FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH CODE NO. : 101
Class – XII Sample Question Paper
Section A : Reading Max. Marks : 20
1. Read the following passage :
1. I had submitted across an article 'Reforming our education system' recently wherein the need
for our educational system to shift its focus from insisting upon remembering to emphasizing or
understanding was stressed upon.
2. This article brought back the memory of an interesting conversation between my daughter and
myself in the recent times wherein I had learnt that Economics and Physics were a few of the
most difficult subjects for her as she had to mug up the answers. Though I offered to help her out
with the immediate problem on hand, I learnt subsequently that many a time it pays to mug up
the answer properly, because the teachers find it easier to evaluate that way. It seems the more
deviation there is from the way the sentences are framed in the textbook, the more risk one runs
of losing marks on that count many a time.
3. This reminded me of a training session I had attended at work wherein we were required to
carry out an exercise of joining the dots that were drawn in rows of three without lifting the pen
and without crossing the trodden path more than once. Thouse the exercise seemed quite simple
almost 95 percent of us failed to achieve the required result, no matter how hard we tried. The
instructor then informed us cheerily that it happned all the time, because the dots that appeared
to fit into a box like formation do not allow us to think out of the box. That was when I realized
that all of us carry these imaginary boxes in our minds thanks to our stereotyped upbringing that
forces our thinking to conform to a set pattern.
4. "What is the harm in conforming as long as it is towards setting up a good practice". Someone
might want to ask. Perhaps, no harm done to others but to the person being confined to "think by
rote". It may mean being deprived of rising to the heights he/she is capable of rising to, even
without the person being aware of the same.
5. If we instill too much of fear of failure in the children right from the young age, the urge to
conform and play safe starts stifling the creative urge which dares to explore, err and explore
again. As we know, most of the great inventions were initially considered to be most outrageous
and highly impractical. It is because the persons inventing the same were not bothered about
being ridiculed and were brave enough to think of the unthinkable these inventions came into
being.
6. For many children studies
are the most boring aspect of their lives. Learning instead of becoming
fun, is being considered the most mundane and avoidable activity thanks to the propagators of
an educational system that is more information oriented than knowledge oriented. Too much of
syllabus, too many students per teacher, lack of enough hands on exercises, teaching as a routine
with the aim of completing the syllabus in time rather than with a goal of imparting knowledge,
the curriculum more often than not designed keeping in view the most intelligent student rather
than the average student. The peer pressure, great expectations of the parents in an extremely
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competitive environment, the multitude of distractions in an era of technological revolution are
adding further to the burden on the young minds.
7. For a change, can we have some English/Hindi poems ickle, tickle and pickle the young minds
and send them on a wild goose chase for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow ? Can we have
lessons in History that make the child feel proud of his heritage instead of asking him to mug up
the years of the events ? Can the physics and chemistry lessons be taught more in the laboratories
than in the classrooms ? Can a system be devised so as to make the educational excursions
compulsory in schools
so that visits to historical/botanical places are ensured without fail ? Can
the educational institutes start off inter school projects on the Internet, the way the schools
abroad do, so as to encourage the child to explore on her own and sum up her findings in the
form of a report ?
8. Finally, can we make the wonder of the childhood last and get carried forward into the adulthood
instead of forcing pre-mature adulthood on children ? I, for one, have realized that it is worth
doing so, hence I have asked my child to go ahead by choosing to write the answers on her own,
in her own language by giving vent to her most fanciful imagination!
Source : The Hindu
1.1 On the basis of your understanding of the passage answer the following : 8 Marks
(a) What does the article "Reforming our Education System" emphasise ? 1 Mark
(b) What exercise was the author given in her training session ? 1 Mark
(c) What are the "imaginary boxes" that are referred to here ? 1 Mark
(d) What is the likely harm that may occur if a person is taught to always 1 Mark
think by rote ?
(e) List the factors that have made learning a very boring process ? 2 Marks
(f) Give at least four suggestions the author gives for making schooling 2 Marks
interesting.
1.2 Pick out the words from the passage which mean the following : 4 Marks
(a) Later (para 2)
(b) Conservative (para 3)
(c) In the beginning (para 5)
(iv) Ordinary (para 6)
2. Read the passage given below :
How do we build a peaceful world ? This question demands an answer. The causes of war are many :
economic, political, social, thnic and religious causes. But most people would not include television
to be among them. Let us look at the entertainment industry, movies and television in particular and
notice the amount of violence that is offered as entertainment. If the general public watches violence
night after night, year after year, the world will be a violent place.
