigs and
miniature boughs. The poet very skillfully describes
the process of killing a tree. If total demolition is not
done, green twigs are sure to emerge from the
bleeding bark. The miniature boughs (branches) will
grow from close to the ground and grow back to its
normal size. The source of the tree is its roots which
is white and wet. The secret of its strength is that it
is hidden inside the earth for years together. It is
115
fixed firmly in the earth. Thus, to kill a tree it has to
be uprooted, scorched and choked in the sun. After
uprooting, the roots are to be exposed to the sunlight
till they dry and become brown. Then it stops
breathing. It becomes hardened, twisted and
browned.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE BOND OF LOVE
1. to give him to the zoo at Mysore
2. all of the above
3. the bond of love and care between human beings
and animals
4. Hypodermic is a long needle used to give an
injection under the skin
5. Bruno is a strong black bear
6. Squeals means screams
7. No noisy breathing
8. Disdainfully
9. Yes, Bruno was a loving and playful pet. He was
sent away because as he had grown into a big bear,
it was not safe to keep him in an inhabited area as he
could harm people. The narrator, his son and their
friends convinced his wife who was particularly
attached to Bruno and finally, it was sent to the zoo
at Mysore.
10. Bruno once got paralysis when he ate some of the
poison which the author had kept to kill the rats in
his library. The author rushed him to a vet who gave
Bruno two injections of an antidote. After 30
minutes, Bruno was able to walk on his legs. He had
a great feed after the incident.
11. Both Bruno and the narrator’s wife felt very sad,
worried and did not eat for a few days as they were
very close to each other and shared a great bond of
love. The narrator’s wife also cried and was
inconsolable (heartbroken). The separation was too
painful for both of them.
12. When Bruno was back to the house, then an island
was made in the courtyard of the narrator’s house. It
was surrounded by a moat. Every item that belonged
to Bruno was kept inside the island. Since he had
grown in size; so it was necessary to make these
arrangements.
13. Love is what comes as an emotion, an affinity and
an association of thoughts between two or more
living beings. It is an association based on mutual
understanding. Love has a universal language
despite it having no language. Love demands
nothing but your heart. If you put your heart out,
then love comes spontaneously. It is true that the
SOLUTION
love between Bruno, a bear, and the narrator’s wife
reflects an emotional bonding. The narrator’s wife
loved him dearly. She cooked a variety of food
dishes for him and made all efforts to please him. In
return, the bear also performed many playful tricks
to please her. Both of them enjoyed each other’s
company. When they got separated after his
departure to the zoo, both of them fretted and did not
eat properly. So, the narrator decided to reunite
them. This shows that love is natural to all whether
it is a human being or an animal.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
1. navy blue
2. Clumsy
3. A glass of cold drink
4. The narrator’s wife looked in wonder on seeing the
narrator’s fingers bleeding and his reaction that
followed.
5. ‘Catastrophes’ means disasters.
6. The narrator cut his finger while trying to open the
zip on the bag.
7. The wife found the reaction of the narrator strange
8. The synonym of the word ‘Wrath’ is Fury.
9. The narrator was trying too hard to open the zip and
when it opened suddenly, all the articles flew out of
his bag. They were scattered over a large area as big
as a tennis court. He saw all his papers flying out,
the coins rolled on the floor and the lidless box of
tobacco rolled as the tobacco spilled on the floor.
10. He was not successful in his attempts to remain
suave. His unsuave ways were as follows-
1. He would stain his light coloured trousers with ice
- cream, motor oil, gum and cough syrup.
2. The sleeve of his coat would get stuck in the car’s
door.
3. He would leave the dining table in a mess and it
would appear as if an earthquake had struck the
place.
11. This happened when Bill bent down to tie his
shoelaces while being seated in the plane, and the
person in the seat ahead of him threw his seat back
in a full recline. As a result, Bill Bryson found
himself doubled over and pinned helplessly in the
‘crash position’.
12. Bill’s wife says this because her husband is so
accident-prone that she expects the food to go all
over the place or some such accident to happen if he
is allowed to open the lid himself. This is because of
his earlier accidental incidents that always happen
116
whenever he tries to perform simple actions,
especially during flights.
