ICSE EXAMINATION

SPECIMEN QUESTION PAPER

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(ENGLISH PAPER — 1)

Maximum Marks: 80

Time allowed: Two

hours

Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately..

You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.

This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.

The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Attempt all five questions.

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [].

You are advised to spend not more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20 minutes in
answering Question 2.
 Instruction for the Supervising Examiner

Kindly read aloud the Instructions given above to all the candidates present in the Examination
Hall.

Question 1
(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)
Write a composition (300 - 350 words) on any one of the following: [20]
(a) Write an original story that begins with the words: “He was the funniest boy I had
ever met. He would make everyone laugh…………….”
(b) You had booked a ticket on an early morning train. However, you woke up late and
missed it. You then decided to run to catch a bus to the next station where you hoped to
catch up with the train. Narrate the entire event, how you felt, the effort you made and
how you finally caught the train. What did you learn from this stressful experience?
(c) All Girls or all Boys Schools provide a better learning environment than co-
educational schools. Express your views either for or against the statement.
(d) Describe in detail the view from your bedroom window. Does your room overlook a
park? A busy street? What are the sights, sounds and smells that you would typically see,
hear and experience at different times of the day? When do you most enjoy the view?
Early in the morning, in the evening or late at night?
(e) Study the picture given below. Write a short story or description or an account of what
the picture suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or
you may take suggestions from it; however, your composition must have a clear
connection with the picture.
Question 2

(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.) [10]

Select any one of the following:

(a) Break time (recess) at your school is only for a duration of fifteen minutes. Write a
letter to your Principal requesting an extension in the break-time from fifteen minutes to
half an hour. Give reasons for your request and explain in what way an extended break
would make a difference to you as a student.

(b) You are to be awarded a Special Prize at the Annual Prize Day ceremony of your
school. Write a letter to a lady relative giving her the news. Be sure to include details of
the prize that you are to receive and tell her why you have been chosen for this honour.

Question 3

(a) Your school is hosting an interschool debate competition. Write a notice for your
school informing them of the event. [5]
(b) Write an e-mail to the principal of a neighbouring school informing her of the event
and requesting her to send a team to participate. [5]

Question 4

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

Lying in bed, Swami realized with a shudder that it was Monday morning. It looked as
though only a moment ago it had been the last period on Friday; already Monday was
here. He hoped that an earthquake would reduce the school building to dust, but that good
building — Albert Mission School – had withstood similar prayers for over a hundred
years now. At nine o’clock Swaminathan wailed, “I have a headache.” His mother said,
“Why don’t you go to school in a bullock cart?”
“So that I may be completely dead at the other end? Have you any idea what it means to
be jolted in a cart?”
“Have you any important lessons today?”
“Important! Bah! That geography teacher has been teaching the same lesson for over a
year now. And we have arithmetic, which means for a whole period we are going to be
beaten by the teacher….. Important lessons!”
And Mother generously suggested that Swami might stay at home.
At 9:30, when he ought to have been lining up in the school prayer hall, Swami was lying
on the bench in Mother’s room. Father asked him, “Have you no school today?”
“Headache,” Swami replied.
“Nonsense! Dress up and go.”
“Headache.”
“Loaf about less on Sundays and you will be without a headache on Monday.”
Swami knew how stubborn his father could be and changed his tactics. “I can’t go so late
to class.”
“I agree, but you’ll have to; it is your own fault. You should have asked me before
deciding to stay away.”
“What will the teacher think if I go so late?”
“Tell him you had a headache and so are late.”
“He will beat me if I say so.”
“Will he? Let us see. What is his name?”
“Mr. Samuel.”
“Does he beat the boys?”
“He is very violent, especially with boys who come late. Some days ago a boy was made
to stay on his knees for a whole period in a corner of the class because he came late, and
that after getting six cuts from the cane and having his ears twisted. I wouldn’t like to go
late to Mr. Samuel’s class.”
“If he is so violent, why not tell your headmaster about it?”
“They say that even the headmaster is afraid of him. He is such a violent man.”
And then Swami gave a lurid account of Samuel’s violence; how when he started caning
he would not stop till he saw blood on the boy’s hand, which he made the boy press to his
forehead like a vermillion marking. Swami hoped that his father would be made to see
that he couldn’t go to his class late. But Father’s behaviour took an unexpected turn. He
became excited. “What do these people mean by beating our children? They must be
driven out of service. I will see…”
The result was he proposed to send Swami late to his class as a kind of challenge. He was
also going to send a letter with Swami to the headmaster. No amount of protest from
Swami was of any avail: Swami had to go to school.
By the time he was ready Father had composed a long letter to the headmaster, put in an
envelope and sealed it.
“What have you written, Father?” Swaminathan asked apprehensively.
“Nothing for you. Give it to your headmaster and go to your class.”
Swami’s father did not know the truth, that actually Mr. Samuel was a very kind and
gentle man.
(a) Give the meaning of each of the following words as used in the passage. [3]
One word answers or short phrases will be accepted.
(i) jolted (line 8)
(ii) stubborn (line 21)
(iii) avail (line 45)
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
(i) What did Swami wish for on a Monday morning? Why was his wish unlikely to be
answered? [2]
(ii) Which sentence tells us that Swami’s father was completely unsympathetic to his
son’s headache? [2]
(iii) In what way was Swami’s Mother’s response different from his father’s? [2]
(iv) Why did Swami give a colourful account of Mr. Samuel to his father? [2]
(v) In what way did Father’s behaviour take an unexpected turn? [2]
(vi) What was Swami finally ordered to do by his father? [2]
(c) (i) In not more than 60 words describe how Swami tries to prove that Mr. Samuel is a
violent man. [5]

