Subject Verb Concord Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers

Subject Verb Concord Exercises for Class 7 CBSE

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

Subject-Verb Concord Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers PDF

The Subject and Verb must agree in number and person. Look at the following rules that need to be kept in mind:

  1. A singular subject takes a singular verb. (verb + s/es)
  2. A plural subject takes a plural verb. (bare infinitive)
  3. Collective nouns such as crowd, congregation, family, group etc may take a singular or plural verb depending upon the sense. If the collective noun refers to a single unit, the verb used is singular but if the noun refers to a collection of individuals, the verb used is plural.
  4. Nouns plural in form and plural in meaning For example: physics, athletics, mumps take a singular verb.
  5. Nouns plural in form but singular in meaning. For example: words like trousers, scissors take a plural verb.
  6. Nouns joined by and take a plural verb.
  7. Nouns joined by and but referring to the same person take a singular verb.
  8. In subjects joined by or, nor, either, neither, the verb agrees with the subject nearest to the verb.
  9. The title of a book/ play takes a singular verb irrespective of form.
  10. Words/ phrases expressing periods of time, fractions, weights, measurements and amounts of money are regarded as singular and take a singular verb.

Subject-Verb Concord Exercises Solved Examples with Answers for Class 7 CBSE

A. Use the correct form of the words given in brackets to complete the passages given below.

Question 1.
Every …………………………….. (generation/generations) has its own characteristics, group’s language, technological influences, workplace attitudes, way of life, etc. A generation gap …………………………….. (consist/ consists) of these differences between the …………………………….. (member/ members) of two different generations.

These generation gaps …………………………….. (has/have) been prevalent throughout the history but the gulf …………………………….. (has/have) widened in the 20th and 21st centuries. The term “generation gap” …………………………….. (was/were) first used in the 1960s. It is because the younger generation showed significant …………………………….. (difference/differences) in their beliefs and opinions compared to what their parents’ generation projected.
Answer:
Every generation has its own characteristics, group’s language, technological influences, workplace attitudes, way of life, etc. A generation gap consists of these differences between the members of two different generations.

These generation gaps have been prevalent throughout the history but the gulf has widened in the 20th and 21st centuries. The term “generation gap” was first used in the 1960s. It is because the younger generation showed significant differences in their beliefs and opinions compared to what their parents’ generation projected.

Question 2.
A great deal of the time in our lives …………………………….. (come) from the use of our senses. This is because our senses …………………………….. (open) up a world a plethora of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and things to touch. The sharper our senses …………………………….. (be) the more we use them. In turn the more we use them, the enjoyable this world …………………………….. (appear) to us. For instance, a musician …………………………….. (hear) the music in nature that many of us do not and a painter …………………………….. (see) shades and shapes which a visually less gifted people cannot.
Answer:
A great deal of the time in our lives ………..(come) of the time in our lives (come) from the use of our senses. This is because our senses open up a world a plethora of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and things to touch. The sharper our senses are, and the more we use them. In turn the more we use them, the enjoyable this world appears to us. For instance, a musician hears the music in nature that many of us do not and a painter sees shades and shapes which a visually less gifted people cannot.

Question 3.
Environmentalists fear that if quick action …………………………….. (be) not taken, the population of wild elephants will further decrease. If this …………………………….. (continue) unabated, we shall find these creatures in sanctuaries. The male – female ratio …………………………….. (be) is anyways a skewered one. When people encroach on elephant land, the animals will …………………………….. (stray) dangerously close to human preserves. When forests …………………………….. (be) cut indiscriminately, elephants will turn crop raiders and attack farmers. As long as ivory …………………………….. (continue) to fetch a high price, crimes will continue against these peaceful animals.
Answer:
Environmentalists fear that if quick action is not taken, the population of wild elephants will further decrease. If this continues unabated, we shall find these creatures in sanctuaries. The male-female ratio is anyways a skewered one. When people encroach on elephant land, the animals will stray dangerously close to human preserves: When forests are cut indiscriminately, elephants will turn crop raiders and attack farmers. As long as ivory continues to fetch a high price, crimes will continue against these peaceful animals.

B. There is an error in each of the following lines. Underline the error and write the correct word in the space provided against each line.

The Indian government have reported that about 1. ……………………………..
over 8,000 woman a year died as a result of dowry 2. ……………………………..
abuse in India. Mäny more was maimed and injured. 3. ……………………………..
These figures is alarming but the reality is even more 4. ……………………………..
alarming because these is only the reported cases. 5. ……………………………..
Dowry refer to gifts of cash or other valuable items 6. ……………………………..
that is exchanged between the families of the bride 7. ……………………………..
and groom. It were a voluntary act in the beginning. 8. ……………………………..
Answer:
1. has
2. die
3. were
4. are
5. are
6. refers
7. are
8. was

C. There is an error in eachnof the following lines. Underline the error and write the correct word in the space provided against each line.

Animal cruelty can take many different form. 1. ……………………………..
It does include obvious and intentional acts of violence, 2. ……………………………..
but it also include animals neglect or the failure to 3. ……………………………..
looks after its welfare. In fact this also 4. ……………………………..
include any form of psychological harm. There 5. ……………………………..
is so many ways of being cruel that Animal Welfare Acts 6. ……………………………..
6. may include act such as confining or transporting an animal 7.
in a way that are inappropriate for its welfare. 8. ……………………………..
Answer:
1. forms
2. not only includes
3. includes
4. their
5. includes
6. are
7. acts
8. is

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Exercises for Class 7 CBSE

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers PDF

Verbs are words that indicate the action done, or the state of being or possession.
Examples:

  • I lost my pen. (action)
  • These are old legends. (state of being)
  • Tina has a guitar. (possession)

Transitive And Intransitive Verbs
Verbs that need an object to complete their meaning are called transitive verbs.
Example:

  • I lost my pen. (subject: I; verb: lost; object: pen)

Verbs that make sense even without an object are called intransitive verbs.
Example:

  • Akriti laughed. (subject: Akriti; verb: laughed)

Infinitives
An infinitive is the base form of the verb often preceded by to. The infinitive is never the main verb of the sentence. The to + verb form is used to talk about the purpose of some action or to stop the action.
Example:

  • Siami asked me to help Fida. (main verb – asked; infinitive – to help)

Infinitives can present a sentence in a compact way or join two sentences. We use the to + infinitive with the adverbs too and enough.
Examples:

  • Antriksh saw his mother. He was happy. Antriksh was happy to see his mother.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Solved Example Exercises for Class 7 CBSE

A. Fill in the blanks with infinitive forms of verbs in the brackets. <Rubric>

Question 1.
Daedalus wanted …………………………….. (escape). So he made wings from feathers and wax.
Answer:
Daedalus wanted to escape. So, he made wings from feathers and wax.

Question 2.
The teacher asks Souraj not …………………………….. (waste) paper.
Answer:
The teacher asks Souraj not to waste paper.

Question 3.
I stayed up late last night …………………………….. (finish) my homework.
Answer:
I stayed up late last night to finish my homework.

Question 4.
Everyone started …………………………….. (laugh) when Shyam related a funny story.
Answer:
Everyone started laughing when Shyam related a funny story.

Question 5.
Which is my favourite book? There are so many books …………………………….. (Choose) from.
Answer:
Which is my favourite book? There are so many books to choose from.

Sentences Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers

Sentences Exercises for Class 7 CBSE

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

A group of words that makes complete sense is called a sentence. It has at least one subject and one verb. Unlike a phrase, a sentence makes complete sense.

Sentences Exercises for Class 7 CBSE With Answers PDF

Based on the function they perform, sentences can be assertive, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory.
Examples:

  • It is not a rock, Ray. (assertive)
  • What are you doing? (interrogative)
  • Don’t touch that. (imperative)
  • What a beautiful rock it is! (exclamatory)

Transformation Of Sentences
It is possible to change one type of sentence into another type of sentence without changing its meaning.

Assertive Sentence Into Exclamatory Sentence
It is a very sad story. → What a sad story it is!
(The relative pronoun what is added at the beginning and the word order is changed. There is also an exclamation mark at the end.)

Pari has become a brilliant pianist. → What a brilliant pianist Pari has become!
You draw very well. → How well you draw!
The water is cold. → How cold the water is!

Exclamatory Sentence Into Assertive Sentence
What a superb catch that was! → That was a superb catch.
How insane your explanation sounds! → Your explanation sounds insane.
How unfortunate that was! → That was unfortunate.

Interrogative Sentence Into Imperative Sentence
Some interrogative sentences, which are rhetorical in nature or are requests, can be turned into imperative sentences.

Will you lend me your earphones? → Lend me your earphones, please.
Can you come here Mafela? → Please come here, Mafela.
Will you tell us a story? → Please tell us a story.

Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises for Class 8 CBSE With Answers

Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises for Class 8 CBSE

When we use the exact words of the speaker, it is called direct speech. Indirect or Reported Speech refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said.

