HALF YEARLY EXAM 2024

ENGLISH MODEL QUESTION PAPER - 2

Time Allowed: 3.00 Hours Maximum Marks: 90

Instructions : (1) Check the question paper for fairness of printing. If there is any
lack of fairness, inform the Hall Supervisor immediately.
(2) Use Blue or Black ink to write and underline and pencil to draw
Diagrams.

Part - I
14 x 1 = 14

Note : (i) Answer all the questions.

(ii) Choose the most appropriate answer from the given four alternatives and
write the option code and the corresponding answer.

Choose the appropriate synonym for the italicised words.

1. Navika Sagar Parikrama was a project undertaken in consonance with the
National Policy.
(a) connection (b) agreement (c) comparison (d) arrangement

2. The young bird kept calling her mother plaintively :

(a) happily (b) sadly (c) rigorously (d) vainly

3. The lady seems hysterical.

(a) calm (b) serious (c) emotional (d) missing

Choose the appropriate antonym for the italicised words.

4. They were the steps of a man walking rapidly around the dining-table
(a) timidly (b) silently (c) slowly (d) decently

5. We witnessed the bright lights from the sea :

(a) famous (b) superb (c) night (d) dull

6. The whole school seemed so strange

(a) odd (b) usual (c) weird (d) new
7. Choose the correct plural form of ‘formula’ from the following :
(a) formulae (b) formulas (c) formii (d) formules

8. Choose the correct expansion of the abbreviation “CD”

(a) Compact Drive
(b) Condensed Display
(c) Compact Disc
(d) Common Drive

9. Form a derivative by adding the right suffix to the word fail :

(a) en (b) ure (c) ment (d) ion

10. Complete the following sentence with the most appropriate phrasal verb given
below.
The mother instructed the maid to __________ the child carefully.
(a) warm up (b) shut down (c) look after (d) take off

11. Choose the suitable option to pair it with the word ‘Watch’ to form a compound
word.
(a) hall (b) house (c) man (d) clock

12. Fill in the blank with the most appropriate preposition given below. The child
hid __________ the stairs when the mother called her for a bath.
(a) among (b) upon (c) above (d) under

13.Complete the following sentence using the most appropriate tense form of the
verb given below.
Siva __________ (attend) music classes regularly.
(a) attends (b) attended (c) will attend (d) will be attending

14. Choose the most appropriate linker from the given four alternatives.
__________ you work hard, you cannot secure good marks.
(a) when (b) but (c) unless (d) whenever

PART - II
SECTION-1
3x2=6
Answer any three of the following questions in a sentence or two
15. What was the daily routine of Sanyal ?
16.What devices help David to move from one place to another ?
17. Why did Holmes want Smith to treat him
18. What woke up the mother ?

SECTION - 2
3x2=6
Read the following sets of poetic lines and answer any three of the following.

19. There’s a family nobody likes to meet;

They live, it is said, on Complaining Street
(a) Where does the family live ?
(b) Why do you think the street is named as Complaining Street ?

20. And now, if you will set us to our task,

We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
(a) Who does the pronoun ‘you’ refer to here ?
(b) Whose task is referred to as ‘our task’ here ?

21. At last by starvation and famine made bold,

All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
(a) What made the cricket bold ?
(b) Why did the cricket drip and tremble ?

22.So let the way wind up the hill or down,

O’er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:
(a) How is the way of life ?
(b) How should be the journey of life ?

SECTION - 3
Answer any three of the following.
3x2=6

23. Rewrite the following sentence in Active voice.

You are advised not to be careless

24. Rewrite the sentence in Reported speech.

He said, “I have bought five apples from the shop.”
25.Change the following sentence into a simple sentence.
He followed what I suggested

26. Punctuate the following sentence.

were you not a good student i asked

27. Rearrange the words in the correct order to make meaningful sentences.
(a) had/made/He/flight/his/first.
(b) heard/from/tent/her/this/Mulan/inside.

SECTION - 4
Answer the following question. 1x2=2
28. A stranger asks you to direct him to Raja Store. Give instructions to help him.

PART - III
SECTION - 1
Answer any two of the following in a paragraph 2x5=10

29. Give an account of the last day of Mr. Hamel in school.

30. Highlight the factors responsible for the all-women Indian Navy Crew to carry out their
expedition.
31. Give a brief character sketch of Sasanka Sanyal
32. ‘Technology is a boon to the disabled’- Justify

SECTION - 2
Answer any two of the following. 2x5=10

33. What is the central theme of the poem ‘No men are foreign’ ?

34. How are today’s women portrayed by the poet ?

35. Read the following stanza and answer the questions given below.
She’s a lioness; don’t mess with her.
She’ll not spare you if you’re a prankster.
Don’t ever try to saw her pride, her self-respect.
She knows how to thaw you, saw you - so beware!
(i) Pick out the rhyming words from the above lines.
(ii) Write the rhyme scheme of the given stanza.
(iii) Identify the figure of speech employed here in this stanza.
(iv) Pick out the alliterating words in the fourth line.

36. Paraphrase the following stanza.

At night the house seems to be alive,
Lights flicker on and off.
I am often tempted to go to the house,
To just take a look and see what it is really about,
But fear takes over me.

SECTION - 3
37. Answer any one of the following. 1x5=5
Rearrange the following sentences in coherent order.
(i) The mother dropped the small twigs as markers on the way to help her son return.
(ii) Once in Shining, a cruel ruler declared that all old people must be put to death.
(iii) Filled with dread, he hid his mother in his home.
(iv) A farmer decided to leave his old mother on top of a mountain.
(v) The son made up his mind to take back his mother home.

38. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
One afternoon in the early fall, when Peter was eight years old, his mother called him from
his play. “Come, Peter,” she said. “I want you to go across the dike and take these cakes to
your friend, the blind man. If you go quickly, and do not stop to play, you will be home again
before dark.” The little boy was glad to go on such an errand, and started off with a light
heart. He stayed with the poor blind man a little while to tell him about his walk along the
dike and about the sun and the flowers and the ships far out at sea. Then he remembered his
mother’s wish that he should return before dark and, bidding his friend goodbye, he set out
for home.
Questions :
(a) What did Peter’s mother want him to do ?
(b) What was her advice ?
(c) Why was the little boy glad ?
(d) What did the little boy tell his friend ?
(e) What did the little boy remember ?
 SECTION - 4
Answer any four of the following. 4x5=20

39. Prepare an attractive advertisement using the hints given below. Mobile Galaxy - Smart
phones - accessories - SIM cards - Recharge - Free power banks on Mobile purchase - No.1,
Toll Gate, Trichy.

40. You are Gomathi, a resident of a colony adjacent to the Cauvery River. Daily you see many
people throwing waste into it, spoiling the pure water. Write a letter to a newspaper showing
your concern about it and also voicing your worry.

41. You are Aruna/Akash, the Literary Association Secretary of GHSS, Madurai. Prepare a
notice on behalf of your school, inviting the students to participate in the oratorical
competition to be conducted next month.

42. Look at the following picture and express your views on it in a paragraph of five
sentences.

43. Make notes or write a summary of the following passage.

Many of us use internet on a regular basis and even have access to it from our homes! The
‘net’ in internet really stands for network. A network is two or more computers connected
together so that information can be shared, or sent from one computer to another. The
internet is a vast resource for all types of information. You may enjoy using it to do research
for a school project, downloading your favorite songs or communicating with friends and
family. Information is accessed through web pages that companies, organizations and
individuals create and post. It’s kind of like a giant bulletin board that the whole world uses!
But since anyone can put anything on the internet, you also have to be careful and use your
best judgement and a little commonsense. Just because you read something on a piece of
paper someone sticks on a bulletin board doesn’t mean that it’s a good information, or even
correct, for that matter. So you have to be sure that whoever posted the information knows
what they are talking about, especially if you are doing research! But what if you’re just
emailing people ? You still have to be very careful. If you’ve never met the person that you’re
communicating with online, you could be on dangerous ground! You should never give out any
personal information to someone you don’t know, not even your name. And just like if you
can’t believe the information on every website out there, you can’t rely on what strangers you
‘meet’ on the internet tell you either. Just like you could make up things about yourself to tell
someone, someone else could do the same to you.

44. Identify the errors in the following sentences and rewrite them correctly.
(a) Many students has turned up for the seminar.
(b) one of the boys are missing.
(c) I bought an book this morning.
(d) Sreena avoids to eat fruits.
(e) The deer runs fastly.

SECTION - 5
45. Quote from memory. 1x5=5
Some water, coal ............. and drive.

PART - IV
46. Write a paragraph of about 150 words by developing the following hints. 2x8=16
(a) Uncle Philip - Cunning - living alone - interest collecting stones - death bed calls - Tom -
sole heir - hands over iron box - gems - warns - opening - dynamite - headache - Tom - reads
books - consults technicians - doctors - priests - salary reduce - afraid tax - failure - donates -
human vivisection centre.
OR
(b) Holland - dikes - lie below sea level - Peter - prevent sea water - walks - besides the canal -
small hole in the dike - put his finger - Holland - drowned while I am here. The little fellow -
and screamed - next morning - a man - notice Peter - alarm - people mended - brave hero.

47. Read the following paragraph and answer the questions given below.
Elephants are considered keystone and umbrella species as they play a key role within the
environment that they live in. As elephants live in herds and require large habitable areas,
they tend to change the surrounding atmosphere from forests to grasslands and help to
disburse the seeds in an ecosystem that has no natural means of pollinating the area. An
elephant requires around 70 to 100 litres of water everyday. Therefore, the elephants in dry
zones and dry seasons, dig holes in riverbeds in order to collect water and help sustain water
for other species as well. The elephants’ habit of clearing the path they roam has acted as
natural buffer zones when forest fires take place.
Questions :
(a) What are the elephants considered as ?
(b) How many litres of water does an elephant require everyday ?
(c) Where do they dig holes to collect water ?
(d) What acts as buffer zones during the forest fires ?
OR
Read the following poem and answer the questions given below.
Books are what I like the best They’re not just toys like all the rest That break, or get old, or
don’t want to play A book gets better everyday. Sit down and open it - Soon you’ll find A whole
new world jump up in your mind, People and places and all sorts of things - Dragons and
princesses, goblins and kings. Dinosaurs walking the earth like thunder, Ancient Egyptians
who make you wonder, Books about planets and space exploration, The truth about rocks, and
the birth of our nation. And perhaps the most interesting story of all That tells of the Prince
who is going to call, And even a picture to show how he looks - Now these are the things that I
like about books.
Questions :
(a) What jumps out of a book to take you to a new world ?
(b) How do the dinosaurs walk ?
(c) Why does the poet say that books are better than toys ?
(d) What sort of books do you like to read ?