English Medium Class 10 - CBSE Question Bank Solutions for English - Language and Literature

Read the following passage carefully:

On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following question:

1. The Dancing Girl belongs to:
   1. Mohenjo-Daro
   2. Greek culture
   3. Homo sapiens
   4. Tibet
2. In the museum she’s kept among:
   1. dancing figures
   2. bronze statues
   3. terracotta animals
   4. books
3. Which information is not given in the passage?
   1. The girl is caged behind glass.
   2. She is a rare artefact.
   3. School books communicate the wealth of our heritage.
   4. She cannot be rediscovered as she’s bronze.
4. ‘Great Art’ has power because:
   1. It appeals to us despite the passage of time.
   2. It is small and can be understood.
   3. It’s seen in pictures and sketches.
   4. It’s magnified a million times.
5. The jewellery she wears:
   1. consists of only bangles of shell or ivory or thin metal.
   2. is a necklace with two pendants.
   3. both (i) and (ii) are correct.
   4. neither (i) nor (ii) is correct.
6. She reminds us:
   1. of the never-say-die attitude of humans.
   2. why museums in our country are exciting.
   3. why she will make us come into money.
   4. of dancing figures.
7. The synonym of the word “among” in para 1 is ______.
8. The size of the dancing girl is equal to the length of the human palm. (True/False)

Read the passage carefully:

2.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the following questions in 30-40 words each:

1. Write one advantage and one disadvantage of allowing every family member to be part of the decision-making process.
2. In today’s world, what are parents asking their kids?
3. Which two pieces of advice does the writer give to the parents?
4. The passage supports the parents. How far do you agree with the author’s views? Support your view with a reason.

2.2 On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following:

1. The synonym of ‘hurt’ as given in paragraph 2 is ______.
2. The word, which means the same as a style or method of cooking in paragraph 4, is:
   1. cuisine
   2. gourmet
   3. gastric
   4. science
3. The antonym of ‘agreeable’ as given in paragraph 5 is ______.
4. The antonym of ‘simple’ as given in paragraph 6 is:
   1. difficult
   2. complicated
   3. easy
   4. tricky

Write a story in 150-200 words with the help of the following outline. Give it a suitable title also:

Ahmad went to watch Diwali Mela with his parents. He wanted to enjoy a ride in the merry-go-round. His father ______.

Write a story in 150-200 words with the help of the following outline. Give it a suitable title also:

a cricket match ______ boys playing in the street ______ Ram hit the ball ______ a second floor window pane broken ______.

Answer the following question in 30-40 words:

Why is Coorg called the land of rolling hills?

Read the following passage carefully.
1. Few guessed that this quiet, parentless girl growing up in New York City would one day become the First Lady of the United States. Even fewer thought she would become an author and lecturer and a woman much admired and loved by people throughout the world.

2. Born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in 1884 to wealthy, but troubled parents who both died while she was young, Roosevelt was cared for by her grandmother and sent to school in England. In 1905, she married her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She and her husband had six children. Although they were wealthy, her life was not easy and she suffered several personal tragedies. Her second son died when he was a baby. In 1921, her strong athletic husband was stricken with polio, which left him physically disabled for life.

3. Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman who had great intelligence and tremendous strength of character. She never let things get her down. She nursed her husband back to good health and encouraged him to remain in politics. She then helped him to become Governor of New York, and in 1933, President of the United States.

4. While her husband was President, she took a great interest in all the affairs of the country. She became her husband's legs and eyes; she visited prisons and hospitals; she went down into mines, up scaffoldings, and into factories. Roosevelt was tireless and daring. During the depression, she travelled all over the country bringing goodwill, reassurance, and help to people without food and jobs. During World War II she visited American soldiers in camps all over the world. The United States had never known a First Lady like her.

5. Roosevelt also kept in touch with the American people through a daily newspaper column called 'My Day'. She broadcast on the radio and delivered lectures, all first for a First Lady.

1.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage answer the following questions: (any eight)

(a) How was Eleanor Roosevelt's personality in contrast to what she became?
(b) Apart from being the First Lady what else did she have to her credit?
(c) What challenges did she face in her personal life but remained unfazed?
(d) Eleanor was a strong woman who helped her husband become the President of America. How?
(e) What does the statement: 'she became her husband's legs and eyes' mean?
(f) What was her special contribution during the depression?
(g) How did she motivate soldiers during World War II?
(h) What did she do for the first time for a First Lady?
(i) What side of her personality is reflected in this passage?