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises for Class 8 CBSE With Answers PDF

Direct and indirect speech differ in the following aspects:

  • punctuation
  • pronouns and their forms
  • tense forms
  • the reporting verb (introduce/change)
  • words that show time and position
  • that, if, etc. (if necessary)

Punctuation
Indirect speech, the exact words of the person (quote) are placed after the introductory clause, it is always set apart by the use of a comma (,) and quotation marks (“’) or (“”).

Also, the first letter of the exact words of the speaker indirect speech is always capitalized.
Example:

  • Mother said to me, ‘Please tidy your room.

If the quote is placed at the beginning of the sentence a comma is put before the end quotation mark for a declarative or imperative sentence. A question mark or an exclamatory mark is placed before the end quotation if it is a question or an exclamatory sentence.
Examples:

  • “Where are we going for our picnic?’ asked Mira.
  • “What an excellent idea!’ said Sunny.

If the quote is divided into two we can do either of the following:
Examples:

  • “That is fine,’ he said. “We don’t mind sharing our room with you.’
  • “No!’ he said. “We can’t check into this hotel.’

In reported (indirect) speech, question marks and exclamations are removed because all sentences are converted to statements. We do not use a comma or quotation marks to set apart the words of the speaker. A comma is used only if the sentence calls for one.
Example:

  • Sally told me that Rosie, Anuja and Jenny are going for a movie tomorrow. . .

A. Punctuate the following sentences in direct speech. Insert (*), (,) and (?), (!) or (.).

Question 1.
Divya said to me How are you
Answer:
Divya said to me,‘How are you?’

Question 2.
Wow What a wonderful picture said Lucy
Answer:
‘Wow! What a wonderful picture! ’ said Lucy.

Question 3.
I said I am fine. Have you seen Sunil anywhere
Answer:
I said, ‘I am fine. Have you seen Sunil anywhere?’

B. There is one punctuation mark missing in each of these sentences. Add it.

Question 1.
Urvashi said ‘Our class teacher is on leave today.’
Answer:
Urvashi said,‘Our class teacher is on leave today.’

Question 2.
“But I saw her in the canteen today, said Heena.
Answer:
‘But I saw her in the canteen today,’ said Haya.

Question 3.
How sad ’ said Urvashi, “I thought we would have two free periods today.’
Answer:
‘How sad! ’ said Urvashi, ‘I thought we would have two free periods today.’

Pronouns
While reporting, we must pay close attention to personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives—1, we, you, they, he, she, my, our, your, their, his, her, mine, ours, yours, theirs, hers.
Examples:
1. Teacher said to me, ‘This is Radhika’s book, please give it to her.’
What would you tell Radhika?—Teacher told me that this was your book and asked me to give it to you.
But if you report this to your friend Sashi, you would say—Teacher told me that this was Radhika’s book and asked me to give it to her.

2. His mother said to Raghu, ‘You must work hard.’
His mother told Raghu that he must work hard.

3. Mohan said to me, “My books are on your desk.’
Mohan told me that his books were on my desk.

As we see in these examples, the words we use to refer to people change to match the speaker/ writer and listener/reader.

C. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words.

Question 1.
Manny said to me, “We must play more football.’
Manny told me that ………………………. (we/you) must play more football.
Answer:
Manny said to me, ‘We must play more football. ’
Manny told me that we (we/you) must play more football.

Question 2.
Mr Chandresh said to me, ‘You must visit my house.’
Mr Chandresh insisted that I must visit ………………………. (my/his) house.
Answer:
Mr Chandresh said to me, ‘You must visit my house. ’
Mr Chandresh insisted that I must visit his (my/his) house.

Question 3.
Amrit said to Neeta, ‘Our friends will meet us in Noida.’
Amrit told Neeta that ………………………. (their/our) friends would meet ………………………. (them/us) in Noida.
Answer:
Amrit said to Neeta, ‘Our friends will meet us in Noida.’
Amrit told Neeta that their (their/our) friends would meet them (them/us) in Noida.

Reporting verbs

We usually use verbs like said (say), told (tell) to introduce what somebody said. Verbs that help us convey what was said are called reporting verbs. They are used in direct and indirect speech.

Says and told are the reporting verbs in the following sentences:

  • He says, “The world is a flat piece of paper.
  • He told me he could help me with my homework.

Said and told are used in similar contexts but in reported speech we say something, and we tell somebody something. In direct speech, we use said to me/him/her, etc.
Examples:

  • Dipti said to me, ‘I might not come to school tomorrow.’
  • Dipti said that she might not come to school the next day.
  • Dipti told me that she might not come to school the next day.

D. Fill in the blanks with told or said.

Question 1.
Rosy ………………………. that he was going to the supermarket.
Answer:
Rosy said that he was going to the supermarket.

Question 2.
He ………………………. Sonia that he had to get some stationery.
Answer:
He told Sonia that he had to get some stationery.

Question 3.
I ………………………. to him, “You have to hand in your work on time.’
Answer:
I said to him, ‘You have to hand in your work on time.’

Question 4.
Sameer ………………………. that he that he didn’t believe in aliens.
Answer:
Sameer said that he didn’t believe in aliens.

Question 5.
My grandmother ………………………. me that when she was little, computers were unheard of.
Answer:
My grandmother told me that when she was little, computers were unheard of.

Some of the other reporting verbs we use are answered, added, promised, replied, suggested, explained, etc. The use of the reporting verb depends on the type of sentence reported.

Interrogative Sentences

While reporting questions we use the reporting verbs asked, enquired, etc. and while reporting the answer to the questions we use verbs like replied, answered, etc.
Examples:

  1. Salim said to me, ‘Have you read The Wind in the Willows?’
    Salim asked me if I had read The Wind in the Willows.
    I told Salim, ‘Yes, it is my favourite book.’
    I replied that I had and that it was my favourite book
  2. Tarun said to me, ‘Where is our next class?’
    Tarun asked me where our next class was.

A. Punctuate the following sentences in direct speech. Insert (..) and ()

Imperative Sentences
While reporting imperative sentences we use a reporting verb to match the mood of the sentence. Apart from say and rell we can also use as request, beg, command in it, ander warm remind, exicowa gesi, pryse, etc.
Examples:

  1. The Judge said to the people, “Maintain silence.”
    The Judge ordered the people to maintain silence.
  2. I said to John, “Please pass me the salt.”
    Trieste Jolino pass me the salt.
  3. Linda said, ‘Let’s go for a swim.
    Linda menekled going for a swim

Please note that in reported speech we use the non-finite form of the verbs in quotes. We use infinitive forms (base verb, lo + base verb) or gerund forms (ing).

Exclamatory Sentences
While reporting exclamatory sentences we use reporting verbs like exclaimed, admired, apologize cried, wished thanked, etc. Interjections like wow, oh, oh dear, alas, etc. and nouns of addres are removed
Examples:

  • Ritu said to me ‘Wow! What a beautiful dress! Ritu admired my dress.
  • I said to my teacher, ‘Good morning, Ma’am!-I wished my teacher good morning
  • ‘Oh, no! I didn’t bring my lunchbox!’ said Deepak. Deepak exclaimed that hadn’t brought his lunchbox.
  • Surya said to Shayan, ‘I am so sorry! Surya apologized to Shayan.

E. Fill in the blanks with appropriate reporting verbs from the box.

1. Sanjay said, ‘Shall we go to the chemistry lab?
Sanjay ……………………… to go to the chemistry lab.
2. He said to me, ‘T’ll definitely help you.”
He ……………………… to help me.
3. Manish said to me, I’m sorry. I forgot to bring your packet.”
Manish ……………………… for forgetting to bring my packet.
4. Natasha said to her little brother, “Don’t cross the street carelessly”
Natasha ……………………… her little brother not to cross the street carelessly
5. Nisha said to the receptionist, ‘Is Dr Gregory here?’
Nisha ……………………… if Dr Gregory was there.
6. ‘Oh dear! I have lost my keys!’ said Chandu.
Chandu ……………………… that he had lost his keys.
Answer:
1. Sanjay said, ‘Shall we go to the chemistry lab?’
Sanjay asked to go to the chemistry lab.

2. He said to me, ‘I’ll definitely help you.
He offered to help me.

3. Manish said to me, ‘I’m sorry. I forgot to bring your packet.
Manish apologized for forgetting to bring my packet

4. Natasha said to her little brother, ‘Don’t cross the street carelessly.
Natasha advised/warmed her little brother not to cross the street carelessly.

5. Nisha said to the receptionist, ‘Is Dr Gregory here?’
Nisha asked if Dr Gregory was there.

6. ‘Oh dear! I have lost my keys! ’ said Chandu.
Chandu exclaimed that he had lost his keys.

TENSES
When we report a statement, we must look at the tense of the reporting verb.

