ICSE Class 10, 9 English Language Practice Papers – 7 With Answers
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Write a composition (350-400 words) on any one of the following:
Question 1(a).
You recently visited a shopping mall for the first time. Narrate your experiences.
Answer:
I had never been to a mall as I come from a small hill town named Chamba. But I had heard a lot about the wonderful malls in big towns from my cousins who informed me that now they did not enjoy leisurely picnic days as the budding of malls all over the country had replaced them as sources of entertainment and shopping. Apparently people in big towns have lesser time and seek entertainment, food and shopping all at one place. Malls make a convenient outlet. Thus when we visited our Uncle in Hyderabad they took us to visit the Hyderabad Central Mall. It was my first visit and I was bursting with excitement.
Hyderabad Central is amongst the most happening malls in the city. There are multi-cuisine food courts, multi-plex cinema and shops of all kinds under one roof. My eyes just feasted on the escalators, the hustling people, the brightly lit shops and the huge infrastructure. My mother shopped enthusiastically. We now moved onto shopping for clothes for Diwali. There were so many bags. We had to go down to the parking to put them into our car!
Shopping always makes me hungry. We then moved on towards the multi-cuisine food courts while my sister and 1 preferred to gorge on pizzas, our parents preferred simple thalis . Now food usually makes one lethargic and we needed to rest. Still shopping had to be done. So we opted to view the Harry Potter movie showing at the multi-plex. It was a lovely movie. My sister slept through half of it.
Then it was time for tea before we could take on another bout of shopping. This time we shopped for shoes and accessories. The sweet mart had an assorted range of toffees and chocolates. I had never seen so much variety. Very artistically moulded chocolates and peppermint were in shapes of animals and dolls. Shopping had just begun to be so much fun in this wonder of wonders called a mall. I realised that I love shopping in a mall and would never forget my first experience..
Question 1(b).
Describe a Sunday evening which you can never forget.
Answer:
The Sunday I will never forget everyone has something that reminds them of something or someone. This is the day of the week that has for so long reminded me of the horror that gripped the world, when terror struck America.
Coffee in hand I had logged onto my “Mommies Group” online. My friends, tethered to each other over the internet. We had gone through our youth and adult life spending our days off and on chatting about inane things. When suddenly a message popped up on my monitor… Hey! Have you turned on the TV this morning? Um yeah… You need to turn on the news. Okay.
Newscasters looking confused. Was that real! I questioned myself silently in horror— “Did I just see that right? Did I just see a plane fly into a building in New York?” Horrific. What a horrific accident! I peer at the screen. Trying to grasp what I had seen. Its footage and they were playing it over and over. Live now. People panicking, running in the streets. Reporters running with them while trying to capture the chaos. Then they pause and look
up. I had stood riveted in front of my TV, in total shock. I had felt like 1 was standing on the street with them. I had difficulty breathing. And then they had looked up. I had also looked straight ahead with them. We all had watched another plane fly into the World Trade Tower Two. Right in front of our eyes.
That was not an accident my brain had screamed.. It was no random occurrence. We were under attack. I had collapsed on the sofa as my legs could not hold my weight. My eyes frozen on the screen, I had tried -to comprehend. Tried to find some rationale in what 1 had seen..I had sat all day. all night, the blue light permeated my living room. I couldn’t NOT watch. I wanted to understand. But there was no understanding. It had all seemed surreal to say the least.
That day and the week that followed were terrible. I cried all the time and just like everyone else around the world I couldn’t NOT watch nor can I ever forget!
Question 1(c).
Write a story in which a child and policeman play an important part.
Answer:
The newspapers show the disturbing photo of a small boy wearing a red T-shirt and long shorts that stop below the knee. His shirt is hiked above his waist, exposing his midriff. He is wearing black sneakers with no socks. And he is dead, face down in the rocky surf. The body was carried away by a policeman. The policeman was wearing latex gloves. The boy’s tiny feet dangled below the policeman’s waist; one of the Velcro straps on his sneakers has come undone. And though one can’t know what the policeman is thinking as he carries a dead child from the ocean, one thing is clear: He is looking away. Is he trying to look away because he wants to hide the pain and tears in his eyes to see the poor boy meeting such a tragic fate.
The body was of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi. . He was in one of two boats carrying a total of 23 people that set off separately from the Akyarlar area of Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula, apparently headed to the Greek island of Kos, where they could have attempted to enter the European Union but their ultimate destination was Canada. Instead, the boat capsized, and Aylan was washed up a few miles to the northeast in Turkey, not far from a beach resort. The dead included five children — among them Aylan’s 5-year-old brother — and one woman his mother. The family had been trying to reach Canada but their refugee application had been rejected by Canadian authorities.
