VIBGYOR High

Second Term Examination

2022-23
English Literature
Grade: 6 Max. Marks : 80
Date : Time Allowed: 2 hours

INSTRUCTIONS:-

 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 intended marks for the questions or parts of questions are given
alongside the questions.
 Attempt any one question from Section A. Attempt five questions in all
from section B and C.

SECTION - A
(DRAMA)
Q. 1.1 Read the following extract and answer the questions.
Narrator: As night falls over old London town, (loud bang and scream off stage)
our gallant detective and his trusty sidekick gallop their way through
the steaming metropolis.
Eventually, they arrive at Lady Aquilla’s country mansion tired, travel
sore and weary of the endless games of I-spy with my magnified eye.
Losing no time they make directly for the scene of the crime, Lady
Aquilla's study.
a. Who are ‘the gallant detective’ and the ‘trusty sidekick’ that the narrator is talking about?
[2]
b. Describe lady Aquilla. What crime is the narrator talking about? [3]
c. What was the reason for the scream? Who was the victim? Who was the
culprit/criminal? [3]
d. How did Sherlock Holmes figure out who the thief was? [3]
e. Give 4 reasons why the story from which the excerpt has been taken can be called a
‘Play’. [4]

OR

Q.1.2 Read the following extract and answer the questions.

Holmes: Over here Watson! What do you make of this? (points to something
on the floor)
Watson: (excitedly) Why, it’s a carpet Holmes!
Holmes: No idiot! On the carpet.

a. Where are Holmes and Watson? Why are they there? Who called them there? [3]
b. What did Holmes notice on the carpet? Describe what he noticed. [3]
c. Apart from Lady Aquilla's boots, what could Holmes smell? Whom does Sherlock
want to speak with after this and why? [3]
d. Why did the cook kill the butler? [2]
e. Write a character sketch of Sherlock Holmes. Include at least four points that bring
out his qualities clearly. [4]
.
 Section - B
(POETRY)

Q. 2. Read the following extract and answer the questions.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

a. Name the poet and the poem from which the extract has been taken. Who is the
poem about? [3]
b. What are the villainous qualities that Macavity possess? List at least three. [3]
c. Give a detailed description of Macavity’s appearance. [3]
d. What are the special powers that Macavity possesses? [4]

Q. 3. Read the following extract and answer the questions.

Under the hazy, blossom-laden sky
New building goes on.
Our ears tuned to the detonations under the hazy,
blossom-laden sky,

a. Why is the new building activity going on? What does the poet pray for and why? [3]
b. What do you think the poet means when he says ‘our ears tuned to the detonations’?
What is fire-rain? Why shouldn’t it ever fall on the world? [3]

c. Why do you think the sky is hazy? Why is it blossom-laden? [3]

d. What picture do you get of a city in the time following a war? Describe giving at least
four points. [4]
Q.4. Read the following extract and answer the questions.
Can you sell me the air that passes through your fingers,
and strokes your face and undoes your hair?
Maybe you could sell me five dollars’ worth of wind,
or more, maybe sell me a cyclone?

a. Name the poet and the poem from which this extract has been taken. Why do you think
the poet has chosen to name it so? [3]
b. What does the poet want to buy? Do you think the poet’s request is strange? Why do
you think he is making such a wish? [3]
c. Which forms of air does he want? [3]
d. What are the various things that the poet wants to buy in this poem? What is the poet
trying to convey through the poem? [4]

Section - C
(PROSE)

Q.5. Read the following extract and answer the questions.

"Jimmy," our young black bear, was known to every child in the neighbourhood. If a
children's vote had been taken for the most popular animal in the county, I believe that
Jimmy would have been unanimously elected. If the grown people had held the election,
however, it is certain that there would have been some votes against him.

a. This story is a recount. Give three characteristics that make this story a recount. [3]
b. Jimmy was not popular with some of the grownups in the neighbourhood. Give two
reasons why. Why did the children like Jimmy? [3]
c. How did the party end? [3]
d. What all did Jimmy do once he barged into the party? [4]
Q.6. Read the following extract and answer the questions.
‘The owl beat against the window panes, the raven croaked from the old yew-tree, and
the wind wandered moaning round the house like a lost soul; but the Otis family slept
unconscious of their doom...’

a. Name the story and the writer. Why does the writer refer to these particular birds? [3]
b. How is the wind described? Why is the wind like a ‘lost soul’? Which figure of speech
has been used here? [3]
c. Why was the Ghost angry with the Otis family? [3]
d. What was the Ghost planning to do that night and why? [4]

Q.7. Read the following extract and answer the questions.

Grasshopper and Toad appeared to be good friends. People always saw them together.
Yet they had never dined at each other's houses. One day Toad said to Grasshopper,
"Dear friend, tomorrow come and dine at my house. My wife and I will prepare a special
meal. We will eat it together."

a. What did the Toad complain about? How did it make the Grasshopper feel? What did
the Grasshopper say? [3]
b. How did the Grasshopper teach the Toad a lesson? [3]
d. Write the moral of the three Fables you read in your textbook. [3]
1. The Grasshopper and the Toad;
2. The Fox the Cock and the Dog;
3. The Hare and the Hedgehog.
e. Write four characteristics of a Fable? [4]

**************