SET ~ 1

Series EF1GH/6
Q.P. Code 1/1/1
Roll No. Candidates must write the Q.P. Code
on the title page of the answer-book.

•
ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature)

ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature)

ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature)
Please check that this question paper contains 12 printed pages.
• Q.P. Code given on the right hand side of the question paper should be
written on the title page of the answer-book by the candidate.
• Please check that this question paper contains 13 questions.
• Please write down the serial number of the question in the answer-
book before attempting it.
• 15 minute time has been allotted to read this question paper. The question
paper will be distributed at 10.15 a.m. From 10.15 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., the
students will read the question paper only and will not write any answer
on the answer-book during this period.
ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature) ENGLISH (Language and Literature)

ENGLISH
(Core)

Times allowed : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 80

General Instructions:
(i) The Question Paper contains THREE sections-READING, WRITING and
LITERATURE.
(ii) Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.

SECTION A
Reading 20 marks

1. Read the passage given below:

There is a time when everyone has to face grief. When someone dear to
oneself dies, one is left in a state in which grief and shock overcome the
ordinary life. One is left in a situation when one feels there is nothing
one can do. Grief and mourning are always associated with death. It
also happens with other kinds of losses. It could be the loss of one's job,
the loss of one's house or the loss of a close friend.
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1/1/1 P.T.O
 5. The best people able to cope with these are those who come from
cultures that have strict, formal and intensive mourning rituals. In
India, we have diverse rituals which nowadays are being discarded.
But these help in surmounting the crisis. The near and dear ones
come to share the grief and apply balm with their words of solace. In a
modern society, one is expected to act as if nothing has happened, but
research has shown that mourning is an essential part
10. of coming to terms with loss. There comes a time when one has
to give up one's grief and rejoin the main stream of life. Mourning in
itself passes through these phases. Firstly, it is in the nature of shock
and disbelief. A feeling of numbness overtakes. The brain is not in a
position to accept. It so happens that one expects the arrival of the
lost one, thinking that nothing will change and he/she will be with the
lost one. In the second phase, one realises the truth that the loss has
actually happened,
15. and it was not a dream. It is then that one feels the pain. Then one
recollects the old moments and the memory of guilt creeps in. Here, the
affected person displays odd behaviour and has difficulty in activities
like eating and sleeping. One may remain in this stage for weeks,
months and sometimes years. In the next phase, one experiences relief
from pain and negative feelings. This leads to
20. positivity. Then one feels one must make alternative arrangements
or replacements. Here, one is ready to cope with the situation. One
knows one cannot recover what one has lost, but is conscious of the
future, accepts the loss and is ready for the alternative.
On passing through all the stages of grief, it seems that time has
passed like a river under the bridge. This shows that mourning has
been successful. One cannot forget the loss but one
25. comes to terms with reality.
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given
below.
(A)What is the central point that the writer makes about ‘grief’ in paragraph
1? 
(a) Grief is always associated to death
(b) Grief and shocks tends to overcome daily life
(c) Grief does not spare anyone
(d) Grief can also be a result of job loss or the loss of a close friend
(B)What is the writer’s contention about the practice of mourning rituals in
India?
(a) India has diverse mourning rituals
(b) Mourning rituals in India are strict, formal and diverse
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 (c) Mourning rituals are being discarded
(d) Near and dear ones come to share in a person’s grief
(C)The writer says that the best people to cope with loss are the ones who
come from a strict mourning culture. Infer the reasoning in about 40
words.
(D)Complete the following sentence based on your reading of the passage:
The writer uses the phrase ‘like a river under the bridge’ to underline the
fact that time ............................................ .
(E)What are the ‘alternative arrangements’ that the writer refers to in lines
20-25?
(a) Making alternative arrangements for funeral
(b) Explore different types of mourning rituals
(c) Understand the meaning of death
(d) Make changes in life to cope with the loss
(F)What does the use of the phrase ‘feeling of numbness’ suggest in the
context of the writer’s viewpoint of grief? Answer in about 40 words.
(G)Grief and mourning are always associated with death. What are the
other kinds of losses other than the ones given in the passage?
(H)Analyse the better way of coping with a loss – ignorance or acceptance. 
(I) Read the five headlines (1) -(5), given below:
(1) TRICE COOKING FOR BEGINNERS
(2) COOKING RICE FOR THE FIRST TIME
(3) SETTING THE KITCHEN ON FIRE WITH MY COOKING SKILLS
(4) WHO SAID COOKING RICE WAS EASY?
(5) COOK RICE LIKE YOU MEAN IT
Identify the option that displays the headline/s that DOES/ DO NOT
correspond with occurrences in the passage.
(a) (1) and (2) (b) (1), (2) and (3)
(c) Only (5) (d) (3), (4) and (5)
2. Read the passage given below:
Cricket is a passion for people around the globe. It is played everywhere
from test match arenas to village greens, tropical beaches, and dusty
backlots. Cricket is the world’s second most popular spectator sport after
soccer.
5. The origin of cricket can be traced back to the Dark Ages. All research
concedes that the game is derived from a very old, popular, and
uncomplicated pastime by which one player served up an object, be it a
small piece of wood or a ball, and another hit it with a suitably fashioned

