ENGLISH REVISION

CLASS – VIII
QUESTIONS FROM THE LITERATURE READER
The Village Schoolmaster
(1) ‘The boding tremblers’ had with time, learnt to master an art? What was it? How did it help them?
(2) The people of the rural community were in awe of the schoolmaster? Why?
(3)The village schoolmaster was an accomplished man. Explain with reference to the poem The Village
Schoolmaster.
The Purple Children
(1) Why did the children decide to enter the Town Hall through the gate guarded by the young sentry?
(2) The children had purposely sent Ariana to convince the sentry about opening the gate? Why?
(3) You are Ariana. Write a diary note on how you felt, after you managed to escape with Andreas, from the
Town Hall.
The Monkey’s Paw
(1) Why was the White family interested in acquiring the monkey’s paw from Sergeant Major-Morris?
(2) How was the first wish of Mr. White fulfilled?
(3)You are Mr. White. Write a diary entrywithin 100 words, after you made your first wish. Describe how you
came across the talisman, that is, the monkey’s paw.
The Gift of India
(1) What according to the motherland was the most precious gift given by her to the colonizer?
(2) Why does the motherland want the readers to remember the blood of her martyred sons?
(3) The poet has used a number of similes while describing the Indian soldiers. What purpose does the use of
this poetic device serve?
The Demon with the Matted Hair
(1) How did the Demon react when he first met the Bodhisatta? Why did the Demon’s opinion about the
Bodhisatta change later on?
(2) Why did the Demon free the Bodhisatta? What lesson did the Bodhisatta teach the Demon?
(3) Imagine yourself to be the Bodhisatta. Write how you felt when you were caught in the thick matted hair of
the Demon. Mention how you ultimately freed yourself.
The Canterville Ghost
(1) Do you believe in ghost? If you were Mr Otis, how would you have reacted under similar circumstances?
(2) What did Mrs Umney reveal about the bloodstain? What was the reaction of Washington Otis?
(3) Oscar Wilde’s ‘Canterville Ghost’ is written in such a way that the story, in spite of being about a ghost,
does not scare the readers. Instead it evokes laughter – Comment.
MrsPackletide’s Tiger
(1) What plans did MrsPackletide make to outshine LoonaBimberton? Was she successful?
(2) Sometimes, writers highlight certain negative aspects in society or human beings by making fun. This is
called satire. Would you classify MrsPackletide’s Tiger as a satire? Justify.
(3) MissMebbin writes to her sister about how she managed to acquire the cottage at Dorking by taking
advantage of the vanity of the two women. Draft a letter on her behalf.
The Solitary Reaper
(1) Discuss the effect of the Solitary Reaper’s song on the listeners. Why is it compared to the nightingale and
the cuckoo?
(2) What message does the poet wish to convey in the poem?
(3) Music has an eternal craze for most of us. Write an article on the topic ‘The Amazing Power of Music.’

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READING COMPREHENSION:
PASSAGE – I
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
1. The story of Robinson Crusoe, few people know, is based on a real life incident. The son of a cobbler,
Alexander Selkirk was a wayward young man, with little respect for authority. Abject conditions at sea and
the cruelty of the captains made the sailors miserable in those days. It was not surprising that Alexander
became rebellious and malevolent when he became a sailor.
2. In 1704, he was a Sailing Master on a ship when it anchored for repairs near the desolate island of Juan
Fernandez about 650 kilometers west of Chile. They were looking for gold, which they often got by
plundering other ships. In the days that followed, Alexander hatched a conspiracy. He instigated the other
sailors to leave the ship and remain on the island. They would declare a mutiny. Perhaps, Alexander reasoned,
that the captain would accept their demands if he believed that his men would refuse to sail otherwise.
Unfortunately for Alexander, the crew played the Judas. The captain, getting to know Alexander’s part in the
planned mutiny, left him behind on the island as he was a bad influence on the men. He was provided with a
few necessities, among them, a copy of the Bible.
3. Alexander marooned on an island, populated only by wild cats and goats became adept at hunting and his
food soon comprised fish, turtles and meat. He also made clothes with goatskin. Although a cobbler’s son, he
could not make shoes. Running barefoot after goats had hardened the soles of his feet. He read the Bible again
and again and slowly took to reading it aloud. He spoke and sang to the cats and learnt to milk goats.
4. Once, during his stay in the island, a Spanish ship anchored near the island and the crew rowed in.
Alexander was petrified and hid in the thick foliage. In those days, Spain and England were at daggers drawn.
Fortunately, the Spaniards left after a brief rest. In February, 1709, two English ships sailed in to collect fresh
water and shoot goats. Alexander rushed to them for succor. He looked strange with his unkempt hair, beard
and goatskin clothes. His rescuers understood him with great difficulty. His speech had changed a great deal.
His vocabulary had shrunk and he had to grope for words. They did, however, manage to understand his story
finally.
5. Alexander took a job as sailor in one of the ships and reached London in 1711. He returned home with a
large fortune. However, he ran out of his fortune in two years and had to return to sea. Alexander’s adventure
became well known. Eight years later, Daniel Defoe gave the story a new shape with many twists, calling it
‘The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe’. It was now the story of a man who was shipwrecked on an island and
lived alone for an unbelievable twenty-eight years.
(A) Complete the following statements on the basis of your reading of the passage.
(i) When Alexander became a sailor, he turned ____________________________________________
(ii) The captain left Alexander behind on the island because ________________________________ (iii)
Alexander was petrified when he found a Spanish ship anchored near the island because_______
(iv) In spite of being a son of the cobbler, Alexander could not _______________________________

(B) Answer the following questions briefly.

