English 2016-2017 SSC (English Medium) 10th Standard Board Exam Question Paper Solution

Read the following passage carefully and complete the activities given below :
A.1) Complete the web :
Write the words from the passage on the web. 

          We saw small bits of grass peeping through the small cracks in concrete pavement. It left us thinking: however impossible things may look, there is always an opening…………
             We saw a tree bare of all leaves in the cold winter months. We thought its chapter was over. But three months passed, spring set in and the tree was back to its green majesty once again, full of leaves, flowers, birds, and life. What if we too had the conviction that, however difficult things are right now, it will not remain so forever. Remember, this too shall pass.
             We saw an army of ants lugging a fly which was at least ten times the ant’s size. The ants organized themselves around the fly, lifted it on frail feelers and carried it to quite a distance. Their teamwork and perseverance were impressive. What if we too are consistent, organized, focused ……… Spider webs are delicate, yet very strong. A rainbow colors the entire sky. Oysters take in a grain of sand they open up with a pearl. Innumerable stars shine across the infinite sky. Clouds take new shapes with every passing moment. The wind makes trees dance with unhindered passion. Water, without a hint of ego, changes its form according to the dictates of the sun and the wind. When we see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, a flower turns into a fruit, we experience the alchemy of nature ………. We touch it and become gold ourselves.

A.2)  Finding meanings :
Write what you mean by :
(i) _______ there is always an opening.
(ii) _______ its chapter was over.
(iii) _______ the tree was back to its green majesty.
(iv) _______ this too shall pass. 

A.3) Matching :
Match the words in Column ‘A’ with their synonyms in Column ‘B’: 

A.4) Language study : 
Rewrite the sentence using the correct question tag given in the brackets :
(i) Water changes its form. (does it?, do it?, do they?, doesn’t it)
(ii) However impossible things may look, there is always an opening. (Rewrite using ‘but’) 

A.5)  Personal Response :
Nature is the best teacher. Explain. 

Read the following passage carefully and complete the activities given below: 
B.1)  Order :
Rearrange the following sentences in proper order:
(i) Hanmant joined engineering.
(ii) Hanmant got his Diploma and secured a job in Philips.
(iii) Hanmant migrated to Pune when he was in class VI.
(iv) Hanmant took up a painting job to earn. 

            Hanmant Gaikwad was born in Koregaon in Satara district.
            “My native place is Rahimatpur, around 10 km from Koregaon. My father was a clerk in the court and we lived in a small, rented house.”
            Hanmant was a brilliant student especially good in mathematics. When he was in class six, the family shifted to Pune. They lived in Phugewadi near Dapodi in a tiny one-room house-10 by 10 feet. At this point, Hanmant realized the difference between himself and those who had money.
            Hanmant was then studying at Modern High School. He needed one rupee to buy a bus ticket to and from the everyday. Even that was hard to come by.
           Despite the hardships, Hanmant secured 88% in class 10. Hanmant completed his diploma and joined Philips as a trainee. But he wasn’t happy with the work he got there.
           The natural choice for a diploma engineer is to go for a B.Tech. But engineering colleges charge hefty fees. At the time, the family’s only source of income was a teacher’s salary of Rs. 2,300 a month……….
           And then I decided to also do some earning. “Khud Ka Kamana Chalu Kiya”.
          Hanmant took up painting jobs and quickly discovered it was excellent business.
          The young engineering student paid his own fees from the third year onwards. But his lifestyle remained frugal.
         Life was getting better, but Hanmant had his sights set higher. In the final year of engineering, he was attracted to the writings of Swami Vivekananda.
         “I felt Ki Kuch Alag Karna hai. What should I do, I did not know but in 1993 I formed an organization-Bharat Vikas Pratisthan.”