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club. The game of cricket was first recorded in 16th-century England, and
it was played in grammar schools, farming communities, and everywhere in
between. But things really took off when 18th-century nobles realized it was
a great sport.
10. The oldest surviving set of cricket laws dates to 1744, which was printed
on a handkerchief. Naturally, it’s now in the MCC Museum at Lord’s in
London. The oldest permanent fixture is the annual Eton Vs Harrow match,
played since 1805. A young Lord Byron turned out for Harrow in the first
match, though history doesn’t record how poetic — or “mad, bad, and
dangerous” — his bowling was.
15. The first international match was held in 1877 when Australia beat
England in Melbourne. The match was dubbed a ‘Test’, since the gruelling
nature of playing over five days was deemed the ultimate test for any side.
However, it was Australia’s first win on the English soil — in 1882 at The Oval
in London — that led to matches between the two nations being christened as
the ‘Ashes’. Following the defeat, newspapers published an obituary mourning
“the death of English cricket,” adding that “the body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to Australia.”
20. A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played
between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed
number of overs. Usually, the Cricket World Cup is played in this format.
The international one-day game is a late twentieth-century development. The
first ODI was played on 5 January 1971 between Australia and England at
the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
25. Table 1 represents the list of Cricket world cup winning countries as well
as the runners-up for every Cricket World Cup played until 2015.
Year Winner Runner-Up
2015 Australia New Zealand
2011 India Sri Lanka
2007 Australia Sri Lanka
2003 Australia India
1999 Australia Pakistan
1996 Sri Lanka Australia
1992 Pakistan England
1987 Australia England
1983 India West Indies
1979 West Indies England
1975 West Indies Australia

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 Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given
below.
(A)What does the writer mean by calling the test match as ‘gruelling’? Infer
in about 40 words.
(B)The ‘obituary column’ in a newspaper deals with news related to:
(a) Deaths (b) Sports
(c) Matrimonials (d) Regional views
(C)How can we say that cricket is one of the most beloved sports in the world,
according to the passage?
(D)Identify which of the following options relate to the concept of cricket in
the 20th century:
(a) Nobles realised it was a great sport and began promoting it.
(b) The concept of T20 cricket arose as the shortest format of the game.
(c) One Day Internationals (ODIs) became popular and the Cricket World
Cup was played in this format
(d) The Ashes began between India and Australia.
(E)In lines 15-20, the word ‘christened’ refers to giving a ...................... to
the Ashes.
(a) Blessing (b) Name
(c) Tribute (d) Salute
(F)With reference to the table, write one conclusion about Australia’s
performance in the Cricket World Cup.
(G)The word ........... from lines 15-20 indicates the process of giving a
Christian name to a baby during baptism.
(H) State TRUE or FALSE.
The title, "Cricket Down the Ages", is appropriate for this passage.

