ENGLISH-B (New Syllabus)
Total Time: 3 Hours 15 minutes [Full Marks: 80]
Special credit will be given for answers which are brief and to the point. Marks will be deducted for spelling mistakes, untidiness and bad handwriting. Figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.
1. Complete the sentences which follow, choosing the correct answers from the alternatives given: [1 x 5 = 5]
(i) Leela keenly examined the ball for traces of –
(a) dust (b) cloud (c) moon(d) stars
(ii) Jimmy got his pardon from the –
(a) President (b) Governor (C) Warden (d) Jailor
(iii) Mother Teresa began her Nobel Lecture with the prayer of –
(a) St. John (b) the Bible (c) St. Francis of Assisi (d) the Gospel
(iv) According to Nandalal Bose, the vitality of art lies in its –
(a) status value (b) sense of beauty and order (c) money value (d) face value
(v) The interclass zenana compartment was –
(a) next to the guard’s van (b) just after the engine (c) at the tail end of the train (d) in the middle of the train
2. Answer any five of the following questions in a single sentence each: [1 x 5 = 5]
(a) What kind of job did Sidda do in Sivasanker’s household?
(b) Where did Leela’s mother find the chain?
(c) What, according to Mother Teresa, is the greatest destroyer of peace today?
(d) ‘I was hungry-I was naked-I was homeless- I was unwanted.’ -Who said these words?
(e) What did Lachmi take out from the brass carrier?
(f) Who is the investigator in the story Jimmy Valentine’?
(g) Whom did Jimmy Valentine rescue from the vault?
(h) How does the absence of a sense of beauty harm a man?
(i) Where do the roots of art education lie?
(j) Where did Sir Mohan Lal wait before the train arrived?
3. Answer any two of the following questions in not more than 100 words each: [5 × 2 = 10]
(a) How did Sir Mohan feel when he saw two Englishmen coming towards his coupe?
(b) Narrate in your own words the experience of Mother Teresa in an old age home.
(c) That child – she can’t stand it long in there’- Who is referred to here? Why was she in danger? How was she saved?[1+2+2]
(d) How did Leela try to make Sidda write? What was the result? [3+2]
(e) What is the difference between the fine art and the functional art?
4. Complete the sentences which follow, choosing the correct answers from the alternatives given: [1 x 5 = 5]
(i) The person who passes without enjoying the beauty of London in the morning is
(a) dull (b) innovative (c) imaginative (d) busy
(ii) ‘Meeting at Night’ is –
(a) a war poem (b) an adventure poem (c) a love poem (d) a religious poem
(iii) In the poem ‘Daybreak’, the wind asks Chanticleer to –
(a) sail (b) sleep (c) sing (d) blow clarion call
(iv) What do the stars write?
(a) The magnitude of the galaxy (b) Every human being’s place in the world (c) The insignificance of the human being (d) The immortality of the god.
(v) To the rose the worm is –
(a) visible (b) loving (c) invisible (d) noble
5. Answer any five of the following questions in a single sentence each: [1 x 5 = 5]
(a) What is described as the garment of the city in the poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’?
(b) ‘Unknowing I understand.’ What does the poet understand?
(c) What do the stars control in the poem ‘Brotherhood’?
(d) Why is the rose sick?
(e) When did the worm creep into the rose’s bed?
(f) How long is the ‘Sea-scented beach’?
(g) How many fields will the poet have to cross before a farm appears?
(h) What did the wind say when it crossed the churchyard?
(i) From where did the wind come in ‘Daybreak’?
(j) Which city does the poet refer to in the poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’?
6. Answer any two of the following questions in not more than 100 words each: [5 x 2 = 10]
(a) Describe, after Wordsworth, the city of London as given in the poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge.
(b) What is the central idea of the poem ‘Brotherhood’?
(c) What does the speaker observe in the course of his journey to the farmhouse in the poem ‘Meeting at Night’? What does he do as he reaches the farmhouse? [3+2]
(d) Justify the title of the poem The Sick Rose’.
