JS INSTITUTE

By Tushar sir/bhiya

HORNBILL
Class 11 - English Core
Time Allowed: 1 hour Maximum Marks: 146

1. What is the meaning of the line: Both wry with the laboured ease of loss. (A Photograph) [3]
2. What are the losses of the poet's mother and the poet? Answer in the context of A Photograph. [3]
3. Why does the poetess compare her mother's laughter too and why? Answer in the context of A Photograph. [6]
4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: [3]
The cardboard shows me how it was
When the two girl cousins went paddling,
Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,

R
And she the big girl - some twelve years or so.
i. Name the poem and the poet.
ii. Who were the two girls?
iii. What were the two girls doing? SI
AR
5. Why was the grandmother so disturbed when the narrator started going to the city school? Answer in the context [3]
of The Portrait of a Lady.
6. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died. Answer in the context of [3]
The Portrait of a Lady.
SH

7. Write a brief character sketch of the author’s grandmother. Answer in the context of The Portrait of a Lady. [6]
8. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: [3]
My grandmother always went to school with me because the school was attached to the temple. The priest taught
TU

us the alphabet and morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the
alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished,
we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to
our home growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them. When my parents were
comfortably settled in the city, they sent for us. That was a turning-point in our friendship. Although we shared
the same room, my grandmother no longer came to school with me. I used to go to an English school in a motor
bus. There were no dogs in the streets and she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house.
i. What role did the temple dogs play in the speaker's childhood, and how did this change when they moved to
the city?
ii. What significant event marked a turning point in the narrator's friendship with their grandmother?
iii. Pick evidence from the passage that suggests there was a significant change in the protagonist's daily routine
and environment when they moved to the city.
9. What happened on second day of the journey out of Cape Town? [3]
10. How did the narrator, and the other members react to the presence of water in the ship? Answer in context of We [3]
are Not Afraid to Die.
11. Describe the shifts in the narration of the events as indicated in the three sections of the text. (We are Not Afraid [6]

1/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 to Die)
12. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: [3]
IN July 1976, my wife Mary, son Jonathan, 6, daughter Suzanne, 7, and I set sail from Plymouth, England, to
duplicate the round-the-world voyage made 200 years earlier by Captain James Cook. For the longest time,
Mary and I - a 37-year-old businessman - had dreamt of sailing in the wake of the famous explorer, and for the
past 16 years, we had spent all our leisure time honing our seafaring skills in British waters. Our boat
Wavewalker, a 23 meter, 30-ton wooden-hulled beauty, had been professionally built, and we had spent months
fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather we could find.
i. List any two notable characteristics or dimensions of the narrator's ship, the Wavewalker.
ii. Pick out the evidence from the extract that helps one infer that the narrator and their wife were well-prepared
and experienced in sailing before embarking on this voyage.
iii. What motivated the narrator, his wife Mary, and their two children to embark on the round-the-world
voyage?
13. What snag did the million dollar scanner develop? How was it set right? Answer in the context of Discovering [3]
Tut.

R
14. List the deeds that led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten as ‘wacky’. (Discovering Tut) [3]
15. He was the last of his family line. What do you learn about Tut’s dynasty from the extract Discovering Tut: The [6]

16.
Saga Continues?
SI
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
Amenhotep III - Tut’s father or grandfather - was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the
[3]
AR
height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him and initiated one of the
strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun
disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten,’ and moved the religious capital from the old city
SH

of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He further shocked the country by attacking
Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. “It must have been a horrific time,” said Ray
Johnson, director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes. “The
TU

family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten went a little wacky.”
i. Who succeeded Amenhotep III as Pharaoh?
ii. What was Akhenaten's response to the god Amun?
iii. Pick evidence from the passage that suggests Akhenaten's reign marked a significant departure from the
traditional religious and political practices of ancient Egypt.
17. What was the state of India Gangadharpant had seen during the twentieth century? [3]
18. What had Professor Gaitonde not expected in Bombay? [3]
19. Why do you think Professor Gaitonde decided never to preside over meetings again? [6]
20. What do you think the goldfinch does in the thickness of the laburnum tree? [3]
21. Describe the movement of the goldfinch in the laburnum tree. [3]
22. What values do you learn from the goldfinch in the poem The Laburnum Top? [6]
23. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: [3]
The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
i. Name the poem and the poet.