B.2) Complete : 

B.3)  Rewrite the following sentence choosing the appropriate word/s for the underlined word/s : 
(i) His lifestyle remained frugal:
(a) simple
(b) meager
(c) extravagant

(ii) Despite hardships, Hanmant secured 88% in class X:
(a) In spite of
(b) Regarding
(c) Affected

(iii) Hanmant took up painting jobs:
(a) assumed
(b) to continue
(c) accepted

(iv) Hanmant had his sights set higher:
(a) looked ahead
(b) lofty ambitions
(c) looked above 

B.4)  Do as Directed
(i) Hanmant secured 88% in class X.                                   ( Begin the sentence as-88%....................)
(ii) In the final year of engineering, he was attracted towards the writings of Swami Vivekananda.       (Frame a ‘Wh-question’ to get the underlined part as the answer.) 

B.5) “Today’s hardships lead to tomorrow’s success”-Justify.

Read the following passage carefully and do the given activities:
A.1) True or False:
Write the statements and state whether they are true or false:
(i) Those who choose to live well must help others.
(ii) If neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily improve the quality.
(iii) The farmer grew award-winning corn.
(iv) The reporter discovered that the farmer didn’t share his seed corn with his neighbors. 

             There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his sweet corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked. 
             “Why sir”, said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.” He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
              The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn. 

A.2) Consequences:
Write the consequences:
(i) The farmer shares the corn. 
(ii) The farmer doesn’t share the corn. 

A.3) Antonyms:
Find out the words opposite in meaning from the passage: 
(i) superior x _______ 
(ii) lost x _______ 
(iii) improve x _______ 
(iv) inconstantly x _______ 

A.4)  Language study:
(i) We must help our neighbors. (Replace the modal auxiliary showing advice). 
(ii) The wind picks up pollen from ripening corn and swirls it field to field. (Use “not only…….. but also” and rewrite)

A.5)  Personal Response: 
What do you learn from the story? Suggest a suitable title.

Read the following passage and do the given activities: 
B.1) Comparison
Write the comparison between the parts of the modular phone and the human body: 

            Every phone you buy, no matter how costly and latest it is, will go out of date in a year or so. That’s how quickly the smartphone world is moving right now. To keep yourself up to date with the current specification you will have to keep switching phones every once a while. What’s the solution to this problem?
                                                         MODULAR PHONES! 
               A modular device is a phone, tablet or another device where individual components such as the screen, camera, CPU, battery, memory can be removed by the user and replaced by others with a different specification. Imagine your body to be your phone and your clothes as the components, you can wear anything according to your needs and moods. Similarly, modular phones let you choose between components of different properties and specifications.
              This would mean we’ll have the liberty to customize our phones, just like Lego building blocks! The main components of the phone will be Brain (processor), Spine (frame, screen) and Heart (battery). The other components may include a camera, storage memory, GPS, audio jack, speakers, USB module, etc. and the phone will have a motherboard, i.e. a base that will hold all components together

B.2) Give examples:
Write two examples that give the liberty to customize our phone. 
•   ____________________
•   ____________________

B.3) Framing sentence:
Use the given phrases in sentences of your own:
(i) up to date
(ii) once a while 

B.4) Write as instructed:
Rewrite the sentence as interrogative:
(i) We’ll have the liberty to customize our phones.
(ii) We will have the liberty to customize our phones.   (Rewrite using the present participle form of the underlined word) 

B.5) Personal Response
If given a chance to design a modular phone, what new features would you add? 

Complete the call-outs:
A.1)

Our world is an institution
Of environmental pollution
We choose not to care
For our future generations
And I for one am guilty
For buying the hundreds of electronic gadgets
That attracts the industries to produce like maggots
environmental pollution is at the heart of our planet
The forests are dying
Wildlife is crying
Millions of fish are dying
Mother earth is sighing
Tell me is it right
That we sleep well at night
Replenishing ourselves
For tomorrow’s greedy fight
Overcrowded trains
Overloaded brains
Where is the light? What is our plight?
While the river break their banks
And greedy industries play their polluted pranks.