Aylan’s family was among the millions dead or on the run from the Islamic State’s continuing campaign of destruction in Syria and Iraq. But, did Aylan an innocent child deserve the death he got. These could be the thoughts of the policeman as he carried the dead child in his arms and mourned the loss of the death of innocence in a world torn by strife and hatred. In his eyes Aylan, the dead boy became the most powerful symbol of the conflict that has engulfed the world and that day he silently vowed to not rest until he did his bit to weed out terrorism.
Question 1(d).
Give an interesting description of a place of historical importance which you visited with your classmates.
Answer:
Everyone knows that the Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world and I was excited to see it with my classmates but what made the visit more memorable was that we saw it on a full-moon night. It looked like a pure white pearl, a sight that cannot be seen elsewhere in the world. The Taj truly appeared a thing of beauty which is a joy forever.
On seeing the Taj I could appreciate that Shahjahan was a builder par-excellence who had an inherent zest for beautiful architecture. The Taj Mahal is an architectural beauty which is beyond description. It is a work of Indian architects – both Muslims and Hindus. The mausoleum with its allied gardens and the building complex measures 1400 feet x 1000 feet and is in the form of a rectangle. It is enclosed by a high wall surmounted by four arcaded marble pavilions at each one of the four corners. The entrance is flanked by arched apartments and red stone building structures. The main gate is a red stone structure of very great architectural value. Its facade contains beautiful calligraphic descriptions in Arabic. After the main gate are the well-laid out gardens with marble pathways, water courses and fountains. And in the center stands the beautiful marble mausoleum.
The principal mausoleum stands on a rectangular platform built in marble with a plinth area of 22 square feet. The mausoleum proper is square in shape. The main dome which rises to a height of 108 feet from the base platform is of pure white marble. On each of the four domes of the platform there is a minaret covered by a “Kiosk”. The central dome towers all these cupolas. It is said that it took 22 years to complete the whole structure and that it cost then three crores of rupees. The construction of this central dome itself is said to have taken 12 years. Besides white marble about twenty varieties of precious stones are said to have been used in the decoration and inlay work of the Taj Mahal.
My classmates and I stared dumb struck at this beautiful creation as our teacher told the main features of the Taj.
Question 1(e).
Study the picture given below. Write a story or an account of what the picture suggests to you. Your composition maybe about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it; but there must be a clear connection between the picture and the composition.
Answer:
David was driving towards his house on the outskirts of the town w’hen he was stopped by a sobbing woman who pleaded with him to help her save her children. David followed her to a building away from the main road and was horror stricken to see the whole house in flames. The woman was now in hysterics and screaming, “The children! Get the children!” David grabbed her by the shoulder saying, “Get a hold of yourself and tell me where the children are!” “In the basement,” sobbed the woman, “down the hall and to the left.” David grabbed the water hose and soaked his clothes,, put his wet handkerchief on his head and bolted for the basement which was full of smoke and scorching hot. He found the door and grabbed two children, holding one under each arm like the football player he was. As he left he could hear some more whimpering. He delivered the two badly frightened and nearly suffocated children into waiting arms and filled his lungs with fresh air and started back asking how many more children were down there. She told him two more.
Not caring about his own life David went back, feeling his way down the smoke filled hallway and into the room. It seemed an eternity before he found both children and started back. They were all three coughing and he stooped low to get what available air he could. As he stumbled up the endless steps the thought went through his mind that there was something strangely familiar about the little bodies clinging to him, and at last when they came out into the sunlight and fresh air, he found that he had just rescued his own children who had come to their classmates home for a birthday party.
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select one of the following:
Question 2(a).
Write a letter to the Director of the Zoological Park of your city expressing your concern about the death of some animals in the zoo due to the unhygienic Write a letter to the Director of the Zoological Park of your city expressing your concern about the death of some animals in the zoo due to the unhygienic conditions in the enclosures for the animals.
Answer:
Tara Mehta
12 Haider Road
Kanpur
To
Director
Zoological Park Kanpur
Subject: Unhygienic conditions in the enclosures for the animals.
Sir,
I have been a student of Zoology in school and have always been a keen admirer of animals. This is one of the reasons that I have been a regular visitor of the Zoological Park. There is no doubt that some of the rare species are to be found there and also that there is a great variety-of the animal kingdom housed in this park .But recently I was appalled to see the unhygienic condition of some of the enclosures and according to me this is one of the reasons for the recent death of some animals. The enclosures are not cleaned regularly and a tiger died because its foot which had got injured on a sharp stone got badly infected and it could not be saved. These are rare species and besides it is cruel to neglect the well-being of these mute creature. I would request you to order an enquiry into the matter so that we don’t lose any more animals due to these unhygienic conditions.
