MAXX SANSKAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, BHUNA

SUB; ENGLISH Term-1st (2025-26) Time–3:00Hrs. Class–XI M.M.:80

General Instructions:
1. The Question Paper contains THREE sections–A,B and C.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
 SECTIONA:READING SKILLS
 SECTIONB:GRAMMAR & CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS
 SECTIONC:LITERATURE

SECTION–A(26marks)

Read the passage given below.

1. Given the standing of some of the institutes of higher learning, the IITs and IIMs, India is a potential knowledge
power. Realizing the potential however is not going to be easy. The impressive strides made by Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA) notwithstanding, universal access to school quality education- a minimum necessary condition for
any progress towards making India a knowledge society as the 2006 report of the National Knowledge Commission
(NKC) puts it- remains a distant goal.
2. There is yet no legislation at the national level to affirm the right to education, a fundamental right under the
constitution. The number of school buildings for elementary and secondary education falls far short of
requirements and so does the number of qualified teachers. The pressure on government budgets which forces
governments to hire teachers on contract paying a pittance of salary, is playing havoc with quality. While the
incursions of the private sector in the field are providing some competition, mechanisms to enforce the required
standards are lacking.
3. Not that there are no national standards or standards enforcing agencies. We have the National Council for
Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to bring out text books in various subjects for school education. The
Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts examinations for schools affiliated to it across the country.
The states too have their school boards to conduct exams and enforce minimum standards. However the
standards vary widely. In their anxiety to show spectacular performance, some states are overly lenient in marking
answer papers.
4. Questions arise over the standards applied by CBSE. Going by the number of students securing 90% or more in
their higher secondary exam, it would appear India is on the brink of acknowledge revolution. The numbers are so
large that it would appear that the cut -off point for top colleges is now above 90%. However admissions to the
IITs and medical colleges are not based only on CBSE or State Board Exam results. Leading undergraduate colleges
offering non- professional degree courses hold their own admission tests. Obviously Higher Secondary School
results are not taken to be a reliable index of the quality of the student`s learning capability or potential.
5. The numbers seem to be growing every year. The standards applied by Higher Secondary Boards like CBSE seem to
have been diluted to the point that leaves a big gap between what students learn at school and what they have to
face on entering institutions of higher learning.
6. In an attempt to remedy the situation, NCERT had recently commissioned experts to rewrite textbooks on
economics. Though not entirely free from blemishes, these new texts should go some way in helping beginners get
acquainted with the basic concepts in the subject and their applications.
7. Not surprisingly, their introduction is facing road blocks. Teachers do not like to be compelled to look at
textbooks they are not familiar with. Those who revel in seeing students score 90% are reluctant of ushering in
something that may stop the rush of such scores.
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any ten of the following questions-(1x10=10)
i) Complete the sentence by choosing an appropriate option:
Governments have to hire teachers on contract basis due to
a) Then on-availability of regular teachers b) abundance of teachers in an area
b) The guide lines issued by the Central Government d) the pressure on government budgets.
ii) List the reason as to why India is referred as a potential knowledge power.
iii) Select the option that conveys the opposite of ‘plenty’ from words used in Paragraph 2.
a) incursions b)mechanisms c)looking d)pittance
iv) What is the tone of the writer when he remarks that India is on the brink of a knowledge revolution?
a) Sarcastic b)Optimistic c)Imaginative d)Presumptuous-
v) Completethegivensentencewithanappropriateinferencewithrespecttothefollowing:
The main factor that has affected the quality of education is .
vi) Why do leading under graduate colleges hold their own admission tests?

The writer would not agree with the following statements based on Paragraph 4,except:
vii)
a) A large number of students score more than 90% in their higher secondary school exams
b) The cut-off point for admission to top colleges is above 85%
c) Admissions to IITs are based only on CBSE or state board results
d) Higher Secondary School results are taken to be reliable index of the quality of a student`s learning
capabilities.
viii) Based on the information given in the last paragraph, why do you think teachers are opposing the introduction
of new textbooks?
ix) Pick the option that correctly lists the feelings of the writer with reference to the topic concerned in the passage.
1. Frustrating 2. Amusing [Link] [Link] [Link] 6. Enlightening Codes:
a) 1&4 b)4&6 c)3&5 d)2&3
x) Select the most suitable title for the above passage:
a. The Reality Of Indian Education System b. India as a Potential Knowledge Power
c. The Indian Education System d. None of these
xi) Why is making India a knowledge society a distant goal?
xii) The word ‘road block ‘in the last paragraph indicates:

a) Obstacles in teaching-learning procedures b)Inability to understand the curriculum

