HSC Arts (English Medium) १२ वीं कक्षा - Maharashtra State Board Important Questions for English

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter
As a raw mythology revealed to us its age
Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay
Where there are no trees except the one
Which grows and seethes in one's dreams, its aerial roots Looking for ground to strike.

(1) What did the rings of the trunk of the tree reveal about its age? (1)

(2) According to you, how do trees help the mankind? (1)

(3) Give an example of 'Repetition' from the extract. (1)

(4) The poem has picturesque expressions. They make the poem lively. Pick out such expressions from, the extract. (1)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
One day, I saw the tree was being cut. I rushed to the site and begged the tree cutters to spare the trunk as it wast the home of many a parrot. But I was laughed at and the tree fell with a great thud. I ran to the top end to see two just hatched chicks thrown out of their nest and smashed to death. I looked into all the nests and saw smashed eggs in two of them and one little chick in the other one. Fortunately, the little one survived the fall. I brought it home. The chick can be identified as a parrot only by the shape and colour of its beak. No feathers had come out. 1 carefully fed it with milk and within two weeks it began to eat bananas; and two months later, it started to fly and I let him fly away. But he would not fly long. He used to liner on the coconut trees in our compound and when I reached home from school, he would fly down and land on my head!
I would show him my finger and he would jump on to it from my head and drink the milk I offered him in a little plate. By putting the sharp end of the upper beak stationaty in the plate, he would drink the milk by moving his tongue and lower beak to and fro. Then he would fly on to my shoulder and eat paddy from mypahn.

(1) What is the extract about? (1)

(2) Describe how did the boy save the life of a chick ? (2)

(3) What was the parrot's daily routine at the author's home? (2)

(4) Do you think, we have deprived the birds of their natural habitats? What are its effects? (2)

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) I rushed to the site. (Rewrite the sentence using 'used to'.) (1)

(ii) The tree was being cut. (Rewrite it beginning with 'They .... .' (1)

(iii) I looked into all the nests and saw smashed eggs in two of them. (Rewrite the sentence using the word 'when'.  (1)

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean -
(i) neatly                      (1/2)
(ii) stay for longer        (1/2)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
We used to watch the valley play hide and seek .
Shadowed by the mountain's immeasurable peak
Considered the largest thing known to man
Now skyscrapers are the most extravagant and titanic part of the plan
We used to sit next to the stream, the wind caressing our crown
Watching the magnificent untamed beasts roam far, far from town
Now they are just characters of folk tales, memories we pass down
An adjective to describe someone, no more a noun
This could be our reality.

(1) What was the largest thing known to man? (1)

(2) What would be the possible result of ignoring nature? (1)

(3) Give an example of personification from the extract. (1)

( 4) Pick out from the extract some expressions of geographical images. (1)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
That day Reuben fold two sacks, which he took to the rambling wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails. The boy's hand tightly clutched the small five-cent pieces as he ran two kilometres home.
Near his house stood the ancient barn that housed the family's goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty baking- soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the can beneath a pile of sweet-smelling hay.
It was supper time when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, working on a fishing net. Dora was at the black kitchen range, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table.
He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window gilded her, shoulder-length blond hair. Five foot three, slim and beautiful, she was the centre of the home, the glue that held it together.
Her chores were never-ending. Sewing clothes for her family on the old Singer treadle machine, cooking meals and baking bread, planting a vegetable garden. milking the goats and scrubbing soiled clothes on a washboru·d. But she was happy. Her family and their wellbeing were her highest priority.
Every day after chores and school, Reuben scoured the town, collecting the burlap nail bags. On the day the two-room schoolhouse closed for the summer, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time to devote to his mission.

