B.A. (Programme)/1 ENGLISH LANGUAGE-Paper I (A)
Time : 3 Hours Maximum Marks 100
Attempt All questions.
1. Answer any five of the following questions in about 30 words each : 3x5=15
(i) Why do you think Soraya runs away with Mr. Sengupta in “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” ?
(ii) Why was the plucking of flowers forbidden before the festival of Nandashtami ?
(iii) Who do you think are the “imaginary” fathers referred to in the poem “Sisters” ?
(iv) What was Savitri’s reaction to Bannu’s fast in “A Ten Day Fast” ?
(v) What did Bagchi’s mother mean, when she told him to “Go, kiss the world”?
(vi) What do you think is the speaker's attitude towards Amalkanti ?
(vii ) In “Hitting Dowry for a Six” what, according the writer, are the three factors which determine whether a girl can resist the demand for dowry?
2. Answer any two of the following questions in about 75-100 words each : 5x2= 10
(1) In “Girls” why is it so important for the narrator’s mother to “have a boy this time”?
(ii) What do you think is the role of chocolate in Tara’s life?
(iii) What is the picture of inzamum that emerges from “Inzi Lets Things Flow Over him”?
3. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow :
Among the birds in India-there are over 2,000 of them - the most beautiful, the most attractive and the most brilliantly colored one is the peacock, our National Bird. This charming bird is a familiar sight all over the country. It belongs to the family of pheasants. The male is the largest of pheasants. The female is the peahen. Collectively, both are called peafowl.
'There are three well-known species of the peacock. The blue peacock or Indian peafowl is found only in 1 1) India and Sri Lanka. The green peacock or Burmese peafowl is found in Burma and South Asia. There is the Ethiopian peacock which has a lot of feathers on its head.
The peacock is a cosmopolitan bird. It is fairly well dispersed throughout the globe. Though found in different regions, its greatest number and variety is found in large agricultural farms, gardens. groves and forests. The Indian peafowl lives mainly in the humid forests of the country. It also loves thick beds of reeds 20 and grass, clusters of trees, and open grassy spaces along fresh waters. In the sub-Himalayan forest belt, forest patches in the Indo-Gangetic plains and in the
I3rahmaputra valley, the peacock finds a comfortable home. It loves to stay in woods along the valleys of the Siwalik hills and the tree-covered banks of rivers. In southern and central India, it is found mostly in jungles. At higher altitudes, such as the Nilgiris, Cardamom and Palms, the bird can be observed at a height of about 2,500 metres: In some of the areas of Rajasthan, Saurashtra,: parts of Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, and around Delhi the peacock was kept in the gardens of shrines, temples and mosques. Perhaps this location helped the peacock to acquire a religious importance.
The peacock is known by many names. For example, the common Sanskrit. name for it is Mayura, which means a killer. It implies that the peacock is a killer of the killer- the snake. The colorful, external body features of the peacock have often been given names which have deeper meanings. The Sanskrit term Sikh] (possessor of the crest) suggests dignity, novelty and 40 pride. The blue neck and the breast, adding greatly to the bird's beauty, give it the name Neelakantha (blue necked). Since the peacock is a serpent eater, it is believed that the reptile's venom has turned its neck and throat Hue.
From early times, the peacock has helped to satisfy man's day- to day needs and to provide him with recreation and also inspiration. Besides its decorative and recreational qualities, the peacock has many other uses. Beautiful hand fans are made out of the feathers of 50 the peacock: and peacock eggs are delicious. These were probably eaten by primitive people, including kings and nobles. The flesh has also been used in the preparation of medicines.
Question;
(i) What are the various species of peacock?
(ii) What is the natural habit of peacock?
(iii) Why is the peacock called ‘Neelkanth’?
(iv) Why has the peacock acquired a religious importance ?
(v) In what ways is the peacock useful to man ?
(vi) Make sentences of your own with:
species, novelty
(vii) Find word from the passage, which mean the opposite of:
ugly, lost. state
4. (a) Fill in the blanks with the phrases given in the box:
| come to mind; established pattern; toyed with the idea; fictional treatment; broke her heart; soft option |
( 1 ) When Mary hi'ay l the news of her son’s death in the War, it........................
(2) He wanted to becomt, a film star and............................... of going to Hull} wood.
(.3) In his nervousness, he said the first thing that.................
(4) Shyam Benegal's.................... of the figure of Subhas Chandra Bose was met with critical acclaim.
(5)My father wanted me to follow the........................ and become a doctor like him.
(b) Use any five of the following phrases in sentences of your own so that their meaning becomes clear : 5
tongue-in-cheek, in full cry, frisson of combat, feted and felicitated, take a stand, to raise the hammer, to set aside.
(c) Match the expressions in Column A with their meanings in Column B 5
Column A Column B
(1) pumping testosterone (1) careful and attentive
(ii) sarcasm (2) boring, ordinary and not original
(iii) overloaded with baggage (3) device used by an author to express a meaning different from the
surface meaning of the words
(iv) circumspect (4) chemical substance in the body, male hormone that excites
(v) acrimonious (5) prejudices that influence how we think and behave
(6) bitter and angry
5. (a) Choose the correct or more appropriate verb : 5
(a) We had to (plan/decide) whether to continue the journey.
(ii) She's been (wondering/thinking) whether to look for a new job.
(iii) The committee was (debating/imagining) whether to postpone its next meeting and what the consequences
might be.
(iv) Neena (wanted/arranged) for the kittens to go to good homes.
(v) Rahul looked so ridiculous that for a moment we didn't (realize/know) whether to take him seriously.
(vt) Tonight I'm going to check that Susan (does/ will) do her homework correctly.
(vii) I (decided/persuaded) my mother to buy a new car.
(viii) We (allowed/agreed) him to go to the party.
(ix) He (warned/threatened) the children to away.
(x) She (promised/told) him to Visit the exhibition before it ended.
(b) Do as directed: 1O
(1) Someone had reported the theft to the police. (Change into active voice)
(ii) ‘I bet Shvam won't be on time’. (Change to indirect speech)
(iii) “You will,...................?” (Add a question tag)
(iv) I was handed the plate. (Change to direct speech)
(v) She can't see the stage clearly. (Change into passive voice)
(vi) Less than three quarters of....................... hour later, she was home. (Add the appropriate article)
(vii) She the handed me the plate. (Change to passive voice)
(viii) The news surprised me. (Change to active voice)
(ix) 'The doctor did advise you to lose weight (Add a question tag)
(x) He posted the card yesterday. (Change to indirect speech)
(c) Use the appropriate modals in the following sentences from the box given below. You may have to use the negative form in some cases : 5
| used to; must; have to; could; might; should |
(1) People with fair skins.............................. be particularly careful when they go out in the Sun.
(ii) We went hack to Dublin to see the house where we.................... live in the 1960s.
(iii) Students............... be encouraged to type their assignments.
(iv) I'll be quite late getting to London, but you .................. change your plans for me.
(c ) The major changes to the timetable.............. cause delay and confusion.
6. (a) Write a dialogue in about 100 words between Tara and her doctor about her inability to bear child. 5
(b) You want to apply for a job as a Software Engineer in a multinational company. Prepare a short curriculum vitae (C.V.) of yourself in about 100-150 words. 10
(c) In about 250-300 words, write an essay on “The importance of the environment in today’s worlds”. 10