St.

Michael’s Academy
STD: XI (I) PRE-MODEL EXAMINATION – KEY MARKS: 80
29.01.2025 ENGLISH LITERATURE TIME: 3 HRS

SECTION A – 20 MARKS

Question 1 [10]

Choose the correct option for the following questions:

(i) The two people who gave the report of the battle are ________.
a) Ross and the Thane of Cawdor
b) Thane of Cawdor and the bleeding Sergeant
c) Ross and the bleeding Sergeant
d) Macbeth and Macdonwald

(ii) “Look like the flower but be the serpent under it” What two attributes do these words
of Lady Macbeth denote?
a) Innocence and deceitfulness
b) Fragrance and craftiness
c) Beauty and wonder
d) Innovation and determination

(iii) “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” – By
saying this Macbeth means that __________.

(i) He will give a chance for Duncan to make him the king
(ii)He will instigate the others to make him the king
(iii) He will not put in any effort to become the king.
(iv) He will wait for Fate to ordain him as the king.

a) Only (i) and (iii)

b) Only (ii) and (iii)
c) Only (iii) and (iv)
d) Only (ii) and (iv)

(iv) Statement 1: The arrow of murder that has been shot has not yet come down.
Statement 2: Malcolm and Donalbain flee from Macbeth’s castle.

a) Statement 1 is independent of Statement 2.

b) Statement 1 is the result of Statement 2.
c) Statement 1 and Statement 2 are similar.
d) Statement 1 is the reason for Statement 2.

(v) “When they looked again, they saw a white horror of sea raving over the place of their
homes.” What is the figure of speech used in the underlined portion of this line found in
A Living God?
a) Hyperbole
b) Personification
c) Metaphor
d) Simile

(vi) Mark Twain’s main purpose of writing the essay, Advice to Youth was to criticize
_________
a) The parents
b) The youngsters
c) The low and unrefined
d) The self-serving society
(vii). “Here’s your stupid cheap Chinese garbage” – Who said this in The Paper Menagerie
and in what context?
a) Jack’s father said this while scolding his wife.
b) Mark said this to Jack after crumpling and throwing Laohu
c) Jack said this to Mark after breaking the Obi-Wan toy.
d) Jack’s mother said this to Mark when Laohu stumbled and fell to the ground.

(viii). Based on the poem Abhisara, when ‘the storm growled from the corner of the sky” what
could be the reason for Vasavadatta to tremble in fear?
a) She was weak-hearted.
b) She had an uneasy feeling that something bad was about to happen
c) She had nowhere to take shelter.
d) She feared that lightning would strike her.

(ix) According to the poem, Why I Like the Hospital what does the visit to a hospital allow the
patients to do?
a) to live and act out in a crowd.
b) to be surrounded with patients
c) to be with themselves
d) to enjoy the meeting with visitors

(x) Which of the following is conveyed by the speaker in the third quatrain of the poem,
Sonnet 116?
a) Love is not affected by distance.
b) Love is not affected by weather.
c) Love is not affected by time.
d) Love is not affected by marriage.

Question 2

Complete the following sentences by providing a reason for each: [10]

(i) Banquo tells Macbeth that Duncan has brought great gifts because ______ (he has
been in extraordinary pleasure with the hospitality shown by Macbeth’s officers and
wife.)
(ii) “What, can the devil speak true?” - Banquo utters these words because _______.
(Ross brings information from Duncan has asked him to hail Macbeth as the Thane of
Cawdor, which is a fulfilment of the second prophecy received from the witches.)
(iii) According to Macbeth, Duncan has “double trust” on him because ______. (first
Macbeth is a kinsman to Duncan and then his host)
(iv) Macbeth said, “I’ll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done;” because
______ (Lady Macbeth asks him to go back to Duncan’s room and place the daggers
by the side of the guards).
(v) “A Living God” is an apt title to the story by Lafcadio Hearn because _______.
(human beings are deified only after they die. But in this story a man who is still
living is elevated to the status and god and worshipped.)
(vi) Adolph Knipe was an aspiring but a disheartened writer because ______. (all his
writings were rejected by the editors journals and newspapers.)
(vii) We know that the characters of the story “Thank You, Ma’am” are from a poor,
working class background because ______. (the lady is a working woman – she works
in a beauty parlour – the boy is poor and homeless – that is why he is stealing from
passersby.)
(viii) The speaker in Death of a Naturalist ducked through the hedges because ______. (he
heard the coarse croaking of the bull frogs – he has never heard them before.)
(ix) The enemy soldier could recognise the speaker because ______. (of the frown that the
soldier had when he entered hell. He had the same frown when he jabbed and killed
the enemy soldier.)
 (x) The mother in the hospital was in a dilemma because _______.(she was confused as to
how to declare to her children that she was affected with cancer.)

SECTION B – 60 MARKS

MACBETH – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Question 3

(i) Describe the strange events discussed in Act II Scene iv. Incorporate the following details
and write your answer in a short paragraph of about 100–150 words. [5]
(a) Ross’s impressions
(b) The old man’s narrative

(ii) Describe briefly the disorder and the conflict seen in Act I Scene i. Incorporate the
following details and write your answer in a short paragraph of about 100–150 words.
[5]

(a) The dramatic effect created by the witches

(b) The foreshadowing of the future events

(iii) (a) From Act I Scene iii, describe in detail the encounter between the witches and
Macbeth & Banquo. Write your answer in about 200 – 250 words.
[10]
OR
(b) From Act II Scene iii, write in detail the impact of the King’s murder on each of the
characters. Write your answer in about 200–250 words. [10]

PRISM – A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES

Question 4

(i) From The Great Automatic Gramatizator, capture the conversation between Adolf Knipe
and Bohlen when Knipe for the first time tells Bohlen that he had always wanted to be a
writer. Answer in 100–150 words incorporating the following details: [5]
(a) The creative urge of Knipe
(b) Mr. Bohlen’s response that was dripping with sympathy

(ii) Jack’s mother makes a moving distinction between ‘Ai’ and ‘Love’. Write a brief
character sketch of the mother based on this. Answer in 100–150 words incorporating the
following details:
[5]
(a) The context that led the mother to say ‘Ai’
(b) The mother’s pride in her racial identity.

(iii) (a) How did the boy’s attitude change from the beginning to the end of the story by
Langston Hughes? Write your answer in 200–250 words in the light of the story, Thank
You, Ma’am. [10]
OR
(b) Comment on lying as an art form in its usage as well as utility, as listed by Mark
Twain in his Advice to Youth. Write your answer in 200–250 words.
[10]

RHAPSODY: POETRY
Question 5
 (i) Explain how Tagore uses ‘Contrast” effectively in Abhisara – The Tryst? Write your answer
in 100–150 words incorporating the following details: [5]
(a) The contrast in the seasons
(b) The contrast in the statuses of the characters

(ii)What scenes of human suffering are depicted in the poem Why I Like the Hospital? Write
your answer in 100–150 words incorporating the following details: [5]
(a) State of mind of the women patients
(b) State of mind of the terminal patients

(iii) (a) “The horrors of war” and “Reconciliation and solidarity” are two clear themes of the
poem Strange Meeting. Validate these themes with close reference to the poem. Write
your answer in about 200–250 words. [10]
OR
(b) What is the poem Death of a Naturalist about? Critically evaluate this poem in about
200 – 250 words. [10]

All the best, Students!