SECTION B
Grammar and Writing 20 marks

3. You are the Society Secretary of Green Apartments, Bhopal. After the
increasing cases of COVID-19, you have decided to take strict actions as
precautions for the safety of the people. Draft a notice in not more than 50
words to call a meeting for the society members to discuss upon the same
issue.
OR
Sarvodaya Education Society, a charitable organisation, is coming to your
school to distribute books among the needy students. As Head Boy/Head

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 Girl, Sunrise Public School, Surat, write a notice in about 50 words asking
such students to drop the list of books they need in the box kept outside
the Principal's office. You are Navtej/Navita. 1

4. You are Adil/Sameena, son/daughter of Anwar Rizvi of Brent wood

Estate, Circular Road, Lucknow. Prepare a draft in 50 words for a formal
invitation card to be sent on behalf of your parents on the occasion of the
wedding of your sister. Invent the required details. 
OR
You are Preet Singh. You are going on a picnic with a group of classmates
to Keetham Lake, Agra. Write an informal invitation to your friend
Mayank to join you for the picnic.  5

5. You are Tapas/Tapasya of A-150, Mount Road, Chennai. You have seen
an advertisement in the newspaper, ‘The Chennai Times’ for the post of
Manager (Accounts) in Sundaram Westside, Chennai. Apply for the post
with your complete biodata. (120-150 words)
OR
You are Minu Sen, employed as an Asst. Manager for Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) in your current company in Hyderabad. You saw the
given advertisement in the newspaper and wish to apply for the position
advertised.

CREDIT SAGE Pvt. Ltd.

SAGE
Required— Corporate Social responsibility Manager (CSR) Head
Job Responsibilities:
 Define strategy for Credit sage's CSR value of 1% of products and
1% of profits to the society.
 Develop various CSR initiatives in the company's adopted village.
 Strategise and initiate various community benefit schemes and
liason with NGO's Govt. Bodies etc.
Preferred Skills & Qualifications
 Bachelor or Master's degree in Sociology/Public Relations
 Strong interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written)
 Proven experience in CSR project management and execution
 Proven experience working with non-profit organization or Corporate CSR.

Send your bio-data within 10 days to Gagan Vij, HR Head,

Credit Sage Pvt. Ltd., Nashik

 5
For further details please check our website-www.sage.com/careers/csr

6. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, you have been invited to attend the
event at KJ Arya College. To your utter dismay, you found that the
students were involved in a physical fight over there which calls for a need

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 to focus on the relevance of Gandhian philosophy in present times among
the youth. Write an article for the same in 120- 150 words using the given
cues. You are Reema/Raj.
(1)Remind ourselves the way Gandhi fought battles
(2)Leadership has lost its essence; needs to be tracked
(3)Accepting Gandhian ways and ahimsa in life
OR
Write a report in 120-150 words for publication in your school magazine
describing how ‘Teacher’s Day’ was celebrated in your school. You are
Navtej/Navita of XII-B. Use the following clues:
(1) Senior students organised the event
(2) Banners and posters for the day
(3) Activities and meal
(4) Retirement of a teacher
(5) Memorable event

SECTION B
Literature
7. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
(A) Which poetic device is used in the first line: ‘A thing of beauty is a
joy forever’?
(B) State True or False:
According to the poet, ‘to pass into nothingness’ means to become
oblivious or extinct.
(C) Which poetic device is used in ‘but still will keep/A bower quiet for
us’?
(a) Anaphora
(b) Transferred epithet
(c) Epigram
(d) Metaphor

