Sample Paper – 2009
Class – X
Subject –English

Time allowed: 3 hours                                         Maximum Marks: 100

SECTION A – READING (20 MARKS)  

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (8)

It was very hot in the court-room. Everybody was feeling sleepy. After a tiring morning, the clerks were anxious to get off to lunch. Even the judge seemed relieved when the last case came up before the court. A short middle-aged man with grey hair and small blue eyes was now standing before him. The man had a foolish expression on face and he kept looking stupidly as if he was trying hard to understand what was going on. The man was accused of breaking into the house and stealing cheap water. The witness who was called did not give a very clear account of what had happened. He claimed to have seen the man outside the house one night, but on being questioned further, he confessed that he was not sure whether this was the man. The judge considered the matter for sometime and said that as three was no real proof, the man could not be found guilty of any crime . he said that the case was dismissed and then he rose to go. Meanwhile the accused looked very puzzled and said suddenly, :Excuse me. Sir, but do I have to give the watch back or not.”?

(a) Why did the judge feel relieved when the last case came up? (2)

(b) What did the last person facing the judge look-like? (1)

(c) What was the charge against the man? (1)

(d) Did the judge find the man guilty? Why/why not? (2)

(e) Was the man facing trial guilty or innocent? Give a reason for your answer. (2)

(f) Find out the words/phrases from the passage which mean the same as the following ;

(i) Comforted; felt pleased that something unpleasant has ended.

(ii) Admitted something that one felt embarrassed about. (2)

2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

It is probable that illness and infection caused by food contaminated with bacteria which produce disease, has existed since the beginning of time. Drinking water can be made safe by treating it with chlorine. Milk can be made safe by heating it and then packing it in sterilized containers. But, it is either very difficult or simply not possible to treat most of the things we eat, in either of these ways. All that can be done is either to prevent bacteria from entering the food, or to stop them from growing after they have entered.

For a long time, it was believed that some substances called ptomaines were agents food poisoning but it was finally discovered that these ptomones. Found in rotten food, can be swallowed without the harmful effects following. In 1888, about 60 perple, all of whom had eaten meat taken from the same animal, were taken ill, and one man died. Dr. Gaertner, a German bacteriologist, was able to isolate the food poisoning bacteria (Salmonella) which had caused the outbreak, and put forward the theory that all food poisoning was due to the presence of such bacteria.

(i) How can milk be made safe? (2)

(ii) What is Salmonella? What does it cause? (2)

(iii) What was discovered about ptomaines? (2)

(iv) What makes drinking water safe? (2)

(v) Pick out the word from the passage which means, possible’. (2)

SECTION B- WRITING

Q.3 You are Lucky/Leena staying at G45 Pandav Nagar Delhi. You are very shocked to see

that there is no proper drinking Water Causing Serious diseases. Write complain letter to

Editor of daily Hindustan 2 P.t. Road, Delhi. (8)

Or

Write a letter to S.H.O. Police station, complaining against deteriorating Law and order

Situation in your locality. You are Sumit/Saroj from 41, Raj Vihar, Dhaka. Do not

exceed 100 words.

Q.4 Write a paragraph on the topic of “Trees are our friend” for your school magazine. (6)

Or

Write a paragraph on any one of the following in about 80 words:

(a) A visit to a Book fair.

(b) Accident that you have seen.

(c) Bad effect of cable T.V.

Q.5 You are reporter of a local newspaper you are asked to write report on “A blood donation

camp” organized by the rotary club of Delhi. (6) Or

Write “How to open an Account”

SECTION C – GRAMMAR

Q.6 Make question of the following answers (5)

a. Karan and karim lived in the village near punchvati.

a. The birds used twigs and stray to build their nests.

a. The stranger asked Deboo for the way to the forest. q.

a. The strangers were drinking tea because they were tired.

a. No, I am not going Delhi.

Q7.Given below are different sets of information. Use the information to complete the following paragraphs. (4)

1. Avoid milk and milk products
2. make a decoction of about ten mint leaves in a cup of water
3. add a teaspoonful of honey before drinking it at bedtime
4. keep a cut onion by the side of the bed to inhale
5. take a salad prepared form radish twice a day

Milk and milk products are to be avoided a decoction of about (a)…………………in a cup of water a teaspoonful of (b) before it is drunks at bedtime a cut onion(c)……………….so that it can be inhaled as a salad (d)…………… a day.

