CBSE Class 10 English Previous Question Paper 2017 Solution

CBSE Class 10 English Previous Question Paper 2017 Solution

SECTION – A (Reading Skills)

1) Read the passage given below.

Then all the windows of the grey wooden house (Miss Hilton used to live here. She expired last week.), were thrown open, a thing I had never seen before.

At the end of the day a sign was nailed on the mango tree : FOR SALE.

Nobody in the street knew Miss Hilton. While she lived, her front  gate was always locked and no one ever saw her leave or saw anybody go in. So even if you wanted to, you couldn’t feel sorry and say that you missed Miss Hilton.

When I think of her house I see just two colours. Grey and green. The green of the mango tree, the grey of the house and the grey of the high iron fence that prevented you from getting at the mangoes.

If your cricket ball fell in Miss Hilton’s courtyard you never got it back. It wasn’t the mango season when Miss Hilton died. But we got back about ten or twelve of our cricket balls.

The house was sold and we were prepared to dislike the new owners even before they came. I think we were a little worried. Already we had one resident of the street who kept on complaining about us to our parents. He complained that we played cricket on the pavement; and if we were not playing cricket he complained that we were making too much noise anyway.

One afternoon when I came back from school Pal said, “Is a man and a woman. She pretty pretty, but he ugly like hell”. I didn’t see much. The front gate was open, but the windows were shut again. I heard a dog barking in an angry way.

One thing was settled pretty quickly. Whoever these people were they would never be the sort of people to complain that we were making noise and disturbing their sleep.

A lot of noise came from the house that night. The radio was going at full volume until midnight when the radio station closed down. The dog was barking and the man was shouting. I didn’t hear the woman.

 

On the basis of your understanding of the above passage complete the following statements :

(a) Nobody went into Miss Hilton’s house because her front ___________ .

Ans: gate/door was always locked.

(b) Her house had only two colours, (i) ______ and (ii) _______.

Ans: grey and green

(c) High iron fence did not let the boys get ____________.

Ans: mangoes /at the mangoes.

(d) They never got it back if their ______ fell into her courtyard.

Ans: ball/ cricket ball

(e) The boys were ready to dislike the __________ .

Ans: new owners/new owners even before they came

(f) One resident of the street always ___________ .

Ans: kept on complaining/always complained

(g) New owners of Miss Hilton’s house were (i) ___________ and (ii) __________ .

Ans: a man and a woman.

(h) A man was shouting, a dog was barking, only ____________ .

Ans: the woman was quiet/silent/voice of the woman was not heard/I did not hear the woman.

 

2) Read the passage given below :

During our growing up years we as children were taught–both at home and school–to worship the photos and idols of the gods of our respective religions. When we grow a little older, we were to read holy books like The Bhagwad Gita, Bible and Quran; we were told that there are a lot of life lessons to be learnt from these holy books. We were then introduced to stories from our mythologies which taught us about ethics and morality–what is good and what is bad. I also learnt to be respectful towards my parents who made my life comfortable with their hard work and love and care, and my teachers who guided me to become a good student and a responsible citizen.

Much later in life, I realised that though we learn much from our respective holy books, there is a lot to learn from our surroundings. This realisation dawned upon me when I learnt to enquire and explore. Everything around us–the sun, the moon, the stars, rain, rivers, stones, rocks, birds, plants and animals–teach us many valuable life lessons.

No wonder that besides the scriptures in many cultures nature is also worshipped. The message that we get is to save our environment and maintain ecological balance. People are taught to live in harmony with nature and recognise that there is God in all aspects of nature.

Nature is a great teacher. A river never stops flowing. If it finds an obstacle in its way in the form of a heavy rock, the river water fights to remove it from its path or finds an alternative path to move ahead. This teaches us to be progressive in life, and keep the fighting spirit alive.

Snakes are worshipped as they eat insects in the field that can hurt our crops, thus protecting the grains for us. In fact, whatever we worship is our helper and makes our lives easy for us. There are many such examples in nature, but we are not ready to learn a lesson. Overcome with greed, we are destroying nature. As a result we face natural disasters like drought, flood and landslides. We don’t know that nature is angry with us. However, it is never too late to learn. If we learn to respect nature the quality of our life will improve.