1. If the reporting verb is in the present tense, we need not change the tense of the rest of the sentence.
Examples:

  • a. She says, “They are on their way.’—She says that they are on their way.
  • Kina says, “All birds are friendly.”—Kina says that all birds are friendly.

2. If the reporting verb is in the past tense, we change the tense of the rest of the sentence being reported into corresponding past tense.

Sometimes, when universal truths are being reported we can choose to retain the original tense of the sentence or change it. Examples:

  1. Mother said, “The earth revolves around the sun.
    Mother said that the earth revolves/revolved around the sun.
  2. Jose said, “Hot air rises to the top.’
    Jose said that hot air rises/rose to the top.

Time And Place Words
When there are words that show time and place in direct speech, we have to change them appropriately in reported speech. Example:

  • Rajesh said, “I will finish this project by next week.’
  • Rajesh said that he would finish that project by the following week.

Here are a few such words:
But this is done in accordance with the time and place of reporting. The expressions change if the time is long past. They do not change if the speech is reported in the same place and period of time.

Examples:

  • Sayani says, “I will not come to school tomorrow.’ (said on 12 August)”
  • Sayani says that she will not come to school tomorrow. (also said on 12 August)
  • Sayani told me that she would not come to school the next day. (30 November)

Reporting Conversations

In normal conversation we don’t always speak in full sentences. But while reporting them we must complete these sentences. Avoid using said and told too many times.

Instead, use reporting verbs like added, informed, wanted, etc.
Examples:

  • Direct speech:
  • Salim: How is Sanjay?
  • Sanjukta: He is fine now.
  • Salim: Was he seriously ill last month?
  • Sanjukta: Not exactly. But he had some minor ailments. He is at home now.

Reported speech: Salim asked Sanjukta how Sanjay was. She replied that he was fine then. Salim wanted to know if Sanjay had been seriously ill the previous month. Sanjukta said that he had not been seriously ill, but he had had some minor ailments. Then she added that Sanjay was at home then.

Omission Of That

In reported speech, that is often used to introduce the speaker’s words. But even if we omit that, the meaning would remain the same.
Examples:

  • Zoey told me (that) Rosie, Anuja and Shehnaaz were going for a movie the next day.
  • Angmo said (that) she might not come to school the next day.

F. Read the following conversation and rewrite it in reported speech. Some reporting verbs you may want to use are informed, congratulated and thanked.
Sneha: Good morning, Pari. How are you?
Pari: Good morning, Sneha. I am getting on fine. You know, I got selected for the school table tennis team. We are going for the inter-school match on Friday.
Sena: Wow! Great! Wish you the best of luck for Friday. I’m sure you’ll win the match.
Pari: Thanks, Sneha. I hope we’ll win this time.

Sneha greeted Pari and asked ………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
Answer:
Sneha greeted Pari and asked her how she was. Pari greeted Sneha back and told her that she was getting on fine. She also told Sneha that she had gotten selected for the school table tennis team, and that the team was going for the inter-school match on Friday.

Sneha exclaimed that was great, and then wished Pari the best of luck for Friday. She said that she was sure that Pari would win the match. Pari thanked Sneha and said that she hoped to win that time.

G. Here are a few lines from the famous story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Punctuate these sentences.
1. By Jove said Sherlock Holmes this is treasure trove indeed I suppose you know what you have got
………………………………………………………………………………
2. A precious diamond said Peterson it cuts into glass as though it were putty
………………………………………………………………………………
3. It is more than a precious stone said Holmes it is the precious stone
………………………………………………………………………………
4. Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle Watson exclaimed
………………………………………………………………………………
5. Precisely so said Holmes
………………………………………………………………………………
Answer:
1. By Jove said Sherlock Holmes, this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got‘
By Jove!’ said Sherlock Holmes, ‘this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got!

2. A precious diamond, sir? said Peterson. It cuts into glass as though it were putty
‘A precious diamond, sir?’ said Peterson. ‘It cuts into glass as though it were putty.’

3. It is more than a precious stone said Holmes it is the precious stone
‘It is more than a precious stone.’ said Holmes, ‘it is the precious stone.’

4. Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle Watson exclaimed
‘Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle!’ Watson exclaimed.

5. Precisely so said Holmes
‘Precisely so.’ said Holmes.

Perfect Tense Exercise for Class 8 CBSE With Answers

Perfect Tense Exercise for Class 8 CBSE

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

Perfect Tense Exercise for Class 8 CBSE With Answers PDF

Present Perfect

Statements

Subject Verb
Positive Negative
I, you, we, they have + seen (Eve seen) have + not + seen (haven’t seen)/(Eve not)
he, she, it has + seen (she’s seen) has + not + seen (hasn’t seen)/(she’s not)

Questions

Subject Positive Negative
I, you, we, they Have they seen it? Have they not seen it? Haven’t they seen it?
he, she, it Has he seen it? Has she not seen it? Hasn’t she seen it?

Function
We use present perfect tense:
1. to show completed actions in the immediate past (things that have just happened) that have some connection to the present.
Examples:

  • Their cousins have just arrived.
  • She has already finished her project.

2. to show an action that began in the past and is continuing up to the present.
Examples:

  • We have known the Sharma family for over a decade.
  • Ms Sharma has been sick since last Saturday.

3. to represent past actions when time is not definite.
Examples:

  • I have never been to Agra before.
  • He has met the chief before.

4. to talk about actions repeated several times in the past and which might also happen in the future.
Examples:

  • She has watched this movie ten times so far.
  • I have written many letters.

5. when the period of action we are referring to is not over yet.
Example:

  • This has been the best week of my life. (said on Thursday)

Words like just, never, already, often, before, since, ever, so far, till now, yet, etc. can be used in the present perfect tense.

A. Fill in the blanks with the present perfect tense of the verbs given in brackets along with the adverbs (where given).

Question 1.
Many people ……………………………… (visit) the Taj Mahal this year.
Answer:
Many people have visited (visit) the Taj Mahal this year.

Question 2.
Nobody ……………………………… (see, ever) Deepali dance.
Answer:
Nobody has ever seen (see, ever) Deepali dance.

Question 3.
……………………………… you ……………………………… (go, ever) to Darjeeling?
Answer:
Have you ever gone (go, ever) to Darjeeling? ‘

Question 4.
No, I haven’t. I ……………………………… (not hear, even) of the place before.
Answer:
No, I haven’t. I have not even heard (not hear, even) of the place before.

Question 5.
My computer ……………………………… (break down); I can’t work now.
Answer:
My computer has broken down (break down); I can’t work now.

Question 6.
……………………………… (be) in Norway for a week now. I am going to Finland next week.
Answer:
I have been (be) in Norway for a week now. I am going to Finland next week.

Present Perfect Continuous

Statements

Subject Verb
Positive Negative
I, you, we, they have been playing (’ve been playing) have not been playing (I’ve not been haven’t been playing)
he, she, it has been playing (she’s been playing) has not been playing (he’s not been hasn’t been playing)

Questions

Subject Positive Negative
I, you, we they Have they been playing? Have you not been playing?
Haven’t I been playing?
he, she, it Has she been playing? Has he not been playing?
Hasn’t it been playing?

Function
Present perfect continuous is used:
1. to describe an action that began at some time in the past and is still continuing.
Example:

  • They shifted to Pune in 2010 and have been living there ever since.

2. to describe an action that has been happening for a long time and has maybe just ended.
Examples:

  • I have been studying for two hours now.
  • Has it been raining?

Common errors:
for and since We often confuse the use of these two words. We use for when we talk about a duration of time (five minutes, three years, etc.) and we use since to show a point of time in the past when something started (8 o’clock, 2011, etc.).
Examples:

  • I have known Purnima for seven years now. ✓
  • I have known Purnima since seven years. ✗
  • I have been teaching Sneha since 2007. ✓
  • I have been teaching Sneha for 2007. ✗

B. Fill in the blanks using the present perfect continuous forms of the verbs in brackets.

Question 1.
An NGO …… ……….. (work) closely with the people of this city for many years.
Answer:
An NGO has been working (work) closely with the people of this city for many years.

Question 2.
The members of this organization ……………………. (spearhead) a movement to save tigers since 2005.
Answer:
The members of this organization have been spearheading (spearhead) a movement to save tigers since 2005.

Question 3.
The organization ……………………. (try) to create awareness among the people of this city.
Answer:
The organization has been trying (try) to create awareness among the people of this city.

Question 4.
But a controversy about some of the members ……………………. (rage) for several months now.
Answer:
But a controversy about some of the members has been raging (rage) for several months now.

Question 5.
Some members …………………… (try) to persuade the ones involved in the controversy to give up their position in the organization.
Answer:
Some members have been trying (try) to persuade the ones involved in the controversy to give up their position in the organization.

Question 6.
The members ……………….. (discuss) the matter for weeks now.
Answer:
The members have been discussing (discuss) the matter for weeks now.