Awaiting your positive response.
Yours sincerely
Tara Mehta
Question 2(b).
Write a letter to your friend requesting him to join the trekking expedition and telling him about the arrangements you have made for the occasion.
Answer:
Gokul Sharma
34, Rajbagh
Jaunpur
To
Kamal Bhandari
20 Gandhi Marg
Coimbatore.
Dear Kamal,
How are you. We are planning a trekking expedition and want you to come along.
There will be students from Delhi, Bangalore and Manipur also. There will be an orientation by the organised before we leave. We will then leave for the expedition .Each of us will be carrying our sleeping bags and some dry rations and water. We will be divided in groups of four with one teacher to oversee each group. It will be a trek of about two days and each night we will all camp together at the three base camps already set up at specific places. We will all carry maps, torches and walky talkies to keep in touch. The scenes of Dhudhsagar are said to be breath-taking. The fall of the water from such a height looks superb I believe. On the second day we will be reaching Kumba Lake which is at a valley in the hills. There will be a variety program and bonfire for us. The panorama of hills, refreshing waterfalls and virgin landscapes will enchant and refresh us. The groves of palm trees and wildlife sanctuaries will provide a feast to the eyes and heart. The total trek will be a distance of 70 km and part of it we will cover by bus also.. Thus the experience will be a mixture of both trekking and travelling. Finally there will be a Valedictory Function at the third Base Camp.
My regards to your mother and love to your younger brother.
Your loving friend
Gokul
Question 3.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Answer:
James was not indifferent to teh wishes of his family that he should get married to a nice girl. Besides, when his uncle departed this life and bequeathed him a comfortable little legacy, it really seemed the correct thing to do to set about discovering someone to share it with him. He thought of Joan Sebastale as the most suitable young woman to whom he might propose marriage. James walked across the Park towards the Sebastale residence in a positive frame of mind.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a clock striking the half-hour. Half-past four. A frown of dissatisfaction settled on his face. He would arrive at the Sebastale mansion just at the hour of afternoon tea. Joan would be seated at a low table, spread with any array of silver kettles and cream-jugs and delicate porcelain teacups. Behind the table, her voice would tinkle pleasantly in a series of little friendly questions about weak or strong tea, how much, if any, sugar, milk, cream and so forth: “Is one lump? I forgot. You do take milk,don’t you? Would you like some more hot water, if it’s too strong?” James detested questioning pattern in the whole system of the afternoon tea.
Now, as he passed through small streets that led to Joan’s residence, a horror at the idea of confronting Joan at her tea table seized on him. But suddenly an idea came to his mind. On one floor of a narrow little house at the end of the street lived Rhoda Ellam, a remote cousin. James decide to visit her and delay by half-an-hour the important business of the marriage proposal to Joan.
Rhoda welcomed him to her house. “I’m having a high tea,” she announced. “Find yourself a cup; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things.” She talked amusingly and made her visitor talk amusingly too. James found that he was enjoying an excellent tea without having to answer routine questions about the strength of the tea and amount of sugar in it.
“And now tell me why you have come to see me,” said Rhoda suddenly.
“There is nothing special,” said James. “I was passing by your house and I just thought I’d look in and see you. Since I’ve been talking to you, however, a rather important idea has occurred to me…”
Some forty minutes later James returned to his family, bearing an important news. “I’m engaged to be married,” he announced. On a September afternoon of the same year, after the James-Rhoda wedding celebrations had ended, James came into the drawing-room of his house. Rhoda was seated at a low table, behind dainty porcelain cups and gleaming silver. There was a pleasant tinkling note in her voice as she handed him a cup, saying: “You like it weaker than that, don’t you? Shall I put some more hot water to it? Now?”
Question 3(a).
Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. One word answers or short phrases will be accepted.
(1) Bequeathed
Ans.bequeathed-leave (property) to a person or other beneficiary by a will.
(2) Array
Ans. array-an impressive display or range of a particular type of thing.
(3) Detested
Ans. detested-disliked intensely
Question 3(b).
Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
Question 1.
Give two reasons to show that Janies wished to marry.
Answer:
Firstly, James wished to marry to fulfill his family’s desire that he should get married. Secondly, he wanted to get married so that he could share with someone, the legacy his uncle had left him.
Question 2.
Why did James decide to go to Joan’s residence? What does the phrase , “in a positive state of mind” (line 6) indicate?
Answer:
James visited Joan’s residence to propose to her to marry him. In a positive state of mind indicates that James had no doubt in his mind at that time about his decision to marry Joan.
