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प्रश्न
Examine the subtle humour in the narration of the story that lightens the gravity of the subject matter.
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उत्तर
The story's wittiest character is the detective Sherlock Holmes whose digressions are the most fun. How in the middle of a sensitive interrogation he points out to the suspect that he appears to be an English, though the suspect exclaims that he is an American. In the beginning, when Holmes is explaining the case to Watson, he remarks that there is a chance to make money with this case as if it is they and not the Garridebs who will be given the inheritance Alexander Garrideb. The most interesting part is the style with which Holmes talks or discusses any information. Even while explaining a serious matter he adapts a casual style. For example, again while in the beginning, Holmes is explaining the case to Watson, he did not give away the people already involved in the case. However, he tells that Nathan is already taken in as Watson comes across his name in the directory. He did not even tell the name of the mastermind John Garrideb until Mrs. Hudson approached with the card signed by Garrideb. There are many such instances that make the mystery light-hearted and the reader is not burned by it.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
Have you are wondered why soldiers are always clad in green? This is to enable them to camouflage themselves during wartime. Hiding in the jungles, their green attire blends into the surrounding trees and shrubs, making it difficult for the enemies to spot them.
Long before man-made use of camouflaging, insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators. By having body colour close to those of the rocks and dried leaves, they can escape from being pursued by the predators.
Butterflies and moths have developed a variety of camouflage strategies since they are quite defenceless and their predators are abundant. Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help certain butterflies and moths to hide among heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.
Fortunately, not all insects choose the art of disguise to escape from their predators; otherwise, the world would be so dull and colourless. There are insects which assimilate the bright body colours of bees and wasps to escape from being pursued by their predator. Long ago, birds have already learnt to avoid brilliantly coloured wasps and bees in fear of their painful stings. Hence, over millions of years, many harmless insects have assimilated the bees and wasps by imitating. their bright body colours and shapes. In this way, they appear dangerous and hence ward them off.
The beefy, not only appears like the bumblebee in terms of body colour, even its hums sound similar too. The only difference is that the beefy does not have a stirring and is hence harmless. The hoverfly is another insect which imitates. the body colours of the wasps. Their bodies are striped yellow and black. The only deviations are that hoverflies do not have stings, and they have only one pair of wings each while wasps have two pairs each. These variations are hardly noticed by the predators and hence help them to escape.
A1. Complete the table with the information from the passage : (2)
| Insects | Similarity | Difference |
| Bumblebee - Beefy | ||
| Wasp - Hoverfly |
A2. Complete the tree diagram : (2)
A3. Find out : (2)
‘Nature has given a self-protection mechanism to insects’.
Find out at least two examples from the passage to prove this statement.
A4. Vocabulary - (2)
Find the words from the passage for :
(i) animal or bird that hunts other for food
(ii) to get free from danger
(iii) to prevent something from harming
(iv) to make a copy
A5. Personal response - (2)
‘Soldiers disguise themselves to prevent enemies to spot them’.
Give two more examples when the disguising technique is used by humans.
A6. Grammar - (2)
Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) They have only one pair of wings.
(Make it negative without changing the meaning)
(ii) Insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators.
(Replace infinitive with gerund and rewrite)
(B) Summary : (3)
Summarise the above extract with the help of the points given and suggest a suitable title.
Camouflage of soldiers and insects - reason and ways for disguising - assimilation of insects - need of imitation.
In the following items, sentence A is complete, while sentence B is not. Complete sentence B, making it as similar as possible to sentence A. Write sentence B.
(A) He is so old that be cannot remember events of the past.
(B) He is too ............................................................................
Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow :
(1) At the Literary Society’s meeting, Isola read out the letters written to her Granny Pheen, when she was but a little girl. They were from a very kind man – a complete stranger. Isola told us how these letters came to be written.
(2) When Granny Pheen was nine years old, her cat died. Heartbroken, sitting in the middle of the road, she was sobbing her heart out.
(3) A carriage, driving far too fast, came within a whisker of running her down. A very big man in a dark coat with a fur collar, jumped out, leaned over Pheen, and asked if he could help her. Granny Pheen said she was beyond help. Muffin, her cat, was dead.
(4) The man said, ‘Of course, Muffin’s not dead. You do know cats have nine lives, don’t you?’ When Pheen said yes, the man said, ‘Well, I happen to know your Muffin was only on her third life, so she has six lives left.’ Pheen asked how he knew. He said he always knew - cats would often appear in his mind and chat with him. Well, not in words, of course, but in pictures.
(5) He sat down on the road beside her and told her to keep still – very still. He would see if Muffin wanted to visit him. They sat in silence for several minutes, when suddenly the man grabbed Pheen’s hand.
(6) ‘Ah – yes! There she is! She’s being born this minute! In a mansion – in France. There’s a little boy petting her, he’s going to call her Solange. This Solange has great spirit, great verve – I can tell already! She is going to have a long, venturesome life.’
