ISC English Language Previous Year Question Paper 2012 Solved for Class 12
Question 1.
Write a composition (in approximately, 450-500 words) on any one of the following subjects: [30]
(You are reminded that you will be rewarded for orderly and coherent presentation of mate-rial, use of appropriate style and general accuracy of spelling, punctuation and grammar).
(a) ‘We are happier than our forefathers.’ Express your views on the given statement.
(b) The sounds of laughter and loud voices attract your attention to a room in your house. The door is closed. Describe what you hear, as well as what you see, as you gently open the door.
(c) “Today, in our global society, if young people go abroad to study or to seek jobs, they cannot be termed unpatriotic.” Write for or against this topic.
(d) Diversity.
(e) ‘Nowadays, there are careers that cater to every interest and aptitude.’ Discuss this in light of your own interests.
(f) Write an original story with the following beginning:
“I was not more than fourteen at that time ………………………”
Answers:
(a) The statment appears to be meaningful and correct to some extent. It is true that we are happier than our forefathers in many ways. Life in the past was very simple. It moved at a slow pace. There was no circulation of money and therefore people lived from hand to mouth. They did not enjoy the modem comforts. But things have changed in the modem age. Life is very quick and fast. Time is very precious for everyone. There is a mad race for money. Most people lead a mechanical life. It is an admitted fact that we have made a rapid progress in different walks of life. Take, for example, the progress and the development made in the field of science and technology. We certainly take pride in scientific inventions and discoveries. Today we have computers, televisions, refrigerators, cellphones, air conditioners and washing machines at out disposal. These things have made our life very comfortable. The fastest means of transport are available to cover long distances in a few hours. Anything can be had for the asking.
There was time when there were very few schools and colleges. Most people were uneducated. They were confined to a very small area. They had no plans or ambitions to rise high in life. Financial assitance was the biggest hurdle. Educational institutions were available only to the selected few. But these days schools and colleges are available at our doorstep. These days most children go to school to get education. Even the villages situated in remote areas have the facility of providing education to the children. The state governments have made education free and compulsory for the children. In this context, the state of Kerala is in the forefront to have 100% literacy rate. Thus education has played a significant role not only in providing jobs to boys and girls but also in contributing to the development of the country. In the field of medical science we have achieved wonderful success. Death rate has fallen. The scientists have done researches in different fields of study. Now doctors can treat and cure the deadliest diseases. It is a great hoon to humanity.
In the light of the achievements made in different fields we can certainly take pride in saying that we are definitely happier than our forefathers. It is also true that we have paid a price for all these comforts of life. For example old values like, love, care, simplicity, affection and sympathy have disappeared from our lives. We have grown selfish and greedy. We lead a life of stress and strain. To sum up it can be rightly said :
What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.
(b) Read the given outline and develop it into an essay.
I heard a sound, ……………………… became suspecious ……………………… the door was closed ……………………… I knocked at it
……………………… B. B. opened the door ……………………… room full of fragrance ……………………… I felt some-one was watching ……………………… I saw a young girl ……………………… disappeared in a second ……………………… asked B.B about her ……………………… He said nobody was there ……………………… he was alone ……………………… I insisted, I had heard a sound ……………………… two persons laughing ……………………… B.B. denied it ……………………… I turned to leave ……………………… again a sound ……………………… looked back ……………………… nobody there ……………………… I was terrified ……………………… B.B laughed at me ……………………… explained the whole mystery ……………………… showed me a small paper weight ……………………… gave out sounds at intervals.
(c) If young people go abroad to study as to seek job, they cannot be termed unpatriotic Write for or against:-
Not surprisingly, education has undergone considerable changes in recent years. In current society, the rapid developing of economy the competitions stiff. There is no denying that a number of people choose to go abroad to get better education or jobs.
Everyone wants to live better and decent life. According to them studying abroad or doing jobs abroad will get them healthy return. They want their family be happy and healthy.
In many countries, there was not such facilities for a man. Due to the high competition, in their own country, the young people want to go abroad. They hope to enjoy there. They think life will be easy.
But the feeling of their own country where they were bom and brought up is still in their mind or heart. It is a patriotic feeling that never leaves their mind. But due to high society and the development they have to think high but the feeling for their country is still the same which was there before. They cannot forget the past which they spent in their homeland.
We cannot blame them to be unpatriotic. As everyone wants to live better life, so their thinking of living better is natural.
In our generation we have to use the opportunities which we get, because competition is so high that we cannot escape.
So, to get better life, we have to study abroad or to do jobs abroad, but it doesn’t mean that, we should forget our motherland. The feelings for our country remain the same as they were before. So if people go abroad for study or jobs they should not be termed unpatriotic.