In order to understand the connection it is important to review the nature of the mind. The mind of man
is like a computer; what you put in is what you get out, "Energy follows thought". You may believe
that you are responsible for what you do but not for what you think. The reality is that you are responsible
for what you think because what you think determines what you are. You cannot change yourself by
changing your behaviour and keeping your old thoughts. But you can change your mind; and this is
where real change comes from. Your mental world is the only thing over which you have complete
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control.
Thoughts are a subtle form of matter. The problem with violent images on television is that they
combine thought and emotion, which gives the image more power. Listen to a violent TV programme
from the next room and notice the role of music in controlling your emotions. The audience is played
with like a puppet on a string. Do you find that honourable ? When the TV show is over and you turn
it off, these thoughts are still with you. Did the experience make you a better person ? How many
years will you carry the memory of those images around with you ?
It is an old saying that the hand that rocks the cradle controls the destiny. If television is the modern
day babysitter, then the quality of the images determines man's destiny. Should we be teaching our
children that violence is an acceptable solution to the problems of life ? The subconscious mind
accepts whatever is offered to it if impressed with repetition and intense emotion. "As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he".
Mankind is halfway between an animal and a God. Violence is a part of the animal world and therefore
an integral part of man's past. War was the constant state of primitive man; peace is the measure of the
advancement of civilization. Freewill, or the ability to choose, is humanity's most precious possession.
When you choose to be entertained by violence you are strengthening the animal nature within you.
When you refuse to be entertained by violence you are treading the part of discipleship. A disciple is
someone who consciously works on himself. The pat of discipleship is also called the path of purification.
At some point in the evolution of consciousness the individual chooses to weed out the elements of the
animal nature like anger and fear and begins to build into his consciousness the divine qualities like
harmlessness and compassion. The journey from seaweed to divinity is inevitable. You cannot change
the destination; but you can choose to go quickly or slowly, to go forward or back. Divine consciousness
is your inheritance, but to make the journey you must leave the animal nature behind.
Habit is one tool that humanity can use for advantage. Everyone who has learnt to play a musical
instrument or a sport knows the value of practice and more practice. If you make it a habit to practice
your music one-hour a day you will improve. If you watch violence every day you are tuning your
instrument to resonate with violence. Is this what you want ? Discipleship is hard work because it is
becoming conscious in areas of life that previously were unconscious. Habit can be consciously used
to speed us along toward our goal. Be a disciple, turn off the T.V.
By Michale Virat
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it using 5 Marks
headings and sub headings. Use recognizable abbreviations wherever
necessary
(b) Write a summary of the above in 80 words using the notes. 3 Marks
Suggest a title for your notes.
Section B : Advanced Writing Skills Max. Marks : 25
3. Design an advertisement for a newly launched health drink manufactured by Health 5 Marks
Care Pvt. Ltd. (50 Words)
OR
The Dramatics Club in your school is staging the play "Teacher, Teacher" ? Design a
poster for the school display board.
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4. You are Aditya/Alka. Write a letter to KCG Infotech, Pune asking for details regarding 10 Marks
a summer course in Multimedia offered by them. (80-100 words)
OR
Write a letter to the Editor of a National daily on the increasing beggar menace at
important tourist spots. Suggest suitable measures to curb this problem (125-150 words)
5. Based on the poll findings published in a daily write an article on what you consider 10 Marks
is true success for Teen views a monthly magazine. You are Vikram / Vaishali (200
words)
Metro Monitor
How important is success in life ?
What are the important signs of success ?
Owning expensive car 7%
Travelling on holiday frequently 1%
Being satisfied with life / happy with who you are 10%
Shopping at expensive / prestigious stores 2%
Having latest appliances and kitlchen equipment 0%
Making the important decisions of your life 10%
Having a successful career of your own 25%
Wearing expensive clothes 2%
Giving large contributions to charity 4%
Being knowledgeable about current events 3%
Owning a lot of jewellery 6%
Owning a home 12%
Being a well-known personality 6%
Having a successful spouse 7%
Having successful children 5%
As the reporter of Daily Mirror write a report on the DEAR (Drop Everything And 10 Marks
Read) Programme launched in all the Government and Public Schools to revive the
reading habit among students. (200 Words)
Section C : Grammar Max. Marks : 20
6. Rearrange the following sentences sequentially to make complete sense. 5 Marks
(a) That day there were seven radio warnings about ice but the Titanic did not slow down.