13. The writer appears to be a positive, funny, and self-
deprecating man who does not mind highlighting his
shortcomings. In fact, every instance that could have
embarrassed other people has been shown in a
humorous light. He has found humour in the most
disastrous and frustrating situations. Even when he
loses the chance to go to Bali when the airline
refuses to give him air miles on a technical reason,
he does not lose his temper.
He does not take himself too seriously and readily
accepts his clumsiness. He doesn’t try to hide any of the
embarrassing accidents he has had, but honestly admits to
them. His family also appears to have accepted him the way
he is, and learnt to handle him along with his ‘accidents’.
The writer’s most endearing quality is how comfortable he
is with his own self. Even though he talks about wanting to
be suave and gentlemanly like other travellers, he is not too
worried when he is unable to do so, in spite of his best
efforts. He thus comes across as a clumsy, accident-prone,
but good natured person.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE SNAKE TRYING
1. It slithered away to save itself.
2. Aggressiveness
3. Only A and C
4. The snake was idly lying on the sand, basking in the
sun.
5. Because he was chased by a man with a stick with
an intention to hurt him.
6. Observe
7. Small and green.
8. Facts- A,B; Opinion-C
9. Transferred Epithet is used in the above lines.
Here, the adjective ‘pursuing’ is used with ‘stick’.
But it is not intended to show that the stick is
pursuing. Actually, it is to suggest that some person
with a stick in his hands is chasing the snake. Hence,
the epithet (adjective) is transferred from the person
to the stick.
10. The chaser, like most people, believes that all snakes
are poisonous and a threat to human beings.
Therefore, although this particular snake is lying
comfortably on the sandy bank with no intention of
harming anyone, the man chases it with the stick, the
moment he sees it. He wanted to kill it so that it
would not bite him or anyone else.
11. The speaker seems to be an environmentalist who
has a loving attitude towards all living beings. He
seems to be conscious of the need to preserve the
SOLUTION
diversity of creatures to maintain balance in the
environment. Moreover, he believes that most
species of snakes are non-poisonous and they do not
harm unless attacked.
12. The speaker wants the snake to be spared because
the snake is non-venomous and hence, harmless. He
cannot harm even a young child. Since the snake is
not a threat to any human being, there is no reason
to kill him.
13. The poem is an inspirational poem. The poem
inspires the readers to cultivate a sympathetic and
loving attitude towards all living creatures. The poet
shows how there is beauty in all creations of God,
even in the curling and curving body of the snake.
He wants the beauty of the snake to be preserved.
The poet’s plea to the man chasing the snake is, in
fact, his request to all men to preserve the diversity
of nature. The poem cultivates in the readers a sense
of justice by stressing that killing an innocent snake
without any provocation is unfair. Animals may be
killed only for self-defence, else they must be saved.
The poem further motivates the readers to attain
deep knowledge about the phenomenon of nature.
By gaining a thorough knowledge, one may be able
to distinguish between the harmful and the harmless
animals. Thus, the poem motivates people to adopt
humanistic and friendly feelings towards all living
creatures.
EXERCISE – 1 : KATHMANDU
1. Pashupati Temple
2. Only B, C
3. The fifty or sixty flutes protruding in all directions
from the pole
4. Fact-A,B, Opinion -C
5. Pashupati Temple
6. Because the temple allows entry only to Hindus.
7. Only A and B
8. Only A and C are true
9. The author notices that the flute seller does not shout
out his wares like the other sellers do. From time to
time, he selects a flute and plays on it, playing
slowly, meditatively, and without excessive display.
Such was the effect that the music of the flute rose
clearly above the noise of the traffic and the
hawkers' cries.
10. At Pashupatinath, there is a small shrine that
protrudes from the stone platform on the river bank.
It is believed that when the stone emerges fully, the
117
goddess inside will escape, and the evil period of
Kaliyug will end on earth.
11. The author considers the music of the flute to be
"the most universal and most particular" of all music
as there is no culture that does not have its own kind
of flute. Each kind of flute has a specific fingering
and compass, and "weaves its own associations".
