Teachers recommend solving Kerala Syllabus Plus Two English Previous Year Question Papers and Answers Pdf March 2024 to improve time management during exams.
Kerala Plus Two English Previous Year Question Paper March 2024
Time : 2 1/2 Hours
Maximum : 80 scores
Questions 1 – 8. Answer all questions. Each carries 1 score. (8 × 1 = 8)
Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow:
I’m the only witness against him. He asked you can guess what …..
Question 1.
Who is the speaker?
Answer:
The speaker is Robert Baldwin.
Question 2.
What has the speaker witnessed?
Answer:
The speaker witnessed John Gresham misappropriating depositors’ money.
Question 3.
Who is ‘he’ referred to here?
Answer:
The ‘he’ referred to here is John Gresham.
Question 4.
What did he ask the speaker.
Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow:
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him
Answer:
He asked the speaker to say in the court that he does not remember anything about the misappropriation of the money so that he, (John Gresham) can escape punishment.
Question 5.
Name the poem and the poet.
Answer:
The poet is Robert Frost
Question 6.
What is described as an outdoor game?
Answer:
Mending wall.
Question 7.
Why does the poet say that there is no need for a wall?
Answer:
The poet says that there is no need for a wall because his neighbour’s area is covered with pine trees and the poet’s area is full of apple trees. The apple trees of the poet will not go and eat the cones of the pines from the neighbour’s area.
Question 8.
Pick out the figure of speech in the last two lines.
Answer:
Personification.
Question 9-12. Answer any 3. Each carries 2 scores. (3 × 2 = 6)
Question 9.
Fill in the blanks with suitable phrasal verbs given in brackets.
(run out, carry away, look forward to, put up with)
a) I meeting you next week.
b) How can she her noisy neighbours?
Answer:
a) look forward to
b) put up with
Question 10.
The story Crime and Punishment is a satire on over-parenting. Give two pieces of advice to such parents. You may begin with.
Answer:
a) You should not
b) Don’t forget to
Answer:
a) You should not force your children to study when they are not mentally prepared for it.
b) Don’t forget to give them free time so that they can engage themselves in things which they like.
Question 11.
K.Satchidanandan presents a different perspective of stammer in the poem Stammer. What does the poet think of stammer? Give your response in not more than two sentences.
Answer:
The poet K. Satchidanandan thinks that stammering is not a handicap; it is a mode of speech. When someone stammers he is offering a sacrifice to the God of meanings.
Question 12.
Fill in the blanks using suitable words given in brackets. Activities that ….(a)…. (devastate/devastates) the societies and environment ….(b)….(continue/continues) unabated.
Answer:
a) devastate
b) continues
Questions 13 – 19. Answer any 5. Each carries 4 scores. (5 × 4 = 20)
Question 13.
A few errors have crept in the following sentences. Edit it. (Errors are in the following areas: form, article, spelling, preposition) I would noticed a woman sitting by a side of the road, portioning out all-too,meager amounts to dal and rice for her famly.
Answer:
1 noticed a woman sitting by the side of the road, portioning out all-too meagre amount of dal and rice to her family.
Question 14.
The play Post Early for Christmas is a source of laughter, yet beneath the humour lies a valuable life lesson for all of ur to learn. Substantiate.
Answer:
The play Post Early for Christmas is certainly a source for laughter, yet beneath the humour lies valuable life lesson for all of us to learn. The play teaches us to do things in time to avoid last minute rushes. The Postal Assistant must have been more careful in accepting the parcel. It also teaches us not to be panicky unnecessarily. The suspected bomb in the parcel given by the tourist proves to be a beautiful clock that he wanted to send to his friend.
Question 15.
Shaheen Mistry felt that in St.Xavier’s, Mumbai a far more bookish form of learning replaced the academic rigour and intellectual stimulation she had received in Massachusetts. Do you agree with this opinion? Give four points for or against the topic Indian system of education tends to prioritize theoretical knowledge over practical skills.
Answer:
I quite agree with Shaheen Mistri’s opinion that the Indian education system is bookish.
