English Question Paper' 2016
AHSEC Class 12 Question Papers

Full Marks: 100
Pass Marks: 30
Time: Three hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.

SECTION-A

(Reading Skills : 10 Marks)

1. Read the following passage carefully:

At 4.30 P.M., Abha brought in the last mean he was ever to eat; it consisted of goat’s milk, cooked and raw vegetables, oranges and a concoction of ginger, sour lemons and strained butter with juice of aloe. Sitting on the floor of his room in the rear of Birla House in New Delhi, Gandhi ate and talked with Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel, Deputy Prime Minister of the new government of independent India. Maniben, Patel’s daughter and secretary, was also present. The conversation was important. There had been rumours of difference between Patel and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This problem, like so many others, had been dropped into the Mahatma’s lap.

Abha, alone with Gandhi and the Patel’s, hesitated to interrupt. But she knew Gandhi’s attachment to punctuality. Finally, therefore, she picked up the Mahatma’s nickel-plated watch and showed it to him. ‘I must tear myself away’, Gandhi remarked, and so saying he rose, went to the adjoining bathroom and then started towards the prayer ground in the large park to the left of the house. Abha, the young wife of Kanu Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma’s cousin, and Manu, the granddaughter of another cousin, accompanied him; he leaned his forearms on their shoulders. ‘My walking sticks’, he called them.

During the daily two-minute promenade through the long, red-sandstone colonnade that led to the prayer ground, Gandhi relaxed and joked. Now, he mentioned the carrot juice Abha had given him that morning.

‘So you are serving me cattle fare’, he said, and laughed.

‘Ba used to call it house fare’, Abha replied. Ba was Gandhi’s deceased wife.

‘Isn’t it grand of me’, Gandhi bantered, ‘to relish what no one else wants?

‘Bapu (father)’, said Abha, ‘your watch must be feeling very neglected. You would not look at it today.’

‘Why should I, since you are my timekeepers?’ Gandhi retorted.

‘But you don’t look at the timekeepers,’ Manu noted. Gandhi laughed again.

On the basis of your reading of passage answer the following questions:

a) What did Gandhi eat in his last meal? 2

b) Who were the persons present when Gandhi ate his last meal? 2

c) What was the problem that had been dropped into Gandhi’s lap? 2

d) Why did Abha show Gandhi the nickel-plated watch? 2

e) Who were the timekeepers of Gandhi? 1

f) What is the cattle fare referred to? 1

SECTION-B

(Advanced Writing Skills : 25 Marks)

2. Design an attractive poster for promoting cleanliness in your neighbourhood. (Maximum 50 words) 5

You are Arun Das / Arunima Das, a resident of 16, Gopinath Bordoloi Nagar, Tinsukia. You have lost a black handbag containing valuable documents while travelling from Digboi to Tinsukia by bus. Draft an advertisement in not more than 50 words, for publication in an English daily giving details of the bag, mentioning when you have lost it and giving your contact address requesting the finder to return it to you.

3. You are an eyewitness to a road accident in which a school-going boy was killed and many passengers were injured. As a press reporter of an English Daily write a report about the accident in 100-125 words. You are Nitu/Saurav. 10

You attended the Edufair, 2015, organized by Assam Tribune Pvt. Ltd. in Guwahati in which some top colleges and universities of India participated and gave information about their undergraduate and graduate programs. Write a detailed account of the fair in 100-125 words. You are Parveen/Pravin.

4. Write a letter to Editor of The Assam Tribune, Guwahati – 781003 drawing the attention of the authorities concerned to the erratic power supply, particularly during study hours, in your locality. You are Rita/Augustine. 10

You are Imran/Rongmili. You have seen an advertisement for the post of an English Teacher in Lakhimpur Public School, Lakhimpur. Write a formal letter to the President of the Managing Committee of the school in response to the advertisement applying for the post. Give your detailed bio-data. 10

SECTION-C

(Grammar : 20 Marks)

5. Change the form of narration in the following sentences: 2x2=4

a) “How long do you have to wait for your train?” the woman asked me. “About an hour,” I replied.

b) I asked Ranjan where Neena lived. Ranjan replied regretfully that he didn’t know.

6. Change the voice of any three of the following sentences: 3x1=3

a) She handed me the letter.

b) They laughed at us.

c) The stranger made an attempt to break into the house.

d) The student was told to leave the room.

e) Have they done the work?