Still, when the author hears the music of any flute he
feels drawn into the commonality of all mankind
and is moved by music closest in its phrases and
sentences to the human voice. In spite of the
differences that the different flutes have, every flute
produces music with the help of the human breath.
Similarly, in spite of the differences in caste, culture,
religion, region, and language, all human beings are
the same, with the same living breath running
through all of them.
12. Vikram Seth describes the busy streets of
Kathmandu as ‘vivid, mercenary and religious’. He
shows the place to be beautiful with a vivid
landscape where a lot of religious activity is carried
out. Besides the famous temples and shrines
mentioned, Kathmandu also has small shrines and
deities which flourish in the narrow streets. The
market is replete with fruit sellers, flute sellers, and
hawkers selling postcard photographs. As in any
other tourist place, there are shops selling various
things like cosmetics from western countries, rolls
of film, chocolates, antique things of Nepal, and
copper utensils.
The roads are a bedlam of noises created by radios
blaring out film songs, sounds of car horns blowing,
bells of bicycles ringing and vendors shouting to sell
their wares. There are also the cows bellowing as
they hear the sounds of motorcycles. Thus, the
streets of Kathmandu are full of noise.
13. There are hundreds and hundreds of worshippers in
the temple premises; some people who are trying to
get the priest's attention, elbow aside the others to go
to the front.By the main gate, a party of saffron-clad
Westerners struggled for permission to enter as only
Hindus were allowed to enter the temple. He also
sees how everyone makes way for the royal
princess. Also, the writer mentions a fight that broke
out between two monkeys. One was chasing the
other, who jumped onto a shivalinga, then ran
screaming around the temples and down to the river,
the holy Bagmati.
EXERCISE – 1 : THE BEGGAR
1. school teacher
SOLUTION
2. Lushkoff
3. Russian coins
4. alcoholism
5. Sergei had asked him to go with the cook to chop
wood.
6. Only 1 & 3
7. Option d
8. humble
9. option (ii)
10. inconsiderately
11. unappreciated
12. Lushkoff the beggar, agreed to chop the wood for
Sergei because he was trapped by his own words.
He had said that he would not refuse to chop wood if
he could get such work. So out of shame, he could
not refuse Sergei’s offer.
13. When the beggar got a merciless scolding because of
his lying and cheating he tried to defend. He said
that he couldn’t get on without lying as he was
forced by his circumstances to tell lies. He said that
if he had told the truth that he had been expelled
from the Russian choir for alcoholism, no one would
have given him money.
14. The beggar, Lushkoff is described as a scarecrow
because he is as thin as a scarecrow and shabbily
dressed in ill-fitting and mismatched clothes.
15. When the beggar told Sergei that he was thankful to
Olga because she had really saved him and changed
his life completely, Sergei was really surprised.
Though the cook Olga behaved very rudely with the
beggar, her behaviour was not real. Her words were
hard but she really wanted to change the beggar’s
life. She cursed him for being a drunkard and
disinclined to work but at the same time did his
work so that he could get money. There was a kind
and sympathetic heart behind her hard face. She
really wanted to make the beggar ashamed of
himself. So, she behaved in such a manner.
16. To bring about the positive changes in a person with
negative character traits, patience and love are
required. The story ‘The Beggar’ has ample
evidence to prove this statement. Olga was a social
and sympathetic lady. She had a sense of humanity.
She realised the miserable condition of Lushkoff and
felt pity for him.
She kept criticising him in order to improve him.
Lushkoff realised her noble feelings and a change
took place in his heart. So, the love and compassion
of Olga and Sergei completely changed Lushkoff, a
beggar by circumstances. He realised the importance
of hard work and was able to live with dignity. It is
118
because of the encouragement and empathy and
sympathy shown by Olga and Sergei that brought
positive changes in Lushkoff.
EXERCISE – 1 : A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT
SEAL
1. That his friend, Lucy is no more.
2. Only a and b
3. Enjambment
4. cdcd
5. Only a and b
6. Only d
7. The “earthly years” have taken these senses away
from her and have confined her to death.
8. At first the poet is shocked by the death of his
beloved and he feels bitter grief. But after some
realisation, he feels great peace. He is content that
the passing of time will no longer affect her. She has
become part of nature and is free from human
travails.
