Pre- Board Examination 2025

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

(ENGLISH PAPER - 2)

Maximum Marks: 80 Time allowed: Two

Answers to this paper must be written on the paper provided separately.

You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.

This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.

The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.

The paper has four Sections.

Section A is compulsory - All questions in Section A must be answered.

You must attempt one question from each of the Sections B, C and D and one other question from

any Section of your choice.

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

SECTION A

(Attempt all questions from this Section.)

Question 1

Choose the correct answers to the questions from the given options.(16)

i) Why does Antony describe Caesar’s wounds as ‘poor dumb mouths’?

a) They are scared of the conspirators.

b) They cannot speak for Caesar’s suffering and betrayal.

c) They cannot give the people their rights.

d) None of the above

ii) Who among the following is Not a member of the triumvirate group, who came together to rule
over the Roman Empire?
a) Mark Antony

b) Octavius Caesar

c) Marcus Lepidus

d) Marcus Brutus

iii) How does Cassius interpret the replacement of Eagles by ravens and crows?

a) He will not reach the battlefield.

b) He will have to change sides with the enemy.

c) They are prey to birds, indicating death.

d) He is likely to enter into a trap.

iv) what are the legions referred to?

a) The armies

b) The enemies

c) The boundaries

d) The regions

v) “ The son of Rome is set” is a tribute paid to Cassius by:

i)Pindarus

b)Cato

c)Titinius

d) Brutus

vi) Put the sequence of events in the correct order regarding the instructions Brutus gives to the mob
after his speech:

a) Not a man depart till Antony has spoken.

b) Do grace to Caesar’s corpse

c) Allow him to depart alone

d) For his sake to stay there with Antony

i) 3,4,2,1
ii) 4,1,3,2

iii) 1,4,2,3

iv) 4,3,2,1

vii) What did the speaker in Robert frost’s poem initially think about the speck?

a) It is a blob of ink from his pen.

b) It is a speck of dust blown down by his breath.

c) It is a fluff from his clothes.

d) None of the above

viii) Which of the following did not happen when people heard Bhishma Lochan’s singing?

a) They were able to make him stop singing

b) They got confused

c) they became pale and sick

d) They got trampled

ix) Which of the following lines contain the same literary device as the one in the following line of
poem, ‘ when great trees fall’: ‘ after a period peace blooms’?

a) As silent as the pictures on the wall

b) All houses where men have lived and died/ are haunted houses.

c) Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light

d) Slowly and always irregularly/ Spaces fill

x) Why did the lady in Leigh Hunt’s poem drop her glove in the arena ?

a) To create a distraction for the sake of entertainment.

b) To test the valour of her lover.

c) To attain great glory from the valour of her lover.

d) To get the count hurt in the fight.

xi) In the poem, ‘haunted houses ‘,who influence the ‘earthly wants and aspirations high’?

a) An unseen object
b) An unseen comet

c) An unseen star

d) None of the above

xii) Which of the following was not posted on the bulletin board in the story,’ the last lesson’?

a) The drafts

b) The orders of the commanding officers

c) The orders that only German would be taught

d) The order of replacing M.Hamel

xiii) Why did the police car respond ‘No profession’ when Mead said he was a writer by profession?

a) Mead was an illiterate person

b) It was an outdated profession

c) The robotic car could not hear his response

d) None of the above

xiv) Why was the narrator conscious of a break in his voice, while rebuking the photographer in
Stephen Leacock’s story?

a) He was feeling sick

b) He was shouting loudly

c) He was getting emotional

d) None of the above

xv) What did Maami feel about not being able to go to school?

a) She was locked into some kind of darkness.

b) It was a waste of time.

c) She would not have married.

d) Her daughter would be able to go to school.

xvi) What was Martin’s fear when the elevator stopped on his floor, and the lady saw him?

a) The lady would come to his house

c) The lady had come to know where he lived

d) None of the above

SECTION B

(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)

DRAMA

(Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare)

Question 2

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Antony

O, pardon me, the bleeding piece of earth, that I am Meek and gentle with these butchers.