(i) Why did Alexander become rebellious and malevolent when he became a sailor?
(ii) Why did Alexander return to sea once more, after being rescued from the island?
(C) Find words from the passage, which mean the opposite of:
(i) Benevolent (Para 1)
(ii) Unskilled (Para 3)

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PASSAGE – II
Read the following passage.
1. In 1981, the car she was travelling in met with an accident and her right leg had to be amputated below the
knee. It appeared that life had come to a standstill for Sudha. She walked around on crutches. But she
resumed her routine life once again. She had a lot of time on her hands to ponder over the future. She was
convinced that she was the master of her own life and she could mould it the way she liked.
2. Will she ever be able to dance again? This question was uppermost in the mind of everyone concerned
with the future of Sudha. But Sudha had her own ideas. She was determined not to break with her career
as a promising dancer. Somewhere she happened to see the “Jaipur foot”. A prosthetic expert gave her the
details of this artificial leg and advised her to see the doctor who invented it. Sudha went to Jaipur along
with her dancing master. She was fitted with a “Jaipur foot” and the doctor gave her immense confidence.
Sudha practised dance for some time under his supervision. He made suitable changes in the ‘limb’ to
facilitate her dance practice. She suffered a lot of pain in the process of the proper adjustment of the new
limb. But she never lost her nerve.
3. January 24, 1984 was a memorable day in Sudha’s life. Arrangements were made for dance programme at
a big hall in Bombay. A huge audience was there to see her perform again after her traumatic experience.
Melodious music filled the air as the curtain went up. Sudha was back on stage. She forgot all about her
accident and all about her artificial limb. Some mysterious power impelled Sudha to dance with the same
form, style and vivacity that characterised her. Quite a few learnt for the first time from the next day’s
newspaper that she was, in fact, dancing with an artificial leg.
1.1. On the basis of your reading of the above passage answer the following: marks
a. Why did life come to a standstill for Sudha?
b. What did the doctor do to help Sudha in her dance practice?
c. Which day was a memorable day in Sudha’s life and why?
1.2. Tick the correct option in the following:
a) A‘prosthetic expert’ is
i. A doctor who has specialized in preventive medicine.
ii. A scientist who deals with the process of photosynthesis.
iii. A surgeon who fixes artificial limbs.
iv. A religious guru distributing herbal medicine.
b) A ‘traumatic experience’ is
i. An experience of delightful physical sensation.
ii. An experience of great weakness after prolonged illness.
iii. An experience of bodily tremor as in malaria.
iv. An experience of shock due to wound or injury.
c) The ‘traumatic experience’ in Sudha’s life was
i. The experience of driving a car for the first time.
ii. The experience of visiting Jaipur with her dancing master.
iii. The experience of walking on crutches for the first time.
iv. The experience of the car accident and the amputation of her right leg.
1.3. Quote a sentence from the passage, where both the incidents (i) and (ii) are mentioned:
i. In 1981, the car she was travelling in met with an accident and her right leg had to be
amputated.
ii. She was fitted with a “Jaipur foot”.

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PASSAGE – III
Read the following poem carefully:
THE GIFT OF GREED
Upon this barren land,
Once stood a great tree
In the once brown rich sand
For mortal eyes to relish and see.
Its leaves were emeralds,
Its fruits were rubies, bright and fair.
Squirrels leaped about as heralds
For the spring that was in the air.
Spring passed and autumn came to dwell.
The tree’s leaves blushed and fell,
Fluttering in the wind like a ship’s sail.
But the tree bowed not to the gale.
Winter came and did its worst,
Coated the tree with a shower of snow.
But the tree did not freeze and burst,
It stood to offer perch to the homeless sparrow.
The tree survived Nature’s ravages,
To bloom again in summer.
But came along man the savage;
Hacked it down and called it lumber.
Is it so that man, a creation
Turn upon the Creator and others?
We cut down trees, calling it deforestation
And take trees from Nature – their mother and ours.
I. On the basis of your reading the poem, complete the following table about the tree.
Season Result on the tree
(a) _________________ Squirrels leaped about.
Autumn (b) _________________
Winter (c) _________________
(a) _________________ Tree bloomed again
II. On the basis of your reading the above poem, complete the following sentences.
(a) When it was spring the tree was _________________
(b) The tree did not _________________ but _________________
(c) Neither autumn nor winter could harm the beautiful tree but the savage
(d) We should not _________________ as _________________

GRAMMAR:
1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate phrasal verbs given in the box.

broke upon, brought about, fell flat, look down upon, take advantage of, runs short of, turn up.

(a) You should always _____________ the opportunities offered to you.