Question 5:
(a) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in
brackets. Do not copy the passage, but write in correct serial order the word or phrase
appropriate to the blank space. [4]
Example:
(0) One morning I (0) … (see) the python curled up on the dressing table.
Answer: saw.
It was (1)… (gaze) at its own reflection in the mirror. I (2) … (go) for grandfather but by
the time we (3) … (return) to the room, the python (4) … (move) on. He was seen in the
garden and once the cook saw him (5) … (crawl) up the ladder to the roof. Then we (6)
… (find) him on the dressing table again (7) … (admire) himself in the mirror. “He’s
trying to look better for Aunt Mabel” I said. I (8) … (regret) this remark
immediately because grandmother overheard and held up my pocket money for the rest of
the week!

(b) Fill in the blanks with an appropriate word: [4]

(i) He found the key just _______ the front door.
(ii) I could not accompany my cousin _______ the trip because I had fever.
(iii) The noise prevented us _______ sleeping.
(iv) The young man put the flute _______ his lips and began to play.
(v) Ashok leaned ________ the wall tiredly.
(vi) The paper dart went gliding ______ the air.
(vii) The cyclist rode quickly ______ the path.
(viii) The young child carried the heavy bucket ______ the stairs.

(c) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using and, but or
so. [4]
(i) He has learnt to cycle. He has yet to learn to swim.
(ii) The child helped her mother to make breakfast. She washed the tomatoes.
(iii) They bought a new car. They can travel long distances.
(iv) Sunita opened her purse. She found the money missing.
(d) Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make
other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.
[8]
(i) Arun gave Ramesh some excellent advice.
(Begin: Ramesh was………………………………………)
(ii) As soon as Sania sat down to study, the lights went off.
(Begin: No sooner ………………………………………………………)
(iii) Has Alia written to you?
(Begin: Have you ……………)
(iv) As soon as the function got over. The crowd dispersed.
(Begin: Hardly had ………………………………………………..)
(v) The monsoon is the best season in our country.
(Rewrite using ‘good’)
(vi) Harish was so tired that he could not keep his eyes open.
(Begin: Harish was too …………………………….)
(vii) Father said to Sunil, “I can help you with your homework.”
(Begin: Father told Sunil………………………………………..)
(viii) Naresh goes to a school which has over a thousand students.
(Begin: There……………………………………………………)