(d) Essay
Diversity:
Diversity is something which contains different elements. Diversity also means change and that change can be of anything. In our day to day life there are so many changes or separations happening that we are sometime aware of them and sometimes we are unaware. This change happens so quickly that sometime we are unable to know that and sometime it is so slow that we know that for long period.
Diversity is something which is common to every human being. I myself have observed this diversity in my life for several times. When I was small and studying in lower class then I was less attentive towards my studies and played a lot with my friends but now when I am in class-XII, now, have to only focus on my studies. So there is a huge change in my lifestyle and this is also a part of diversity. In our country there are so many changes being made. In earlier times there were so many places for children to play but nowadays all the grounds have been transformed into big buildings or complexes or malls. This is also a diversity in our environment.
In earlier periods the climate was fine but nowaday the climate has changed. Warmness is much more than coldness in our country. This is all because of Global warming and this kind of change is also known as Diversity. These changes are happening all around the globe and this change is happening very fast in our environment. This could cause serious damage to our ecosystem. We have to be very alert about this kind of change.
Everyone is not aware of these changes and they think that these changes are small and harmless but in my opinion these changes are very much harmful and can cause serious damages to us. So we have to be aware of this kind of changes because these changes in the ecosystem are because of Global wanning and global wanning is caused only and only by human’s. So, we humans have to be very serious about this and have to try how we could overcome such kind of changes known as Diversity.
(e) In this 21st century the population of our country is growing rapidly day by day, and all of us have become very career sensitive. In market there are less number of jobs and the more number of people suitable for job. Every person has an aim to became something or to take a position in life. But out of hundred people only thirty to forty people can fulfill their aim, because there is a competition in every field. For that reason the parents and guardian of child don’t want that their child should join army, navy or defence or they should become a good coach of cricket or football. But they want that they should become engineer, doctor, lawyer and many things.
This thing also happens in school. Teachers guide them for becoming good doctors or engineers and they give very less attention towards the extracurricular activities. All the students have some talents. Some of them have good brain so naturally they are very good in studies. Some have good talent in singing or dancing or somebody plays outdoor or indoor games very well. Many of them have interest towards drawing or painting or arts.
But in this modem society parents, as well as schools or institutions, consider those things as nuisance which will not bring any position for the child in future. Only studying engineering, medical, law and many more things can give them something for future, and they can earn lots
of money. For that reason the child or students who don’t have more interest towards their studies and they have interest in other activities, they don’t study their lessons. They do only by the pressure of their parents and school on private tutions.
In case of taking a good place in life or doing well in the academic year, parents give tuitions to the students they lose their leisure time and they can’t do the activities which they want to do in their leisure time and when they get free time they indulge in self-studies, or other homework. In case, they had to leave their hobby or the activities towards which they were attracted.
Many students under pressure of their studies, which they can’t tolerate, attempt suicides because their parents will not heap their words, they will give more pressure to them. So they feel more easy to attempt suicide.
So, the parents should not pressurise their children to become this or that. They will manage something for which they like to do. It is not necessary to become engineer or doctor or something, they could also become something else, other than this. A person should do the job in which he feels interested, which he likes thus the job will become a game to him.
(f) Then I was the age of 14:
Well, I was at the age of 141 felt that I was at the top of a mountain. As I go back life was very happy and nice. Well I was in class-8 when I was in the age of 14. Life was happy, there was no tension of life, no more worries. No rules in my life. Kidish as I would say is the time when I was in backwater. Life was easier with mom and daddy at my back. In my life., I had many desires many more such dreams which could not be fulfilled at that age. But now I have a dream, many more missions, a goal, destination to which I should be able to reach. A path on which I should lead my whole life.
I got that feeling about people who lived in my heart from the age of 14. Life had many more stages but this stage was the building monument in my life. The brick with which a monument would grow, a plant which would grow. Well my father died when I was at the age of two and a half years. In the age of 14 I remembered that in lunch/dinner I would see no one. My mother was in job. I would weep and weep in my life. But I made myself stiff. Stiff as a rock.
Didn’t \t ant to meet my heart for anyone. I know that if I would be weak many people would take the disadvantages about it. But still I was as lenient and polite as I can be. Life was at a stage where I didn’t have anyone to share my emotions. Well, this was the part now it’s the beginning of new goal, new’ ambition and everyday in my life brings me a new hope. A new inspiration to be brave and fight for my own good.
Question 2.
A student, at the end of Class XII, requests the Principal of his school for a certificate or testimonial which he needs for his further studies. Imagine that you are the Principal and draft a certificate, keeping the following points in mind : [20]
Duration of acquaintance -student’s academic record – student’s conduct – involvement in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities – leadership qualities – feedback obtained from teachers and any other relevant information.
Answer:
To Whomsoever It May Concern
This is to certify that Nikita Singh was a bonafide student of St Xavier School, Kolkata for eleven years. Her date of birth is June 19, 1995. Nikita joined the school in April 2000 in class I and left the school in March 2011, after completion of class XII.