- We lay stress on bookish learning.
- A lot of importance is given to remembering things by heart. A lot of facts, figures and’ formulae are crammed into our heads.
- The examinations also check our memory and not our competence in doing things. Theory is given greater importance than practice.
- We may know a lot of things about Britain and America, but we may not know the things in our immediate locality. It is high time we changed our system of education.
Question 16.
Report the following dialogue:
Iran Alam : I am so thirsty. Can you give me some water?
Rickshaw puller : Sorry, I don’t carry water bottles in my rickshaw.
Irfan Alam : I will buy eight bottles of . water and keep it in your rickshaw. For every bottle you sell, we will make a profit of two rupees which we could split in half.
Answer:
Irfan Alam told the Rickshaw puller that he was thirsty, and if he could give him some water. The rickshaw puller told Irfan Alam that he did not carry water bottles in his rickshaw. Then Irfan told him that he would buy 8 bottles of water and keep them in his rickshaw. From every bottle he sold he would make a profit of two rupees which could be split between them.
Question 17.
I spin the curtains, warp and woof, And shake the down to be their bed. Elaborate on the idea of the above lines.
Answer:
These lines are taken from the poem “Any Woman” by Katharine Typan. The entire poem stresses the importance of the woman in a house. The woman is the pillars of the house; she is the keystone of the arch; she is the fire upon the hearth; she is the light of the sun. The children get warmth from her. She bonds everyone together with love. She is the house from floor to roof. She is the walls and the board. She spins the curtains, its lengthwise and crosswise threads. She is the one filling the bed of the children with down (soft hair of animals) so that they lie down and sleep comfortably.
Question 18.
Today’s women are all ^et to take up various roles in life. In those roles, they might face many challenges. List out four qualities a woman needs, to face the challenges of life.
Answer:
Today’s women are all set to take up various roles of life and in those roles they might face many challenges. To face these challenges she needs many qualities. The four qualities a woman needs are: competence, self confidence, daring the difference and the willingness to come out of their comfort zones. All these can be achieved through the three Ls – Learning, Labour and Leadership and the daring to dream.
Question 19.
The African adage quoted by Christine Lagarde in her speech The 3Ls of Empowerment throws light on the importance of educating girl children.
Answer:
The African adage quoted by Christine Lagarde in her speech “The 3 Ls of Empowerment” is “If you educate a boy, you train a man. If you educate a girl, you train a village.” This adage stresses the importance of women education and it shows a plain truth. Men usually do not spend much time at home or with their families. They go out to earn livelihood for their families.
Women, generally, stay at home. Children spend most of their time with their mothers and learn many things from them. Children interact with many other children from different households. Thus the education got by a woman helps it to be spread among many. This way educated women form the backbone of an educated, enlightened society.
Questions 20-25. Answer any 5. Each carries 6 scores. (5 × 6 = 30)
Question 20.
Proud of her husband, Martha narrates the whole incident, from the bank crash to Baldwin’s placement in The Third National, to one of her friends. Write the narration in Martha’s words. (Hints: misappropriation – crash – prison – bribe – reward)
Answer:
My husband Robert is a gem of a person. Without hesitation I can say that he is a synonym for honesty. He has practised it all his life and he has been trying to instil it into our two children and also me. His salary is very small. He gets only $60 a week but he will never think of increasing his income by questionable means. He is a man of self¬confidence and he is sure of himself. He has an uncompromising attitude. He is highly committed to his family and he spends a lot of prime time with us. My husband neither drinks nor smokes nor gambles.
He could have easily taken the money offered by John Gresham and we could have lived a more comfortable life. In fact Evie, John and even I tried to persuade him that saying “I don’t remember” in the court is not a big sin at all and he should say it and get the money promised to him by John Gresham. He loves John Gresham and that is why he named our son John. But neither his love for Gresham nor his desire to give his family better comforts would persuade him to take a bribe. That is my children and I am proud of him.
Question 21.