Past Perfect

Function
We use past perfect tense: 1. to talk about something that happened before something else in past.
Examples:

  • Had you visited Mumbai before moving there in 2009?
  • I had read the book before watching the movie, so I did not enjoy it as much.
  • I had just finished packing when my friend came home.

2. to describe an action completed before a certain time in the past.
Examples:

  • He had met a consultant two months ago.
  • He had worked in a manufacturing firm for three years; then he resigned and took up a consultancy job.

3. in indirect speech, present perfect tense and simple past become past perfect.
Examples:

  • He said, “I have met her before.’—He said that he had met her before.
  • He said, “I studied at St Peter’s.’—He said that he had studied at St Peter’s.

4. in conditional sentences.
Examples:

  • If Sumeet had known you were coming, she would not have gone out.
  • Had you studied harder, you would have scored better marks.

C. Use your imagination and complete the following. Use past perfect tense.

Question 1.
The newspapers reported that ……………………………
Answer:
The newspapers reported that jewels worth crores had been stolen by the Joker Gang.

Question 2.
By the time we got there, ……………………………
Answer:
By the time we got there, the train had already left.

Question 3.
The Prime Minister regretted that ……………………………
Answer:
The Prime Minister regretted that the policy was unsuccessful.

Question 4.
They re-examined the issue after ……………………………
Answer:
They re-examined the issue after the committee had found a loophole in the matter

Question 5.
The police decided to give up the chase after ……………………………
Answer:
The police decided to give up the chase after the thief parked his car in front of the police station.

Past Perfect Continuous

Function
Past perfect continuous tense is used:
1. to refer to an action that began before a certain point of time in the past and continued up to that time, or stopped just before it.
Examples:

  • When Martin started his company in this city, his rivals had already been trading there for many years.
  • At that time, many small companies had been struggling to establish themselves.

2. to refer to an action or event that caused something in the past.
Examples:

  • Isha failed his exams last year because he had not been studying.
  • Last month, my aunt was worried about her dog because it had not been eating enough.

D. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate past forms of the verbs in brackets. Then try to guess who the guilty one is. The first one has been done for you.

The police was (be) at Lady Ching’s house because her diamond necklace (steal) in the evening. She said, “At 4 p.m. I …………………………… (place) the necklace in the dressing room cabinet and …………………………… (go) for a bath. There …………………………… (be) no one else in the room at that time. Thirty minutes later, as I …………………………… (dress), I …………………………… (realize) that the necklace was missing.’ The inspector …………………………… (summon) the rest of the household and …………………………… (ask) them what they …………………………… (do) between 3:45 and 5:00 that evening.

Lord Ching said, ‘I …………………………… (play) billiards at the club with my friends. I. (get) to the club by 3:00 and didn’t leave until 6:00. You can ask the staff there.’

Master Ching said, ‘I was out too. I …………………………… (fly) kites in the park with my friends. I left the park only when aunty …………………………… (call) on mobile phone to share the news at 5:00. I came over right away.’

The cook said, “I …………………………… (decorate) a cake in the kitchen. It took me several hours to make the rose-petal-ruffle around the cake. It is ready now.’

The driver said, “Our car had a flat tyre yesterday. I …………………………… (repair) the punctured tyre in the garage. It is fixed now.’

The maid said, ‘Hmm, I …………………………… (polish) some silverware in the pantry till about 4. Then it …………………………… (begin) to rain so I brought the laundry in from the lines. But the clothes were soaked by the time I got to them so I had to wash them all over again.” The inspector said, ‘Ah, yes, it rained!’ and arrested the culprit.
Answer:
The police was (be) at Lady Ching’s house because her diamond necklace was stolen (steal) in the evening. She said, ‘At 4 p.m. I had placed (place) the necklace in the dressing room cabinet and went (go) for a bath. There was (be) no one else in the room at that time. Thirty minutes later, as I was dressing (dress) up, I realized (realize) that the necklace was missing.’

The inspector summoned (summon) the rest of the household and asked (ask) them what they were doing (do) between 3:45 and 5:00 that evening.

Lord Ching said, ‘I was playing (play) billiards at the club with my friends. I went (get) to the club by 3 p.m. and didn’t leave until 6:00. You can ask the staff there.’

Master Ching said, ‘I was out too. I flew (fly) kites in the park with my friends. I left the park only when aunty called (call) on my mobile phone to share the news at 5 p.m. I came over right away. ’

The cook said, ‘I was decorating (decorate) a cake in the kitchen. It took me several hours to make the rose-petal-ruffle around the cake. It is ready now.’

The driver said, ‘Our car had a flat tyre yesterday. I was repairing (repair) the punctured tyre in the garage. It is fixed now.

The maid said, ‘Hmm, I polished (polish) some silverware in the pantry till about 4:00.

Then it began (begin) to rain so I brought the laundry in from the lines. But the clothes were soaked by the time I got to them so I had to wash them all over again.’ The inspector said, ‘Ah, yes, it rained! ’ and arrested the culprit.

Solution: Master Ching is the culprit, as he claimed that he was flying kites in the park. He forgot that it was raining.

Future Perfect

Function
We use future perfect for an action that will be completed by a particular time in future.
Examples:

  • In ten years, his son will have completed his studies. (completed action)
  • By September next year, the institution will have celebrated its golden jubilee.

E. What are your plans for this week? Think of three things you will have done by next Saturday and write them here.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Answer:
1. I will have finished all my assignments.
2. I will have done my laundry.
3. I will have lost a pound.

Future Perfect Continuous

Subject Verb Question
I, he, she, it, you, we, they will (’ll) have been studying will not have been studying Will he have been studying…?
Won’t he have been studying…?

Function
We use future perfect continuous to talk about an ongoing action that will be continuing or just completed at a time mentioned.
Examples:

  • When I graduate, I will have been studying in this school for ten years.
  • By 2030, I will have been working with this company for 25 years.

F. Fill in the blanks with suitable forms of the verbs in the brackets. One has been done.

Question 1.
Uncle: By 10 o’clock, how many hours will you have studied? (study)
Jackie: By 10 o’clock, I ……………………….. (read) for six hours exactly. But that won’t be enough, I ……………………….. (need) more time to finish my revision.
Answer:
Uncle: By 10 o’clock, how many hours will you have studied? (studyI
Jackie: By 10 o’clock, I will have read (read) for six hours exactly. But that won’t be enough, I will need (need) more time to finish my revision.

Question 2.
Employer: By next year, for how many years ……………………….. (work) here?
Employee: By this time next year, I ……………………….. (practise) law with this firm for ten years. But I ……………………….. (stay, not) here till then, I ……………………….. (resign) next month.
Answer:
Employer: By next year, for how many years will you have worked (work) here?
Employee: By this time next year, I will have practiced (practice) law with this firm for ten years. But I will not (stay, not) here till then, I will resign (resign) next month.

Unseen Passage for Class 12 Literary CBSE With Answers

Unseen Passage for Class 12 Literary

Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

Unseen Passage for Class 12 Literary CBSE With Answers

Unseen Passage Practice Examples for Class 12 Literary CBSE

1. Read the following passage carefully.

1. For four days, I walked through the narrow lanes of the old city, enjoying the romance of being in a city where history still lives in its cobblestone streets and in its people riding asses, carrying vine leaves and palm as they once did during the time of Christ.

2. This is Jerusalem, home to the sacred sites of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This is the place that houses the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where Jesus was finally laid to rest. This is also the site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

3. Built by the Roman Emperor Constantine at the site of an earlier temple to Aphrodite, it is the most venerated Christian shrine in the world, and justifiably so. Here, within the church, are the last five stations of the cross, the 10th station where Jesus was stripped of his clothes, the 11th where he was nailed to the cross, the 12th where he died on the cross, the 13th where the body was removed from the cross, and the 14th is his tomb.

4. For all this weighty tradition, the approach and entrance to the church, is nondescript. You have to ask for directions. Even to the devout Christian pilgrims, walking along the Via Dolorosa – the Way of Sorrows – first nine stations look clueless. Then a courtyard appears, hemmed in by other buildings and a doorway to one side. This leads to a vast area of huge stone architecture.

5. Immediately, inside the entrance is your first stop. It’s the stone of anointing: this is the place, according to Greek tradition, where Christ was removed from the cross. The Roman Catholics, however, believe it to be the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph.

6. What happened next? Jesus was buried. He was taken to a place outside the city of Jerusalem where other graves existed and there, he was buried in a cave. However, all that is long gone, destroyed by continued attacks and rebuilding; what remains is the massive and impressive Rotunda (a round building with a dome) that Emperor Constantine built. Under this, and right in the centre of the Rotunda, is the structure that contains the Holy Sepulchre.

7. “How do you know that this is Jesus’ tomb?” I asked one of the pilgrims standing next to me. He was clueless, more interested, like the rest of them, in the novelty of it all and in photographing it, than in its history or tradition.