Question 3.
What did James dislike in the pattern of serving tea in the afternoon?
Answer:
James disliked the questions asked before serving tea about how strong was the tea, the amount of sugar,milk and cream in it.
Question 4.
Who was Rhoda Ellam? Why did James decide to visit her?
Answer:
Rhoda Ellam was James’ distant cousin. James decided to visit her to delay his meeting with Joan during the tea time to avoid being questioned about the tea.
Question 5.
“….A rather important idea has occurred to me (line 27-28) What was the important idea?
Answer:
The important idea was to marry Rhoda instead of Joan.
Question 6.
What was the practice of Joan as well as of Rhoda while serving tea?
Answer:
Both Joan and Rhoda asked questions about how strong or weak was the tea and the amount of sugar in it.
Question 3(c).
In not more than 60 words show how fate made James face the awkward situation at the end ,which he had avoided earlier in the story.
Answer:
James hated Joan’s pattern of serving tea while asking questions about the strength of tea, the sugar and milk in it. He thought he would avoid it if he married Rhoda as when he went to her house she did not ask questions rather talked amusingly. But this was not the case after the marriage celebrations as she too confronted him with the same annoying questions about tea. Thus ,by a quirk of fate he had to face the awkward situation at the end .which he had avoided earlier in the story.
Question 3(D).
Give a title to the story and give a reason to justify your choice.
Answer:
“A twist of fate” is a suitable title as it shows how fate tricks James into accepting the awkward situation in the end.
Question 4(a).
In the following passage, 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 the correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank space.
Fleming was a Scottish farmer. One day at work in the field he heard a cry for help.__ 1___ (follow) the sound, Fleming came to a deep bog, in which a boy was stuck up.Fleming___ 2___ (pull) the boy to safety. The next day a carriage________ 3___ (arrive) at Fleming’s farmhouse. A well-dressed man 4 (step) out and introduced himself as the father of the boy whom Fleming 5 (save). “You saved my son’s life,” said the man to Fleming, “How can I repay you?” “I don’t want any payment,” Fleming replied. At that moment, Fleming’s own young . son appeared at the farmhouse door. “Is he your son?” the man asked.“Yes,” said Fleming proudly.“I have an idea. Let me pay for your son’s education. If he’s like his father, he 6 (grow) to be a man we’ll both be proud of .’’And so the visitor did. The farmer’s son later became the world renowned Nobel Prize-winning scientist and discoverer of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming. It______ 7__ (say) that many years later the grown up man who’d been saved from the bog as a boy ,was 8 (strike) with pneumonia .Penicillin saved his life. He was Sir Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of England
Answer:
- Following
- pulled
- arrived
- stepped
- had saved
- will grow
- is
- struck
Question 4(b).
Fill in the blanks with appropriate words:
- I mistook the woman for a maid.
- Ben has decided to go in for teaching.
- They turned the old place into a hotel.
- He is cutting down on sugar.
- I will have to compete for the first prize.
- She will be moving into her new flat next month.
- Mark prevailed upon me to join him for the picnic.
- The scheme has fallen through for want of financial support.
Question 4(c).
Rewrite the following sentences after putting the words given in the brackets in their correct positions.
(1) The crops have been destroyed, (almost)
Ans: The crops have been almost destroyed.
(2) His speech was motivating, (highly)
Ans: His speech was highly motivating.
(3) All the trains on this route will be delayed, (probably)
Ans: All the trains on this route will probably be delayed.
(4) I am sorry for the mistake, (really)
Ans: I am really sorry for the mistake.
Question 4(d).
Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that maybe necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.
1.Why should we buy biscuits when we can bake them ourselves? (Begin: Rather………. )
Ans: Rather than buying biscuits why can’t we bake them ourselves?
2. Simmi is the best singer we have. (Begin: We don’t……………. )
Ans: We don’t have a better singer than Simmi.
3.The customers are entitled to a 10% discount as long as the sale season lasts.(Begin: During..)
Ans. During the sale season the customers are entitled to a 10% discount.
(4) They demanded to know what had happened. (Use: insist)
Ans. They insisted on knowing what had happened.
(5) The team consisted of ten singers and a music teacher. (Use: comprised)
Ans. The team comprised of ten singers and a music teacher.
(6) “May I have a glass of water?” he said. (Begin: He asked if…………… )
Ans. He asked if he could have a glass of water.
(7) He received a telegram and immediately came to see me. (Use:No sooner than)
Ans. No sooner did he receive a telegram than he came to see me.
(8) Nobody will deny that she is able. (Begin: Everyone..)
Ans. Everyone knows that she is able.
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