(e) What role does the wind play in announcing the beginning of the day? How is the final couplet different from the rest of the poem? [3+2]
7. Complete the sentences which follow, choosing the correct answers from the alternatives given (attempt any five): [1 x 5 = 5]
(i) Aegeon was the merchant of –
(a) Ephesus (b) Syracuse (c) Arden (d) Menaphon
(ii) Aegeon was separated from his wife because –
(a) they met with a sandstorm (b) they met with a violent storm on the sea (c) they got lost in the jungle (d) they were lost in the fair
(iii) The daughter of the banished Duke was –
(a) Celia (b) Viola (c) Aliena (d) Rosalind
(iv) Rosalind disguised herself as a male and called herself as
(a) Aliena (b) Sir Rowland de Boys (c) Frederick (d) Ganymede
(v) Duncan was the king of –
(a) Ireland (b) England (c) Scotland (d) France
(vi) Lady Macbeth could not kill Duncan because –
(a) Duncan resembled her father (b) Macbeth did not allow her (c) there were guards sitting at the door (d) she was weak and irresolute
vii) Othello was highly esteemed and revered because –
(a) he was dark in complexion (b) he was a valiant soldier (c) he could tell wonderful stories (d) he married Desdemona
(viii) Desdemona was the daughter of
(a) Iago (b) Cassio (c) Brabantio (d) The Duke of Venice
(ix) Viola was the twin sister of
(a) Orsino (b) Sebastian (c) Cesario (d) Olivia
(x) Olivia invited Sebastian because –
(a) she mistook Sebastian to be Cesario (b) Sebastian was a rich man (c) she was in love with Sebastian (d) Sebastian was allowed to use Antonio’s purse
8 Answer any one of the following questions in not more than 100 words each: [5 x 1 = 5]
(a) What did each of the three witches predict to Macbeth when he first met them? What did they tell Banquo? [4+1]
(b) Why did Othello decide to kill his wife and himself?
(c) Why did Duke Orsino send Viola to Olivia? What was Olivia’s reply? [2+3]
(d) What was the law that prevailed in Ephesus? What did the Duke say to Aegeon when he became a victim of the law? [2+3]
(e) Who were the two participants in the wrestling match? Whom did Celia and Rosalind try to dissuade? What was the result? [2+1+2]
9 (a) Rewrite the following sentences as directed without changing their meanings: [1×7=7]
(i) Lady Lal opened the brass carrier. [Change the voice]
(ii) Tell me a story, Mother,’ Leela said. [Change the mode of narration]
(iii) He met Miss Annabel Adams, and became more and more captivated by her charms. [Change into a simple sentence]
(iv) Fine art liberates our mind from the constraints of sorrow. [Use the noun form of ‘liberate’]
(v) He got his key and went upstairs. [Split into two simple sentences]
(vi) She produced a two-anna bit from a knot in her sari. She dismissed the coolie. [Join into a single sentence]
vii) These days all trains are crowded. [Change into negative sentence]
(b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles and prepositions: [1/₂ x6 =3]
A week after _____ release ______ Valentine 9762, there was ______ neat job ______ safe-burglary done ______ Richmond, Indiana, with no clue ______ the author.
10. Write a paragraph in about 150-200 words on a festival you enjoy. [10]
[Hints: Name of the festival – season – time of the year – how it is celebrated – your feelings]
OR
Develop the following outline into a short story in about 150 to 200 words. Give your story a suitable title. [2+8=10]
A little girl got many gifts on her birthday – uncle gave money to buy toys – next day, the girl went to the market – saw a little boy begging with his mother both pale and hungry – the girl felt sad – bought food for the boy and his mother – spent all money for them – on return, uncle asked about the toy – ‘Bought joy instead of toy,’ the girl replied.
11. You have a flat in Kolkata which you want to sell. Draft an advertisement in a newspaper in not more than 50 words announcing the same with details of the flat. [5]
OR
Draft a newspaper advertisement in not more than 50 words announcing the loss of your Class X certificate and Mark Sheet. [5]
12. A bookseller of repute is going to open a bookshop in your area. Prepare a commercial leaflet in not more than 50 words announcing the same. [5]
OR
Prepare in 50 words a commercial leaflet for the upcoming tour programmes of a Travel Agency.[5]
You may also follow:
1) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2015, Class XI, WBCHSE
2) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2016, Class XI, WBCHSE
3) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2017, Class XI, WBCHSE
4) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2018, Class XI, WBCHSE
5) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2019, Class XI, WBCHSE
6) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2020, Class XI, WBCHSE
7) Previous Year Annual English Question – 2022, Class XI, WBCHSE