(b) The White Star Shipping Company was proud to tell the world in 1912 that the world had never
seen a ship as large and safe as its new Titanic.
(c) By the time the crew saw a large iceberg straight ahead, it was too late to avoid it completely.
(d) By the end of the fifth day, the ship made good progress and it was not far from the coast of America.
(e) After it left Southampton, it sailed first to Ireland and then to America.
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7. The following passage has ten errors. Identify the errors in each line and 5 Marks
write them along with the corrections as shown in the example.
Summer internships were earlier confined with / to
(a) only all disciplines and taken up ---------------------------------------------
(b) to reinforce that students learnt ----------------------------------------------
( c) in his regular curriculum. Colleges------------------------------------------
(d) now encourages students of arts and ----------------------------------------
(e) humanities to take up smaller jobs ------------------------------------------
(f) in fitting environments to motivating ---------------------------------------
(g) them into learn more about their --------------------------------------------
(h) subject for study. Sometimes the --------------------------------------------
(i) experience must turn out to --------------------------------------------------
(j) being lucrative too. ------------------------------------------------------------
8. The National Trust was set up in 1895. It was established to save places of beauty or
special interest for the British public to see and enjoy. It has been doing this now for over
a hundred years and during that time, it has become the owner and protector of 4,00,000
hectares of a beautiful landscape alongwith a third of Britain’s coast. In addition, many
of the country’s best old country houses and gardens have been given by their owner to
the National Trust for protection.
Imagine you are a journalist who is about to interview the Director of the National Trust.
Frame ten questions for your interview. 5 Marks
For example: When was the National Trust set up?
(Begin your question with any of the following : why, how what, are; is ,do, does, when ... )
9. The gardener tells Dev/Devina about planting a sunflower. Use the information given below
to construct a dialogue between the two.
Make five sets of exchanges. 5 Marks
1. Want to plant sunflower - can you help
Sure-fill small plant pot with compost
2. What to do next
Press sunflower seed
3. What after that
Water plant
4. How often to water it ?
Daily and keep in sun,
5 How long to flower
Take about a month
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Section D : Literature Max. Marks : 35
10. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: 7 Marks
But her hands are a wet eagle's
two black pink-crinkled feet,
one talon crippled in a garden trap
set for a mouse.
(a) Whose hands are described here? 1 Mark
(b) What are talons? In this context what does talon refer to? 2 Marks
(c) How did ‘the talon’ get crippled? 2 Marks
(d) Identify the figure of speech in the first line and explain 2 Marks
OR
When he beats his bars and would be free. It is not a carol of joy or glee;
But a prayer that he sends from his hearts deep core. 7 Marks
(a) Name the poem and the poet. 1 Mark
(b) Identify 'he'. What does 'he' symbolize? 2 Marks
(c) Why doesn’t 'he' sing a joyful song? 1 Mark
(d) What is his prayer? 2 Marks
(e) What is a carol? 1 Mark
11. Answer any two of the following in about 50 words each: 4 × 2 = 8 Marks
(a) In the poem Survivors how does the poet bring out the brutality of war? Cite any three vivid
examples.
(b) Bring out the significance of the title ‘Curtain’ written by Helen Spalding.
(c) In the poem Ars Poetica MacLeish says 'A poem should be palpable and mute as a globed fruit'.
Identify the figure of speech and explain.
12. Answer any one of the following in about 80 to 100 words. 5 Marks
In ‘An Adventure Story’ the Queen Mother talks of the devil in Alexander that wouldn’t let him rest.
What does she mean by this and how does her assessment of Alexander come true?
OR
What did Mr. White wish for while holding the monkey’s - paw? Did his wish come true? Comment
on the uncanny coincidence.
13. Answer any two of the following in about 50 words each 4 × 2 = 8 Marks
(a) How did Robichon enthrall the audience at Appeville-Sous-Bois?
(b) When she reached her house, Mrs. Malik did not want to get down from the car. Bring out the
irony in this situation?
(c) How does Einstein define a truly successful person?
14. Answer any one of the following in 100-125 words 7 Marks
Lisa Belagorskaya sits down to write her diary after she had received the letter informing her of the
death of Major Doronin. Going over the events of her life, she was struck by the fact that play acting
was her destiny on and off the stage. Write her diary entry.
OR
The narrator of ‘What’s your Dream’? is a successful writer today. Speaking at the launch of his new
novel he recalls the advice given to him by the old beggar. Write his speech.Labels: India Question Papers