SSC / Tenth Class English Model Paper
PAPER – II (30E) (English Medium) (Third Language)
Time: 2.30 HOURS – MAX. MARKS: 50
SECTION – I
(1-5) Read the passage given below. Then answer the questions that follow it. Write the answers in your answer book. 5 x 1 = 5
He started running down the hill. I wanted to shoot him in the leg but then decided against shooting at an unarmed man. We ran after him but the distance between us was too great. We watched him till he disappeared. We sat down on a rock to rest. At that moment a very strange thing happened.
(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles)
1. Who are the ‘us’ mentioned in the passage? Who is ‘he’?
2. Where were they? Why were they there?
3. Why was ‘he’ running? Why didn’t the narrator shoot at him?
4. What was the ‘strange thing’ the narrator noticed then?
5. Did they pursue ‘the strange thing’ immediately? Why/why not?
(6-10) Read the passage given below. Then answer the questions that follow it. Write the answers in your answer book. 5 x 1 = 5
It is not concerned with the exchange of important ideas or information, nor does it reveal the true mood of the speaker,
nor is it aesthetically pleasing. Its function is to reinforce the
greeting smile and to maintain the social togetherness. It is our substitute for social grooming. By providing us with a nonaggressive
social preoccupation, it enables us to expose ourselves communally to one another over comparatively long periods, in this way enabling valuable group bonds and friendships to grow and become strengthened.
(Desmond Morris: Grooming)
6. Who are the ‘us’ mentioned in the passage? What is ‘it’?
7. What is ‘its’ purpose? How is it a substitute for social grooming?
8. What does the author mean by ‘aesthetically pleasing’?
9. What is social grooming? What is its original stimulus?
10. Besides ‘it’ what is the other outlet for our grooming urge?
SECTION – II
(11-19) Answer FIVE questions, choosing at least TWO from each set. 5 x 2 = 10
SET A
11. ‘You believe that the thing is supernatural?’ Who says these words? Who believed that the thing was supernatural? What was the thing? What made him believe it to be supernatural?
12. Why did Watson feel that Sir Henry and he were living in the presence of danger?
13. What was the mystery behind the sobbing Watson heard on his first night at Baskerville hall?
14. Why did Laura Lyons help Stapleton in his evil plan?
15. How did Holmes come to the conclusion that Stapleton was a Baskerville?
SET B
16. Why was Thoreau considered ‘unconventional’?
17. ‘The only thing they understand is figures’. What are the figures Durrell goes on to give? Why does he do so?
18. How did the headman and Nadu Gowda interpret M.N. Srinivas’ work?
19. What is the myth about the half built nests in a Baya colony? What is Salim Ali’s explanation?
SECTION – III
(20-21) Rearrange the scrambled sentences in each set (A&B) to form a meaningful paragraph. Do not copy the actual sentences in your answer-book. Write only the letters corresponding to the sentences in the proper order. 2 x 21/2 = 5
SET A
20. (a) For instance, we usually say ‘I do not know’ or ‘I don’t
know’ when asked a question.
(b) ‘What’s up?’ gets compressed to a single ‘wassup?’
(c) One method is to compress very commonly used sentences and expressions.
(d) Being a common expression, this then gets compressed mostly out of habit, into ‘dunno’.
(e) What types of words and expressions can be compressed in this manner?
SET B
21. (a) It doubles up as an e-reader for books, with an attached online bookstore.
(b) The ipad can browse the web, zoom into maps, do email, display and share photos, play video and music and enthuse gamers with a raft of ready games.
(c) It can turn into a digital canvas with one application, complete with an easel and brushes to create art anywhere.
(d) It is 1.27cm (half an inch) thin and tips the scale at 0.68 kg.
(e) Apple’s nifty new creation is positioned as a “third category”
mobile device between the laptop and the smartphone.
22. Read the following advertisement which appeared in a newspaper. 5
‘Kavyanjali’ One of India’s leading Handicrafts and Textiles
Showroom invites applications for: P.R.O. ( Customer Care)
The incumbents should be graduates with pleasing manners (personality) and demeanour. Should have excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Should have the ability to interact with the customers and an inclination for business promotion. Fluency in English and Telugu is a must.
Interested candidates may mail their resume, with details of qualifications and experience with a recent passport size photograph within 7 days to kavyanjali@gmail.com or Kavyanjali Arts and Crafts,
6-11-196, Forthill road, Saidabad, Hyderabad – 500005.
Write a mail/ letter to the above address applying for the job, asking details that you may consider necessary.
23. Read the following dialogue. Then write a paragraph expressing your views on the topic discussed in the dialogue. 5
Aditya: Mom, I’m back home!
Mother: So soon? Why?
Aditya: Some young men came shouting slogans in support of ______ cause and threatened to destroy furniture and burn buses if the school didn’t declare a bandh. Our teachers feared they might hurt us too.
Mother: Oh, no! Why such violence? And why should people suffer? We are proud of belonging to India-where Buddha taught and Asoka learnt the sins of violence, where Gandhi demonstrated the power of non-violence and inspired leaders like Martin Luther King.
(24-25) Read the newspaper report given below:
State-wide attacks on Reliance stores
Hyderabad, Jan. 7: Congress activists on Thursday attacked Reliance outlets in many places in the state after private TV news channels aired a report allegedly filed by a Russian website that named Mr Mukesh Ambani in relation with the death of Y.S. Rajasekhar
Reddy.
The report surfaced in local TV channels on Thursday evening, and triggered attacks on the outlets belonging to the company.
24. Write a letter to your friend in Mumbai expressing your ideas about the impact of media on public and the destruction caused by news with dubious validity. 10
25. Write a letter to the Editor of a local news paper
expressing your anguish over journalists resorting to
destructive criticism to improve their ratings and the
need for media to exercise restraint. 5