A.2) Find the examples that show that we do not care for our future generation

A.3) Match:
Match the lines in Column ‘A’ with the figures of speech in Column ‘B’: 

Read the following extract and do the given activities: 
B.1) Fill in the Balloons with suitable ideas from the poem: 

“Oh, the value of the elderly! How could anyone not know?
They hold so many keys, so many things they can show.
We all will read the other side this I firmly believe
And the elderly are closest oh what clues we could retrieve.
For their characters are closest to how we’ll be on high.
They are the ones most developed, you can see it if you try.
They’ve let go of the frivolous and kept things that are dear
The memories of so sweet, of loved ones that were near.
As a nation, we are missing our greatest true resource,
To get to know our elders and let them guide our course.”

B.2) Find Evidence:
Pick out the line from the extract which supports the given ideas:
(i) The elders have many things to share.
(ii) Everybody knows the value of elderly people.
(iii) The elderly people have vast experience.
(iv) The elderly people are a boon to the nation. 

B.3) Write a pair from the extract that rhymes with the given word: 

Read the following passage and do the given activities: 
A.1) True or False
State whether the following statements are true or false:
(i) The patient stirred and looked about in cheerful anticipation
(ii) The patient’s wife wanted to know the truth ………… 

               The lady went away to the kitchen. She felt restless. She felt she must know the truth whatever it was. Why was the great man so evasive? The suspense was unbearable. Perhaps he could not speak so near the patient’s bed. She beckoned to him from the kitchen doorway.
The doctor rose and went over. She asked, “What about him now? How is he?” The doctor bit his lips and replied, looking at the floor, “Don’t get excited. Unless you must know about it, don’t ask now.” Her eyes opened wide in terror. She clasped her hands together and implored, “Tell me the truth.” The doctor replied, “I would rather not talk to you now.” He turned around and went back to his chair. terrible wailing shot through the still house; the patient stirred and looked about in bewilderment. The doctor got up again, went over to the kitchen door, drew it in securely and shut off the wail. 

A.2)  Give reasons for the following:
(i) Her eyes opened wide in terror.
(ii) The lady went away to the kitchen. 

A.3) How, according to you, should the nature of the doctor be?

Attempt the following letters with the help of the following leaflet: 
Look at the notice issued by the Supervisor of your school. 

Informal Letter
Write a letter to your friend describing the plight in your city due to water shortage and the action to be taken.

Attempt the following letters with the help of the following leaflet: 
Look at the notice issued by the Supervisor of your school. 

Formal Letter
Write a letter to the Mayor of your city requesting him/her to provide better facilities to face water shortage.

Report writing 
Attempt the following with the help of the advertisement given below: 
Look at the advertisement and prepare a report of about twenty lines to be published in the local newspaper.

Dialogue writing
Attempt the following with the help of the advertisement given below: 
With the help of the advertisement given, write a dialogue between you and your friend on how you enjoyed your visit to the exhibition

Observe the following web diagram carefully and convert it into a paragraph. 

Read the given extract carefully and transfer the following into a flow chart: 
                  Garbage disposal has become a great problem in urban areas. A lot of garbage is being collected from every household. Some cities have come up with innovative ideas to tackle this problem. First of all, the garbage in trucks is segregated into organic waste from recyclable waste. Then it is put in separate containers.
                  Earthworm culture is added to this organic waste. After a few weeks the conversion process is complete and what we can get is vermicompost which is a very good quality compost that can be mixed with soil and used for better yields. 

Speech: 

‘Vachan Prerna Diwas’ or ‘Reading Day’ will be celebrated in your school. Prepare a speech to be delivered in the school assembly. You may take the help of the points given above. Add your own ideas.

View and Counterviews
Write a paragraph using the points given in the box expressing the views on: 
‘Overuse of Electronic Gadgets - ‘Electronic Gadgets are Hazardous to Health’. 

Expand any one of the given two ideas in about 80-100 words:
(i) Dream is something that doesn’t allow you to sleep.
(ii) Nothing teaches better than traveling. 

Develop a story on someone whom you know, has started from scrap and has reached great heights. You may end your story with the following ending in about 80 to 100 words. Give a suitable title and amoral.
 ………………. and today he is a millionaire.