8. At the start of the first century, the place was a disused quarry outside the city walls. According to the gospels, Jesus’ crucifixion occurred at a place outside the city walls with graves nearby. Archaeologists have discovered tombs from that era, so the site is compatible with the biblical period.

9. The structure at the site is a marble tomb built over the original burial chamber. It has two rooms, and you enter four at a time into the first of these, the Chapel of the Angel. Here, the angel is supposed to have sat on a stone to recount Christ’s resurrection. A low door made of white marble, partly worn away by pilgrims’ hands, leads to a smaller chamber inside. This is the ‘room of the tomb’, the place where Jesus was buried.

10. We entered in single file. On my right was a large marble slab that covered the original rock bench on which the body of Jesus was laid. A woman knelt and prayed. Her eyes were wet with tears. She pressed her face against the slab to hide them, but it only made it worse. [CBSE Delhi 2015]

A. On the basis of your understanding of the passage, answer the following questions by choosing the most appropriate option. (1 × 5 = 5 marks)

Question (i)
How does Jerusalem still retain the charm of the ancient era?
(a) There are narrow lanes.
(b) Roads are paved with cobblestones.
(c) People are riding asses.
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) All of these

Question (ii)
To which religion is Holy Sepulchre sacred?
(a) Christianity
(b) Islam
(c) Judaism
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer:
(a) Christianity

Question (iii)
Why does one have to constantly ask for directions to the church?
(a) Because its lanes are narrow
(b) Because the entrance to the church is nondescript
(c) Because people are not tourist-friendly
(d) Because everyone is lost in enjoying the romance of the place
Answer:
(a) Because its lanes are narrow

Question (iv)
What is the first step inside the entrance?
(a) A round building with a done
(b) The Stone of anointing
(c) Grave of Jesus
(d) A marble tomb
Answer:
(b) The Stone of anointing

Question (v)
Where was Jesus buried?
(a) In a cave
(b) At a place outside the city
(c) In the Holy Sepulchre
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer:
(d) Both (a) and (b)

B. Answer the following questions briefly.

Question (i)
What is the Greek belief about the ‘stone of anointing’?
Answer:
The Greek belief about the ‘stone of anointing’ is that this was the place where Christ was removed from the cross.

Question (ii)
Why did Emperor Constantine build the Rotunda?
Answer:
Emperor Constantine built the Rotunda to mark the place where Jesus Christ was laid to rest.

Question (iii)
What is the general attitude of the pilgrims?
Answer:
The general attitude of the pilgrims is out of respect and novelty of the place. They preserve the memory by photographing it. They are least interested in the history or tradition of the place.

Question (iv)
How is the site compatible with the biblical period?
Answer:
The site is compatible with the biblical period as according to gospels, Jesus’ crucifixion occurred at a place outside the city wall with graves nearby’. This is further known from the fact that archaeologists have discovered tombs from that era.

Question (v)
Why did the pilgrims enter the room of the tomb in a single file?
Answer:
The pilgrims entered the room of the tomb in a single file because the room was small with a low door. It led to a narrow, smaller chamber where only one person could enter at a time.

Question (vi)
Find a word from the passage (para-2) which means ‘the act of bringing back something that had disappeared or ended’.
Answer:
resurrection

Question (vii)
Find a word from the passage (para-4) which means ‘having no interesting features or qualities’.
Answer:
resurrection

2. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.

Work Is Worship
worship in this lonely dark corner of a
temple with doors all shut? Open
thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling
the hard ground and where the path-maker
is breaking stones. He is with them
in sun and shower, and his
garment is covered with dust. Put off
thy holy mantle and even like him come
down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance? Where is this deliverance
to be found? Our master himself
has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of
creation; he is bound with us all forever.
Come out of thy meditations and
leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes
become tattered and stained? Meet
him and stand by him in toil and in
sweat of thy brow.

– Rabindranath Tagore

2.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) The word …………………….., as used in stanza 1, is an archaic way of saying ‘your’.
i. thy
ii. thine
iii. both i. and ii.

(b) The word ‘deliverance’ means
i. the state of being rescued from danger, evil or pain
ii. the state of delivering a package
iii. deliberation

2.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following briefly.

(a) What does the poet want us to ‘leave’?
(b) The poet uses a number of archaic words in this poem. Give any four examples.
(c) Where, according to the poet, is God to be found?
(d) Does this poem have a fixed rhyming pattern?
(e) Who does the poet refer to as ‘our master’ in stanza 4?
(f) According to the poet, why must we “come down on the dusty soil??

2.3 Pick out the words from the poem which mean the same as the following.

(a) saying a prayer in a singing voice (stanza 1)
(b) a loose piece of clothing without sleeves (stanza 2)

3. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. All this time I was at the Lenin Barracks?, ostensibly in training for the front. When I joined the militia, I had been told that I would be sent to the front the next day, but in fact I had to wait while a fresh centuria’ was got ready. The workers’ militias, hurriedly raised by the trade unions at the beginning of the war, had not yet been organized on an ordinary army basis. The units of command were the ‘section’, of about thirty men, the centuria, of about a hundred men, and the ‘column’, which in practice meant any large number of men. The Lenin Barracks was a block of splendid stone buildings with a riding school and enormous cobbled courtyards; it had been a cavalry barracks and had been captured during the July. fighting.

My centuria slept in one of the stables, under the stone mangers where the names of the cavalry chargers4 were still inscribed. All the horses had been seized and sent to the front, but the whole place still smelt of horse – piss and rotten oats. I was at the barracks about a week. Chiefly I remember the horsy smells, the quavering bugle – calls (all our buglers were amateurs – I first learned the Spanish bugle – calls by listening to them outside the Fascist lines), the tramp – tramp of hobnailed boots in the barrack yard, the long morning parades in the wintry sunshine, the wild games of football, fifty a side, in the gravelled riding school.

There were perhaps a thousand men at the barracks, and a score or so of women, apart from the militiamen’s wives who did the cooking. There were still women serving in the militias, though not very many. In the early battles they had fought side by side with the men as a matter of course. It is a thing that seems natural in time of revolution. Ideas were changing already, however. The militiamen had to be kept out of the riding school while the women were drilling there because they laughed at the women and put them off. A few months earlier no one would have seen anything comic in a woman handling a gun.

2. The whole barracks were in the state of filth and chaos to which the militia reduced every building they occupied and which seems to be one of the by – products of revolution. In every corner you came upon piles of smashed furniture, broken saddles, brass cavalry – helmets, empty sabre – scabbards, and decaying food. There was frightful wastage of food, especially bread. From my barrack room alone a basketful of bread was thrown away at every meal – a disgraceful thing when the civilian population was short of it.

We ate at long trestle – tables out of permanently greasy tin pannikins, and drank out of a dreadful thing called a porron. A porron is a sort of glass bottle with a pointed spout from which a thin jet of wine spurts out whenever you tip it up; you can thus drink from a distance, without touching it with your lips, and it can be passed from hand to hand. I went on strike and demanded a drinking cup as soon as I saw a porron in use. To my eye the things were altogether too like bed – bottles, especially when they were filled with white wine.

3. By degrees, they were issuing the recruits with uniforms, and because this was Spain, everything was issued piecemeal, so that it was never quite certain who had received what, and various of the things we most needed, such as belts and cartridge – boxes, were not issued till the last moment, when the train was actually waiting to take us to the front. I have spoken of the militia ‘uniform’, which probably gives a wrong impression. It was not exactly a uniform. Perhaps a “multiform’ would be the proper name for it. Everyone’s clothes followed the same general plan, but they were never quite the same in any two cases. Practically everyone in the army wore corduroy knee-breeches, but there the uniformity ended. Some wore puttees, others corduroy gaiters, others leather leggings or high boots.

Everyone wore a zipper jacket, but some of the jackets were of leather, others of wool and of every conceivable colour. The kinds of cap were about as numerous as their wearers. It was usual to adorn the front of your cap with a party badge, and in addition, nearly every man wore a red or red and black handkerchief round his throat. A militia column at that time was an extraordinary-looking rabble. But the clothes had to be issued as this or that factory rushed them out, and they were not bad clothes considering the circumstances.

The shirts and socks were wretched cotton things, however, quite useless against cold. I hate to think of what the militiamen must have gone through in the earlier months before anything was organised. I remember coming upon a newspaper of only about two months earlier in which one of the P.O.U.M. leaders, after a visit to the front, said that he would try to see to it that every militiaman had a blanket’. A phrase to make you shudder if you have ever slept in a trench.

– Adapted from Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

3.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) ‘Section’ was a military unit of about …………………….. men.
i. thirty
ii. hundred
iii. none of the above

(b) A …………………….. is a sort of glass bottle with a pointed spout.
i. trestle – table
ii. pannikin
iii. porron

3.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions.

(a) What was the writer’s profession? What was the writer’s training place like?
(b) What were the living conditions in the barracks?
(c) Who were the women at the barracks?
(d) ‘Ideas were changing already…’ What ideas are the author talking about?
(e) Why were the militiamen kept out of the riding school while the women were drilling?

