HBSE Class 11 English Half Yearly Question Paper 2024 Answer Key

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HBSE Class 11 English Half Yearly Question Paper 2024 Answer Key

SECTION – A (Reading Skills)

1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow : (5 Marks)
Human beings are the only creatures who can speak or produce different sounds. Speech is their basic quality. Other creatures cannot speak like human beings and get their requirements fulfilled. They produce sounds or symbols when they need to convey some message to each other. Some people speak only when it is most required. Some people keep on bragging for the whole day. They cannot control themselves. Some of them even don’t know what to speak, when to speak and how to speak. They rarely know that words spoken once can never come back. Sometimes, we listen to the people of saying ‘I take my words back’, funny it is! How can words be taken back? Such a person cannot realize the impact these words have left upon the victim who has been hurt badly. There seems to be no compensation for such a shooting of words. They will always keep on resounding in the memory of the listener. That is why it is suggested to think before we speak. Our words may be a source of happiness or sorrow for others. We must use this art of speaking carefully.
Questions :
(i) Which quality is unique for human beings?
(a) Speech
(b) Happiness
(c) Sorrow
(d) Fighting
Answer – (a) Speech

(ii) How do other creatures speak?
(a) They also speak like human beings
(b) They produce sounds
(c) They produce symbols
(d) They produce sounds and symbols
Answer – (d) They produce sounds and symbols

(iii) What do some people not know?
(a) what to speak
(b) when to speak
(c) how to speak
(d) All of the above
Answer – (d) All of the above

(iv) What keeps on resounding in the memory of listeners?
(a) sound
(b) words
(c) music
(d) symbols
Answer – (b) words

(v) Synonym of ‘Rarely’ is ………..
(a) Hardly
(b) Generally
(c) Regularly
(d) Frequently
Answer – (a) Hardly

2. Read the following passage carefully and make notes on it and also supply a suitable title : (5 Marks)
Effective speaking depends on effective listening. It takes energy to concentrate on hearing and to concentrate on understanding what has been heard. Incompetent listeners fail in a number of ways. First, they may drift. Their attention drifts from what the speaker is saying. Second, they may counter. They find counter-arguments to whatever a speaker may be saying. Third, they compete. Then, they filter. They exclude from their understanding those parts of the message which do not readily fit with their own frame of reference. Finally, they react. They let personal feelings about a speaker or subject override the significance of the message which is being sent.
What can a listener do to be more effective? The first key to effective listening is the art of concentration. If a listener positively wishes to concentrate on receiving a message his chances of success are high. It may need determination. Some speakers are difficult to follow, either because of voice problems or because of the form in which they send a message. There is then a particular need for the determination of a listener to concentrate on what is being said. Concentration is helped by alertness. Mental alertness is helped by physical alertness. It is not simply physical fitness, but also positioning of the body, the limbs and the head. Some people also find it helpful to their concentration if they hold the head slightly to one side. One useful way for achieving this is intensive note-taking, by trying to capture the critical headings and sub-headings the speaker is referring to.
Note-taking has been recommended as an aid to the listener. It also helps the speaker. It gives him confidence when he sees that listeners are sufficiently interested to take notes; the patterns of eye-contact when the note-taker looks up can be very positive; and the speaker’s timing is aided-he can see when a note-taker is writing hard and can then make effective use of pauses.
Posture too is important. Consider the impact made by a less competent listener who pushes his chair backwards and slouches. An upright posture helps a listener’s concentration. At the same time, it is seen by the speaker to be a positive feature amongst his listeners. Effective listening skills have an impact on both the listener and the speaker.
Answer –
Notes :
1. Eff. Speaking Depends on
1.1 eff. listening
1.2 Concen. on listening
1.3 Concen. on understanding What you hear
2. Reasons why in competent listeners fail
2.1 Their attention drifts
2.2 They find counter arguments
2.3 They compete and then filter
2.4 They react
3. Ways of a listener to be more eff.
3.1 Concen. on the msg reed.
3.2 Mental alertness
3.3 Phys. alertness-positioning body
3.4 Note taking aid to the listener helps the speaker gives him confidence, encourages the eye contact
4. Imp. of Posture
4.1 helps listeners in concen.
4.2. seen kej spkr. as a +ve feature among listeners
Abbreviations used :
Eff. – effective
concen. – concentrating
msg. – message
reed. – received
phys. – physical
+ve – positive
imp. – important
spkr. – speaker
Title : The Art of Effective Listening

SECTION – B (Writing Skills)

3. Write a letter to the editor of Newspaper complaining against reckless motor driving. (5 Marks)
Answer –

88-Janakpuri
New Delhi18 Oct, 20xx

The Editor
The Times of India
New Delhi

Subject : Reckless Driving

Sir/Madam,
Through the columns of your esteemed newspaper, I wish to draw the attention of the concerned authorities and the general public towards the issue of more and more cases of reckless driving everyday.
Reckless driving has become the order of the day. So many accidents take place everyday. on the city roads. Drivers play with the lives of children and old men. Young boys feel the thrill of speed. They do not observe traffic rules. They take pride in overtaking other vehicles and going against light at the crossing. All this results in fatal accidents. Traffic rules must be observed. Under-aged drivers and those driving without a licence should be punished.
A reckless driver who speeds away after knocking down a person should be forced to spend at least one year in the prison cell, after being caught by the police. The syllabus of each class must contain one chapter on traffic rules. The problem can easily be dealt with by spreading awareness about the issue as much as possible and also by taking timely action.
Hence, I wish the authorities make a note of the situation and act upon it immediately.
Thanking you

Yours sincerely
Your name

 

SECTION – C (Grammar)

4. Attempt the parts : (1 × 6 = 6 Marks)
(i) The patient ………….. before the doctor came. (Tense)
(a) had died
(b) had not die
(c) have became dead
(d) has dead
Answer – (a) had died

(ii) She ………….. her friend tomorrow. (Tense)
(a) will visit
(b) visiting
(c) had visited
(d) shall visit
Answer – (a) will visit

(iii) The doctor will examine him tomorrow. (Voice)
(a) He examined by the doctor tomorrow.
(b) He will be examined by the doctor tomorrow.
(c) He has the doctor examine him tomorrow.
(d) He may examine at the doctor tomorrow.
Answer – (b) He will be examined by the doctor tomorrow.

