(a) Your uncle has offered to get you a pet for your birthday.

Write a letter to him telling him

what you would like, give reasons for your choice and tell him how you would take care of your
pet.

(b)The traffic outside your school is very heavy and [Link] a letter to the Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Traffic) pointing out the danger of such heavy and chaotic traffic in a
school zone. Suggest possible solutions for the problem.

Question 3

i) Your school is hosting an interschool music competition. Write a notice informing your school
about the event.

(ii) Write an e-mail to the Principal of a neighbouring school informing him/her of the event and
requesting him/her to send a team to participate.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

He would have gone on worrying and worrying in this way if an unexpected distraction had not
arrived in the form of a heavily loaded car bumping over the grassy bank, dodging between the
coconut trees and raising a cloud of dust in the narrow path before it came to a standstill in
front of Mon Repos, the white bungalow that stood empty most of the year. It was the de Silvas,
the family that came from Bombay to spend an occasional holiday in it and bring it suddenly to
life for a few days. They had bought Mon Repos a year ago from the Vakils who had been one of
the first Bombay families to build holiday. cottages on the Thul beach. But they had grown too
old and frail to come often and, after the house has stood empty for several years, sold it to the
de Silvas who were young and energetic and seemed heartily to enjoy life on the beach.

Whenever they came, life changed for the family and the little hut, too.

Immediately there was a hubbub, all kinds of excitement and expectations, and of course work
to be done, employment to be had and wages.

Hari, Bela and Kamal stood by their door under the frangipani tree, tense with excitement
watching and holding Pinto back as he barked at the unfamiliar sight of a car and stränger till
his voice was quite hoarse. There was a commotion in the marshy creek that separated the hut
from the house, too - herons, egrets, kingfishers and moorhens all flapping into the dense
greenery of the pandanus, the casuarina and the bhindi trees for shelter.

'Do you think they have come here for good?' Bela whispered.

"Hunh - who would live here if he had a house in Bombay?' Hari scoffed.

'But look how much luggage they've brought - it can't be just for a few days,' Bela said, and it
was true that an unbelievable number of boxes and bags and baskets were being taken out of
the car, out of the boot and off the luggage carrier so that anyone would have thought they had
come to stay forever. For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the
passage) from the options provided:

1. distraction (line 2)

(a) something that stops you from thinking about something else

(b) something that helps you to think about something else

(c) something that you use for weight-training

(d) something that helps you to not be distracted

2. frail

(a) strong

(b) funny

(c) fast

(d) weak

3. dense

(a) stupid

(b) very thick

(c) art

Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.

(a) Who were the Vakils?

(b) Why was the house more suited to the De Silvas?

(c) Who was Pinto?

(d) What effect did the noise have on the natural surroundings?

(e) From Hari's answer to Bela's question what opinion does Hari have of Bombay?

iii) In not more than 50 words describe how the arrival of the De Silvas changed

life for the family in the little hut

i) In each of the following items, sentence I is complete, while sentence II is not. Complete
sentence II, making it as similar as possible to sentence I. Write sentence II in each case. [5]

(I) The heavy showers of rain revived the plants

(II) The plants……..………………………………

(a) (I) Sushil's attitude towards work has always puzzled me..

(II) I have ……………………………………….

(b) (I) As soon as I solved one problem, the teacher gave me another..

(II) No sooner …………………………………

(c) (I) He was too gentle to have committed the crime.

(II) He was so ………………………………………..

(d) (I) Not only was he a famous actor but also a renowned director.

(II) Besides ………………………………..

(e) (I) Robin said, "It gives me great pleasure to be here this evening."

II) Robin said ………………………………..

ii) Fill in each blank with a suitable word. (Do not write the sentence.) [5]

(a) The judge turned ________ the defendant's appeal for a postponement.

(b) He turned ________ for the programme earlier than usual.

(c) There is an urgent need ________ a bus stop in this village.

(d) He has poor eyesight and is in need ________ glasses.

(e) The speeding driver was asked to pull ________ by the traffic police.

(f) She is very ill, but the doctors think she will pull ________.