3.3 Pick out the words from the passage which mean the same as the following.

(a) seemingly (para 1)
(b) randomness (para 2)

4. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. As Andrea turned off the Highway onto the road to Brockbourne; the small village in which she lived,
it was four o’clock in the afternoon, but already the sun was falling behind the hills. At this time in December, it would be completely dark by five o’clock. Andrea shivered. The interior of the car was not cold, but the trees bending in the harsh wind and the patches of yesterday’s snow still heaped in the fields made her feel chilly inside. It was another ten miles to the cottage where she lived with her husband Michael. The dim light and wintry weather made her feel a little lonely. She would have liked to listen to the radio, but it had been stolen from her car when it was parked outside her office in London about two weeks ago, and she had not got around to replacing it yet.

2. She was just coming out of the little village of Mickley, when she saw the old lady, standing by the road, with a crude handwritten sign saying ‘Brockbourne’ in her hand. Andrea was surprised. She had never seen an old lady hitchhiking before. However, the weather and the coming darkness made her feel sorry for the lady, waiting hopefully on a country road like this with little traffic. Normally, Andrea would never pick up a hitchhiker when she was alone, thinking it was too dangerous, but what was the harm in doing a favour for a little old lady like this? Andrea pulled up a little way down the road, and the lady, holding a big shopping bag, hurried over to climb in the door which Andrea had opened for her.

3. When she did get in, Andrea could see that she was not, in fact, so little. Broad and fat, the old lady had some difficulty climbing in through the car door with her big bag, and when she had got in, she more than filled the seat next to Andrea. She wore a long, shabby old dress, and she had a yellow hat pulled down low over her eyes. Panting noisily from her effort, she pushed her big brown canvas shopping bag down onto the floor under her feet, and said in a voice which was almost a whisper, ‘Thank you dearie – I’m just going to Brockbourne.’

4. “Do you live there?’ asked Andrea, thinking that she had never seen the old lady in the village in the four years she had lived there herself.

5. “No, dearie,’ answered the passenger, in her soft voice, “I’m just going to visit a friend. He was supposed to meet me back there at Mickley, but his car won’t start, so I decided to hitchhike – there isn’t a bus until seven, and I didn’t want to wait. I knew some kind soul would give me a lift.?

6. Something in the way the lady spoke, and the way she never turned her head, but stared continuously into the darkness ahead from under her old yellow hat, made Andrea uneasy about this strange hitchhiker. She didn’t know why, but she felt instinctive that there was something wrong, something odd, and something… dangerous. But how could an old lady be dangerous, it was absurd.

7. Careful not to turn her head, Andrea looked sideways at her passenger. She studied the hat, the dirty collar of the dress, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hair…………..

Thick black hair?
Hairy arms? Andrea’s blood froze.
This wasn’t a woman. It was a man.

At first, she didn’t know what to do. Then suddenly, an idea came into her racing, terrified brain. Swinging the wheel suddenly, she threw the car into a skid, and brought it to a halt. ‘My God!’ she shouted, ‘A child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her!’ The ‘old lady’ was clearly shaken by the sudden skid. “I didn’t see anything dearie,’ she said. “I don’t think you hit anything.’
I’m sure it was a child!’ insisted Andrea. “Could you just get out and have a look? Just see if
there’s anything on the road?’ She held her breath. Would her plan work?

8. It did. The passenger slowly opened the car door, leaving her bag inside, and climbed out to investigate. As soon as she was out of the vehicle, Andrea gunned the engine and accelerated away madly. The car door swung shut as she rounded a bend, and soon she had put a good three miles between herself and the awful hitchhiker.

9. It was only then that she thought about the bag lying on the floor in front of her. Maybe the bag would provide some information about the real identity about the ‘old woman’. Pulling into the side of the road, Andrea lifted the heavy bag onto her lap and opened it curiously.

10. It contained only one item – a small hand axe, with a razor-sharp blade. The axe, and the inside of the bag, was covered with the dark red stains of dried blood. Andrea began to scream.

4.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) Andrea lived in ……………………..
i. Brockbourne
ii. London
iii. Mickley

(b) A hitchhiker is ……………………..
i. a person who walks long distances
ii. a person who climbs mountains
iii. a person who travels by asking for free rides in other people’s cars

4.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions.

(a) What were Andrea’s feelings as she drove home? Why?
(b) Why did Andrea stop to offer the old lady a lift?
(c) When did she realize that there was something wrong?

4.3 Pick out the words from the passage which mean the same as the following.

(a) wheezing (para 3)
(b) intuitively (para 6)

5. Read the following passage carefully.

1. India has never subscribed to the doctrine of militarism and war in her history. Here, war was never treated as an ideal. It was only tolerated as unavoidable and inevitable, and all attempts were made to check it and bring it under control. In spite of the frequency of wars in ancient India, in spite of highly developed military organisation, techniques of war and imperialism, and in spite of the open justification of war as national policy, the heart of India loved pacifisms as an ideal capable of realisation. India’s symbolic role was that of a peace-maker and it sincerely pinned its faith on the principle of ‘Live and Let Live’. At least philosophically, India’s intelligence supported the cause of peace not only in national affairs but in international affairs also. All the great seers of the yore visualised the unity of life, permeating all beings, animate or inanimate, which ruled out killing and suicidal wars.

2. This doctrine of philosophical pacifisms, practiced by ancient Aryans, is no doubt a question of controversial nature. Certainly, the great Indian teachers and savants stuck to this doctrine tenaciously and in their personal life, they translated it into practice and preached it to masses and even to the princes of military classes.

3. Another culture of those times, the existence of which has been proved by the excavations of Mohenjo-Daro, also enunciated the doctrine of pacificism and friendship to all. Strangely enough, the Indus Valley Civilization has revealed no fortification and very few weapons.

4. Ahimsa or the doctrine of non-violence in thought, speech, and action assumed gigantic importance in the Buddhist and Jain period. By constant practice of this virtue, man becomes unassailable by even wild beasts, who forgets their ferocity the moment they enter the circumference of his magnetic influence. The monks and nuns of these churches were apostles of peace, who reached every nook and corner of the world and delivered the message of love to war-weary humanity. The greatest votary was the royal monk Ashoka, who in reality was responsible for transforming Ahimsa as an act of personal virtue, to Ahimsa as an act of national virtue.

5. Many historians recounting the causes of the downfall of the Mauryas, hold the pacific policy of Ashoka which had eschewed the aggressive militarism of his predecessors,, responsible for an early decay of the military strength of the state and its consequent disintegration, leading to the rise of Sungas, Kanvas, and Andhras. But in reality, the fault lies with the weak successors of Ashoka, who could not wield the weapon of non-violence with skill and efficiency which required the strength of a spiritual giant-like Ashoka. They failed due to their subjective weakness: Pacifism itself was no cause of their failure.

6. Besides the foregoing philosophical and religious school of thought, even many political authorities gave their unqualified support to the cause of pacifisms. They recognised the right of rivals to exist, not mainly as enemies, but as collaborators in the building of a civilisation operation. Thus, for centuries, in the pre-Mauryan India, scores of small independent republics existed and flourished without coming into the clash with each other.

7. With regard to Kautilya, the much-maligned militarist and the so-called Machiavelli of India, he thinks that the object of diplomacy is to avoid war.

8. The Mahabharata observes in the connection: “A wise man should be content with what can be obtained by the expedients of conciliation, gift, and dissension.” It denounces the warring world of men by comparing it to a dog-kennel. “First there comes the wagging of tails, then turning of one round to other, then the show of teeth, then the roaring and then comes the commencement of the fights. It is the same with men; there is no difference whatever.” Yajnavalkya adds: “War is the last expedient to be used when all others have failed.” Likewise, Sri Krishna who’s Bhagwad-Gita has been styled by some as ‘a song of the battle’, should not be considered militarist. When all the three expedients were exhausted, then alone the fourth resorted.

9. All possible avenues of peace, such as negotiation, conciliation through the conference, meditation, and so on, were explored before the war has resorted. This proves that the heart of ancient India was sound and it longed for peace, although war also was not treated as an anathema, which was to be avoided as far as possible. (Extract from ‘Culture India-Pacifism has been the Ideal’ by Sri [CBSE Sample Paper 2019]

A. On the basis of your understanding of the passage, answer the following questions by choosing the most appropriate option. (1 × 5 = 5 marks)

Question (i)
What does the heart of India love?
(a) A highly developed military organisation
(b) Techniques of wars and imperialism
(c) Loans
(d) Pacifism
Answer:
(d) Pacifism

Question (ii)
What does the principle of‘Live and Let Live’ mean?
(a) Imperialism
(b) Militarism
(c) Frequency of wars among nations
(d) Role of peace-makers
Answer:
(d) Role of peace-makers

Question (iii)
What did Aryans preach and practice to the masses?
(a) Non-violence
(b) Freedom of speech and action
(c) Philosophical pacifisms
(d) Practice of military organisation
Answer:
(c) Philosophical pacifisms

Question (iv)
With what does Mahabharata compare the warring world?
(a) Wise men
(b) Dog kennel
(c) Song of the battle
(d) Militarist
Answer:
(b) Dog kennel

Question (v)
What message was delivered by the monks and nuns?
(a) Love to wear-weary humanity
(b) Live and let live
(c) Ahimsa is an act of national virtue
(d) The doctrine of non-violence
Answer:
(a) Love to wear-weary humanity

B. Answer the following questions briefly. (1 × 7 = 7 marks)

Question (i)
How was war treated in India?
Answer:
War was never treated as an ideal in India. It was only tolerated as unavoidable and inevitable. All attempts were made to check it and control it.