Nikita has proved herself in all fields, from academic to co-curricular activities and sports. Her conduct through the years has been above reproach. She has maintained an impressive academic record. Her results in the school examinations have been commendable. In class X she passed the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination with an aggregate of 90%, scoring 89% in science. In classes XI and XII she opted for science with computer. She has been a conscientious student.
Nikita has a flair for writing, which she uses to her advantage. As the Editor of the School Magazine she acquitted herself with credit. With her creative talents and innovative ideas, the magazine soared great heights.
Pursuing Bharatanatyam as an activity since the age of twelve, Nikita has evolved into a graceful dancer. She has represented the school at various Inter-school Dance competitions and won laurels, both for the school and for herself.
Nikita has been blessed with an innate artistic talent. Consequently, she studied Art as a subject. She stood first in the cartooning and Poster-Making competition held by the Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC). She also represented the school at a competition organised by the UNICEF on child labour, where phe emerged a winner. She has also been a part of the school Badminton team. The team stood second in the West Bengal State Competition, 2008.
Nikita has always been popular with her teachers and classmates. She is a friendly and outgoing girl with excellent leadership qualities. She has been a source of inspiration and a role model for other students. She has strong moral values and principles.
Nikita intends to pursue Engineering as a career. In am sure her literary and practicality skills along with her determined attitude will help her achieve this aim.
Nikita has been an examplary student and an asset for St. Xavier. I hope to see her go from strength to strength in all her endeavours.
Signature
(S.K. Saxena)
Principal
Question 3.
Answer sections (a), (b) and (c).
(a) In each of the following items, sentence A is complete, while sentence B is not. Complete sentence B, making it as similar as possible to sentence A. Write down sentence B in each case. [10]
Example :
(0)
(A) : We must endured what we cannot cure.
(B) : What cannot be
Answer:
(0) What cannot be cured must be endured.
(1)
(A) : He knows everything about the business.
(B) : There is …………………………….
(2)
(A) : A bridge would have been built if the funds had not run out.
(B) : Had the …………………………….
(3)
(A) : As soon as winter comes, birds migrate to the south.
(B) : No sooner …………………………….
(4)
(A) : Man is exploring the sea in order to increase his resources.
(B) : The sea is …………………………….
(5)
(A) : They were the only orifices who completed the task.
(B) : Except for …………………………….
(6)
(A) : He’s the richest man I’ve ever met.
(B) : I’ve never …………………………….
(7)
(A) : I have never seen a film as bad as this.
(B) : This is …………………………….
(8)
(A) : He said, “I will definitely visit you tomorrow.”
(B) : He said that …………………………….
(9)
(A) : We should have sympathy for the less fortunate.
(B) : We should sympathise …………………………….
(10)
(A) : My praise pleased her.
(B) : What gave …………………………….
(A) Fill in each blank with a suitable word. (Do not write the sentence.) [5]
(1) The soccer player was shown a yellow card for arguing the referee.
(2) Mr Donald will call him tomorrow.
(3) The exhibition was complete sell
(4) How can she put with such indisciplined students?
(5) The man broke the cordon and rushed to the dais.
(6) We must cut on wasteful expenditure.
(7) Though I was young, my father had great confidence me.
(8) The novelty is being a celebrity wears ultimately.
(9) Anna wasn’t looking where she was going and she walked a lamp post.
(10) She is the nicest person I have come
(c) 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]
After they ………………… (1) (walk) for a while, they ………………… (2) (see) an isolated cottage. They ………………… (3) (peep) through the broken window, ………………… (4) (look) for someone who ………………… (5) (guide) them back to the main road. They ………………… (6) (find) that the cottage ………………… (7) (be) dirty, cobwebs ………………… (8) (hang) across the roof and it ………………… (9) (seem) to be unoccupied. They ………………… (10) (be) disappointed.
Answers:
(a) 1. There is nothing that he does not know about the business.
2. Had the funds not run out the bridge would have been built.
3. No sooner did the winter come, birds migrated to the south.
4. The sea is being explored by man in order to increase his resources.
5. Except for them no one had completed the task.
6. I’ve never met a man as rich as he.
7. This is the worst film that I’ve ever seen.
8. He said that he would definitely Visit me the next day.
9. We should sympathise with the less fortunate.
10. What gave her pleasure was my praise.
(b) 1. with 2. on 3. out 4. up 5. out 6. down 7. in 8. out 9. to 10. across
(c) 1. walked 2. saw 3. peeped 4. looked 5. guided 6. found 7. was 8. hung 9. seemed 10. were
Question 4.
Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (cj that follow :
The Hidden Box
(1) I opened the iron gate and walked as softly as I could up the weed-tufted gravel drive. My mind was strangely empty. I felt no glow of pleasure and was unexcited at the prospect of becoming rich. I was occupied only with the mechanical task of finding a black box.
