ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH
Full Marks: 100
Pass Marks: 30
Time: Three hours
The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions
GROUP – A
(VIBGYOR)
(NEW SYLLABUS)
1. Give brief answers to any five of the following: 1×5=5
a) What was the name of the Verger of St. Peter’s Church? 1
b) Where did the new Vicar come from? 1
c) What is the name of the book that R. K. Narayan has been planning to write? 1
d) For how long did Narayan use his car? 1
e) What is the full name of Mriganko Babu? 1
f) Whose voice does Mriganko Babu recognize in the voice of the scarecrow? 1
g) For what occasion did Della save money to buy a gift? 1
h) What is Jim’s gift for Della? 1
i) Who was Epictetus? 1
j) What is the name of the American poet-philosopher whose work Robert Lynd read? 1
2. Answer any five of the following: 2×5=10
a) How did the Verger regard his official dress? 2
b) What impression did the Verger have about the new Vicar? 2
c) What did R. K. Narayan do to turn his energies again to write stories? 2
d) What does Narayan begin to fear after every visit to the workshop? 2
e) Why did Mriganko Babu never consult the almanac before travelling anywhere? 2
f) Why did the driver go to Panagarh? 2
g) What did Jim do to get a gift for Della? 2
h) What did Della ask Madame Sofronie and what was her answer? 2
i) Why was the author of ‘On Not Being a Philosopher’ fearfully excited? 2
j) Who is Zeus? 2
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3. Give brief answers to any three of the following: 4×3=12
a) Describe the circumstances under which the Verger had to lose his job in St. Peter’s Church. 4
b) What are the reasons for the author’s impervious attitude towards his car? 4
c) Why did Abhiram leave the house of Mriganko Babu? 4
d) What moral lessons are stressed upon in “The Gift of the Magi”? 4
e) Discuss the circumstances that lead to Lynd’s reading Epictetus. 4
4. Explain with reference to the context on any two of the following: 4×2=8
a) “Foreman, will you come into the vestry for a minute? I have something to say to you.” 4
b) For a fanatic of this sort the possession of a car is an anachronism and especially the acquisition of a sophisticated, imported make, an irrelevance and a nuisance. 4
c) But no, there was someone else. It was that scarecrow. 4
5. Give brief answers to any five of the following: 1×5=5
a) To whom does the narrator tell the story of Sita? 1
b) Who is the poem ‘Sita’ about? 1
c) Where does the brook come from? 1
d) What flowers grow by the brook for happy lovers? 1
e) Who is Ozymandias? 1
f) What kind of a poem “Ozymandias of Egypt” is? 1
g) Where did the knight meet the lady? 1
h) What season is referred to in the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’? 1
i) Who is the poet of the poem ‘Village Song’? 1
j) What is the name of the river mentioned in the poem, ‘Village Song’? 1
6. Answer any four of the following: 2×4=8
a) What ‘mystic past’ does the poet try to bring out in the poem ‘Sita’? 2
b) What does the brook do as it flows down? 2
c) What are the words that were inscribed on the pedestal of the statue of Ozymandias? 2
d) What did the lady give the knight in return? 2
e) What do the birds referred to in the poem ‘Village Song’ symbolize? 2
7. Answer any three of the following: 4×3=12
a) How does Toru Dutt related the past and the present in her poem? 4
b) What is the refrain in the poem ‘The Brook’? Bring out the profundity in it. 4
c) What is the message that the poet wants to convey in the poem “Ozymandias of Egypt”? 4
d) Describe, in your own words, the experience of the knight. 4
e) With what are ‘the shadows of evening’ compared in the poem ‘Village Song’? 4
8. Explain with reference to the context on any one of the following: 5×1=5
a) I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming shallowness’
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows
b) Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
c) I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and hound me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
GROUP – B
(NEW & OLD SYLLABUS)
9. Change any five of the sentences given below as per instruction given, without changing their meaning: 1×5=5
a) There is no rose without a thorn. (Change into affirmative) 1
b) People call the lion the king of beasts. (Change into passive) 1
c) Wasn’t Village Rock stars’ a unique film? (Change into assertive) 1
d) He is expected soon. (Change into active) 1
e) She tried all plans. (Change into negative) 1
f) This is not the correct way of answering the questions. (Change into interrogative) 1
g) Everybody must admit that she is a good singer. (Change into negative) 1
h) Let the game be finished. (Change into active) 1
10. Add appropriate questions tags to any five of the following: 1×5=5
a) She is an excellent dancer. 1
b) Now you can make question tags. 1
c) We are going to attend a party.
d) The house needs immediate repairing.
e) I have not done my homework yet.
f) He kept his promise.
g) They will not be there.
h) Riyan has just arrived home.
