ENGLISH (HL)

SOLUTION : PRACTICE ACTIVITY SHEET 4

Note : Some activities are open-ended. The answers given to such activities are just as a model.
Q. 1. (A)
A1. (1) gerund – digging
(2) Assertive (negative)
(3) It was twenty years ago and I was living in Paris.
(4) sit → think → know → write → eat
(5) sitting, swimming
A2. (1) People have been walking in the park looking at the flowers.
(2) (i) I often hear the birds singing at dawn.
(ii) “I saw a turtle here yesterday,” said the animal lover.
(3) My mother replied that it did not matter to her that she would not see the
flowers in full bloom.
Q. 1. (B)
(1) (i) The actor’s charming smiles made him popular. (noun)
(ii) When a person smiles, it makes the face look pleasant. (verb)
(2) His father was a teacher and also served as a coach at their local sports centre.
Q. 2. (A)
A1. (iv) Jobs got fired.
(iii) Jobs started Next.
(ii) Jobs returned to Apple Inc.
  (i) Jobs married Laurene.
A2. After he overcame the shock of being fired from Apple, Job felt the lightness of being
a beginner again. He felt free to enter one of the most creative periods of his life.
He started two companies – Next and Pixar.
A3.   (i) renaissance – revival
(ii) to start over – to begin again
(iii) fired – dismissed from a job
(iv) devastating – causing great destruction
A4. (i) Present Perfect Tense; Time – Present; Aspect – Perfect.
(ii) Life has been hitting you in the head.
A5. Model Answer : The second story of Jobs – about love and loss, conveys to us
that even if our efforts result in complete disaster, we should continue believing
in ourselves. It tells us that we should love our work. If we haven’t yet found it,
we should keep on searching. We should never accept less than what we aim for
in life.

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Q. 2. (B)
B1. (iv) Hawking published the book ‘A Brief History of Time’ that offered an
overview of space and time.
(ii) Hawking’s book ‘A Brief History of Time’ spent more than four years atop
the ‘London Sunday Times’.
(iii) Hawking’s book ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’ offered an illustrated guide to
cosmology’s big theories.
  (i) Hawking authored ‘A Briefer History of Time’ that contained the newest
developments.
B2. 1988 → published ‘A Brief History of Time’.
2001 → published ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’.
2005 → authored ‘A Briefer History of Time’.
2014 → The film ‘The Theory of Everything’ is released
B3.    (i) status – prominence (ii) summary – overview
(iii) people – masses (iv) immediate – instant.
B4.   (i) Having sold millions of copies worldwide, it has been translated into more
than 40 languages.
(ii) The short informative book became an account of cosmology, didn’t it ?
B5. Model Answer : Stephen Hawking was a versatile personality. He has not only
done groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology but also written or co-written
15 books. He worked as a professor of mathematics for a long time. He used to
attend various conferences and could think in 11 dimensions.

Q. 3. (A)
A1.   (i) youth – willing to do anything to gain reputation
(ii) middle age – uses wise sayings and modern examples
(iii) old age – lean, wears loose pants
(iv) dotage – without teeth, eyesight and taste
A2. The message of this poem is the cycle of life. It tells us how one starts out an
infant, helpless and without understanding and ends the same way, without
being aware of what is happening around one. It tells us how temporary life is.
A3.  (i) slippered pantaloon
(ii) manly voice.

Q. 3. (B) Appreciation :
The title of the poem is ‘The Pulley’. The poet is George Herbert.
Each stanza of the poem has five lines. The rhyme scheme of each verse is a-b-a-b-a.
The chief figure of speech used in the poem is Metaphor. The ‘glass of blessings’
signifies the sum of all human qualities bestowed on man. The quality of ‘rest’ or
‘contentment’ is implicitly compared to a ‘jewel’. The other figures of speech are
Pun, Inversion, Paradox, etc.

2 NAVNEET PRACTICE PAPERS : STD. X [SOLUTION : ENGLISH (HL)]

 The central idea of the poem is the reason for man’s continual restlessness all his
life. According to the poet, this is because God withheld the quality of rest from man,
so that man’s thoughts would ultimately turn towards God, his creator.
Q. 4. (A)
A1. Diseases that are caused by houseflies are :
(1) Typhoid (2) Cholera (3) Dysentery (4) Leprosy (5) Anthrax (Any 4)
A2. (1) Avoid – leaving dirty dishes in your sink.
(2) Keep fresh produce – in a bag or sealed container.
(3) Cut – the lawns.
(4) Take time to – keep your yards clean.
A3. (1) probable × improbable
(2) clean × unclean
(3) infect × disinfect
(4) human × inhuman
A4. that flies rarely bite or sting – subordinate noun clause.
A5. Model Answer : I eat fresh and nutritious food prepared at home every day.
I also play games regularly. I keep myself and my surroundings clean. In this
way, I try to protect myself from diseases.
Q. 4. (B) Summary :
A Dangerous Pest
Though houseflies rarely bite or sting, they spread a variety of diseases that are
harmful to human beings. However, we can protect ourselves and our loved ones
from many diseases by keeping houseflies away. We can do this by keeping our
surroundings clean and preventing the accumulation of rotting food. Fresh food
should always be covered or sealed tightly. Leftovers should be disposed immediately.
For Q. 5, Q. 6 & Q. 7...

About Self-assessment of Writing Skills Questions...

While answering the writing skills questions, students are expected to write their
thoughts in their own words/language. Such answers are open-ended ones. Students may
attempt these questions on their own. Students may however study the answers given
in the solution to the model activity sheet and consider the marking scheme given along
with them. They can try to self-assess their own answers. They can also get the guidance
from their teacher, if necessary.
For more topics and study of writing skills questions,
refer to Navneet Writing Skills in English (HL) : Std. X.

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