(g) She set ________ a little money each week for the child's education.

(h) I would not even know how to set ________ mending a watch.

(i) One should not give ________ hope despite the hurdles.

(j) The mother gave ________ to the persistent demands of her child.

: Fill in the blanks in the passage given below with the appropriate form of the verb given in
brackets. Do not write the passage but write the verbs in the correct order. [5]

The rain approached like a dark curtain. I _____ (1) (see) it marching down the street, heavy and
remorseless. It ________(2) (drum) on the tin roof and swept across the road and over the
balcony of my room. I ______ (3) (sit) there without __________(4) (move), letting the rain soak my
sticky shirt and gritty hair. Outside, the street rapidly _________(5) (empty). Buses, cars and
bullock carts ___________(6) (plough) through the suddenly rushing water. A group of small boys
came jumping along a side street, which was like a river in spate. A garland of marigolds, swept
off the steps of a temple, came __________(7) (float) down the middle of the road. The rain
________ (8) (stop) as suddenly as it had begun. The day was _________(9) (end), and the breeze,
__________(10) (remain) cool and moist.

Read the passage given below and answer the questions (i), (ii) and (iii) that follow:

(1) Something happens to cats after we have enjoyed a delicious meal Call it a feline sugar hit or
a rush of good feeling. Abandoning our usually sedentary nature, we transform into crazy beans
who thunder down corridors, spring from one piece of furniture to another, or pounce from
behind half-closed doors to attack the shoelaces of unsuspecting passersby. It is as though we
are temporarily possessed. 5

(2) That, at least, is my excuse, dear reader - and the only explanation I can offer for my entirely
unplanned global TV debut.

(3) To be fair, I had no way of knowing that my master was receiving visitors that particular
afternoon. Nor that he was being interviewed live, let alone by one of America's most famous
journalists. 10

(4) All I knew was thin, a few minutes after gorging myself on a favourite treat of creamy
pudding. felt that sudden, primal explosion of energy. I made my way back to the suite of rooms
that I shared with my master and felt an overpowering compulsion to do something completely
mad. I wanted to run like a furious jungle cat, at that particular moment. 15

(5) Bursting through the door of the room in which my master received visitors, I tore up the
carpet as raced towards the sofa opposite where he was sitting, I ripped its fabric as I
scrambled up its side like a savage creature clawing its way up a perilous cliff. Then with a final
frenzied but I launched myself off one arm of the sofa, leaping towards the side. 20

(6) It was only at this point that realised the sofa was occupied by the journalist. She was
halfway through a sentence, and my abrupt appearance caught my master's guest completely
by surprise.
(7) You know, when something truly unexpected happens, time can seem to slow down. Well,
that's how it was. As I flew past the woman's face, her expression turned from one of calm
engagement to that of total surprise. 25

(8) As she pushed back in her seat to avoid me, the shock on her face could not have been more
evident.

(9) But, dear reader, she was not more shaken than me. I had not been expecting anyone on the
sofa, let alone a TV celebrity, nor one who was mid-interview. As I headed towards the opposite
end of the sofa, for the first time I observed the lighting, the cameras and the crew watching the
action from the shadows. By the time I landed on the other arm of the sofa, all the energy that
had propelled me was gone.

(10) I was, no longer, a furious jungle cat. The journalist looked at me. I looked at her. Both of us
were taking in what had just happened I was also conscious of the cameras still rolling as well
as many pairs of eyes watching me at that moment. My moment of global glory.

(i) (a) Given below are three words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in
the passage: [3]

(1) Inactive

(2) eating in a greedy manner

(3) dangerous

: ii) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:

(a) What is the usual nature of the narrator's kind? How is it differently presented in the
passage?[2]

(b) What did the "favourite treat of creamy pudding" do to the narrator? [2]

(c) Describe the actions of the narrator after bursting into the visitors' room [2]

(d) How did the journalist react when the narrator ‘flew past' her face? [2]

iii) Summarise how the narrator became a global celebrity (paragraphs 4 to 11) You are
required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words. Failure
to keep within the word limit will be penalised.