2.1 Answer briefly the following questions :

(a) What are we taught in our childhood and growing up years ?

Ans:  To worship the photos and idols of our respective religions/stories from mythology/to read The Gita ,Bible and Quran.

(b) Why should we respect our parents and teachers ?

Ans: The parents made our lives comfortable with their hard work and care- the teachers guided us to be good students and good citizens.

(c) What message do we get when we worship nature ?

Ans: To save our environment and maintain ecological balance; to be progressive in life; to live in harmony with nature; to recognize that there is God in all aspects of nature.

(d) How does a river face an obstacle that comes in its way ?

Ans: Fights to remove the obstacle or finds an alternate path

2.2 Choose meanings of the words given below with the help of options that follow :

(e) guided

 (i) answered

 (ii) advised

 (iii) fought

 (iv) polished

Ans: (ii) advised

 

(f) explore

 (i) search

 (ii) frequent

 (iii) describe

 (iv) request

Ans: (i) search

 

(g) valuable

 (i) proper

 (ii) desirable

 (iii) available

 (iv) useful

Ans: (iv) useful

 

(h) harmony

 (i) beauty

 (ii) friendship

 (iii) discomfort

 (iv) honesty

Ans: friendship

SECTION – B (Writing Skills with Grammar)

3) There is a busy road in front of your school. A large number of students have to cross the road while going back home. They run a great risk. Write a letter in 100-120 words to the Editor, Navjiwan Times, Agra drawing attention of the concerned authorities to the problem. Make a request to mark a zebra crossing and to put traffic lights in front of your school. You are Amit/Anita, Class X, New Age Public School, Ram Nagar, Agra.

Ans: Objective: – To use an appropriate style and format to write a formal/an informal letter.

Note: – No marks are to be awarded if only the format is given. Credit should be given for the candidate’s creativity in presenting his/her own ideas.

Format –

i.) Sender’s address

ii.) Date

iii.) Receiver’s address

iv.) Subject/Heading

v.) Salutation

vi.) Closing

Content –

Expression –

– Coherence and relevance of ideas and style –

– grammatical accuracy, appropriate words and spelling –

Value points : Individual writing the letter – problem –its consequence – solution (as given in the question)

or

Write an article in 100-150 words on ‘Importance of Morning Walk.’ You are Amit/Anita. Use the following clues :

  • makes you rise early
  • fresh air
  • blood rushes through your body
  • energy for the day
  • hungry for breakfast
  • good for studies
  • all day active

Ans: Format

Title and writer’s name

Content

Expression

– Coherence and relevance of ideas and style – 1 mark

– Grammatical accuracy, appropriate words and spelling – 1 mark

Value points : as given in the question paper (Any five)

 

4) Write a story in 150-200 words based on the following outline :

two cats -hungry – a loaf of bread – can’t divide -each greedy – wants more – a clever monkey – offered to help – bit by bit – ate the bread – his fee – bread finished – cats foolish – still hungry.

Ans: Format

Title and moral of the story

Creative Content

Expression

– Coherence and relevance of ideas and style

– Grammatical accuracy, appropriate words and spellings

Suggested Value Points:

(The outline is given in the question paper)

or

Complete the story in 150-200 words which begins as the following :

 It was a family picnic. The picnic spot was the bank of a river

Ans: Format

Title and moral of the story

Creative Content

Expression

– Coherence and relevance of ideas and style

– Grammatical accuracy, appropriate words and spellings

Suggested Value Points:

(The outline is given in the question paper)

 

5) Complete the paragraph given below by filling in the blanks with the help of options that follow :

I met a smart young person (a) _____________ wanted a ‘selfie’ (b) ____________ me. So we (c) ___________ on top of a boundary wall.

(a) (i) which

(ii) who

(iii) whose

(iv) whom

Ans: (ii) who

(b) (i) with

(ii) on

(iii) for

(iv) to

Ans: (b) (i) with

(c) (i) sit

(ii) sits

(iii) sat

(iv) sitting

Ans: (iii) sat

 

6.) The following paragraph has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the error and its correction as shown in the example.