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 (D) According to the poet, it can be inferred that beauty can help us
................... .
(E) Complete the following sentence using ONE word:
The poet mentions that a thing of beauty ‘will keep a bower quiet
for us’ to suggest that it will always fill us with ................... .
(F) Which of the following is NOT associated with the effect a thing of
beauty has on us?
(a) A joy forever
(b) Sleep full of sweet dreams
(c) Health and quiet breathing
(d) Passes into nothingness
 1
OR

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
… and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and smile......
(A) What was the poet’s ‘familiar ache’?
(B) Which poetic device is used in the line: ‘familiar ache, my
childhood’s fear’?
(a) Antithesis (b) Alliteration
(c) Analogy (d) Apostrophe
(C) State whether the following statement is True or False:
The poet smiled at her mother out of boundless joy and celebration.
(D) What kind of smile would the poet’s mother have received from the
poet?
(a) An uncomfortable smile
(b) A cheerful smile
(c) A calm smile
(d) A hopeful smile
(E) Complete the following analogy:
Familiar ache : Separation : : ......................... : Death
(F) Complete the following using ONE word only:
The poet’s smile as she bids farewell to her mother expresses her
......................... at leaving her mother behind. 1

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8. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Human civilisations have been around for a paltry 12,000 years — barely a few seconds
on the geological clock. In that short amount of time, we’ve managed to create quite a
ruckus, etching our dominance over Nature with our villages, towns, cities, megacities.
The rapid increase of human populations has left us battling with other species for
limited resources, and the unmitigated burning of fossil fuels has now created a blanket
of carbon dioxide around the world, which is slowly but surely increasing the average
global temperature.
(A) ‘The rapid increase of the human population has left us battling
with other species for limited resources…’
Explain the given sentence from the extract by giving ONE
example.
(B) Look at the image of the geological clock. In which hour did modern
humans appear according to the extract?
Dinosaurs appeared 22:46
Bokkeveld fossils 21:52
Table Mountain Oldest
sandstone 21:20 rocks 03:44
Malmesbury
mudstone
21:00
Oldest
fossils
05:20

Multi-celled
algae 17:36
Witwatersrand
gold deposited
08:21

Vredefort meteorite
impact 13:13

(a) At around 3:17 (b) At about 12:22

(c) At around 18:35 (d) After 23:59
(C) What does the author mean by saying that human beings have
managed to create ‘quite a ruckus’ in a short amount of time?
(D) Choose one word for the following description: ‘the unmitigated
burning of fossil fuels has now created a blanket of carbon dioxide
around the world, which is slowly but surely increasing the average
global temperature’.
OR
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
The Maharaja’s anxiety reached a fever pitch when there remained just one tiger
to achieve his tally of a hundred. He had this one thought during the day and the
same dream at night. By this time the tiger farms had run dry even in his father-
in-law’s kingdom. It became impossible to locate tigers anywhere. Yet only one
more was needed. If he could kill just that one single beast, the Maharaja would
have no fears left. He could give up tiger hunting altogether.
(A) Complete the following sentence appropriately:
When someone is taken in by something that they pursue day and

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9
 night, just like the Maharaja was when hunting the hundredth
tiger, we can say that the person is ................................ with it.
(B) Was the Maharaja hunting tigers for sport?
(C) How has the writer employed irony in this extract?
(D) If the Tiger King lived in our times, which act would he be violating
for hunting tigers?
(a) The Environment Protection Act, 1986
(b) The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
(c) The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
(d) The Indian Forest Act, 1927
9. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Then, from one thing to another, M. Hamel went on to talk of the French language,
saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world — the clearest, the most
logical; that we must guard it among us and never forget it, because when people
are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key
to their prison. Then he opened a grammar and read us our lesson. I was amazed to
see how well I understood it. All he said seemed so easy, so easy! I think, too, that I
had never listened so carefully, and that he had never explained everything with so
much patience. It seemed almost as if the poor man wanted to give us all he knew
before going away, and to put it all into our heads at one stroke.
(A) The first line of this extract means that M. Hamel spoke about the
French language that day:
(a) because it was his last day and this idea was on his mind.
(b) because he was asked to speak on it by the mayor.
(c) because he believed that everyone should learn French.
(d) because he spoke about it on a regular basis.
(B) Choose the word that DOES NOT mean ‘enslaved’:
(a) captive (b) liberated
(c) subjugated (d) bound
(C) When M. Hamel says, ‘…as if they had the key to their prison’, he
is using which literary device here?
(D) Complete the following sentence using ONE word:
When M. Hamel says that the people of France must guard their
language, he means that they must not let it .......................... .
(E) Why do you think Franz was able to understand the lesson so well
that day?
(F) Infer one reason why M. Hamel calls French the most beautiful
language in the world.