(1) What is the main theme of the extract? (1)

(2) Where did Reuben keep his savings? Why? (2)

(3) Describe Reuben's mother and her daily chores. (2)

(4) What would you like to present to your mother on Mother's Day? Why? (2)

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :

(i) He looked at his mother and smiled.
(Rewrite it as a Simple Sentence.) (1)

(ii) Her family and their well-being were her highest priority.
(Rewrite it in the Positive Degree.) (1)

(iii) She was the centre of the home. (1)
(Make it a Rhetorical Question)

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean -

(i) dried grass (1/2)

(ii) routine tasks (1/2)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
We, heroes and poor devils;
the feeble, the braggarts; the unfinished,
and capable of everything impossible
as long as it's not seen or heard
Don Juans, women and men, who come and go
with the fleeting passage of a runner
or of a shy hotel for travellers.
And we with our small vanities,
our controlled hunger for climbing
and getting as far as everybody else has gotten
because it seems that is the way of the world.

(1) Who are heroes and what are they capable of? (1)

(2) According to you, what difficulties do the middle-class people face? (1)

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following line :
... Women and men, who come and go. (1)

(4) Pick out the line from the extract, which shows the overambitious nature of the middle-class people. (1)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below
All the rest of her children, she said, are on the nuclear
blacklist of the dead,
all the rest, unless
the whole world understands - that peace is a woman:
A thousand candles then lit
in her starry eyes, and I saw angels bearing a moonlit message :
Peace is indeed a pregnant woman Peace is a mother.

(1) What is the situation of the children in absence of peace? (1)

(2) Why should we avoid wars? (1)

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following line:
that peace is a woman. (1)

(4) What message does the poet give through this poem? (1)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

Now, as I stood on the shore of that desolate Highland loch
I raised my voice in a surge of self-justification : ''By Heavens!
This is my opportunity. Gastric ulcer or no gastric ulcer, I will
write a novel.'' Before I could change 1ny mind I walked straight to the village and bot1ght myself two dozen penny exercise books.
Upstairs in my cold, clean bedroom was a scrubbed deal table and a very hard chair. Next morning, I found myself in this chair, facing a new exercise book open upon the table, slowly' becoming aware that, short of dog-Lati11 prescriptions, I had never composed a significant phrase in all my life. It was a discot1raging thought as I picked 11p my pen and gazed out of the window. Never mind, I would begin. Three hours later Mrs. Angus, the farmer's wife, called me to dinner. The page was still blank.
As I went dow-n to m:y milk and junket-they call this  "curds'' in Tarbert - I felt a dreadful fool. I felt like the wretched poet in Daudet's Jack whose im1nortal masterpiece never progressed beyond its stillborn opening phrase : ''In a remote valley of Pyrenees ..... ". I recollected, rather gri111ly, the sharp advice with which my old schoolmaster had goaded me to action. ''Get it down!'' he had said. ''If it ~tops in your head it will always be nothing.
Get it down.'' And so, after lunch, I went upstairs and began to get it down.

(1) What is the main idea of the extract? (1)
(2) Why did the narrator buy two dozen penny exercise books? (2)
(3) How was the narrator unprepared for writing his novel? (2)
(4) Write in brief about what you will do in your forthcoming vacation. (2)
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) I stood on the shore of that desolate Highland loch.
(Rewrite it using 'used to'.) (1)
(ii) I went down to my milk and junket.
(Rewrite it in the Past Perfect Tense.) (1)
(iii) I walked straight to the village and bought myself
two dozen penny exercise books. (Make it simple). (1)
(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) chance  (1/2)
(ii) lake   (1/2)

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly ...
They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

(1) What do you think is the underlying message of the extract?

(2) Which qualities of great men would you like to imbibe in you?

(3) Give the rhyming pairs of words of the first stanza.

(4) Pick out the expressions from the extract which show the hard work of brave men.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

One day, King Amrit and Chandan were taking a walk on the terrace of the palace. The terrace offered a beautiful view of the surroundings, and they could see far into the distance. They spotted the weekly market from up there, with people in colourful clothes buying and selling all kinds of things. There was plenty to buy and people had money to buy too. There were no poor people to be seen anywhere. The King watched with a smile on his face. He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom. Like any good ruler, he was happy ·when his people were happy.
       He turned to Chandan and said, ''See how contented my people are. But I want to check this first-hand by talking to them. Tomorrow, summon people from all walks of life to the court, and I will ask them myself how they are doing.'' Chandan was used to the king's strange requests and went off to carry out this order.