(b) The police ______________ the robbers and arrested them.
(c) Julian always _______________ money towards the end of the month.
(d) His dishonesty at the office, _____________ his ruin.
(e) Maurice’s suggestions not being practical, __________.
(f) No matter how successful and rich one becomes in life, one should never __________ the poor.
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2. Identify the phrases in the following sentences and state their kind.
(a) Daniel Radcliff of the Harry Potter fame has become a hero liked by the people.
(b) Reema loves reading books in the library, during recess.

3. Do as directed.
(a) Raman said, “The clerk will not attend office.” (Change into indirect speech)
(b) The house is being built by the masons. (Change into active voice)
(c) Just as I was entering the room, the bell rang. (State whether simple past or present continuous)
(d) Anita said that she had passed the examination. (Change into direct speech)
(e) Mini had written a letter to her cousin during the winter vacation. (State whether simple past or past
perfect)
(f) Who teaches you English? (Change into the passive voice)
(g) They say that honesty is the best policy. (State whether in active or passive voice)
(h) Raghav said, “I will meet you in the library ______.” (Use the direct form of ‘the following day’)
(i) Ashar asked, “How I wish I had brought my tab!” (Correct the incorrect word in the sentence)
(j) The news that the enemy _______ approaching alarmed the people (Use the correct tense of to be)
(k) Nitinwas watching television when he heard a noise down in the street. (State whether past progressive or
past perfect)
(l) Anita ordered me, “Please pass the container.” (Change into indirect speech)

4. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs given in the brackets.
(a) I __________ a letter from my father yesterday. (receive/ received)
(b) We ________ that he would visit us. (will hope/ had hoped)
(c) Shalini’s friends _________ when her uncle telephoned. (leaving/ were leaving)
(d) When I was at school, I ________ part in cultural activities. (had taken/ take)
(e) The accident ________ at 6 o’clock this evening. (occurred/ occurring)
(f) Rohini _________ to swim in the river. (likes/ like)
(g) The Sharma family ___________ here since 2001. (has lived/ live)
(h) He declared, “I ________ not believe it even if I saw it with my own eyes”. (will/ would)
(i) The Rajdhani Express _________ at this station. (stops / stop)
(j) My parents work very hard so that they _________ satisfy our needs. (may/ might)
(k) I can swim. I learnt it when I was very young (join the sentences using an infinitive).
(l) The fact is too evident to require proof (remove ‘too’ and rewrite without changing the meaning).
(m) Rivu has not done anything wrong (make it affirmative).
(n) One should have sympathy for the handicapped (rewrite using the verb form of ‘sympathy’).
(o) Nobody will deny that he tried his best (make it affirmative).
(p) This is the tree. It was planted by my grandmother (join using relative pronoun).
(q) Jaya is a graceful dancer (rewrite the sentence using antonym of the adjective).

5. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each of these lines. Write the incorrect
word and the correction in your answer sheet.
Error Correction
A certain man planted a rose and watered them (a) __________ __________
faithfully and before it blossoms, he examined it. (b) __________ __________
He see the bud that would soon blossom, but (c) __________ __________
noticed thorns upon the stem. But he thought, (d) __________ __________
“How can some beautiful flower come from a plant (e) __________ __________
burdened with so much sharp thorns?” Saddened by this (f) __________ __________
thought, he neglected to watered the rose, and just before (g) __________ __________
it was ready to bloom …. it died. (h) __________ __________

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6. Fill in the blanks with suitable form of the verbs given in brackets.
We ________ (expect) him here yesterday.He ________ (not come) till today. No one ________
(know) what ________ (happen) to him. Perhaps he ________ (reach) here tomorrow.You ________
(see) him then.
7. Change the following sentences from direct speech to indirect speech.
(a) He said, “What a fool I am!”
(b) The General said to the soldiers, “March on.”
8. Change the voice of the following sentences.
(a) The servant cooked our food.
(b) She was reading a book.
(c) The food will be served soon.
9. Fill in the blanks with articles and prepositions:
Disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose ______ August 1945 remains still ______ unsolved mystery.
There is no definite evidence of ______ unfortunate plane crash or of Netaji being ______ the plane at
all.

WRITING SKILL
1. Write a letter to the Director of the Zoological Park of your city expressing your concerns about the
unhygienic conditions in the enclosures for the animals. Give some suggestions for improvements and the
ways in which the visitors can help the authorities in maintaining cleanliness. (120 words)

2. When Anupama reaches her hostel after a weekend, she realises that she has forgotten at home the
constumes for the play she has to act in, the key of her suitcase and two books. She sends home an email
requesting her to send her these items as soon as possible. Write the email on her behalf. (120 words)

3. A burglary took place at the residence of Mr SahilBakshi, a middle aged gentleman living at Camact Street
in Kolkata. No arrests have been made so far as the Police is yet to identify the gang responsible for the crime.
Write a newspaper report within 150 words on the same. You are AkhilSen/Ashima Sen.

4. You are the Organizing Secretary of the Eco Club of your school. The club has organised a flower show
within the school premises for the students. Write a diary entry describing the participants of the flower show
and their categories. Also mention how you felt after the initiative became a successful one.