English Language English Set 1 2017-2018 ISC (Commerce) Class 12 Question Paper Solution

You have recently moved to a new neighborhood in your city. Describe the new neighbourhood, comparing it to the one you have just left.

Relate something unpleasant that happened to you during your childhood that nevertheless helped you to grow up and mature.

The end justifies the means.' Argue for or against the statement. 

'Appearances can be deceptive'. Give your views on this topic.

Dreams

Write a short story that ends with the words “……………… I really doubt if things could have turned out any better.”

You are the editor of your school magazine. You have recently attended a cultural program in your city. Write an account of this program (in approximately 300 words) using the points given below:

(A) Ashita is the most beautiful girt in the class.
(B) No ………………………………..

(A) As soon as she reached home, she learnt that she had to leave for London.
(B) Hardly……………………………

(A) Ramesh said, "Rajiv, please bring your physics book to school tomorrow."
(B) Ramesh………………………….

(A) Some of the cakes had been eaten by the boys before the party began.
(B) The boys………………………… 

(A) If you are not ready to come with me, I will not go.
(B) Unless…………………………..

(A) It is such a wonderful opportunity that we must not miss it.
(B) It is too………………………….. 

(A) We did not know that Mr. Francis was retiring and leaving for Ooty.
(B) Little……………………………

(A) He knew the culprit but refused to admit it.
(B) Although……………………….. 

(A) I am afraid you cannot get admission to the college without clearing the admission test.
(B) I am afraid you cannot be……………….

(A) If Rita had finished her work earlier, she would have gone to the market.
(B) Had…………………………

After his parents died in a car accident, his uncle looked________him. 

The chairman says that he will look________their complaints.

The soldier laid________their lives defending their country.

I was laid________for three weeks with a broken leg.

This book runs________a hundred and fifty pages.

The programme ran________six hours.

The ailing company was taken________by the government.

He takes________ his grandfather

I have appointment________the dentist.

The best candidate should be appointed________the post.

One day a millionaire went to a hotel in New York and________(ask) for the cheapest room they________(have)."What________(be) the price of the room?" he________(ask). The manager________(tell) him."Is that that the cheapest room you________(have)? I________(stay) by myself and only________(need) a small room." The manager said, "Why do you choose a poor room like that? Your son always_______(stay) in our most expensive room.""Yes," said the millionaire, "but his father________(be) a wealthy man; mine is not."

I could hear the squeaking that heralded the evening arrival of the bats. I listened to the noises of the approaching night. Every day my hearing grew sharper. I was learning to filter out whatever I did not need to listen to, and giving no sign that I could hear everything that went on in the house.

I could not sleep. The air was heavy and still, the moon hidden behind thick banks of cloud. Lord Otori was sound asleep. I did not want to leave the house I'd come to love so much, but I seemed to be bringing nothing but trouble to it. Perhaps it would be better for everyone if I just vanished in the night.    [5]

 
Now I heard the hiss of hot water as the bath was prepared, the clatter of dishes from the kitchen, the sliding sigh of the cook's knife, a dog barking two streets away, and the sounds of feet on the wooden bridges on the canals. I knew the sounds of the house, day and night, in the sunshine and under the rain. This evening I realized I was always listening for something more. I was waiting too. For what?        [10]

I began to wonder if I could get out of the house without setting the dogs barking and arousing the guards. I started consciously listening to the dogs. Usually, I heard them bark on and off throughout the night, but I'd learned to distinguish their barks and to ignore them. I set my ears for them but heard nothing. Then I started listening for the guards: the sound of a foot on stone or a whispered conversation. Nothing. Sounds that should have been there been missing from the night's familiar web.        [20]

Now I was wide-awake, straining my ears to hear. There came the slightest of sounds, hardly more than a tremor, between the window and the ground.    

For a moment I thought it was the earth-shaking, as it so often did. Another tiny tremble followed, then another. Someone was climbing up the side of the house        [25]

My first instinct was to yell out, but cunning took over. I rose from the mattress and crept silently to Lord Otori's side. I knelt beside him and whispered in his ear, "Lord Otori, someone is, outside."      [30]

He woke instantly and then reached for the sword and knife that lay beside him. I gestured to the window. The faint tremor came again.

Lord Otori passed the knife to me and stepped to the wall. I moved to the other side of the window. We waited for the assassin to climb in.

Step by step he came up the wall, stealthy and unhurried as if he had all the time in the world. We waited for him with the same patience.    [35]

He paused on the sill to take out the knife he planned to use on us and then stepped inside. Lord Otori took him in a stranglehold. The intruder wriggled backwards. I leaped at him, and the three of us fell into the garden like a flurry of fighting cats.  [40]

The man fell first, across the stream, striking his head on a boulder. Lord Otori landed on his feet. My fall was broken by one of the shrubs. The intruder groaned, tried to rise, but slipped back into the water.

"Get a light," Lord Otori said.

I ran to the house, took a light that still burned in one of the candle stands and carried it back to the garden.    [45]

The assassin had died without regaining consciousness. It turned out he had a poison pellet in his mouth and had crushed it as he tell. He was dressed in black, with no marking on his clothes. I held the light over him. There was nothing to tell us who he was.    [50]

(i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage:
(1) Coming near 
( 2 ) Disappeared suddenly
(3) Awakening from sleep
(4) Moved slowly and gradually 

(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different  meaning from that which it carries in the passage:
(1) Bats ( line 1 )
( 2 ) Sign ( line 4 )
( 3 ) Banks (  line 6 )
( 4 )  Back ( line 43 )

What could the narrator hear as he was lying down?

Why couldn't the narrator sleep?

When did he realise that there was something wrong? 

How did the narrator and Lord Otori overpower the intruder?

Describe the incident of the assassination attempt that took place during the night, in not more than 100 words (Paragraphs 4 to 15). Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalized. You will be required to:

(i) List your ideas clearly in point form. [6]
(ii) In about 100 words, write your points in the form of a connecting passage. [6]