b) Lack of familiarity with the curriculum d)Evaluation procedures

 Read the passage given below:
1. The average age of India is just 28 in 2024, which means that the majority of the country comprises of young
students and youth. But even now with the clock ticking, the unemployment crisis is raging the country and the
main reason behind this problem is that there are a huge number of youths passing out from schools and colleges
every year and there are many new career options and job roles being added to various industries as well.
2. However, the youth do not have the kind of skills the new industries want which results in a wide skill gap. A recent
survey by Mindler, an online career-counseling platform, has proved that the majority of Indian students are aware
of just seven career paths, even though there are 250 career options that can be pursued in India- most new and in-
demand.
3. The survey on the awareness of career options among Indian students in the age group of 14-20 was conducted
among 10,000 participants. The responses collected in the survey showed that a staggering 93% of the students
who participated in the survey were aware of just seven career options- law, engineering, medicine, accounts and
finance, design, computer applications and IT and management.

4. According to researchers, India has a variety of 250 career options available across 40 domains covering 5,000 job

types. This shocking lack of awareness among Indian students regarding their future career options can spell a
death knell for the economic bonus that could have come to India due to its demographic dividend the time period
where its population is young and earning.
5. Thus, if parents and teachers can build their own awareness regarding new career options coming up, then they
can be a very helpful part in their child`s career decisions rather than being one of those parents who push their
child in to one of the most common careers simply because they are unable to understand which area would be
perfect fit for their child.
6. If parents utilize the available technology and tools available, they can become more aware of which careers will
help their children grow the most and career counseling can help both parties get the desired satisfaction.
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any eight questions given below: (1x8=8)
i) Does the following statement agree with the information given in para2? ‘The youth of
today do have the kind of skills the new industries want.’ Select from the following:
 True- If the statement agrees with the information. False-If
the statement contradicts the information. Not Given- If
there is no information on this.
ii. Do you think the researchers of the study aimed to change the students ’ outlook towards the new career
options? Support your answer with reference to the text.
iii. What is the main essence of the passage?
a) There is no gap between education and employment opportunities.
b) There is a lack of awareness regarding new professions available.
c) Parents must be involved in the process of career selection.
d) Only eight professional fields are popular in India.
iv. Complete the sentence based on the following statement:
Most of the parents push their child in to one of the most common careers. This happens simply because
.
v. According to the passage, the lack of awareness regarding various career options results in:
a) Employment b)Frustration and depression
c) Economic stagnation with any bonus d)Lack of economic bonus
vi. Complete the given sentence by selecting the most appropriate option-
Career counseling can help both the students and to get satisfactory results.
a) teachers b)parents c)survey team d)employees
vii. How according to you, is lack of awareness regarding various career options affecting our country?
viii. How can parents become more aware?
a) By using the available tools and technology.
b) By talking to their children.
c) By providing career counseling to their children.
d) By finding which career options are best fit for their children.
ix. Which two fields, according to the survey, was most popular among students?
x. Based on the reading of the text, state appoints to challenge the given statement.
‘Parents need not be aware of the upcoming career options’.