7. Rewrite any five of the following sentences using the verbs given in brackets in their correct tense forms: 5x1=5

a) We ……………….. (do) our lessons when the lights went out.

b) I usually ……………. (go) to bed at 11 o’clock.

c) All the answers to the questions ……………… (be) wrong.

d) He ……………. (sit) in the library when I saw him.

e) Your letter ……………… (reach) me yesterday.

f) I ………………. (wait) for you since morning.

g) Football ……………….. (play) everywhere in the world.

8. Rewrite any four of the following sentences filling in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions: 4x1=4

a) The train arrived ……………………. The platform a minute ago.

b) The children were looking forward …………………. Their visit to Kaziranga.

c) I have to finish this report ………………… tonight.

d) The girl standing ……………………. The two boys is their sister.

e) Douglas jumped …………………. The swimming pool.

f) The office is closed ……………………. Second and fourth Saturdays.

9. Rewrite any four of the sentences as directed: 4x1=4

a) No other boxer is as great as Mary Kom. (Change into comparative degree)

b) None but Anita can do the sum. (Change into affirmative)

c) Everybody must admit that Tendulkar is a great cricketer. (Change into negative)

d) I know his name. (Change into a complex sentence)

e) He hoped that he would win the prize. (Change into a simple sentence)

f) Is it not a foolish idea? (Transform into a statement)

SECTION-D

(Text books: 45 Marks)

10. Read one of the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

a) “Now we will count to twelve

And we will all keep still.

for once on the face of the Earth

let’s not speak in any language,

let’s stop for one second,

And not move our arms so much.”

Questions:

a) How long does the poet want to stay still? 1

b) Why does he ask us to keep still and not use any language? 2

c) What does the poet mean by ‘not move our arms so much’? 1

b) “A thing of beauty is a joy forever:

Its loveliness increases, it will never

Pass into nothingness; but will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”

Questions:

a) Who is the poet of these lines and what is the title of the poem? 2

b) Why is a thing of beauty a joy forever? 1

c) What is a bower? 1

11. Answer any three of the following questions in 30-40 words: 3x2=6

a) Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

b) What is the exotic moment the poet Pablo Neruda wishes for?

c) Name the things of nature that are constant sources of beauty.

d) What is the message that John Keats wants to give through ‘A Thing of Beauty’?

e) ‘Of all the thousand selfish cars’ some stop there but not for buying something. Why do they stop there at all?

f) Who will soothe the rural poor out of their wits and how?

12. Answer any five of the following questions: 5x1=5

a) What did Franz think ‘for a moment’?

b) What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps?

c) Where has Saheb come from?

d) What position did John Rowntree hold before leaving Shillong a few days after independence?

e) Who was Rajkumar Shukla?

f) What was Gandhi’s politics intertwined with?

g) For whom does Sophie ask Danny Casey an autograph?

h) How was Geoff employed?

13. Answer any five of the following questions in 30-40 words: 5x2=10

a) Why did Franz want to spend his day out of doors?

b) What are M. Hamel’s views about the French language?

c) What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name?

d) Why do the your inhabitants of Firozabad end up losing their eye-sight?

e) Give a brief description of Peacock Island.

f) Why was the Champaran episode so significant in Gandhi’s life?

g) What was incongruous about the delicate bow which fastened the apron strings of Sophie’s mother?

14. Answer any one of the following questions in 80-100 words: 1x5=5

a) Draw a character sketch of M. Hamel as it is shown in ‘The Last Lesson’.

b) Describe Rowntree’s experience of crossing a flooded river on horseback.

c) ‘The battle of Champaran is won,’ Gandhi exclaimed. Explain the context in which this was said.

15. Answer any one of the following questions in 125-150 words: 1x7=7

Describe Tishani’s journey to the end of the earth – The Antarctic region, and his experience during that journey.

‘Though both Mr. Lamb and Derry suffers from a physical disability their attitudes to life are different’. Justify the relevance of this statement with reference to the story of “On the Face of it”?

16. Answer any four of the following questions in 30-40 words: 4x2=8

a) What was Zitkala’s idea regarding short, shingled hair?

b) What did Annan say about his community to the narrator?

c) How has Antarctica remained relatively pristine?

d) What explanation was given by the chief astrologer to the query of the little Tiger King?

e) Why aren’t there any curtains at the windows of Mr. Lamb’s house?

f) Why and how did Derry enter Mr. Lamb’s garden?