The farmer in the play Post Early for Christmas reads the news about finding a bomb in a post office in London. Write the probable newspaper report. (Hints: time-bomb found – Scotland Yard – Christmas parcel London post office – suspicious parcel – report)
Answer:
London: 20 December 2016. There was a time bomb scare at the Milton Square Post Office in London in the rush hours of the morning. From my talks with the Post office Assistant and some onlookers this is what transpired at the post office. A foreign tourist arrived with well-wrapped parcel and he said it contained something precious and he was sending it to his friend as a special Christmas present. Some questions he asked about the safety of the parcel and about the time it would reach the central post Office for clearing created some doubts in the minds of the Postal As-sistant.
The parcel was booked and the tourist left for-getting his gloves on the counter. Soon the Assistant noticed that there was a ticking sound coming from the parcel. She mentioned it and immediately a farmer who was present there said it must be a time bomb. He had read an alert in the Newspaper which was is¬sued by the Scotland Yard asking people to be on their alert for ominous looking parcels. He was certain that his parcel contained a time bomb.
People got scared and they ran for cover. The farmer asked for a bucket of water. In the meantime a police man was brought. Soon the tourist returned to take his gloves back. There was an argument between the policeman and the tourist. The policeman then threw the parcel into the bucket of water. The tourist was angry with everyone there for spoiling his precious Swiss Watch he had bought for his friend.
Question 22.
Nomita, though clad in a “wealthy wife’s saree”, is not treated well by her husband Ajit, who wears the mask of a gentleman. Attempt a detailed character sketch of Ajit in the story Matchbox.
Answer:
I quite agree with Nomita’s statement because Ajit had no right to read the letter addressed to her and then keep it in his pocket for three days without telling his wife Nomita about it. Ajit has got the key to the letter box. Whenever he finds a letter addressed to Nomita, he opens it and reads it first. Sometimes he gives the letter to her but sometimes he does not even give it. He suspects that the letters that come to her might be from her old lovers.
This is indeed vulgar behaviour on his part. Nomita tried many things to stop him from reading Her letters. She showed anger, took offence, tried to shame him and used sarcasm. But he just laughed them away. At times he scolded her. He says he has a right to open his wife’s letters as he is not sure they are not love letters. He even insults her by calling her a dungpicker’s daughter. She was so angry that she even tries to commit suicide by burning herself and sets fire to her sari. Ajit is certainly not a good husband.
Question 23.
Acknowledging the tremendous social service done by Ratna, the human horegallu, her company awarded her ‘The Social Worker of the Year Award’. Being the reporter of the local news channel, you got a chance to interview her. As expected, irie interview turned out to be friendly and pleasant.
Write the six interview questions you have asked Ratna and her responses to it.
Answer:
I : Madam Ratna, I want to congratulate you on getting “The Social Worker of the Year Award” from your company. How do you feel?
Ratna : I feel very happy. But I am not sure if I deserved such an honour and recognition. I did not do anything extraordinary.
I : You were a human horegallu. Not everyone can sit down and listen patiently to the problems of others. Who inspired you to do that?
Ratna : It was my grandfather who inspired me to do that. He sat on the stone bench with the tired travellers and listened to the tales of troubles and woes they told him.
I : By merely listening to the problems of the people, how do you help them?
Ratna : When the people speak of their troubles to an empathetic listener, they feel their burdens getting lighter. I know I can’t give solutions to the problems of people.
I : Who will give solutions to their problems?
Ratna : They themselves have to solve them by looking at the different, possibilities.
I : Will you continue to be a human horegallu?
Ratna : I will certainly continue to be so. I know by being an empathetic listener I am helping them to reduce the intensity of their burdens.
I : What advice do you give to people?
Ratna : I am nobody to advise anyone. But I would say that people should be horegallus, at least listening to the problems of the people without being judgmental.
Ratna : Thank you Madam, for your time and your good words.
I : It’s alright.
Question 24.
Drug abuse has become a significant social menace that demands a collective effort to eradicate it from the society. As a member of the Souhrida Club, you decide to write a letter to the editor of a famous daily, showcasing your concern over the issue. Draft the likely letter.