       The next day, the King arrived in the court humming a happy tune to himself. Seeing all the people gathered there waiting for him, he was even more pleased. He cleared his throat and said in a loud voice, ''I have called you here to ask you a very important question. As your king, I need to know if all of you are contented. Do you have enough for your needs? Do you know anyone who is not happy about anything?''.

(1) What do you understand about the King from this extract?
(2) Why did the King want to talk to his people?
(3) How did the King come to know about the prosperity of his kingdom?
(4) According to you, what should the Government do for the bettennent of the poor people?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) He was delighted to see the prosperity of his kingdom.
(Make it a rhetorical question.)
(ii) Summon people from all walls of life to the court
(Rewrite it beginning with 'Let ..... ')
(iii) As soon as the King arrived in the court humming a
happy tune to himself, he cleared his throat.
(Rewrite it using 'No sooner .... than'.)

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) development
(ii) examine

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Old women do not fly on magic wands
nor make obscure prophecies
from ominous forests.
They just sit on vacant park benches
in the quiet evenings,
call doves by their names
and charm them with grains of maize.
Or, trembling like waves
they stand in endless queues in
government hospitals.

(1) What do old women do in the quiet evenings?

(2) Do you feel old women should be looked after by their
families? Justify your answer.

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following
line: 'Or, trembling like waves.'

(4) Pick out two pictorial images from the extract.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
How do you know
Peace is a woman?
I know, for
I met her yesterday
on my winding way
to the world's fare.
She had such a wonderful face.
just like a golden flower faded
before her prime.

(1) How does the poet describe the face of peace?

(2) Do you feel mother can be a symbol of peace? Explain it in your own words.

(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following
line: 'Peace is a woman.'

(4) How does the Poet come to know that peace is a woman?

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

There are some glimmers of hope. I met up young Navdeep. Ahuja who along with another colleague began the innocuously named Graduates Welfare Association, Fazilka. They are bringing about change with the mandate of citizens' participation in governance and are facilitating the creation of physical and social infrastructure across 22 cities in Punjab. They have put in place a network of cycle rickshaws called Eco-cabs which can be booked through a mobile phone. They are also developing car tree zones, food and culture streets in these cities. All this is being done very efficiently and at a low cost. We need many such organizations. However, my idea of a city in 2020 is not a utopian dream. It is achievable. It has streets where people walk on wide footpaths shaded by leafy trees. Streets are usually one-third of a city's area and its most democratic segment. Public space dedicated to pedestrians reduces inequality and should be accorded priority when developing cities. Adjoining the streets should be cycle lanes where bicycles and, rickshaws can sail past smoothly. It'll have a great public transport system with buses, metro and taxis. Parking will be difficult and expensive so people will use public transport rather than cars. There will be parks and gardens and the air will be clean, as pollution levels will have dropped dramatically. And then cities will become areas of graceful living and a charmed way of life.

(1) What is the extract about?

(2) What will happen when parking becomes difficult and expensive?

(3) How has Graduates Welfare Association brought about changes in some cities?

(4) What efforts will you take to make your city a livable place?

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) We need many such organizations.
(Frame a ' Wh-question' to get the underlined part as an answer.)
(ii) It reduces inequality.
(Rewrite it using the Present Perfect Tense.)
(iii) The air will be clean, as pollution levels will. have dropped dramatically.
(Rewrite it using 'unless')

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) co-worker
(ii) small signs

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: 
I ran into a stranger as he passed by
"Oh, excuse me please'' was my reply.
He said, ''Please excuse me too; wasn't even watching ·for you.''
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said good-bye.
But at home, a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My daughter stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked her down.
''Move out of the way," I said with a frown.
She walked away, her little heartbroken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

(1) How does the poetess greet the stranger?

(2) Describe an incident when your mother was harsh at you.

(3) Write down the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.