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

1. Overpowering prey is a challenge for creatures that do not have limbs. Some species like Russell's viper inject poison. Some others opt for an alternative non-chemical method – rat snakes, for instance, catch and push their prey against the ground, while pythons use their muscle power to crush their prey to death. But snakes can't be neatly divided into poisonous and non-poisonous categories.

2. Even species listed as non-poisonous aren't completely free of poison. The common Sand Boa, for instance, produces secretions particularly poisonous to birds. So the species doesn't take any chance – it crushes its prey) and injects poison as an extra step.

3. Do vipers need poison powerful enough to kill hundreds of rats with just one drop? After all, they eat only one or two at a time.

4. While hunting animals try their worst to kill most efficiently, their prey uses any trick to avoid becoming a meal, such as developing immunity to poison.) For instance, Californian ground squirrels are resistant to Northern Pacific rattlesnake poison.

5. Competition with prey is not the only thing driving snakes to evolve more and more deadly poison. Snakes also struggle to avoid becoming prey themselves.

6. Some snake killers have partial immunity to poison. Famously, mongooses are highly resistant to cobra poison, and with their speed and agility, kill snakes fearlessly. It would be the death of cobras as a species if they didn't evolve a more deadly poison to stop mongooses.

7.  Poison has another important role. It's an extreme meat softener, specific enzymes break up the insides of the prey. Normally, a reptile depends on the sun's warm rays to aid digestion.

8. But I wonder if we cannot use venom in our favour. In remote parts of India, local hospitality often involves leather tough meat. I chew and chew until my jaws ache. If I spit it out or refuse, our hosts would be offended, I swallow like a python stuffing a deer down its throat and hope I don't choke. If only I had poison.

iii. Californian squirrels are  ______________  rattlesnake poison.
a. afraid of
b. helpless against
c. resistant to
d. indifferent to

Develop a short story in 150-200 words with the help of a given beginning. Suggest a suitable title also.
It was a lovely rainy day. I was enjoying a cup of tea while sitting on the balcony of my Ist floor flat. Suddenly I felt dizzy and the cup feel from my hand I ............

Develop a short story in 150-200 words with the help of a given beginning. Suggest a suitable title also.
Reena, a 10-year-old brave girl lived in a slum with her relatives. One day when she was alone at home.............

Read of the following passage and answer the questions:

When I casually mentioned this to a friend, he casually replied that I had better get one in the Tigris marshes, for there they were as common as mosquitoes, and were often tamed by the Arabs. We were going to Basra to the Consulate-General to collect and answer our mail from Europe. At the Consulate-General we found that my friend's mail had arrived but that mine had not.

Questions :

(a) What was 'they'?

(b) Where could the author get 'one'?

(c) Find the exact word from the extract which means 'domesticated.'

(d) What did the author find at the Consulate-General?

Attempt the following question in 100-120 words:
The poet in the poem, 'For Anne Gregory' conveys that we should give importance to the inner beauty and not to the physical appearance. Elaborate with reference to the poem.

Develop a short story in 150-200 words which begin as of the following:

Last Sunday I along with my friends decided to go to the riverside for a picnic. We planned to spend the whole day there, but......................

Give it a suitable title also.

With the help of the following cues, develop a short story along with a title in 150-200 words:

A cap seller carrying a bundle of caps .............. sleeps under a tree.............. puts the bundle beside him ............. some monkeys take away the caps .............. wakes up ........ finds monkeys wearing caps ............ angry ........... throws his own cap....... monkeys throw their caps ........ collects ............happy.