Question (ii)
Describe India’s preparedness for war in spite of their belief in Pacifism.
Answer:
Highly developed military organisation/techniques of war and imperialism/the open justification of war as national policy.

Question (iii)
How did the Aryans practice the Doctrine of Pacifism?
Answer:
The doctrine of philosophical Pacifism was practised by ancient Aryans. The great Indian teachers and savants stuck to this doctrine tenaciously, practiced, and preached it to the masses and royals.

Question (iv)
What is Ahimsa?
Answer:
Ahimsa is the doctrine of non-violence in thought, speech, and action. It is an act of personal virtue.

Question (v)
What is the meaning of co-existence with rivals?
Answer:
The right of the rivals to exist, not mainly as enemies but as collaborators in the building of a civilisation operation/co-existence without coming in a clash with each other.

Question (vi)
Find a word from the passage (para-1) which means ‘spreading through something and being presented in every part of it’.
Answer:
permeating

Question (vii)
Find a word from the passage (para-3) which means ‘to express in definite and clear terms’.
Answer:
enunciated

6. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.

The Man He Killed
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like -just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to haifa crown.

– Thomas Hardy

6.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) The word ……………………… rhymes with the word “although’.
i. foe
ii. So
iii. both i. and ii.

(b) The word ‘crown’, as used in the last stanza, means ………………………
i. a unit of money
ii. the headdress was worn by a king
iii. the top part of the head or a hat

6.2 On the basis of your reading of the poem, answer the following questions briefly.

(a) What is the rhyming scheme of the first stanza?
(b) Why had the poet shot the man dead?
(c) Find the word in the poem which rhymes with the word ‘because’.
(d) He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps Here, the word “’list’ is a shortened form of which word?
(e) Why does the poet think that war is ‘quaint and curious’?)
(f) Why, according to the poet, had the other man joined the war?

6.3 Pick out the words from the poem which means the same as the following.

(a) tavern (stanza 1)
(b) enemy (stanza 3)

7. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.

IF
1f you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
1f you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hoLd on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fiLl the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

– Rudyard Kipling

7.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) The words ‘make allowance for’ means the same as ……………………………..
i. give money to
ii. take into consideration
iii. none of the above

(b) The word …………………………….. rhymes with the word ‘much’.
i. touch
ii. hurt
iii. virtue

7.2 On the basis of you reading the poem, answer these questions.

(a) What are the four qualities that are stressed in stanza 1?
(b) What does the poet say of dreaming?
(c) What does the poet say about Triumph and Disaster?
(d) What are the poet’s views on winning and losing?
(e) What does the poet say about walking with kings but not losing the ‘common touch’?
(f) What is the theme of the poem?

7.3 Pick out the words from the poem which means the same as the following.

(a) impersonators (stanza 2)
(b) a strong band of tissue in the body that joins a muscle to a bone (stanza 3)

8. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. Some business had detained me in Chancery Lane, nine in the evening, and thereafter, having some inkling of a headache, I was disinclined either for entertainment or further work. So much of the sky as the high cliffs of that narrow canon of traffic left visible spoke of a serene night, and I determined to make my way down to the Embankment, and rest my eyes and cool my head by watching the variegated lights upon the river. Through the arches of Waterloo Bridge a hundred points of light mark the sweep of the Embankment, and above its parapet rise the towers of Westminster, warm grey against the starlight. ‘A warm night,’ said a voice at my side.

2. I turned my head and saw the profile of a man who was leaning over the parapet beside me. It was a refined face, not unhandsome, though pinched and pale enough, and the coat collar turned up and pinned round the throat marked his status in life as sharply as a uniform. I felt I was committed to the price of a bed and breakfast if I answered him.

3. I looked at him curiously. Would he have anything to tell me worth the money, or was he the common incapable – incapable even of telling his own story? There was a quality of intelligence in his forehead and eyes, and a certain tremulousness in his nether lip that decided me. ‘Very warm,’ said I; ‘but not too warm for us here.’ “No,’ he said, still looking across the water, “it is pleasant enough here…just now.’

4. ‘It is good,’ he continued after a pause, ‘to find anything so restful as this in London. After one has been fretting about business all day, about getting on, meeting obligations, and parrying dangers, I do not know what one would do if it were not for such pacific corners.’ He spoke with long pauses between the sentences. “You must know a little of the irksome labour of the world, or you would not be here. But I doubt if you can be so brain – weary and footsore as I am … Bah! Sometimes I doubt if the game is worth the candle. I feel inclined to throw the whole thing over – name, wealth, and position – and take to some modest trade. But I know if I abandoned my ambition – hardly as she uses me – I should have nothing but remorse left for the rest of my days.’

5. He became silent. I looked at him in astonishment. If ever I saw a man hopelessly hard – up it was the man in front of me. He was ragged and he was dirty, unshaven, and unkempt; he looked as though he had been left in a dust bin for a week. And he was talking to me of the irksome worries of a large business. I almost laughed outright. Either he was mad or playing a sorry jest on his own poverty.

6. ‘If high aims and high positions,’ said I, ‘have their drawbacks of hard work and anxiety, they have their compensations. Influence, the power of doing good, of assisting those weaker and poorer than ourselves; and there is even a certain gratification in-display …’

7. My banter under the circumstances was in the very vile taste. I spoke on the spur of the contrast of his appearance and speech. I was sorry even while I was speaking.

8. He turned a haggard but very composed face upon me. Said he, ‘I forgot myself. Of course, you would not understand.

9. He measured me for a moment. “No doubt it is very absurd. You will not believe me even when I tell you so that it is fairly safe to tell you. And it will be a comfort to tell someone. I really have sa big business in hand, a very big business. But there are troubles just now. The fact is…I make diamonds.’ “I suppose,’ said I, “you are out of work just at present?’

10. “I am sick of being disbelieved,’ he said impatiently, and suddenly unbuttoning his wretched coat he pulled out a little canvas bag that was hanging by a cord round his neck. From this, he produced a brown pebble. ‘I wonder if you know enough to know what that is?’ He handed it to me. I looked at my interlocutor with rising curiosity. “It certainly is rather like a diamond. But, if so, it is a Behemoth of diamonds. Where did you get it?’ “I tell you I made it,’ he said. ‘Give it back to me.’

11. He replaced it hastily and buttoned his jacket. ‘I will sell it to you for one hundred pounds,’ he suddenly whispered eagerly. With that, my suspicions returned. The thing might, after all, be merely a lump of that almost equally hard substance, corundum, with an accidental resemblance in shape to the diamond. Or if it was a diamond, how came he by it, and why should he offer it at a hundred pounds?

12. We looked into one another’s eyes. He seemed eager but honestly eager. At that moment I believed it was a diamond he was trying to sell. Yet I am a poor man, a hundred pounds would leave a visible gap in my fortunes and no sane man would buy a diamond by gaslight from a ragged tramp on his personal warranty only. Still, a diamond that size conjured up a vision of many thousands of pounds. Then, thought I, such a stone could scarcely exist without being mentioned in every book on gems, and again I called to mind the stories of contraband and light-fingered Kaffirs at the Cape. I put the question of purchase on one side.

“How did you get it?’
said I. “I made it.’

Adapted from The Diamond Maker by H.G. Wells

8.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) The word ‘disinclined’ is synonymous to the word ……………………………..
i. unenthusiastic
ii. straight
iii. none of the above

(b) The word ……………………………., in paragraph 12, is used to refer to smuggled items.
i. contraband
ii. purchase
iii. tramp

8.2 On the basis of your reading the passage, answer the questions.

(a) Where did the narrator meet the stranger? Why was he there?
(b) What did the intruder say that startled the narrator?
(c) How did the narrator respond to the impoverished looking intruder’s remark on wealth and position?
(d) What work did the intruder do?
(e) What was the intruder’s offer to the narrator?