(4) Pick out the line from the extract which shows the mother's anger.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

If we continue to live in impracticality
No more vast, endless oceans-
Only littered swamps, the colour of a witch's potions.
No more soaring birds overhead-
Only planes, so loud they rock your bed.
No more woods 
No more natural goods
We have little time
To change our self-centered, one-track minds.
Before we are stuck with a great heap of a jumble.
Left only with an artificial concrete jungle.

(1) According to the poet, what would replace the oceans and birds?

(2) Do you feel we are really impractical towards nature? How?

(3) Which words are frequently used in the extract and what
figure of speech does it indicate?

(4) Which lines fro1n the extract suggests the overexploitation of natural resources?

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :

  Early risers clearly have the edge in life. By the time most of us wake up, they've been through their morning rituals, enjoyed their walk, had their tea and read the daily news. They're also likely to have made long-distance calls before dawn to those similarly inclined. Thus, by the time the sun warms up they're likely to have discussed all varieties of 'men, matters, and affairs' with a dozen people.
The upshot of these varying tendencies is that such extreme contrasts often exist in the same household. Weeks pass before the younger lot (typically late risers) and the older lot (normally early birds) come face to face. It's almost as if they live in different time zones and different countries.
All over the country, things are likely to be pretty much the same in this respect, one would think. If the man of the house, any house, decides to take a day off from work, he'd probably find his son emerging from his room at about I0 a.m. and that too in a 'rubbing-eyes' mode. After fooling around for a while the lad would probably dash off to college in a rush whilst simultaneously zipping up his jeans and sending text messages on his phone. His father would undoubtedly be left shaking his head and burying himself deeper into his newspaper.

(1) What is the extract about?

(2) How do the early risers get a headstart in life?

(3) What kind of lifestyle of the young son is reflected in the extract?

(4) According to you, why do the youngsters rise up late?

(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed:
(i) He goes for his morning walk at 1 p.m.
(Rewrite it in the Present Perfect Continuous Tense.)
(ii) They live in different time zones.
(Make it a complex sentence.)
(iii) The man decides to take a day off from work.
(Rewrite it using the noun form of the underlined word.)

(6) Find out the words from the extract which mean:
(i) have a slight advantage over
(ii) coming out

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

If you crave not for praise when you win   
And look not for sympathy while you lose 
If cheers let not your head toss or spin
And after a set-back you ofter no excuse.
You may be the person I am looking for.

If you accept counsel without getting sore
And re-assess yourself in the light thereof
If you pledge. not to be obstinate any more
And meet others without any frown or scoff.
You may be the person I am looking for.

(1) How should you behave when you are a winner and a loser?

(2) Do you agree with the poet's view about an ideal person? Justify your answer.

(3) Pick out an example of Antithesis from the extract.

(4) Pick out the words from the extract showing our stubbornness and expression of displeasure.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: 
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet
Its scraggly aerial roots fell to the ground
From thirty feet or more so first they cut the branches
Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge
Insects and birds began to leave the tree
And then they came to its massive trunk 
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter

(1) How does the poet describe the banyan tree?

(2) According to you, how are trees important to maintain ecological balance?

(3) Pick out an example of repetition from the extract.

(4) Pick out the words in the extract which are related to the killing.

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Old women once
were continents.
They had deep woods in them,
lakes, mountains, volcanoes even,
even raging gulfs.
When the earth was in heat
they melted, shrank,
leaving only their maps.
You can fold them
and keep them handy:
who knows, they might help you find
your way home.

Question
(1) What does the geographical imagery used in this extract suggest?
(2) Who do you think should take care of your grandparents? Why?
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following lines: Old women once were continents.
(4) Find out the expressions that show how old women are still capable of caring for others, despite their old age?

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: 
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet
Its scraggly aerial roots fell to the ground
From thirty feet or me>re so first they cut the branches
Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge
Insects and birds began to leave the tree
And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years

Questions:
(1) What revealed the age of the banyan tree?

(2) How would you save the natural habitat of wildlife?

(3) Find from this extract an example of 'Repetition'.

(4) Pick out any two lines from the extract showing the pictorial quality of human action.