Answer:
Svetlana Raj
Mundakkal House Azad Road Kaloor
Mobile: 94966 78981
e-mail: svetlanarai@rediff.mail.com
1 July 2024
The Editor
The Indian Express
Kochi
Dear Sir,
Sub.: The Menace of Drug Abuse
Through your prestigious paper, I would like to bring to the notice of children, their parents, the school authorities and the police about the menace that is threatening our society. Drug abuse has both mental and physical impacts. The drug addict experiences sensory deprivation. He has a general feeling of physical discomfort and there are personality changes in him. The addict feels depressed. He fails to respond either to his environment or to other people. His mental disturbance can be like paranoia.
The addict knows he has a problem. But he does not know the source of his problem and he looks for its cause in everything but himself. He looks upon external objects with suspicion. Anything outside scares him and he draws further and further into himself. There are also drug-related physical disorders. Dirty needles and solutions used for injecting drugs can cause abscesses in the arms and veins. They can cause liver disease, venereal disease and infection of the kidney and brain. Sniffing cocaine and amphetamines can damage the tissue of the nose.
Marijuana and tobacco smoking can cause lung diseases. Babies of women addicted to opiates are likely to be born addicted and to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Cocaine and amphetamines cause hair fall. Marijuana can damage cells. A drug addict can easily get pneumonia, tuberculosis, mal-nutrition and weight loss. An oyerdose of any sensual drug can cause respiratory or cardiac failure and death. I hope all those concerned will take note of the dangers of psychedelic drugs and do their best to eradicate this evil from our midst. Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(Svetlana Raj)
Question 25.
Chemmanam Chacko beautifully portrays the contrast between expectations v/s reality of the narrator in the poem Rice. Substantiate.
Answer:
It is very true to say that Chemmanam Chacko beautifully portrays the contrast between expectations and reality of the narrator in the poem “Rice”. Chemmanam Chacko is a master satirist. In his poem “Rice”, he highlights the changes in the attitude of people with the changing times. The narrator went to North India and made research for four years and then he got a PhD for his work on making toys with husk. When he left for his research, there was a lot of husk in his own house and also in the places around as his own father and others cultivated rice.
But when he returns with his doctorate, he finds there is no husk as all the rice farmers started cultivating rubber and other commercial products for the market. We hear his father saying that he has stopped cultivating rice. Only fools will try rice farming for any gain. Rubber money is better. The government gives rice to those who have no paddy fields. The narrator wants to eat athikira rice but the younger brother brings the ration for the household and the ration consists of only wheat. The Chief Minister is flying like an arrow to the Centre to clamour for more grains. The narrator asks, “Can we get some husk from the Centre to make toys with it?” This is really bitter as we know he has a doctorate in toy-making with husk.
Questions 26 – 28. Answer any 2. Each carries 8 scores: (2 × 8 = 16)
Question 26.
Below is the advertisement issued by the HR department of SammaaN, inviting applications for recruitment for the post of General Manager. Draft a job application letter with a detailed resume.
|
Vacancy Qualification: Graduation in any discipline. Age: Between 20 and 30 Previous experience and good communication skill in English are preferred. Interested candidates may submit their application and resume in ten days via email to summaanhr@rediffmail.com |
Answer:
To: summaanhr@redfiffmail.com
Sub.: Application for the post of a General Manager
This has reference to your advertisement appearing in the “Times of India” dated 24 May 2024 inviting applications for the post of a General Manager.
I have an MBA in Human Resources. I studied at MET’s School of Engineering, Kuruvilassery, Mala, affiliated to the Calicut University. I passed in 2021 with 85% marks in the aggregate. I have nearly 3 years of experience as a General Manager in GJ Infotech, Tana, Irinjaiakuda.
My resume, copies of my MBA certificate, mark lists and the experience certificate are closed.
I assure you of full satisfaction if I am given a chance to work under you. Thanking and hoping to hear from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Sd-
(RosammaJoe)
Enel: 4
RESUME OF ROSAMMA JOE
| Objective: To associate myself with an ‘ organization that provides a challenging job and an opportunity,to prove innovative skills and diligent work.