2/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 ii. Why is the laburnum top silent?
iii. What is the significance of ‘yellow’ in the poem?
24. What will happen if it does not rain? (The Voice of the Rain) [3]
25. How does the rain describe herself in the poem The voice of the rain? [3]
26. Rain is an eternal process benefiting mankind. Contrast it with human life which is short lived on this Earth. [6]
Should we disturb these eternal elements of nature?
27. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: [3]
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautify it.
i. What does 'I' do day and night?
ii. What is the origin of ‘I’?
iii. What does ‘I’ do for its origin?
28. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]

R
Now she's been dead nearly as many years
As that girl lived. And of this circumstance
There is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences. SI
AR
(a) What is poet's reaction in the end?

a) She wants to write more and more about b) She wants to draw the picture of her
her mother mother
SH

c) All of these d) She doesn't want to speak more for she

is sad
(b) What does the poet mean by This circumstance?
TU

a) It means the revival of her mother b) It means the rebirth of her mother

c) It means the death and loss of her d) It means the marriage of her mother
mother
(c) Why does the poet not want to say anything?

a) Because she is too excited b) Because she is not in the state of saying
anything after losing her mother

c) All of these d) Because she has lost that photograph

(d) Which poetic device has been used in Its silence silences?

a) Transferred Epithet b) Alliteration

c) Simile d) Metaphor
(e) What is the mental state of Shirley Toulson in the end of the poem?

a) She is ecstatic b) She is upset

c) All of these d) She is overjoyed

29. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [3]

3/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 The cardboard shows me how it was
When the two girl cousins went paddling,
Each one holding one of my mother's hands ,
And she the big girl - some twelve years or so.
(a) What is cardboard referred to in the first line of the extract?

a) Old Scrapbook b) Old Slambook

c) Old notebook d) Old photograph

(b) At which place did the girls possibly go?

a) Sea Beach b) Playstation

c) Hill Station d) Riverside

(c) Which feelings are aroused in these lines?

a) Love b) All of these

c) Childhood pleasure d) Togetherness

R
30. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]
When I decided to go abroad for further studies, I was sure my grandmother would be upset. I would be away

SI
for five years, and at her age one could never tell. But my grandmother could. She was not even sentimental. She
came to leave me at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, her mind
was lost in prayer.
AR
(a) What is meant by the phrase one could never tell.

a) author was afraid his grandmother b) author did not want to tell about his
destination
SH

c) author did not want to leave his d) author feared his grandmother may die
grandmother before his return
TU

(b) Which word in the extract is synonym of higher?

a) emotional b) further

c) upset d) even
(c) Why did author think that his grandmother would be upset?

a) he was going away for five years b) he was going abroad

c) he was going broke d) he was going for higher studies

(d) While coming to railway station, why was the grandmother silent?

a) she was sentimental b) she was not in talking terms with the
author

c) she liked being quiet d) she did not want to show her emotions
(e) For what tenure author was going abroad?

a) three years b) four years

c) fifteen years d) five years

31. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]

4/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 Unexpectedly, my head popped out of the water. A few metres away, Wavewalker was near capsizing, her masts
almost horizontal. Then a wave hurled her upright, my lifeline jerked taut, I grabbed the guard rails and sailed
through the air into Wavewalker's main boom. Subsequent waves tossed me around the deck like a rag doll. My
left ribs cracked; my mouth filled with blood and broken teeth.
(a) Whose name was Wavewalker?

a) the ship b) a crew member

c) the enormous wave d) the author

(b) Which of the following activities had not happened to Wavewalker
1. near capsizing
2. masts almost horizontal
3. jumped in the air
4. became upright
5. sank in the sea

a) 1 and 4 b) 1 and 3

R
c) 2 and 5 d) 3 and 5
(c)

a) He broke his left hand

c) His left ribs cracked, mouth filled with

SI
What happened to the author’s body when he managed to reach the deck?

