English Language

Class: VIII Marks: 80

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:-
 Read each question carefully and follow the instructions.
 This question paper is divided into three sections.
 All questions are compulsory

Question.1
Write a composition (350-400) on any of the following topics: [25]
(a) “We are responsible for our own health and lifestyle in the modern times.” Express
your views for or against the statement.
(b) You have organized a variety entertainment program to raise funds for an
orphanage. Give an account of your experiences.
(c) You are working hard towards taking up a serious profession. Which profession
would you choose and why?
(d) Write a story beginning, “We were just about to get on the plane when……”
(e)

Study the picture given below. Write a story, description or an account of what the
pictures suggests you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you

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may take suggestions from it, however, there must be a clear connection between the
picture and your composition.
 Format - content - expression
Question. 2 [10]

(a) Write a letter to the editorial head of The Hindu telling him about your views about
global warming, its effects and what should we do to prevent it.
(b) There was a huge function in your school and due to some reason your friend has
wasn’t able to be a part of it. Write a letter to your friend describing him the function
and your participation.
 Format – content- expression
Question.3
Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions:
We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that
do more harm than good. Man continuously wages war on them, for they contaminate
his food, carry diseases or devour his crops. They sting or bite without provocation,
they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted
windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of
quite harmless ones like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding
without dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ants live in a highly
organized society does not prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find
hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch.
No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read of the uncanny sense of
direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are
unreasonable, but they are difficult to erase. At the same time, however, insects are
strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that like
the Praying Mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them,
entrance as they go about their business, unaware -we hope – of our presence. Who has
not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants
triumphantly carrying home an enormous dead beetle?
Last summer, I spent many days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up
the trunk of my prized peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a
sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived
several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. During
the summer I noticed that the leaves of the tree had begun to wither. Clusters of tiny
insects called Aphids were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited
by a large column of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately
embarked on an experiment which, even though it failed to get rid of the ants, kept me
fascinated for twenty four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, making it
impossible for the ants to reach the Aphids. The tape was so sticky that they did not
dare to cross it. For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree
in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction

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and surprise that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able
to do anything about it. I got up early next morning to find the ants were climbing up
the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. I realized sadly that I had
been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find an answer
to my thoroughly unscientific methods.

(a) Four words or phrases are given below. Give the meaning of each word as used in
the passage. [4]
i. Luscious
ii. Pouncing
iii. Ingenuity
iv. swarming
 i. Sweet, pleasant, delicious
 ii. A sudden leap, pounce
 iii. Ability to solve difficult problems
 iv. Migration, moving to new colony

(b) Answer the following questions briefly. [10]

i. What is our approach towards the insects?
ii. Why does man try to kill insects?
iii. Why does the writer state that knowing about insects does not make man change
his attitude towards all the insects?
iv. What was the reason that the leaves of the tree were drying up in summer?
v. What did the writer do to avoid the ants from reaching the Aphids? Was the
attempt successful?
 i. We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures
that do more harm than good. Man continuously wages war on insects.
 ii. As they contaminate the food, carry diseases or devour his crops. They sting or bite
without provocation, they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat
against our lighted windows.
 iii. Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears.
Knowing that the industrious ants live in a highly organized society does not prevent
us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a
carefully prepared picnic lunch. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are
difficult to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating.
 iv. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. It has
survived several severe winters, because it occasionally produces luscious peaches.
During the summer the leaves of the tree had begun to wither. Clusters of tiny insects
called Aphids were to be found on the underside of the leaves.
 v. The tree was visited by a large column of ants which obtained a sort of honey. The
writer embarked on an experiment which, though failed to get rid of the ants, kept
him fascinated for twenty four hours. He bounded the base of the tree with sticky
tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the Aphids. The tape was so sticky
that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time, he watched them scurrying around
the base of the tree in bewilderment. He got up early next morning to find the ants
were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree.

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(c) Describe the behavior that we show towards insects in not more than 60 words.
[6]
 Our behavior lies between sensitivity and insensitivity towards the insect.
 Examples to prove the statement
 Word limit

Question. 4
(a) Fill in the blanks with suitable words. [4]
i. Diya has been playing chess ________eight O’clock
ii. A quarrel arose ________the tribes.
iii. Arun, Raj and I _______ the station.
iv. Henry looked ________ the window and saw me.
 i. since
 ii. between
 Iii. Reaching, leaving
 iv. Out of

(b) Join the sentences without using and, but or because. [4]
i. She was a philosopher. She was a painter
ii. Sam saw the tiger. He ran away
iii. The bus is very crowded. That is usual.
iv. Tagore was a great Indian poet. He wrote the famous Gitanjali.
 i. She was a philosopher as well as a painter.
 ii. Sam immediately ran away after seeing the tiger, Sam saw the tiger and he
immediately ran away.
 iii. The bus is very crowded which is usual,
 iv. Tagore was a great Indian poet who wrote the famous Geetanjali.

(c) Fill in the blanks with the antonyms of the words in Italics. [4]
i. Life is full of comforts and _________
ii. We prefer people who are polite to those who are ___________
iii. He was popular with both the literate as well as the __________
iv. There was adequate water in wells, in spite of the __________rain.
 i. discomforts
 ii. rude, impolite
 iii. illiterate
 iv. Inadequate, insufficient

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 (d) Fill in the blanks with correct form of verbs [3]
i. A subject of great interest___________ (is, are) rainforests.
ii. The team members (is, are) arguing over the defense tactics.
iii. The mayor and the governor _________(hope, hopes)that the bill will soon
become a law.
 i. is
 ii. are
 iii. hope

(e) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given. [10]
i. Time is so precious that it cannot be wasted ( too)
ii. I saw nobody in the library. (affirmative)
iii. He said, “I will meet you tomorrow”. (indirect speech)
iv. He prayed that God might bless me. (direct speech)
v. You may go anywhere. (end:…..like.)
vi. At sunset he returned home. (begin: when…….)
vii. We all know the reason of his popularity. (end:…….popular)
viii. When he had finished his work, he went out to play. (Begin: Having……)
ix. The school is too far for us to walk. (‘so…. that’)
x. The USA is the richest country in the world. (Begin: No other……)
 i. Time is too precious to waste.
 ii. I saw everybody in the library.
 iii. He said that he will meet you tomorrow.
 iv. He prayed, “Oh God!, Bless me”.
 v. You may go anywhere you like.
 vi. When the sun had set he returned home
 vii. Everyone is aware of the reason for him being popular.
 viii. Having his worked finished, he went out to play.
 ix. The school is so far that it makes difficult/unable/tough for us to walk.
 x. No other country is richer than the USA in the world.