(iv) Are you making a good plan? (Voice)
(a) Is a good plan made by you?
(b) Is a good plan being made by you?
(c) Was a good plan made by you?
(d) Was a good plan being made by you?
Answer – (b) Is a good plan being made by you?

(v) ………….! We have won the match. (Interjection)
(a) Hey
(b) Oh
(c) Hurrah
(d) Alas
Answer – (c) Hurrah

(vi) I have two apples ………….. one banana. (Conjunction)
(a) or
(b) lest
(c) but
(d) and
Answer – (d) and

SECTION – D (Prose and Poetry)

5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow : (5 Marks)
The cardboard shows me how it was
When the two girl cousins went paddling,
Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,
And she the big girl-some twelve years or so”
Questions :
(i) Name of this poem.
(a) The laburnum top
(b) The voice of rain
(c) A Photograph
(d) None of these
Answer – (c) A Photograph

(ii) Name of the poet of this poem.
(a) Kushwant Singh
(b) Shirley Toulson
(c) Walt Whitman
(d) Ted Huges
Answer – (b) Shirley Toulson

(iii) What does the cardboard depict?
(a) The picture of three girls
(b) The picture of one girl
(c) The picture of two girls
(d) The picture of four girls
Answer – (a) The picture of three girls

(iv) Who is the big girl mentioned here?
(a) The poet’s grandmother
(b) The poet aunty
(c) The poet’s sister
(d) The poet’s mother
Answer – (d) The poet’s mother

(v) In the picture, what are the three of them doing?
(a) Holding legs
(b) Holding hands
(c) Playing football
(d) Holding tree
Answer – (b) Holding hands

6. Give a character-sketch of the narrator’s cousin Mourad on the basis of the story ‘The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse’. (5 Marks)
Answer – Mourad in the story, ‘The summer of the beautiful white horse’ has an unruly temperament. He does things on impulse and fabricates justification for his deeds. He steals John Byro’s horse because he wants to enjoy riding it. But his justification is that he had just borrowed the horse and will return to its master eventually.
Aram, his young cousin, admires him for his wild nature and his expertise in handling a horse. According to Mourad, he had ‘a way with the horse’. He at first doesn’t answer any of Aram’s questions clearly and Aram gets the idea that the horse was stolen. He is rather alarmed about Mourad’s deed because he knows that Mourad had inherited some of the mad nature of uncle Khosrove, whom no one can control. This mad nature is evident in the way he rides the horse over the vines. He hides the horse in an abandoned farm house. All these appear to be madness to Aram but his love of horse riding prevented him from opposing Mourad; instead, he finds consolation in the fact that they have no intention of selling the horse and in that way it is just borrowing. In spite of his mad behaviour, Mourad is touched with John Byro’s unwavering trust in their tribe and just as he had taken the horse, he returns the horse to the farmer stealthily.

7. Answer the questions : (2 × 3 = 6 Marks)
(i) Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school. (The Portrait of a Lady)
Answer – The author’s grandmother was unhappy after knowing that the things taught to him at school were related to western science and learning. Secondly, she did not believe such things that were taught at his new school. She was disturbed that there was no teaching about God and scriptures. Thirdly, she was unhappy with the idea of music lessons being given at school. She considered music suitable only for the people with low dignity. The disapproval of the grandmother was visible in her silence.

(ii) What does the notice, ‘The world’s most dangerous animal’ at a cage in the zoo at Lusaka, Zambia, signify? (The Ailing Planet : The Green Movement’s Role)
Answer – The notice ‘The world’s most dangerous animal’ at a cage in the zoo at Lusaka, Zambia, signifies that humans are being referred to as the most dangerous animal. This notice serves as a commentary on human behaviour and its impact on the world, highlighting the destructive nature of humans.

(iii) Describe the mental condition of the Voyagers on 4 and 5 January. (We’re Not Afraid to Die ….. If we can All Be Together)
Answer – On 4 and 5 January, the mental condition of the Voyagers was one of extreme distress and uncertainty. They faced treacherous weather conditions, including violent storms and towering waves that battered their boat. Fear and anxiety gripped them as they struggled to survive amidst the raging sea, unsure if they would make it out alive.

8. There is a parallel drawn between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two on the basis of the poem ‘The Voice of the Rain’. (3 Marks)
Answer – In these lines, the poet draws similarities between rain and music observing that the life-cycle of rain and song are alike. Both are perpetual in nature. Moreover, the sound of the soft-falling rain is in itself a kind of music. The song issues from the heart of the poet and travels to reach others. It wanders and, whether heard and enjoyed or not, eventually returns to its creator with all due love. Similarly, rain originates from the earth, and after fulfilling its tasks, returns to its own origin only to spread beauty, purity and love.

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