[Link] the passage given below-

Fashion is a force- a powerful force of constantly altering patterns of change and growth. It affects the face of the
designers and manufacturers who distribute it, and of course, the lives who follow what it dictates. All of its facets taken
together add up to a multi-million dollar industry. Fashion today means mega bucks.
Fashion is also a science. Surprising, isn`t it? However it is well-known that it involves facts and basic principles and its actions and
reactions can be predicted, as these are based on those facts and principles. Fashion is one of those distinct and unique trades that is
highly dependent on the environment and the changes that are continuously taking place in it. These have to be understood by the
designers if they want to be successful.
For one to make it to the top in the fashion business and stay there, one has to continue to discovered innovate to fulfill
the needs and wants of the customers. For this, most of the top designers such as
 Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Claiborne etc, all rely upon their creativity backed by years of invaluable experience. In
this line of work, instinct and intuition play a very major role besides the knowledge of past successes and failures.
As the power of fashion to influence our lives grows, a number of misconceptions about it continue to abound. The most
common of these is the power of the designers and the retailers to dictate what the fashion will be, by accepting or
rejecting the styles and trends that are offered. They are truly as one fashion guru once said, `Variety Vultures`. However,
it is not so- actually customers dictate the trends.
The second misconception is that fashion acts as an influence on women only. However, actually men today are as much
influenced by, and responsive to, fashion as women. In point of fact, the male fashion industry has been growing at a
dizzying rate. Yes, there was a time when menswear was not exactly worth talking about. It was staid and unimaginative.
But that does not mean that men did not dress up according to the latest trends of the day.
Fashion today is more lifestyle oriented and quite practical. The modern male and female want to dress up quite
differently for office and leisure. Designers are becoming more daring so that the women as well as the men have a wide
choice. There are different designs for every moment of a busy social schedule- from work, lunch to afternoon tea,
cocktails, dinner and gala banquets.
i. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and sub- headings. Use
recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (min.4). Supply an appropriate title to it. (5)
ii. Write a summary of the given passage in 50-80words.
(3)
SECTION–B (23marks)
Grammar
Q4. Answer any seven from (A) and (B) out of the eight given below: (1x7=7)
(A) Choose the correct option.
i) I wasn’t feeling well, I went to school.
a) When b)Hence c)Although d)Whether
ii) I wonder she doesn`t want to go to the picnic.
a) why b)how c)where d) when
iii) The river Thames through London.
a) Is flowing b)has been flowing c)flows d)has flowed
iv) There is something wrong with her car so she to work by bus.
a) Has been going b) goes c)went d)is going
(B) Choose the correct option.
v) P:hewants to Q:isaparty R:learnwhetherthere S:todayor not
a) PRQS b) RPSQ c)RPQS d) SQPR
vi) P:daughterbeen Q:hadher R:eatinganything S:atall
a) PQSR b) RPSQ c)QPRS d) SQRP
vii) P:that you Q:won`talways R:Icanunderstand S:bewithme
a) PQRS b) RPSQ c)RPQS d) SQPR
viii) P:weatherforecast Q:rainingtomorrow R:accordingtotheS:itwillbe
a) PQSR b) RPSQ c)QPRS d) SQPR
 Q5. Creative Writing Skills

You are Mohan/Mohini, General Manager of P.K Industries, Hyderabad. You need an accountant for your
company. Draft in not more than 50 words an advertisement to be published in THE HINDU classifieds.
(3)
OR
You are Mani/Mansi. Draft an advertisement car for sale because the owner is going abroad shortly.
Buyers can contact at this number 92xxxxxxx.

Q6. (A) National

Book Trust is organizing an exhibition displaying books on yoga on the occasion of International Yoga Day
on 21st June. Design a poster in not more than 50 words highlighting the advantages of developing the
habit of yoga for the occasion. (3)
OR
(B) Design an attractive and instructive poster in not more than 50 words on behalf of the Delhi
Police to educate and warn the people against any suspicious or unclaimed objects in public
places/trains/buses to avert bomb blasts.
Q7. (A) Write a speech on the topic of why discipline is necessary in school’s 120-150 words to be delivered in
the school`s morning assembly. (5)
OR
Write a speech on the topic of importance of balanced diet in 120-150 words.
Introduction of‘Common University Entrance Test’ is step-in the right direction. Give your
Views for or against the motion in 120-150words. (5)
OR
‘Rising prices can be controlled only by the government’. Write a debate in120-150words
Either for or against the motion.
SECTION–C(31marks)
LITERATURE TEXT BOOKS.