9. The speaker does not feel any fears and his soul
feels at peace, as though asleep and existing in a
deep calm where he has nothing to fear. His love for
Lucy was so strong that he did not want her to grow
old and suffer the problems of old age as human
beings do. She would not now be marked by the
passing of time or the ravages of nature as other
mortals are. For him, she has attained the status of a
supernatural being.
10. In the poem, the word ‘spirit’ refers to the mind of
the poet. He was in a slumber. That is, deep sleep or
a state of unawareness as if unconscious to the
realities of life. It is as if he was drugged or under
some spell.
11. The poem ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ is about
the death of a loved one and the poet’s feelings
about his beloved when he thinks about her death.
The poet describes his imagination about his
beloved after her death. This poem is a kind of
elegy. In this poem, the poet seems to be
immortalizing her death by saying that she has no
human fears. Now earthly years were no longer a
matter of concern for her because they cannot make
her older now.
12. The poem ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ is about
the death of a loved one and the poet’s feelings
about his beloved when he thinks about her death.
The poet describes his imagination about his
beloved after death. This poem is a kind of elegy. In
SOLUTION 119

this poem, the poet seems to be immortalizing her Gerrard did not lose his cool. He spontaneously
death by saying that she had no human fears. Now made up a story that he himself was a criminal and
earthly years were no longer a matter of concern for was trying to avoid the police. This story was
her because they cannot make her older now. supported by the things that surrounded him, his
In the second stanza, he is describing her dead body. reclusive lifestyle, the bag he had been packing, the
She is not able to perform any of the physical disguise outfit, false moustaches etc.
movement or activity now. In the last two lines, the All this misled the intruder into believing that
poet describes that she is now under the surface of Gerrard was speaking the truth. He did not doubt
the earth revolving along with it on its path. He tells Gerrard any longer and unsuspectingly got ready to
us that like other stones, rocks and trees she also escape along with him. When Gerrard indicates the
revolves with the earth now. door that leads straight to the garage, the intruder
walks into a trap. The bag played an important role
EXERCISE – 1 : IF I WERE YOU in convincing the intruder. If he hadn’t been packing
1. playwright he would have to make up a story out of some other
2. hands object near him. And it's doubtful if that would be so
3. Remained unruffled convincing as this one.
4. scare Gerrard.
5. That would help him imitate Gerrard better
6. Only 4 EXERCISE – 1 : READING EXTRA
7. Option 4 1. attend to individual human beings
8. having good sense of humour 2. economics
9. His life history 3. both a & b
10. sarcastic 4. destruction of life, beyond the need for one’s
11. a change in the modulation of voice survival
12. The intruder, who broke into Gerrard's house, was 5. peace can be attained through slogans and
actually a criminal. He had murdered a cop and was statements
being chased by the police. He intruded into 6. all of these
Gerrard's house with the intention to murder him 7. to be absolutely still with great intensity
and impersonate his identity to evade the police. 8. offer advice to
13. No, in fact Gerrard was more intelligent and smarter 9. We should always be _______ to become better.
than the intruder because he did not get trapped in 10. Option (a)
the intruder’s plan. With the help of his quick and
clever thinking, he got rid of the intruder and
trapped him in his own plan . EXERCISE – 1 : NEW READING HACKS
14. Gerrard says that since the intruder’s voice was
1. Comprehension is the act of understanding what you
unfamiliar, he couldn’t know whether he was asking
read.
a question or telling something.
2. the main idea
15. The play emphasizes the need of having one’s
3. go through all the options and then mark the correct
presence of mind and a cool head in situations of
answer.
crisis. Panic complicates matters but cool
4. To look for food and water
temperament can help one escape from any tight
5. the sheep started waking up from their sleep
corner with ease. Criminals, who mastermind most
6. The opposite of what is expected
well thought out crimes, can also be outwitted
7. a shepherd
because they are fearful of the law and of getting
8. he thought that the sheep could understand him.
caught. Judicious planning and careful handling of a
9. a long stick with a curved end, carried by a shepherd
situation can trap even seasoned criminals.