(7) Granny Pheen was so rapt by Muffin’s new fate that she stopped crying. The man said he would visit Solange every so often and find out how she was faring.
(8) He asked for Granny Pheen’s name and the name of the farm where she lived, got back into the carriage, and left.
(9) Absurd as all this sounds, Granny Pheen did receive eight long letters. Isola then read them out. They were all about Muffin’s life as the French cat − Solange. She was, apparently, something of a feline musketeer. She was no idle cat, lolling about on cushions, lapping up cream – she lived through one wild adventure after another – the only cat ever to be awarded the red rosette of the Legion of Honour.
(10) What a story this man had made up for Pheen – lively, witty, full of drama and suspense. We were enchanted, speechless at the reading. When it was over (and much applauded), I asked Isola if I could see the letters, and she handed them to me.
(11) The writer had signed his letters with a grand flourish :
VERY TRULY YOURS,
O.F. O’F. W.W.
It was highly possible that Isola had inherited eight letters written by Oscar Wilde, for who else could have had such a preposterous name as Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Willis Wilde.
Adapted from : The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage :[4]
(1) adventurous
(2) cat-like
(3) appreciated
(4) received something on someone’s death
(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage :[4]
(1) kind (line 2)
(2) mind (line 13)
(3) still (line 15)
(4) sounds (line 26)
(b) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:
(i) Where did Isola get the letters from to read at the Literary Society’s meeting?[2]
(ii) Who consoled Granny Pheen when she was heart-broken? What did he say about Muffin’s lives?[2]
(iii) What did the man say when Granny Pheen asked him how he knew about cats’ lives?[2]
(iv) According to the man, what was Muffin’s new fate?[3]
(c) In not more than 100 words, summarise why the eight letters were a treasure to Granny Pheen. (Paragraphs 2 to 10). Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalised. You will be required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words.[8]
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And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.
According to the poem, how can the free bird be best described ?
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The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.
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They had answered "And afterward, what else?"
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| airship | flagship | lightship |
Given on the next page is a picture of a yacht. Label the parts of the yacht using the terms given in the box
|
Bow |
cabin |
rudder |
cockpit |
|
stern |
boom |
mainsail |
mast |

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virtual body
Other sounds that occur frequently in the poem.
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Eternal I rise
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You may begin as given below.
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| Malar: | Hello, my name is Malar. Could I talk to Mr. Rao, please? I’m his colleague Mr. Vishvanath’s daughter. |
| Selvi: | I’m sorry, my father is out for his morning walk. Do you want to leave a message for him? |
| Malar: | Yes, please. My father had to leave for Madurai all of a sudden since my grandfather is ill. So he won’t be able to come to work for a few days. It would be really nice if your father could inform the office. |
| Selvi: | Don’t worry, I’ll leave the message for my father. |
| Malar: | Thanks a lot. |
| Selvi: | You’re welcome. |
|
This is the message that Selvi left for her father the previous day. Write a similar message based on her conversation with Malar. ______ (Date) 4.30 p.m. (Time) Dear Papa, I have my music class at 5.00 p.m. so I am leaving now. I’ve prepared tea and samosa and kept it in the kitchen. Please come and pick me up at 7 p.m. |
|
Message ______(Date) ______(Time) Dear Papa, _____________________________________________________________ |
Write an article for the following.
Recently while returning home from school you were knocked down by a speeding motorcycle. You escaped with minor injuries. You are Kishore/ Kavitha of class XI, studying in GHSS, Coimbatore. Write an article to The Hindu, in about 150-200 words expressing your concern about the increasing number of road accidents due to reckless driving. Also, stress the importance of following traffic rules.
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______ do you get up?
Use the option to fill in the blank.
Her frock______too long.
The word in the sentence is jumbled. Write them in order.
alone was not Robinson an island on
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State whether the following statement are true or false
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International sports promote friendship between nations.
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Using the given informal letter as a model, write a letter on any one of the topics given below.
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Read the following questions and answers. Form pairs and frame similar questions and answers for this website. How to use this website:

How to use this website:
- If I want to buy a story book on this website, where can I find it?
- In the categories on the left, in the options under Books you will find story books. Click that option. - I want a CD of the dictionary.
- Go to ‘e-learning’. Under that Click the ‘dictionary’ option. - Where can I look for books in the Hindi language?
-You can go to the Languages option on the left and tick the box before Hindi. - How can I find what discounts are available?
- Under the filters on left you will find discounts. - Are there any specific deals/offers on specific days?
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- Maximum in 10 working days. You can also track your order by clicking the icon ‘track order.’ - There is one icon ‘Gift Coupons’. What does it mean?
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What might success mean to the following people? Think about it and write.
A student
Who is your favourite comedian?
