S. R.

CHANDAK ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL, SOLAPUR

Std :- VIII Subject :- English Mark :- 50
Date : / /2020 Exam - I Semester 2020-21 Time : 2 hrs
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Q.1 A] Read the passage and complete the activities: (7m)
But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years
had transformed his desert land into an orchid farm and granary. It was this inspiring picture that
everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments and deaths were inside the
newspaper, buried among other news. Isn’t it possible in our country?
I want to live in a developed India
Another question: Why are we, as a nation, so obsessed with foreign things? We want
foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts, we want foreign technology. Why this obsession with
everything imported? Do we not realise that self -respect comes with self - reliance?

Questions:
1) What was the inspiring picture that Abdul Kalam was talking to?
2) How do you achieve self – reliance?
3) Identify adjective and state its kind..
a) It was this inspiring picture that everyone wake up to.
4) Pick out nonfinite verbs in the given sentence.
I want to live in a developed India.
5) Pick out two compound words from the passage beginning with ‘self’.
6) What does Abdul Kalam try to convey the message in the above passage?
Q.1 B] Read the following passage and answer the questions. (7m)
‘Far away across the city’, said the prince, ‘I can see a young writer in a little room at the top
of a house. He is sitting at a table that is covered with papers. At his side there are some dead
flowers. He is trying to finish a story. But he is very cold and he cannot write. There is no fire in the
room, and he is weak and hungry.’
‘I will wait with you for one more night,’ said the Swallow kindly. ‘What shall I take to him?’
‘Take him one of my eyes,’ said the prince. ‘They are made of beautiful blue stones. ‘The young
man can sell it and buy wood and food. He can finish his story.’
‘Take out your eye, dear prince?’ said the Swallow. ‘I cannot do that!’ And he began to cry. ‘Do
it!’ said the prince.
Questions:
1) Complete the web.

The difficulties of writer

2) Why did the prince suggest taking one of his eyes?

3) Write the verb form.
a) beautiful:…………….. b) able:………………..
4) Identify infinitive / participle / Gerund in the given sentence.
a) He watched the working seamen.
5) What did Prince try to convey in the above extract?
6) From the above passage select any two words and write their synonyms.
Q.2A] Read the poem and complete the activities: (5m)

When the gong sounds ten in the morning and

I walk to school by our lane,
Every day I meet the hawker crying, ‘‘Bangles,
crystal bangles!’’
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no
road he must take, no place he must go to, no
time when he must come home.
I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in
the road, crying, ‘‘Bangles, crystal bangles!’’
When at four in the afternoon I come back from
the school,

Questions:
1) Why does the poet wish to be a hawker?
2) What is the difference between a hawker and a shopkeeper?
3) Pick out the line – that contains onomatopoeia and explain it.
4) Would you like to be a bangle seller? Why? Why not?

Q.2 B] Read the following extract and answer the questions. (5m)

The common Lord of all that move, The sun, the moon, the stars He made

From whom thy being flow’d, To all His Creatures free:

A portion of His boundless love And spreads o’er earth the grassy blade,

On that poor worm bestow’d. For worms as well as thee

Questions:
1) Find out the word – which means.
a) showered: ……………………………… b) unlimited: ………………………….
2) Why should we take care even of small worms?
3) Write the figure of speech of given line and explain.
a) A portion of His bound less love.
4) Do you think all small creatures play a very important role? Explain.

Q.3 Read the passage and complete the activities: (6m)

Most of us use the products of science, railways, aeroplanes, electricity wireless and
thousands of others without thinking how they came into existence. We take them for granted, as if
we were entitled to them as a matter of right. We are very proud of the fact that we live in an
advanced age and are ourselves very advanced. Now, there is no doubt that our age is very different
from previous ages and I think it is perfectly correct to say that it is far more advanced. But it is a
different thing from saying that we as individuals or groups, are more advanced. It would be the
height of absurdity to say that because an engine driver can run an engine and Plato or Socrates
could not, the engine driver is more advanced than or is superior to, Plato or Socrates. But it would
be perfectly correct to say that the engine itself is a more advancedmethod of locomotion than
Plato’s chariot was.
Questions:
1) State whether the sentences are true or false.
a) The engine driver can’t be compared to Plato or Socrates.
b) We are living in less advanced period.
2) Complete the following.
a) Many of us make use of machines _________________________.
3) What would be the absurdity?
4) Write adjective forms.
a) absurdity: ……………………. B) locomotion: …………………
5) In what way the technology is useful? Explain.
Q.4Do as directed: (10m)
1) Change the given sentence into comparative degree.
The Eiffel Tower is as good as the statue of liberty.
2) Change the given sentence to positive degree.
David is tougher than other boys.
3) Fill in the blanks with suitable Preposition.
a) The soldiers rebelled _______________ the king.
b) Keep away ________________ wicked boys.
4) Identify adjective and write its type
I found my lost pen.
5) Identify adverb and write its type.
She already opened the door applying little visible force.
6) Identify verb and state whether they are transitive and intransitive verb
The baby was laughing loudly.
7) Write the kind of sentence.
Is your brother going to London?
8) Say whether the following sentences are affirmative or Negative.
He answered questions without any mistake.
9) Identify the noun and state its kind.
John never spoke anything.
10) Pick out and write the finite and non – finite verbs.
They tried hard for keeping her in control.

Q.4Writing skill. (10m)

1) Letter writing.(5m)
a) Write a letter to the Police
Commissioner about the theft of your b) Write a letter to your school principal to
wrist watch. arrange a science exhibition
Hints
OR:
Hints :
1. Travelling to Mumbai.
Place, day, date, time, , when to start, when to
2. I was at the station.
end, etc.
3. Getting hurried to catch.
4. Just then received a call.
5. Lifted the call, suddenly sombody
snatched away.
2) Interview writing. (5m)

Prepare 10 questions to interview a doctor for Prepare 10 questions to interview a

covid-19 pandemic. sportsperson on importance of sport.
Points: OR Points:
➢ Precaution
➢ Play a crucial role in academics.
➢ Masks
➢ Washing hands ➢ Develops competitive spirit
➢ Keep distance, etc ➢ Improves fitness- makes
everyone Healthy and Strong.

Oral Section(10)
1) Arrange the alphabets to make meaningful words.
a)nurh ---------------b) terwni -----------------c)actorf --------------d)atcre----------------(2)
2) Arrange the words to make meaningful sentence.(2)
a) good, a, boy, is, he._______________________________________________________________
b)society, a, can, misbehave, the, in ,student, not________________________________________
Do as directed (3)
3)Raj is a good boy. (Identify the noun and state its kind)
4)Make nouns-deep, react.
5)That was a nice gift. (Identify the pronoun and state its kind)
6)Read the passage and answer the questions. (3)
Erosion of America's farmland by wind and water has been a problem since settlers first put the
prairies and grasslands under the plow in the nineteenth century. By the 1930s, more than 282 million
acres of farmland were damaged by erosion. After 40 years of conservation efforts, soil erosion has
accelerated due to new demands placed on the land by heavy crop production. In the years ahead, soil
erosion and the pollution problems it causes are likely to replace petroleum scarcity as the nation's
most critical natural resource problem.

1) What is this passage about?

2) What is main problem discussed here?
3) How do you care environment? explain