Q.8 The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each of the indicated lines. (1/2 ×8) = 4

Everyone has a mental picture e.g. have--- has
Of a volcano. On appearance it (a)
Looks like a cone-shape mountain. (b)
But in top of the cone is rather (c)
Flat but hollow. This is the (d)
Crater, the mouth in the volcano. (e)
The volcanoes are form by molten rock (f)
Coming with below the earth’s crust. (g)
This is calls lava (h)

Q.9 Change into indirect speech: (1/2×4) = 2
1. Ram : why are you disturbing me right now?
2. Shyam : I want some money.
3. Ram : Why do you want money ? How much do you want?
4. Shyam : I want to watch movie.

SECTION D – TEXT BOOKS 45 MARKS

10. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamond.

It is from these comrades in struggle that I Learned meaning of courage. Time and again, I have seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I have seen men stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing a strength and resilience that defies the imagination. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.

a. Choose the correct option for the following statement:
According to Nelson Mandela the greatest wealth of South Africa is (1)
i. Minerals
ii. Gems
iii People
iv. Diamonds

b. Name at least two comrades of Nelson Mandela, who fought against Apartheid. (2)

c. On the basis of your reading of the passage find out the word which means the same as the following:
The ability to deal with any kind of hardship and recover from its effects (1)

d. What does ‘courage’ mean to Mandela (2)

11. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence-but he became angry when he counted the money. God couldn’t have made

a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested. Immediately Lencho went up to the window to ask for paper and ink. On the public writing

table, he started to write, with much wrinkling of his brow, caused by the effort he had to make to express his ideas, when he finished, he went to the window to buy

a stamp which he licked and then affixed to the envelope with a blow of his fist.

a. Why did Lencho become angry when he counted the money? (1)

b. Who sent him the money and why? (2)

c. What request did he make to God when he wrote another letter after receiving the money?(1)

d. Use the following phrases in sentences of your own:-(1)

i. Wrinkling of one’s brow;

12. Answer the following questions in about 80 words: (6)
Why was Mr.Harriot shocked at tricki’s appearance? What advice did he give to Mrs. Pumphary

Or

Write the Character Sketch based on her life (Bholi).

13. Answer any two of the following questions in 30-40 words each : (2x2)
Q.1 Why was Mr. Herriot shocked at trick’s appearance?
Q.2 Draw a brief character sketch of Anil?
Q.3 How did Ausable get rid of max?
Q.4 How did Griffin escape from the London store?
Q.5 How did Matilda run her own life?

OR

What did Loisel do to replace the necklace?
Q.6 Why did Jeanne not recognize her friend?

14. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Write the answers in your answer sheet in one or two sentences: (1 x 5)
But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.

Q.1 Where is the tiger locked now?
Q.2 Why there are bars in a cell?
Q.3 Whom does the tiger ignore and why?
Q.4 What is the difference between ‘a cell’ and ‘a cage’ for the tiger?
Q.5 Trace a word that means ‘power’.

Or

I sit inside, doors open to the veranda
Writing long letters
In which I scarcely mention the departure
Of the forest form the house. The night is fresh, the whole moon shines
In sky still open

Q.1 Identify ‘I’ above
Q.2 What does the speaker do?
Q.3 What does he not write?
Q.4 What does the speaker say about the moon?
Q.5 Trace a world that means ‘hardly’.

Or

Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fire place, chimney for a nose,
And regalia, truly daggers on his toes.

Q.1 Whose the Custard? Write his one quality.
Q.2 What was beneath his body?
Q3. How does its nose look?
Q.4 what was seen on his toes.
Q.5 Trace a word which is the synonym of “below”?

15. Answer any three of the following questions. (20-30 words) (3 x 2) = 6
Q.1 How has the poet spread “nature’ in the poem’ Dust of Snow’?
Q.2 How does the tiger feel in the cage?
Q3 What does Amanda feel ‘I am an orphan, roaming the street”?
Q.4 Write the Central theme of the poem” The Tree’?

Q.16 Answer in 80-100 words.
Who was Lencho? Why did he write a letter to god? What compelled him to write second Letter?
What result he got? (8)

Or

How did Vali control her Problems of a bus ride?

Answer in 30 – 40 words (Do any three) (3 x 2) = 6
Q:1 What are the rained drops compare to and why?
Q.2 Why does Mandela address the freedom as new born liberty?
Q.3 The black storm cloud affected the pilot. How?
Q.4 How did Anne answer her essay on “A chatterbox”?
Q.5 What punishment was given to Anne and how?
Q.6 When did Maddie feel embraced? What did she do then?
Q.7 What used to be usual mode of baker’s entry in a house?
Q.8 Which compulsive habits were developed in Mij?
Q.9 What did the Londoners says about Mijbill?
Q.10 When the conductor called Valli “My fine madam” how did Valli feel?
Q.11 Why did Valli rebuke the elder women?
Q.12 Write down the Buddha’s advice?