b) His head smashed again

d) He broke his leg and couldn't swim

AR
blood and broken teeth
(d) In the above extract to whom does the word her refer to?
SH

a) author's daughter b) author's wife

c) ship d) author
(e) Which figure of speech has been used in Subsequent waves tossed me around the deck like a rag doll?
TU

a) irony b) simile

c) anaphora d) metaphor
32. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]
Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening decades, focusing less on treasure and more on the
fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses more sophisticated tools, including
medical technology. In 1968, more than 40 years after Carter's discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the
mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are
missing.
(a) Archaeology of these days focuses less on

a) intriguing mysteries of death b) treasures

c) all of these d) fascinating details of life

(b) Carter's discover was made in the year

a) in 1928 b) in 1968

c) before 1928 d) after 1928

5/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 (c) Who had X-rayed mummy of Tut

a) a scientist b) A Geologist

c) an archaeologist d) a professor
(d) Which of the following were found missing during the X-ray
1. front ribs
2. back bone
3. breast bone
4. hip bone
5. chest bone

a) 1 and 2 b) 1 and 3

c) 4 and 5 d) 1, 3 and 5
(e) Which word in the passage mean to a great extent

a) fascinating b) substantially

R
c) intriguing d) starting
33. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]

SI
That page in the book described the Battle of Panipat, and it mentioned that the Marathas won it handsomely.
Abdali was routed and he was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau
AR
and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao. The book did not go into a blow-by-blow account of the battle itself.
Rather, it elaborated in detail its consequences for the power struggle in India. Gangadharpant read through the
account avidly.
(a) Who was defeated in the Battle of Panipat?
SH

a) Abdali b) Sadashivrao

c) Maratha d) Vishwasrao
TU

(b) Abdali went back to

a) Mumbai b) Patiala

c) Kabul d) Kandahar
(c) Which of the following was not detailed in the book?

a) victory of Maratha army b) blow by blow account of the battle

c) consequences for the power struggle in d) description of Battle of Panipat

India
(d) The expression blow by blow has been used in the extract. Which of the following expression is not
similar to it?

a) word by word b) day by day

c) hit and run d) bit by bit

(e) Which of the following word used in the text has dissimilar meaning?

a) routed b) described

c) elaborated d) metioned

6/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
34. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]
The Laburnum top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
(a) Which characteristic is associated with the Laburnum Top?

a) Peaceful b) Beautiful

c) Quiet d) Dying
(b) The Yellowing leaves describe the season of:

a) rainy b) autumn

c) spring d) summer
(c) The literary device used in the given lines is:

a) Alliteration b) Simile

c) Imagery d) Personification

R
(d) Why has the poet used yellow colour prominently to describe the tree?

a) To show how weather changes the tree b) To symbolise its condition as silent yet

c) To indicate that the tree needs a kind of

SI beautiful

d) To signify the purpose of the tree for

AR
rejuvenation the birds
(e) What does the tree symbolise?

a) The pattern of human life b) Attitude towards life

SH

c) The conditions of bird's life d) The life cycle of a tree

35. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [3]
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup.
TU

A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.

Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings.
(a) Which of the word is not related to the goldfinch?

a) Alert b) Machine

c) Abrupt d) Sleek
(b) Choose the odd one out in the context of movement/motion words from the given extract:

a) Trilling b) Start

c) Come d) Tremor
(c) Identify the possible poetic device used in and alert and abrupt?

a) Simile b) Metaphor

c) Alliteration d) Oxymoron
36. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [5]

7/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR
 Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same,
(a) What does the word eternal indicate in the given lines?

a) A continuation b) Immortality

c) A sequence d) A permanency
(b) The words altogether changed, and yet the same shows that the rain

a) changes it forms and is same in all b) changes it forms

forms

c) is same in all forms d) comes back to its origin same as it had

gone
(c) The word impalpable in the given extract can be replaced by

a) material b) definable

c) undescribable d) temporary

R
(d) Fill in the blanks:
The rain starts its journey from the land and the ________ sea in the form of water vapour.
(e) State true or false:
SI
The raindrops descend from the sky in order to give life to the planet by removing the dry areas and
washing the famine-stricken lands.
AR
a) True b) False
37. Read the text carefully and answer the questions: [3]
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
SH

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I' give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautify it.
TU

(a) Identify a word from the extract which means wash.

a) Unborn b) Descend

c) Latent d) Lave
(b) What duty (towards the earth) does the rain fulfill before returning to its place of origin?

a) To beautify it b) To give it life

c) Both to purify and beautify the earth d) To purify it

(c) What would remain unborn had there been no rain?

a) Rivers b) Clouds

c) Seeds d) Earth

8/8
Ph- 9871441772 ; JS SIR