8.3 Pick out the words from the passage which mean the same as the following.

(a) multi-colored (para 1)
(b) fatigued (para 8)

9. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

MT VESUVIUS ERUPTION 79 AD BY PLINY THE YOUNGER (AD 61–113)

My dear Tacitus,

1. You ask me to write you something about the death of my uncle so that the account you transmit to posterity is as reliable as possible. I am grateful to you. He perished in a devastation of the loveliest of lands, in a memorable disaster shared by peoples and cities, but this will be a kind of eternal life for him. Although he wrote a great number of enduring works himself, the imperishable nature of your writings will add a great deal to his survival. It is therefore with great pleasure that I take up, or rather take upon myself the task you have set me.

2. He was at Misenum in his capacity as commander of the fleet on the 24th of August, when in the afternoon my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance. He was reclining after dinner with his books. He climbed up to where he could get the best view of the phenomenon. The cloud was rising from a mountain – at such a distance we couldn’t tell which I afterward learned that it was Vesuvius. I can best describe its shape by likening it to a pine tree. It rose into the sky on a very long ‘trunk’ from which spread some “branches’. It had been raised by a sudden blast, which then weakened, leaving the cloud unsupported so that its own weight caused it to spread sideways. Some of the clouds was white, in other parts, there were dark patches of dirt and ash. The sight of it made the scientist in my uncle determined to see it from closer at hand.

3. He ordered a boat made ready. He offered me the opportunity of going along, but I preferred to study. As he was leaving the house, he was brought a letter from Tascius’ wife Retina, who was terrified by the looming danger. Her villa lay at the foot of Vesuvius, and there was no way out except by boat. She begged him to get her away. He changed his plans. The expedition that started out as a quest for knowledge now called for courage. He launched the quadriremes and embarked himself, a source of aid for more people than just Rectina, for that delightful shore was a populous one. He hurried to a place from which others were fleeing and held his course directly into danger. Was he afraid? It seems not, as he kept up a continuous observation of the various movements and shapes of that evil cloud, dictating what he saw.

4. Ash was falling onto the ships now, darker and denser the closer they went. Now it was bits of pumice, and rocks that were blackened and burned and shattered by the fire. Now the sea is shoal; debris from the mountain blocks the shore. He paused for a moment wondering whether to turn back as the helmsman urged him. ‘Fortune helps the brave,’ he said, ‘Head for Pomponianus.’

5. At Stabiae, on the other side of the bay formed by the gradually curving shore, Pomponianus had loaded up his ships even before the danger arrived, though it was visible and indeed extremely close, once it intensified. He planned to put out as soon as the contrary wind let up. That very wind carried my uncle right in, and he embraced the frightened man and gave him comfort and courage. In order to lessen the other’s fear by showing his own unconcern, he asked to be taken to the baths. He bathed and dined, carefree or at least appearing so (which is equally impressive). Meanwhile, broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius; their light and brightness were more vivid for the darkness of the night.

To alleviate people’s fears my uncle claimed that the flames came from the deserted homes of farmers who had left in a panic with the hearth fires still alight. Then he rested, and gave every indication of actually sleeping; people who passed by his door heard his snores, which were rather resonant since he was a heavy man. The ground outside his room rose so high with the mixture of ash and stones that if he had spent any more time there escape would have been impossible. He got up and came out, restoring himself to Pomponianus and the others who had been unable to sleep.

They discussed what to do, whether to remain undercover or to try the open air. The buildings were being rocked by a series of strong tremors and appeared to have come loose from their foundations and to be sliding this way and that. Outside, however, there was danger from the rocks that were coming down, light and fire – consumed as these bits of pumice were. Weighing the relative dangers they chose the outdoors.

6. They tied pillows on top of their heads as protection against the shower of rock. It was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night. But they had torches and other lights. They decided to go down to the shore, to see from close up if anything was possible by sea. But it remained as rough and uncooperative as before. Resting in the shade of a sail he drank once or twice from the cold water he had asked for. Then came the smell of sulphur, announcing the flames, and the flames themselves, sending others into flight but reviving him. Supported by two small slaves he stood up and immediately collapsed. As I understand it, his breathing was obstructed by the dust-laden air, simply shut down. When daylight came again 2 days after he died, his body was found; he looked more asleep than dead.

7. You will use the important bits, for it is one thing to write a letter, another to write history, one thing to write to a friend, another to write for the public.

Farewell.
Pliny the Younger (AD 61–113)

9.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) The word ‘imperishable’ is the antonym of the word ……………………………..
i. fragile
ii. transient
iii. durable.

(b) …………………………….. was at Misenum in his capacity as commander of the fleet.
i. Pliny the Younger
ii. Tacitus
iii. none of the above

9.2 On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the questions.

(a) Who has written this letter? What is the purpose of writing?
(b) What was the tragedy? Where did it occur?
(c) What was the first indication of the disaster?
(d) What made the narrator’s uncle change his plans?
(e) ‘Fortune helps the brave,’ why did he say so?
(f) How did the uncle try to allay the fears of the other people? What did the uncle die of?

9.3 Pick out the words from the passage which mean the same as the following.

(a) everlasting (para 1)
(b) assuage (para 5)

10. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. I was born in the Rotunda Hospital, on June 5th, 1932. There were nine children before me and twelve after me, so I myself belong to the middle group. Out of this total of twenty – two, seventeen lived, but four died in infancy, leaving thirteen still to hold the family fort.

2. Mine was a difficult birth, I am told. Both mother and son almost died. A whole army of relations queued up outside the hospital until the small hours of the morning waiting for news and praying furiously that it would be good.

3. After my birth Mother was sent to recuperate for some weeks and I was kept in the hospital while she was away. I remained there for some time, without a name, for I wasn’t baptised until my mother was well enough to bring me to church.

4. It was Mother who first saw that there was something wrong with me. I was about four months old at the time. She noticed that my head had a habit of falling backward whenever she tried to feed me. She attempted to correct this by placing her hand on the back of my neck to keep it steady. But when she took it away, back it would drop again. That was the first warning sign. Then she became aware of other defects as I got older.

She saw that my hands were clenched nearly all of the time and were inclined to twine behind my back; my mouth couldn’t grasp the teat of the bottle because even at that early age my jaws would either lock together tightly, so that it was impossible for her to open them, or they would suddenly become limp and fall loose, dragging my whole mouth to one side. At six months I could not sit up without having a mountain of pillows around me. At twelve months it was the same.

5. Very worried by this, Mother told my father her fears, and they decided to seek medical advice without any further delay. I was a little over a year old when they began to take me to hospitals and clinics, convinced that there was something definitely wrong with me, something which they could not understand or name, but which was very real and disturbing.

6. Almost every doctor who saw and examined me labelled me a very interesting but also a hopeless case. Many told Mother very gently that I was mentally defective and would remain so. That was a hard blow to a young mother who had already reared five healthy children. The doctors were so very sure of themselves that Mother’s faith in me seemed almost an impertinence. They assured her that nothing could be done for me.

She refused to accept this truth, the inevitable truth – as it then seemed – that I was beyond cure, beyond saving, even beyond hope. She could not and would not believe that I was an imbecile, as the doctors told her. She had nothing in the world to go by, not a scrap of evidence to support her conviction that, though my body was crippled, my mind was not. In spite of all the doctors and specialists told her, she would not agree. I don’t believe she knew why – she just knew, without feeling the smallest shade of doubt.

8. Finding that the doctors could not help in any way beyond telling her not to place her trust in me, or, in other words, to forget I was a human creature, rather to regard me as just something to be fed and washed and then put away again, Mother decided there and then to take matters into her own hands. I was her child, and therefore part of the family. No matter how dull and incapable I might grow up to be, she was determined to treat me on the same plane as the others, and not as the ‘queer one’ in the back room who was never spoken of when there were visitors present.

9. . That was a momentous decision as far as my future life was concerned. It meant that I would always have my mother on my side to help me fight all the battles that were to come and to inspire me with new strength when I was almost beaten. But it wasn’t easy for her because now the relatives and friends had decided otherwise. They contended that I should be taken kindly, sympathetically, but not seriously. That would be a mistake.

“For your own sake,’ they told her, ‘don’t look to this boy as you would to the others; it would only break your heart in the end.’ Luckily for me, Mother and Father held out against the lot of them. But Mother wasn’t content just to say that I was not an idiot: she set out to prove it, not because of any rigid sense of duty, but out of love. That is why she was so successful.

Adapted from My Left Foot by Christy Brown

10.1 Choose the correct option.

(a) ……………………………. was born in 1932.
i. The narrator’s mother
ii. The narrator’s father
iii. The narrator

(b) A momentous decision is one which is ……………………………..
i. important and crucial
ii. made on the spur of a moment
iii. none of the above

10.2 Answer the following questions briefly.

(a) How did Christy’s mother know that her son was physically impaired?
(b) What diagnosis did the doctors offer to Christy’s mother?
(c) Why did Christy’s mother believe her son was not an idiot?
(d) ‘That was a momentous decision.’ What decision did his mother take about bringing him up?

10.3 Find words from the passage that mean the same as the following.

(a) recover (para 3)
(b) brought up (para 6)