11. Fill any five of the following banks with suitable prepositions: 1×5=5
a) His is senior _______ me in respect of age. 1
b) The cat ran _______ the mouse. 1
c) The proposal is _______ consideration.
d) I am disappointed _______ you. 1
e) Please don’t interrupt me _______ I am speaking. 1
f) Rini has recovered _______ her illness.
g) We saw a wounded tiger while passing _______ the forest.
h) In many countries people drive _______ the left. 1
12. Rewrite any five of the following sentences using the verbs given in brackets in their correct forms: 1×5=5
a) She _______ to Europe last summer. (go)
b) He _______ a book when I entered his room. (read)
c) If I were you, I _______ to accept the bride. (refuse)
d) Please sit here until my father _______. (come)
e) I asked her if she _______ him before. (see)
f) They were building that bridge when I _______ here last year. (be)
g) I am grateful to him for what he _______. (do)
h) I _______ English for three years not. (study)
13. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
Majuli, the world’s largest river island, is situated in Assam and is bounded by the Brahmaputra to the south and Subansiri and Kherketia in the north. The story to Majuli must start with an auspicious day, a day after the monsoon mayhem, when the entire villages across its span deck up to pray to the river God. “We try to tempt the river,” says the head priest. “Tempt him to stop the constant erosion,” Not only the banks but also our culture and way of life. The prayer is so relevant today, when the international experts have launched a project to save the largest island from being completely devoured by a rampant river.
To get to his largest river island, you board a huge ferry from the sleepy town of Jorhat in Upper Assam. The ferry is large, very wide, packed with cars, scooters, men and materials. It is Majuli’s only link with the outside world, its life line. The boat traverses about 10 kms of river, that takes one and a half hours, before a huge landmass arises out of the water like the back of a tortoise. This is Kamalabari, the southern tip of Majuli.
a) Which is the world’s largest river island? 1
b) Where is Majuli? 2
c) Why do the villagers try to tempt the river God? 3
d) Why is the prayer to river God so relevant today? 3
e) Mention the names of the rivers that bound the northern part of Majuli. 2
f) Describe the ferry to Majuli. 4
GROUP – C
(EFFUSIONS)
(OLD SYLLABUS)
14. Answer any five of the following: 1×5=5
a) What, according to Ambedkar, must be the test of greatness? 1
b) Who is it who once said that most statesmen are rogues? 1
c) What does an automobile mean to Narayan? 1
d) Whose disciple was Nehru? 1
e) What according to Forster is a mental starch? 1
f) Who was Dante? 1
g) Why was Nehru temporarily discharged from the jail? 1
h) Who was Lao-Tze? 1
i) Who did refrain from persecuting the Jesuits repeatedly? 1
j) Who was Confucius? 1
15. Answer any five of the following: 2×5=10
a) What is the view of Roseberry on the qualities of a great man? 2
b) Who is Napoleon? Who did test the greatness of Napoleon? 2
c) Why doesn’t Narayan’s driver particularly like to drive with the air conditioner on? 2
d) How does Narayan generally avoid engagements and invitations? 2
e) Why was Nehru critical of the Congress Working Committee’s resolution? 2
f) What aspect of Nehru’s personality is revealed in his letter to the Mahatma? 2
g) What is E. M. Forster’s view on ‘Faith’? 2
h) What does Russell mean by “Return to Nature”? 2
i) What does Forster advocate in his prose piece “Two Cheers for Democracy”? 2
16. Answer any three of the following: 4×3=12
a) Write a note on the test of great man as suggested by philosophers.
b) Why is the acquisition of a sophisticated imported car ‘an irrelevance and nuisance’ for Narayan?
c) How does Nehru overcome his loneliness and feeling of helplessness which assail him in prison?
d) Discuss Forster’s views on personal relationship.
e) What makes Russell think that the aesthetic effects of science have been rather unfortunate?
17. Explain with reference to the context any two of the following: 4×2=8
a) If greatness stands for natural power, for predominance, for something beyond humanity, then Napoleon was assuredly great.
b) To me an automobile is only the means to an end; I am satisfied if I am provided a seat and four wheelers that can roll and I am blind to all other points in a car.
c) A gentleman must have something more than what a merely eminent individual has.
d) The poet may wish for wings to fly to his love, but feels rather foolish in doing so when he remembers that he could take an aeroplane.
18. Answer any five of the following: 1×5=5
a) What is meaning of the word ‘ere’?
b) What does the old horse do?
c) Who are the persons parting in the poem “Taking Leave of a Friend”?
d) What does Pound compare the mind to?
e) Who are the three pairs of young eyes?
f) Who is the fair lady?
g) Whose ‘tatoo’ does the poet refer to in the poem ‘Rickshaw-Wallah’?
h) What are the colours on the arms and legs of the Rickshaw-Wallah?
19. Answer any four of the following: 2×4=8
a) What are the things that Hardy regards as permanent in human life?
b) Why is ‘the man’ as well as ‘the horse’ in the poem old and tired?
c) What are the images used to suggest the parting between the friends?
d) What do the children gaze on in the darkened room?
e) What are the birds and animals that are present in Toru Dutt’s poem “Sita”?
f) Mention the colours used in the poem by Ezra Pound.
g) What is the subject matter of the ‘Rickshaw-Wallah’?
h) Why does the poet say that the arms and legs of the rickshaw are wholly literate?
20. Answer any three of the following: 4×3=12
a) Bring out the significance of the title of the poem – “In Time of the Breaking of Nations”.
b) Critically examine the series of pictures of that Pound’s poem offers.
c) Describe the effect of the mother’s song on the children.
d) ‘Rickshaw-Wallah’ is a poetic depiction of the poverty and misery’. Explain.
21. Explain with reference to the context any one of the following: 5×1=5
a) Whirring from the brake
The peacock springs.
b) Blue mountains to the north
Of the walls
White river winding about them.
c) And melts the picture from their
Sight away,
Yet shall they dream of it
Until the day!
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