Read the passage given below.
Then all the windows of the grey wooden house (Miss Hilton used to live here. She expired last week.), were thrown open, a thing I had never seen before.
At the end of the day a sign was nailed on the mango tree: FOR SALE.
Nobody in the street knew Miss Hilton. While she lived, her front gate was always locked and no one ever saw her leave or saw anybody go in. So even if you wanted to, you couldn't feel sorry and say that you missed Miss Hilton.
When I think of her house I see just two colours. Grey and green. The green of the mango tree, the grey of the house, and the grey of the high iron fence that prevented you from getting at the mangoes.
If your cricket ball fell in Miss Hilton's courtyard you never got it back. It wasn't the mango season when Miss Hilton died. But we got back about ten or twelve of our cricket balls.
The house was sold and we were prepared to dislike the new owners ever before they came. I think we were a little worried. Already we had one resident of the street who kept on complaining about us to our parents. He complained that we played cricket on the pavment; and if we were not playing cricket he complained that we were making too much noise anyway.
One afternoon, when I came back from school Pal, said, "Is a man and a woman. She pretty pretty, but he ugly like hell". I didn't see much. The front gate was open, but the windows were shut again. I heard a dog barking in an angry way.
One thing was settled pretty quickly. Whoever these people were they would never be the sort of people to complain that we were making noise and disturbing their sleep.
A lot of noise came from the house that night. The radio was going at full volume until midnight when the radio station closed down. The dog was barking and the man was shouting. I didn't hear the woman.

On the basis of your understanding the above passage complete the following statements :

(a) Nobody went into Miss Hilton's house because her front __________.

(b) Her house had only two colours, (i) __________ and (ii) __________.

(c) High iron fence did not let the boys get __________.

(d) They never got it back if their __________ fell into her courtyard.

(e) The boys were ready to dislike the __________.

(f) One resident of the street always __________.

(g) New owners of Miss Hilton's house were (i) __________ and (ii) __________.

(h) A man was shouting, a dog was barking, only __________.

Read the passage given below:
During our growing up years we as children were taught both at home and school-to worship the photos and idols of the gods of our respective religions. When we grow a little older, we were to read holy books like The Bhagwad Gita, Bible, and Quran; we were told that there are a lot of life lessons to be learned from these holy books. We were then introduced to stories from our mythologies which taught us about ethics and morality-what is good and what is bad I also learned to be respectful towards my parents who made my life comfortable with their hard work and love and care, and my teachers who guided me to become a good student and a responsible citizen.
Much later in life, I realised that though we learn much from our respective holy books, there is a lot to learn from our surroundings. This realization dawned upon me when I learned to enquire and explore. Everything around us- the sun, the moon, the stars, rain, rivers, stones, rocks, birds, plants, and animals-teach us many valuable life lessons.
No wonder that besides the scriptures in many cultures nature is also worshipped. The message that we get is to save our environment and maintain ecological balance. People are taught to live in harmony with nature and recognize that there is God in all aspects of nature.
Nature is a great teacher. A river never stops flowing. If it finds an obstacle in its way in the form of heavy rock, the river water fights to remove it from its path or finds an alternative path to move ahead. This teaches us to be progressive in life, and keep the fighting spirit alive.
Snakes are worshipped as they eat insects in the field that can hurt our crops, thus protecting the grains for us. In fact, whatever we worship is our helper and makes our lives easy for us. There are many such examples in nature, but we are not ready to learn a lesson, Overcome with greed, we are destroying nature. As a result, we face natural disasters like drought, floods, and landslides. We don't know that nature is angry with us.
However, it is never too late to learn. If we learn to respect nature the quality of our life will improve.

2.1 Answer briefly the following questions:
(a) What are we taught in our childhood and growing up years?
(b) Why should we respect our parents and teachers?
(c) What message do we get when we worship nature?
(d) How does a river face an obstacle that comes in its way?

2.2 Choose meanings of the words given below with the help of options that follow:
(e) guided
(i) answered
(ii) advised
(iii) fought
(iv) polished

(f) explore
(i) search
(ii) frequent
(iii) describe
(iv) request

(g) valuable
(i) proper
(ii) desirable
(iii) available
(iv) useful

Write a story in 150-200 words based on the following outline:
two cats — hungry — a loaf of bread — can't divide — each greedy — wants more — a clever monkey — offered to help — bit by bit — ate the bread — his fee — bread finished — cats foolish — still hungry.

Complete the story in 150-200 words which begin as the following:
It was a family picnic. The picnic spot was the bank of a river
........ ........ ........

Write a story in 150-200 words with the help of the following outline. Give it a suitable title also.

Bunya was a foolish boy, who was an attention seeker. He was a woodcutter and would go deep into the jungle to cut trees. One day he wanted to do an act of mischief. He shouted at the top of his voice, "There's a tiger, tiger, there's a tiger... ..."

Write a story in 150-200 words with the help of the following outline. Give it a suitable title also.

On Sunday I was watching TV. Suddenly I heard people shouting outside...