Read the given extracts carefully and answer the following questions. (Do either A or B)(1x3=3)
(A) Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up Of
chitterlings, and of tremor of wings, and trilling’s The
whole tree trembles and thrills
It is the engine of her family.
i) Complete the following analogy correctly.
Sleek as a lizard; Simile:: ; Metaphor
ii) What is the machine?
a) The Laburnum Tree b)Sound of gold finch`s chicks c)The gold finch d) None of these
iii) Fill in the blanks appropriately.
The movement of gold finch is compared to that of lizard because…………………….
 OR
(B) Eternal rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, upward to heaven,
whence,
Vaguely for medal together changed, and yet the same.
i) What does’ treenail rise’ mean here?
a) It’s a continuous process. b)It rises to eternity
c)It keep son rising until teaches heaven. d) None of these
ii) The word‘ impalpable’ in the extract means
a) Something that can be touched b) something that cannot be heard
b) Something that can be heard d) something that cannot be touched.
iii) How is‘I ’al together changed and yet the same?
[Link] the given extracts are fully and answer the following questions.(Do either A or B)(1x3=3)
(A) There before heading east, we took on two crewmen- American Larry Vigil and Swiss Herb Stigler to help
us tackle one of the world`s roughest seas, the Southern Indian Ocean. On our second day, out of Cape
town we began to encounter strong gales. For the next few weeks they blew continuously. Gales did not
worry me; but the size of the waves was alarming- up to 15 meters, as high as one main mast.
i) Select the option that completes the given sentence appropriately.
`Took on` in the given con text would refer to-
a) Fighting with someone b)Employing someone
c) Helping someone d)Leaving some one behind
ii) Select the suitable word from the extract to complete the following analogy:
Bravery: Courage::Frightening:…………………
iii) Identify the word from the extract that is similar in meaning to the phrasal verb ‘run into’.
OR
(B) Regardless about his fame and his speculations about his fate, Tut is one mummy among many in Egypt.
How many? No one really knows. The Egyptian Mummy Project, which began an inventory in late 2003,
has recorded almost 600 so far and is still counting. The next phase: scanning the mummies with a
portable CT machine donated by the National Geographic Society and Siemens. Its manufactures. King
Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned in death, as in life, moving regally ahead of his
countrymen.
i) Replace the underlined word with its antonym from the extract. Regard less
of the reality of its fame, Toothsome of them any mummies.
ii) The given extract does not talk about
a) The new advanced CT scanner discoveries about Tut
b) The Egyptian tradition of mummifying
c) Speculation so fut.’s death
d) The in accuracy of the data presented prior to the CT
iii) Complete the sentence appropriately.
The CT scan done on King Tut was significant because……………………
[Link] the given extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow. (Do either A or B)(1x4=4)
(A) One day back there in the good old days when I was nine and the world was full of every imaginable kind
of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream, my cousin Moored who was
considered crazy by everybody who knew him except me, came to my housecat four in the morning and
woke me up tapping on the window of my room. Aram, he said. I jumped out of bed and looked out of
the window. I couldn`t believe my eyes. It wasn`t morning yet, but it was summer and with daybreak not
many minutes around the corner of the world it was light enough for me to know I wasn`t dreaming. My
cousin Mourad was sitting on a beautiful white horse. I stuck my head out of the window and rubbed my
eyes.
i) Why does the narrator call his childhood‘ good old days’?
a) Because life was full of imagination. b) Because life was delight
C) Because there was now Lorries of life. d)All of the above.
ii) The opening lines of the extract depict………………….
a) The beauty of the white horse b)The beauty of life
c) The beauty of childhood d)The beauty of summer morning
iii) Why did the narrator rubies yes?
iv) Why couldn`t Aram believe that Mourad was ridings horse?
OR
(B) I wouldn`t go back there because the objects that are linked in your memory with familiar life of former
times instantly lose their value when, severed from them, you see them again in strange surroundings.
And what should I have done with them in a small rented room where the shreds of black-out paper still
hung along the windows and no more than a handful of cutlery fitted in the narrow table drawer? I
resolved to forget the address. Of all the things I had to forget, that would be the easiest.
i) Why did she not claim her mother`s belongings?
a) Because she did not care for her mother.
b) Because it brought back pain full memories.
c) Because she did not have place to keep them.
d) Because she understood that the lady would not give the m back.
ii) The closing line soft his passage depict
1) The mental depression of the narrator
2) The suffering brought by the war
3) The pain caused by the rudeness of the lady
4) The disinterested attitude of the narrator
a) Only 1 b) Both 1&2 c)Both 3 & 4 d) Only 2
iii) Why did the narrator not want to go back?
iv) What is the depiction of the author`s or symbolic of?
Q12. Answer any two of the following questions in 40-50 words. (3x2=6)
i. Which movement of the gold finch is compared with the lizard? What is the basis for this comparison?
(The Laburnum Top)
ii. How did the sparrows express their grief overgrow and mother`s death in the chapter` The Portrait Of
A Lady`?
iii. How does the story suggest that optimism help stone dire “the direst stress” in the chapter‘We Are Not
Afraid To Die’?
iv. Describe the atmosphere when King Tut’s body was can need the chapter ‘Discovering Tut: The Saga
Continues.’
Q13. Answer any one of the following questions in 40-50words.(Do either A or B) (3x1=3)
(A) “A suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart.”Who said these words? Why?
(The Summer Of The Beautiful White Horse)
OR
(B) ‘You only notice when something is missing’- What human trait has been brought by the narrator
through these lines?(The Address)
Q14. Answer any one of the following questions in 120-150 words. (Do either A or B) (1x6=6)
(A) “Its silence silences,” writes Shirley Toulon. The loss of her mother has silenced her. Do you think that
this attitude of the poet’s right attitude to live life? Why/Why not? (A Photograph)
OR
(B) Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for
each other change? (The Portrait Of A Lady)
Q15. Answer anyone of the following questions in 120-150 words.(Do either A or B) (1x6=6)
(A) Give brief account of Mourad’s adventure with the white horse. (The Summer Of The Beautiful White
Horse).
OR
Why did Mrs. S’s daughter visit Mrs. Dorling’s’ house ?