10. The boy told stories of his glorious past to his sheep.
16. Gerrard was seen packing a bag in the beginning of
11. Both A & B
the play. He had to deliver some props to some
12. was an avid reader.
theatrical company for rehearsal, hence was
13. Certain members of the audience may disagree with
packing. When the intruder broke into his cottage
what I am saying
and threatened to kill him and steal his identity,
SOLUTION 120

EXERCISE – 1 : PHRASES & CLAUSES designing. I will see you soon! Please convey my
best wishes to uncle-aunty!
1. (a) Adverbial clauses of condition often begin with Yours lovingly
‘if’, ‘unless’, or ‘provided that’ Simi
(b) A phrase is a group of words without a subject- 5. 125 P, Chatterjee Lane
verb component, used as a single part of speech. Kolkata
(c) Adverb clauses of time tell us about when West Bengal
something happens. 8th August 2017
2. until he came Dear Uncle,
3. Don’t ask his opinion I am sorry I’m writing after so long. The past few
4. By the time they finished weeks have been a little hectic since I was still
5. who works in the circus. adjusting to the new school. But, I hope you’re fine,
6. that the traitor should be put to death and everyone at home is also doing fine. I’m fine,
7. that has internet access. too. In fact, though I get homesick at times, I’m
8. once they saw it turn the corner. actually enjoying myself here better than at my last
9. The bewildered tourist school.
10. can smell I believe that this school is one of the best I could
11. until her arms ached. ever go to, and I’m really grateful to mother and
12. like a born orator father for making so much effort for me. We have
13. Beyond a doubt the best facilities at our disposal here, from good
14. Inspite of all the difficulties food and comfortable doms to absolutely supreme
15. of immense importance teachers. All teachers are very learned, affectionate,
16. of wonderful patience too and efficient. They’re just the right balance of strict
and lenient. My classmates are fun and were a great
help when I’d just joined.
EXERCISE – 1 : WRITING - INFORMAL In a nutshell, I’ll say to you what I’ve been saying to
LETTER everyone else: Don’t worry… I’m absolutely
comfortable here, and I really like it here. Please
1. An informal letter may talk about more than one
convey my regards to Ayush and aunty.
thing.
Yours lovingly
2. first person
Sparshi
3. Best wishes to all of you.
4. Flat Number 16, Bela Court 1 EXERCISE – 1 : REPORTED SPEECH
Colaba, Mumbai 560045
1. (a) Direct Speech reports the speaker’s message in
8th July 2017
the exact words as spoken by him.
Dear Manasi,
(b) Indirect Speech reports the message of the
My happiness knew no bounds when I got to know
speaker in our own words.
that you’ve been chosen for the internship program
(c) No conjunction is used if a sentence in Direct
under your favourite designer label. I wanted to
Speech begins with a question word as the question
come to congratulate you in person, but
word itself acts as a joining clause.
unfortunately, my exams have been rescheduled.
2. She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous
Your selection has proved that hardwork really does
week.
reap sweet fruits. Your hard work, sincerity, and
3. He asked me where they lived.
determination have yet again led you to success.
4. She promised that she would do it for me.
You’ve always been so passionate about designing,
5. She explained that she was playing the guitar.
and just looking at you working with so much
6. He said that Irvin had arrived on Monday.
dedication made me confident that you would be
7. She said, “I will be in Russia tomorrow.”
chosen.
8. He said to him ‘Please complete it’.
I can’t wait to hear exciting stories from you! My
9. The man said, ‘Ah! I am ruined.’
only advice to you is to continue working just as
10. David said, “I will be making tea.”
hard, and you’ll reach even higher in the world of
11. Salina said, ‘I met James yesterday.’
SOLUTION 121

12. asked her what she was planning of criminal acts. Also, he never combs his
13. replied that whiskers and constantly neglects his skin. Thus, he
14. had heard that people who had is full of dust. His head is also highly domed. One
can find him swaying his head from side to side just
like a snake. One may feel that he is in deep sleep
EXERCISE – 1 : PREPOSITIONS but he will be only dozing.
1. (a) before 9. Kezia’s father was a very serious person.
(b) during 10. She found her father to be terrifying.
