English – Important Question Bank for Karnataka Intermediate II PUC (HSC) Board Exam 2017

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I. Answer the following in a word, a phrase or a sentence each.

1. Whom does Romeo address as ‘yonder lady’?

2. Mention one of the reasons for the soldiers’ refusal to execute the criminal in ‘Too Dear’.

3. What does the phrase ‘the bow that is stable’ refer to in ‘On Children’?

4. Name the woman who led resistance against felling trees in the village of Adwani.

5. Laura Llorente was known as ………………. in her locality in ‘A Sunny Morning’.

a) dream girl b) golden lady c) silver maiden

6. What does the speaker want his beloved to do when she is old in ‘When You Are Old’?

7. Whom did Tammanna consider as the most important among all his possessions in ‘The Gardener’?

8. What do the soft nails of quartz change themselves into in ‘To the Foot from its Child’?

9. Borges looks upon blindness as a

a) way of life. b) miserable circumstance. c) major handicap.

10. Whom according to George Mikes do the Japanese stores employ?

11. Where, on the election morning, did Marcus Ibe sit shaking hands with the villagers?

12. In which district of Tamil Nadu, according to P. Sainath, has cycling been a social movement?

II. Answer any eight of the following (choosing at least two from poetry) in a paragraph of 80 -100 words.

13. How does the narrator describe the ‘Toy Kingdom’ in ‘Too Dear’?

14. How is the parent-children relationship brought out using the metaphor of bows and arrows in ‘On children?

15. Write a note on ‘The Navadanya Farm‘ started by Vandana Shiva.

16. What fictitious story did Gonzalo spin about himself to hide his true identity?

17. How does the speaker distinguish his love from that of the others in the poem ‘When You Are Old’?

18. Bring out the changes in the lifestyle of the owner after the arrival of ‘The Gardener’.

19. Finding precise words is important in the art of poetry. How does Borges justify this in his interview?

20. How according to George Mikes do the bowing gentlemen change into savages in Japan?

21. Discuss how cycling movement has empowered the rural women of Pudukkottai.

22. Why is water a mighty movement according to the speaker of ‘Water’?

III. Answer the following in about 200 words.

23. ‘A Sunny Morning’ portrays the wit and humour through Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura’s spontaneous reactions. Explain.

OR

‘Wheel brings progress.’ Justify this statement with reference to ‘Where There Is A Wheel’.

OR

‘Your children are not your children.’ How does the poet illustrate this truth in the poem “On Children”?

IV Read the following passage and answer the questions set on it.

The Western Ghats are also known as the Sahyadri Hills. They are well known for their rich and unique assemblage of flora and fauna (plants and animals). Twenty five biodiversity hot-spots are identified in the world and Western Ghats are one among them. The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north. They go south past Goa, through Karnataka and into Kerala and Tamil Nadu and end at Kanyakumari. Then they embrace the Indian Ocean. The range is called Sahyadri in northern Maharashtra and Sahya Parvatam in Kerala. The Biligiri ranges southeast of Mysore in Karnataka, meet the Servarayan range and Tirumala range farther east, linking the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats. In the south the range is known as the Nilagiri malai in Tamil Nadu. The northern portion of the narrow coastal plain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan Coast or Konkan. The central portion is called Kanara and the southern portion is called Malabar region. The foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra is known as Desh. The eastern foothills of central Karnataka state are known as Malnadu. The Biligirirangan Hills lie at the confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats. WAPCO region under Western Ghats covers twelve administrative districts of Kerala State. Four thousand species of flowering plants are known from the Western Ghats. Western Ghats receive an average of 3000 mm rainfall per annum. The Western Ghats are home to thousands of animal species including at least 325 globally threatened species.

24. Answer the following in a word, a phrase or a sentence each.

a. What are the Western Ghats well known for?

b. How many biodiversity hotspots are identified in the world?

c. Name one of the states in which the Western Ghats lie.

d. Where do the Western Ghats end?

e. What does ‘Sahya Parvatam’ refer to in the passage?

f. Konkan Coast lies between the Western Ghats and

a). the Indian Ocean.

b). the Arabian Sea.

c). the Eastern Ghats.

g. Which part of Karnataka state is known as Malnadu?

h. In which state can one find WAPCO region?

i. There are many ………………. (threatening/threatened) species in the world. (Choose the right word to form a meaningful sentence.)

j. Use a prefix to form the antonym of the word ‘cover’

25. Read the following lines and answer the questions:

Seven years I could not walk a step

When I to the great physician came

He demanded: Why the crutches?

And I told him: I am lame

i) How long could the speaker not walk a step?

ii) Who does ‘He’ in the third line refer to?

iii) Why does the speaker use crutches?

V. 26. Complete the following by filling in the blanks using the right form of the verb given in brackets.

The rivalry between Tammanna and Basavaiah increased day by day. Two hundred acres of Tammanna’s land ________ (acquire) by Basavaiah. A fence ____ (build) around the land. Tammanna ……………… (advise) by his supporters about the various means of getting back his land.

27. Report the following conversation.

POP campaigner : We want your vote.

Rufus Okeke : How can I vote for Maduka?

POP campaigner : Are you taking this money or not?

Rufus Okeke : Will it not be heard outside this house?

POP campaigner : Don’t worry about it.

28. Complete the following dialogue.

(Priya and Linda are strangers and meet at a bus stop.) Priya : Excuse me, …………………………………….? (Asking for bus number) Linda : ……………………………… (Gives information) Priya : …………………………………………. (Asking for platform number) Linda : Go to platform number 17 and wait there. Priya : ………………………… (Expresses gratitude)

29. Fill in the blanks by choosing the appropriate expression given in the brackets:

(in a soup, landslide victory, in full swing) The election campaign in Umuofia was ………………………… . All knew that the honourable minister would have a ………………………. .

30. Fill in the blanks with the right linker:

There was ……….. a guillotine for cutting the heads off ………… an executioner in Monaco. ……… the ministers wrote a letter asking the French Government whether they could lend them a machine ……… an expert to cut off the criminal’s head off. ( and, neither, so, nor)

31. Read the following passage and make notes by drawing and filling the boxes given below.

Women’s Empowerment is the art of giving power or authority to women. It involves women’s organization which aims to increase their self-reliance, encourages them to make choice and to control resources. Women experience subordination or powerlessness in multiple domains. These include the home, the work place and all other public places. The strategies for empowerment of women can be classified as legal, social and economic.

32. Write a letter of application in response to the following advertisement which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ dated October 17, 2014.

33. Imagine that you are the president of the Students’ Council of your college and you have to speak on spreading awareness about cleanliness. Using the points given below, write a speech in about 100 words.

Need of cleanliness – individual responsibility – cleanliness at home and public places – health benefits – beautification of nation

OR

The following line graph provides information about the growth of population in India over a period of 50 years. Using the information, write a report in about 120 words.

34. What do the numbered words in the following extract refer to?

The Gregorian solar calendar was named after Pope Gregory XIII, who (1) introduced it (2) in 1582. The Julian calendar was also a solar calendar, based on the time it takes for earth to travel one complete loop round the sun. In Julius Caesar’s time, although astronomers believed that the sun revolved around Earth, they (3) still managed to make fairly accurate measurement. People all over the world still use the calendar and they (4) are happy with the same.

1) who: …………………. 2) it : …………………. 3) they : …………………. 4) they : ………………….

35. Rearrange the jumbled segments to form a meaningful sentence.

 application / my resume/ I /with this/ have /enclosed