Functional English – Important Question Bank for JKBOSE (Summer Zone & Winter Zone) HSC Examination 2016

1.Read the following passage and the questions that following it:

Unquestionably a literary life is for the  most part an unhappy life; because, if you have a genius, you must suffer the penalty of genius; and if you have only talent, there are so many cares and worries incidental to the circumstance of men of letters, as to make life exceedingly miserable. Besides the pangs of composition, and the continuous disappointment which a true artist feels at his inability to reveal himself, there is the ever-recurring difficulty of gaining the public ear. Young writers are buoyed up by the hope and the belief that they have only to throw that poem at the world’s feet to get back in return the laurel crown, that they have only to push that novel into print to be acknowledged at once as a new light in literature, you can never convince a young author that the editors of magazine and the publishers of a books are a practical body of men, who are by no means frantically anxious about placing the best literature before the public. Nay, that for the most part they are mere brokers, who conduct their business on the hardest lines of a profit and loss account. But supposing your book fairly launches, its perils are only beginning. You have to run the gauntlet of the critics. To a young author, again , this seems to be as terrible an ordeal as passing down the files of Sioux or Comanche Indians, each one of whom is thirsting for your scalp.

Answer the following Question:

1. Why is the literary life mostly on unhappy one?
2. What are the ambitions of a young writer?
3. Men of letters, genius or talented, suffer. What are their pains?
4. Are editors and publishers sympathetic to young authors?
5. Use the words in your own sentences:

• Pangs
• To run the gauntlet.

2. Explain with reference to the context:

(A).  My father could see it clearly – I was a musician, not a marker, but a performer of music, that is what he saw. He seemed to be aware of everything I did and frequently his hand shot out to grab my ears and pull till I yelped. But changes are taking place and they are not subtle. In recent years, hints of wildlife migration and local extinction have been picked up around the world – butterflies moving to new ranges for instance or plants moving to higher altitude on mountains.

(B). My wish for the next generation is that they be value-based, strongly value-based with character. Happy people within giving by nature. This is how I would like a nation to be, made up of people with character, creative and giving.

(C). He came to know ultimately that he had cut a sorry figure on account of his ignorance of farming. “For once this young peasant has scoured over me. But none of this more. Is hall teach him a lesson now,” thought he.

3. Explain with reference to the context:

We can pull and push and lift and drive,

We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,

We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,

We can see and hear and count and read and write.

 OR

But also give him quiet time

To ponder the eternal mystery of

Birds in the sky

Bees in the Sun.

4. a). The story some Hill-Station Ghosts ends by a remark of the Chowkidar. Quote the remark and bring out the humor in it.

b) . Vaikom Muhammad Basher has a sense of humor bring this out in a paragraph giving example from the story The Rightful Inheritors of the Earth.

c). Ha’ peeny is an African. Don’t you think he represents all the little boys of the world who crave for love and family? Write a paragraph about what you feel.

d) . Write a paragraph on the trail of wits between the farmer and the devil.

e) . Do you think “The Turning Point’s is the right title for the story written by Anita Desai. Give reasons.

f) . Write a brief article for your school magazine stating how taking up the challenge by Kiran Bedi inspired you.

g) . After reading Abraham Lincoln’s letter to His Son’s. teacher what are your views about Lincoln as a father.

h).  Write rhyme scheme of first stanza of the secret of the Machine by Rudyard Kipling.

5. a) Write any humorous situation form some Hill-Station Ghost.

b) Write a brief speech about ‘Man should not try disturbs the order of things.’

c) Write a brief note about how you feel for Ha’ penny.

d) Briefly describe what inspired you most after reading Kira Bedi’s Turning Point.

e) Write brief speech on “Save Our Forests.”

f) Develop a word web about what you expect from teachers.

Let’s try to make this a two way exercise. While we gather the question banks, you might have some inputs on this too! Please use the comments box below and post questions that you think are important from your analysis. It would help the HSC community a lot.

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