(c) manner 11. authoritative
2. At 12. All the above
3. in 13. Kezia’s father appears to be a domineering head of
4. possession the family and demands complete obedience from other
5. under members. As soon as he returns home in the evening,he
6. on wants his tea brought to him along with the newspaper.
7. through- preposition of cause and effect Instead of taking off his shoes himself , he makes Kezia do
8. Preposition of time it for him. He is so strict with his daughter, that the poor girl
9. Yuvan was at the zoo on four hours. stutters in front of him and feels relieved when he goes for
10. of work. From the above passage we understand that Kezia’s
11. The reason for my late arrival is the horrible traffic. father is a stern father.
12. of
13. in
EXERCISE – 1 : GRAMMAR REVISION
14. on (INTEGRATED GRAMMAR)
15. at
1. (a) The simple past tense usually changes to the past
16. of
perfect tense in reported speech.
17. across
(b) Determiners are words placed in front of a noun
to make it clear what it refers to
EXERCISE – 1 : UNDERSTANDING (c) When the subject of a sentence performs the
verb’s action, we say that the sentence is in the
CHARACTERS active voice
1. A character’s vocabulary, tone, choice of topics 2. had not been running
gives a lot of information about him/her. 3. is available
2. the character’s behaviour 4. He told me they weren't visiting Paris during their
3. protagonist trip.
4. a villainous and wicked cat 5. Our rooms are not cleaned by us.
5. He can escape from the law every single time. 6. after my class ends
6. He has a dusty coat 7. even with a leg injury
7. Macavity is well-dressed and is smart looking. 8. can
8. Macavity is a fictional character and depicts the 9. Must- modal of possibility
actions of the crooks. He is also known as ‘Hidden 10. a few
Paw’. He is a notorious criminal, spy, and a trickster 11. a
and openly disobeys the laws. Macavity is a 12. of
mastermind and leaves no evidence after committing 13. from
the crime. Thus, the Scotland Yard Police are also 14. in
helpless. The Flying Squad has also never succeeded 15. on
in catching him as he runs faster than them. He can 16. in
float in the air without any support and thus, breaks 17. during
the gravitational law of nature. He is easily
recognizable as he is a tall and thin ginger cat. He
has sunken eyes and his brows have deep wrinkles.
His brows depict that he is in deep and continuous
SOLUTION 122

EXERCISE – 1 : RECAP OF WRITING TOPICS when Mohini started running away from them.
Mohini breathed a sigh of relief and conveyed that
1. With due respect, I wish to draw your attention she thought she was about to get bullied.
towards...
2. Plot
3. The topic sentence
4. KG-1234
Mukherjee Nagar
West Delhi-10
5th April, 2021
Dear Chitra
How are you? I hope that you are recuperating from
your illness. While you were on leave, we celebrated
the Silver Jubilee of our school.
A special function was organised to celebrate the
Silver Jubilee. We gathered in the auditorium for the
function. The principal gave a small speech before
the function started. He told us about the history and
the founders of our school.
The function started with a cultural programme. It
was organised by the students of class XII and
depicted the diverse culture of our country.
The next programme was a fashion show. I also
participated in that show and represented our class.
Everyone cheered for me when I came on the stage.
We enjoyed the celebrations a lot. It would have
been more fun if you also had been present on that
day.
I hope that you get well soon and join school.
Yours loving friend
Misha
5. Things are Not Always What They Seem
It was Mohini’s first day at the new school. She was
feeling very nervous. She stood in a corner and
watched the students who were laughing and talking
excitedly. When she saw four senior students
advancing towards her, she got terrified and started
going towards her classroom hurriedly. The four
students caught up with her speed and cornered her.
Drops of sweat rolled down her face as she muttered
in a trembling voice, “Leave me alone”. They
started coming nearer as they sensed her fear. Two
tall boys and two girls of medium height looked at
her and gave her spine-chilling terror. Before
Mohini could shout, one of the girls covered her
mouth and they all started laughing. Mohini was left
astonished. To make things clear, one of the boys
told her that they had been assigned to guide her
through the school and assist her to make her feel
comfortable. They were coming nearer to introduce
themselves and thought of playing a small prank