A saint walks the streets of Kolkata. e.g. walks walked It can happen only at India. It (a) _at_____ ___in__

is time that us realised our (b) __us____ __we____ strength. We are greater people. We (c) __greater____ ___great___ have so much religious leaders. (d) __much____ __many____

 

7.) Rearrange the words / phrases given below to form meaningful sentences.

(a) beautiful / Masha / dog / is a / young.

Ans: Masha is a beautiful young dog.

(b) praised / she / be / to / likes.

Ans: She likes to be praised.

(c) policemen / group / works / of / with a / she

Ans: She works with a group of policemen.

 

SECTION – C (Literature : Textbooks and Long Reading Text) 25 marks

 

8.) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

“But I can get a hair-dye

And set such colour there,

Brown, or black, or carrot,

That young men in despair

May love me for myself alone

And not my yellow hair.”

(a) Who is speaking these lines ?

Ans: The poet’s friend

(b) Why are young men in despair ?

Ans: They are in love with the speaker./ They want to win the love of the speaker . (young woman)/ The speaker does not respond to their love .

(c) What is the antonym of the word, ‘despair’ ?

Ans: hope.

or

“Please don’t shout! You can shout yourself hoarse in your own house but here I must ask you to restrain yourself !”

(a) Who is speaking and to whom ?

Ans: Natalya to Lomov

(b) What is the dispute over ?

Ans: Over the ownership of Oxen Meadows.

(c) What does the word, ‘restrain’ mean ?

Ans: check / control

 

9.)Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each :

(a) What do the elders in Goa still love to remember ?

Ans: good old Portugese days ; loaves of bread ; makers of bread ; mixers, moulders , furnaces; baker’s bamboo sounds

(b) What are the three things that can’t happen in a treeless forest ?

Ans: empty forest – no bird ; no insect ; no sun (any other relevant points)

(c) Why was Mathilda always unhappy after her marriage ?

Ans: born into a family of clerks, no dowry, married to a clerk – but wanted to enjoy a life of luxury.

(d) How did Richard Ebright’s mother help him ?

Ans: encouraged his interest in learning ; took him on trips ; bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras etc.

 

10.) Answer the following question in 80-100 words :

Whenever we want to achieve something difficulties always come in our way. What did Valli have to do to go and ride in a bus ?

Ans: Move from general to specific . One must be ambitious in life – Valli was so – a simple desire , to ride a bus- watched the bus, its schedule, listened to people’s conversation about their journey – fare – collected 30 paise

or

Education is always a great asset in the life of a woman. How did Bholi, an educated girl, face the challenge posed by Bishambar’s greed ?

Ans: Importance of education in one’s life – the transformation – change in the quality of life[1]Bholi – her looks – neglected – sent to school , received encouragement from a teacher  – got good education yet no marriage prospects – Bishambar’s greed – Bholi’s  courage – bold step –confidence.

 

11.) Answer the following question in 150-200 words :

How did Miss Sullivan help Helen Keller when she was studying at  Cambridge School ?

Ans: No material for the blind available – teachers going at their normal pace – Miss  Sullivan’s help- Helen could keep pace – new subjects – spelled into her hand- finger alphabet- attended all classes with Helen – no embossed books available.

 Or

 Attempt a character sketch of Mr. Gilman.

Ans: Mr. Gilman – Principal Cambridge School – sympathetic towards Helen – knew her limitations- learnt finger alphabets for Helen – English literature – permission to study Maths – accommodating but rigid – Gilman’s view – Helen going too fast – Helen not well – Gilman made changes in schedule – Helen withdrew from school .

Or

 Describe the difference between Anne’s and Margot’s feelings for Peter.

Ans: Margot thought of Peter as a friend , a brother – could not share thoughts – intellectually not equal – Anne thought otherwise – jealous –tells Margot , she admires Peter though can’t trust him

 Or

 Why did Anne like her father more than she liked her mother ?

Ans: Father , more understanding than her mother – father could empathize – mother critical of her- mother unimaginative – always suspicious – generation gap, apparent more in the mother than in father.

 

CBSE Class 10 Previous Question Paper 2017 Solution

Updated: June 11, 2022 — 2:21 pm

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