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 OR
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream
looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous
for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is
the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations
working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the
land it seems.
Mukesh’s family is among them. None of them know that it is illegal for children
like him to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells
without air and light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000
children out of the hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing
the brightness of their eyes. Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home,
which he proudly says is being rebuilt.
(A) Complete using ONE word only:
When the author says that the families in Firozabad have been
‘making bangles for all the women in the land, it seems’, she is
being ........................ .
(B) Give one evidence from the extract to show that the author is
sceptical that Mukesh’s dream of becoming a mechanic will come
true.
(C) Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE with reference to
the extract?
(a) Children work in badly lit and poorly ventilated furnaces.
(b) The children are unaware that it is forbidden by law to work in
the furnaces.
(c) Children toil in the furnaces for hours which affects their
eyesight.
(d) Firozabad has emerged as a nascent producer of bangles in the
country.
(D) Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles
indicates that:
(a) bangle making is the only industry that flourishes in Firozabad.
(b) the entire population of Firozabad is involved in bangle making.
(c) majority of the population in Firozabad is involved in bangle-
making.
(d) bangle making is the most loved occupation in Firozabad.
(E) Infer one reason why the law to curtail child labour has not been
enforced in Firozabad.

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11
 (F) Suggest a word or phrase from the extract to suggest that making
bangles is a tiring and demanding job.
10. (i) Gandhi had all the makings of a political leader. What qualities
about him made him a favourite among the people?
(ii) Douglas’s near-death expeirence with water led to a philosophical
regarding life and death. Explain?
(iii) 
Why was Edla so kind towards the peddler even after he was
discovered?
(iv) 
Aunt Jennifer is depicted as the victim of an oppressive marriage.
What feelings are elicited in the reader regarding her situation?
(v) Compare and contrast V. S. Naipaul’s and Rudyard Kipling’s
attitude on the subject of interviews.
(vi) What can be inferred from the author’s comment that leisure was a
pre-requisite for poetry?
11. (i) Children relish the small pleasures of life just like Bama did when
she dawdled along on her way back from school, enjoying all the
novelties. Elaborate.
(ii) According to Mr. Lamb, who/what can be inferred to define the
limits of one’s world? Validate.
(iii) In The Enemy, Hana's thoughts and actions regarding Tom were in
discord. Support this statement with examples from the text.?
12. (A) Imagine that Aunt Jennifer read the poem that Adrienne Rich wrote
about her. After much contemplation, she decided to write a letter
to her husband expressing her feelings and thoughts. Write the
letter as Aunt Jennifer.
(B) We come across two individuals: Mahatma Gandhiji (Indigo) and
Pablo Neruda (Keeping Quiet)–who have their own methods when
it comes to changing the world. Gandhi was an influential advocate
of pacifism. Can we say the same for Neruda?
13. (A) 
Describe briefly the scene at the third level of the Grand Central as
seen (or seems to be seen) by Charley?
(B) 
Bama's story of untouchability resounded deeply with you. You were
struck by how deeply ingrained the system of caste is in India, and
the prejudices attached to it. You decide to pen down your thoughts
regarding the same in your diary to give structure and cohesion to
your feelings.

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