(2) The front door was closed and set far back in a very deep porch. The wind and rain had whipped a coating of gritty dust against the panels, showing that it had been shut.for years. Standing on a derelict flower-bed, I tried to push open the first window on the left. It yielded to my strength stubbornly. I clambered through the opening and found myself crawling along the deepest window-ledge I had ever seen. After I had jumped noisily down upon the floor, I looked up.
(3) The room was thick with dust, musty and empty of all furniture. Spiders had erected great stretchings of their webs about the fireplace. I made my way quickly to the room where the box was and paused on the threshold. It was a dark morning and the weather had stained the windows with blears of grey wash which kept the brightest part of the weak fight from coming in. The far comer of the room was a blur of shadow. I had a sudden impulse to have done with my task and be out of this house forever.
I walked across the bare boards, knelt down in the comer and passed my hands about the floor in search of the lose board. To my surprise, I found it easily. I lifted it up, laid it aside’and struck a match. I saw a black metal cash-box nestling dimly in the hole. I put my hand down and crooked a finger into the loose reclining handle, but the match suddenly flickered and went out and the handle of the box, which I had lifted up about an inch, slide heavily off my finger. Without stopping to light another match, I thrust my hand into the opening and, just when it should be closing about the box, something happened.
(4) I cannot hope to describe what it was but it had frightened me very much. It was some change which came upon me or upon the room, indescribably subtle, yet momentous. It was as if the daylight had changed with unnatural suddenness, as if the temperature had altered greatly in an instant or as if the air had become twice as rare or twice as dense as it had been in the twinkling of an eye. Perhaps all of these or other things, happened together, for all my senses were bewildered all at once and could give me no explanation. The fingers of my right hand, thrust in the opening in the floor, had closed mechanically, found nothing at all, and came up again empty. The box had gone!
(5) I heard a cough behind me, soft and natural, yet more disturbing than any sound that could ever come upon the human ear. That I did not die of fright was due, I think, to two things: the fact that my senses were already disarranged and able to interpret to me only gradually what they had perceived, and also the fact that the utterance of the cough seemed to bring with it some more awful alteration in everything. I collapsed weakly into a limp sitting-down position upon the floor. Sweat broke out on my brow and my eyes remained open for a long time without a wink.
(6) In the darkest comer of the room near the window, a man was sitting in a chair, eyeing me with a mild but unwavering interest.
(i) Given below are four words. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage: [4]
(1) neglected
(2) urge
(3) significant
(4) explain
(ii) For each of the words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage : [4]
(1) finding (Line 3)
(2) handle (Line 19)
(3) thrust (Line 21)
(4) sound (Line 31)
(6) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible :
(i) What was the narrator’s state of mind when he came to the house in search of a black box? [2]
(ii) What details show that the house had been shut for years? [3]
(iii) Why did the narrator have a feeling of uneasiness and fear when he entered the room? [2]
(iv) What was the strange thing that happened about the box? What impact did it have on the narrator? [3]
(c) Describe the narrator’s purpose behind entering the abandoned house and the strange atmosphere he encountered there. You will be required to:
(i) List your ideas clearly in point form. [6]
(ii) In about 100 words, write your points in the form of a connected passage. |6]
Answers:
(1) neglected derelict
(2) urge impulse
(3) significance momentous
(4) explain expound
(iii) 1. The committee has submitted its finding.
2. He could not handle the situation.
3. He thrust the baby into my arms and ran off.
4. A sound body has a sound mind.
(b) (i) The narrator’s mind was strangely empty and he was also not excited by the thought of becoming rich. He was just occupied with the mechanical task of finding a black box.
(ii) The wind and rain had whipped a coating of gritty dust against the panels. The room inside was thick with dust, musty and empty of all furniture and the spiders had erected great stretchings of their webs about the fireplace. All these things show that the house had been shut for years.
(iii) The narrator had a feeling of uneasiness and fear when he entered the room because the room was thick with dust, musty and empty of all furniture. He thrust his hand into the opening and just when it should be closing about the box something happened.
(iv) When the narrator saw the box, he put his hand down and crooked a finger into the loose reclining handle of the box, he had lifted it about an inch but the match suddenly flickered and the box slid heavily off his finger. When he again put his hand near the box, something unnatural happend. After this the narrator became very much frightened.
(c)
(i) Do it yourself.
(ii) The narrator’s purpose behind entering the house was to find the black hidden box. He was not excited at the prospect of becoming rich. He found the black box slid off his finger and again when he put his hand near the box a change came in the environment, as if the daylight had changed with unnatural suddenness, as if the temperature had altered greatly in an instant or as if the air had become twice as rare or twice as dense as it had been in the twinkling of the eye.