Please select a subject first
Advertisements
Advertisements
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Lying in bed, Swami realized with a shudder that it was Monday morning. It looked as though only a moment ago, it had been the last period on Friday; already, Monday was here. He hoped that an earthquake would reduce the school building to dust but that my good building, Albert Mission School, had withstood similar prayers for over a hundred years now.
At nine o'clock, Swaminathan wailed, “I have a headache.”
His mother said, “Why don’t you go to school in a bullock cart?”
“So that I may be completely dead at the other end? Have you any idea what it means to be jolted in a cart?”
“Have you any important lessons today?”
“Important! Bah! That geography teacher has been teaching the same lesson for over a year now. And we have arithmetic, which means for a whole period we are going to be beaten by the teacher............ Important lessons!”
And Mother generously suggested that Swami might stay at home.
At 9:30, when he ought to have been lining up in the school prayer hall, Swami was lying on the bench in Mother’s room.
Father asked him, “Have you no school today?”
“Headache,” Swami replied,
“Nonsense! Dress up and go.”
“Headache.”
“Loaf about less on Sundays, and you will be without a headache on Monday.”
Swami knew how stubborn his father could be and changed his tactics.
“I can’t go so late to class.”
“I agree, but you’ll have to; it is your own fault. You should have asked me before deciding to stay away.”
“What will the teacher think if I go so late?”
“Tell him you had a headache, and so are late.”
“He will beat me if I say so.”
“Will he? Let us see. What is his name?”
“Mr. Samuel.”
“Does he beat the boys?”
“He is very violent, especially with boys who come late. Some days ago, a boy was made to stay on his knees for a whole period in a corner of the class because he came late, and after getting six cuts from the cane and having his ears twisted, I wouldn’t like to go late to Mr Samuel’s class.”
“If he is so violent, why not tell your headmaster about it?”
“They say that even the headmaster is afraid of him. He is such a violent man.”
And then Swami gave a lurid account of Samuel’s violence; how when he started caning, he would not stop till he saw blood on the boy’s hand, which he made the boy press to his forehead like a Vermillion marking. Swami hoped his father would be made to see that he couldn’t go to his class late. But his father’s behaviour took an unexpected turn. He became excited.
“What do these people mean by beating our children? They must be driven out of service. I will see…..”
The result was that he proposed to send Swami late to his class as a kind of challenge. He was also going to send a letter with Swami to the headmaster. No amount of protest from Swami was of any avail: Swami had to go to school.
By the time he was ready, his father had composed a long letter to the headmaster, put it in an envelope, and sealed it.
“What have you written, father?” Swaminathan asked apprehensively.
“Nothing for you. Give it to your headmaster and go to your class.”
Swami’s father did not know the truth—that, actually, Mr. Samuel was a very kind gentleman.
(a) Give the meaning of each of the following words as used in the passage. (3)
One-word answers or short phrases will be accepted.
- jolted
- stubborn
- avail
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
- What did Swami wish for on a Monday morning? Why was his wish unlikely to be answered? (2)
- Which sentence tells us that Swami’s father was completely unsympathetic to his son’s headache? (2)
- In what way was Swami’s mother’s response different from his father’s? (2)
- Why did Swami give a colourful account of Mr. Samuel to his father? (2)
- In what way did Father’s behaviour take an unexpected turn? (2)
- What was Swami finally ordered to do by his father? (2)
(c)
(i) In not more than 60 words, describe how Swami tries to prove that Mr. Samuel is a violent man. (8)
(ii) Give a title to your summary in 3
(c). Give a reason to justify your choice. (2)
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. Do not copy the passage, but write in the correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank space.
Example:
(0) One morning, I (0) ……. (see) the python curled up on the dressing table.
Answer: saw.
It was (1) ……. (gaze) at its own reflection in the mirror. I (2) ……… (go) for grandfather, but by the time we (3) ……… (return) to the room, the python (4) …….. (move) on. He was seen in the garden, and once the cook saw him, (5) ……… (crawl) up the ladder to the roof. Then we (6) …….. (find) him on the dressing table again, (7) (admire) himself in the mirror. “He’s trying to look better for Aunt Mabel,” I said. I (8) ……. (regret) this remark immediately because grandmother overheard it and held up my pocket money for the rest of the week!
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
He found the key just _______ the front door.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
I could not accompany my cousin _________ the trip because I had a fever.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
The noise prevented us _______ sleeping.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
The young man put the flute _______ his lips and began to play.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
Ashok leaned ______ the wall tiredly.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
The paper dart went gliding ______ the air.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
The cyclist rode quickly ______ the path.
Concept: Writing Skills
Fill in the blank with an appropriate word:
The young child carried the heavy bucket _______ the stairs.
Concept: Writing Skills
Join the following sentence to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so.
He has learned to cycle. He has yet to learn to swim.
Concept: Writing Skills
Join the following sentence to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so.
The child helped her mother to make breakfast. She washed the tomatoes.
Concept: Writing Skills
Join the following sentence to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so.
They bought a new car. They can travel long distances.
Concept: Writing Skills
Join the following sentence to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so.
Sunita opened her purse. She found the money missing.
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instruction given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
Arun gave Ramesh some excellent advice.
(Begin: Ramesh was……)
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instruction given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
As soon as Sania sat down to study, the lights went off.
(Begin: No sooner……….)
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instructions are given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
Has Alia written to you?
(Begin: Have you……….)
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instructions are given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
As soon as the function got over. The crowd dispersed.
(Begin: Hardly had……….)
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instructions are given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
The monsoon is the best season in our country.
(Rewrite using ‘good’)
Concept: Writing Skills
Re-write the following sentence according to the instructions are given. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of the sentence.
Harish was so tired that he could not keep his eyes open.
(Begin: Harish was too……….)
Concept: Writing Skills
