SSC (English Medium) १० वीं कक्षा - Maharashtra State Board Question Bank Solutions for English

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?

In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.

Tagore wishes for a nation where people are truthful.

In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.

The poet would like everyone to work hard to reach their goal and in the long run to reach perfection.

In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.

The poet wishes that everyone in his country holds his head high in dignity.

In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.

The poet dreams of a nation where knowledge should be free to all.

In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.

The poem is a 'prayer'

Read the columns carefully and match the expressions with their meanings.

How is the world broken into fragments?

Explain what the ‘tireless striving’ should be for.

'Where words come out from the depth of truth.' Explain in your own words.

Who is 'Thee' in the poem? What does the poet appeal to 'Thee' to do?

Answer the following question in your own words.

What qualities does the poet wish to inculcate in his countrymen?

Write your own response to the following question, and justify where needed:

Is the poem a prayer for India alone?

Write your own response to the following question, and justify where needed:

What should the words we speak reflect?

Write your own response to the following question, and justify where needed:

What should people keep on widening? How can it be done?

Write your own response to the following question, and justify where needed:

From what darkness of night should our nation awaken?