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times . Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! Over thy wounds
now do I prophesy.

i) Where is Antony at this time? Relate briefly how he came to be there.(3)

ii) Why does Antony call Caesar’s body “thou bleeding piece of earth”? When he calls the conspirators
“butchers”how does it help us to understand his meaning?(3)

iii) In his funeral oration to the citizens, Antony uses Caesar’s body to fulfil his purpose. What was his
purpose and how does he use Caesar’s body?(3)

iv) When, why, and how had Antony been “meek and gentle with these butchers”? What do you think
of Antony at this stage?(3)

(v) Give examples from the play to show Antony’s estimate of Caesar as given in the passage. What
did Antony “prophesy “? What do you think of Anthony now?(4)

Question 3

Octavius
Come, come, the cause: if arguing, make us sweat, the proof of it will turn, to redder drops.

Look; I draw a sword against conspirator; when think you that the sword goes up again? Never, till
Caesars, three and thirty wounds.

Be well aveng’d; or till another Caesar

Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.

i) What argument is referred to in this extract? Which leader is on the side of Octavius? Name the
enemy leaders.(3)

ii) Give the meaning of:“ if arguing, make us sweat,/the proof of it will turn to redder drops.”(3)

iii) Who is another Caesar referred to in the extract? What does Octavius want to communicate by
saying,” till another Caesar /have added slaughter to the sword of traitors”?(3)

iv) What indication is there in the extract that the battle has already begun ? According to Octavius
when would the battle end?(3)

v) There are only reference to the battle and fighting in the play. Why do you think that the actual
fight is not shown on the stage?(4)

SECTION C

(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)

PROSE - SHORT STORIES

(Treasure Chest - A Collection of ICSE Short Stories and Poems)

Question 4

Read the following extract from Ray Bradbury's short story, 'The Pedestrian'

and answer the questions that follow:

"He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down

long moonlit avenues of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which

way to go, but it really made no difference;"

(i) What was Leonard Mead's occupation?

What did he love to do?

(ii) To what does Mead compare his walk through the empty streets?

Mention TWO reasons he gives for making this comparison?(3)

(iii) Why had Mead decided to change his footwear from hard-heeled

shoes to sneakers?(3)

(iv) What happened quite suddenly as he was making his way home?

What was Mead's immediate reaction?(3)

v) Why was Mead taken away by the police car?

Would you call this a horror story or a piece of science fiction?

Give reasons for your answer.(4)

Question 5

They say that I was born in Hasodzi; and it is a very big village in the central region of our country,
Ghana. They also say that when all of Africa is not choking under a drought,Hasodzi lies in

a very fertile land in a district known for its good soil. Maybe that is why any time I don’t finish eating
my food, Nana says,’ you, don’t know what life is about....’

i) Who are referred to as’They’ in the first line of the extract? What is suggested by reference to ‘They
say…..’?(3)

ii) How is the village Hasodzi compared to the continent?(3)

iii) Who is referred to as Nana in the extract? Why did she reprimand Adjoa?(3)

iv) Explain briefly Nana‘s view about life and problems in life?(3)

v) Describe briefly the relationship between Adjoa and Nana as portrayed at the beginning of the
story?(4)
 SECTION D

(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)

POETRY

(Treasure Chest - A Collection of ICSE Short Stories and Poems)

Question 6

Read the extract from Sukumar Ray’s “The power of Music’ given below and answer the questions
that follow:

They’re trampled in the panic rout or languish pale and sickly,

And plead, ‘ my friend, we’re near our end, oh stop your singing quickly!’

The bullock carts are overturned , and horses line the roadside;

i) Who are ‘they’ referred to in the first line of the extract? What happens to them?(3)

ii) To whom do they plead and why?(3)

iii) What is the effect of their pleading? What does it suggest about the man whom they plead for?(3)

iv) What is the effect of his singing on animals and birds?(3)

v) Which poetic device is used by the poet in this extract? Why does he achieve his objective? Give
reasons to support your answer.(4)

Question 7

Read the extract H.W. Long fellow‘s poem,’ haunted houses’ given below and answer the questions
that follow:

The spirit world around this world of sense

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

Wafts Through these earthly mists and vapours dense

A vital breath of more ethereal air.

i) What is ‘the spirit world’? Where it is? What is described as’ this world of sense’?(3)

ii) What ‘ floats like an atmosphere ‘and where? What does it suggest about it?(3)

iii) What are referred to as ‘earthly mists ‘ and ‘vapours dense’? How do the spirits move through
them?(3)
iv) Which figure of speech is used in this extract? Explain with example.(3)

(v) Explain why do the spirits leave the spirit world and come to the world of sense? How is their
presence felt in this world?(4)