Contact Details:-
Personal Details:- Age & Date of birth : 24 years, 20 July 2000 Nationality : Indian Marital status : Single Educational Qualifications:
Computer Skills: MS Word, Java. Experience: Worked as a General Manager in GJ Infotech, Tana, Irinjaiakuda from August 2021 to March 2024. Special Abilities :
References:
Commitment: I bring along dedication, loyalty and determination to excel in what I am asked to do by my Employer. Sd/- (Rosamma Joe) |
Question 27.
Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue unabated. Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds. Wangari Maathai calls on the young generation to take up this challenge.
As the representative of the student community, you are to deliver a speech that would nurture a sensitive and reverential love for nature, in the school assembly on June 5, World Environment Day. Write the script of the speech. (Hints: significance of the day-deforestation- industrialization – destroyed bio-diversity – afforestation – larger family of life)
Answer:
Respected principal, teachers and fellow students, Today is the 5th of June and we all know that it is the World Environment Day. Today I am going to talk about Environmental Destruction and howto stop it. We in Kerala are facing tragedies one other another. A deluge ravaged our State in August 2018, in which over 470 people died and properties worth 40,000 crore were destroyed. We were still trying to overcome the problems caused by that deluge, when on 8 August 2019, due to heavy rainfall in the Monsoon season, severe flood affected Kerala causing landslides.
As a security measure, the Government of Kerala issued Red alert in the 9 districts in Northern and Central Kerala, orange alert in 3 districts of Central Kerala, and yellow alert in the 2 districts of southern Kerala. Thousands of people were evacuated to safer places and relief camps. A total of 101 people have died due to rain-related incidents since 14 August 2019. These camps had more than 2 lakh people from various parts of the state.
Why these floods and landslides? They are actually caused by man! Biodiversity is destroyed. Resources are mismanaged. The areas which would hold the water are filled up and townships are constructed in the name of urbanization. The outlets to the sea are partially blocked and the fivers can’t easily drain into the seas. Wangari Maathai was correct when she said, “Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking so that humanity stops threatening its life support systems.” But we don’t care.
We continue with our deforestation, sand¬mining and overexploiting our minerals. We continue polluting our environment with vehicles and factories and spraying poisons over our fields. If we destroy the environment, it will definitely destroy us through floods, droughts and pandemics like Covid-19 which we are still fighting with. Disrupt the environment and it will disrupt you in more than one way.
Question 28.
Write an appreciation of the poem Neighbour in comparison with Mending Wall by Robert Frost.
Neighbour
lain Crichton Smith
Build me a bridge over the stream
to my neighbour’s house
where he is standing in dungarees
in the fresh morning.
O ring of snowdrops
spread wherever you want
and you also blackbird
sing across the fences.
My neighbour, if the rain falls on you,
let it fall on me also
from the same black cloud
that does not recognise gates.
(dungarees – a type of dress)
Answer:
The poem “Neighbour” by lain Crichton Smith is a beautiful poem about the neighbour. The poet wants a bridge to be built over the stream to his neighbour’s house. It is morning and his neighbour is standing in his house wearing dungarees. He wants the bridge to be covered by beautiful rain drops. He wants a blackbird sing across the fences. If the rain falls on the neighbour, it should fall on the poet also. The rain that pours from the black cloud does not recognise gates as it falls on everyone without any distinction.
“Neighbour” is a short poem of just 3 stanzas. It is not in rhyme. Its language is very simple and it has a fine message of equality and love between neighbours. The poem has excellent visual and auditory images. We can see the bridge over the stream, the neighbour’s house, the neighbour standing in dungarees, and snowdrops on the bridge and other places, the blackbird and the rain. Auditory images are the singing of the bird and the murmur of the rain.
The Poem “Mending Wall” also talks about neighbours. In that poem Robert Frost does not want a wall between neighbours because he has an apple orchard and the neighbour’s plot is full of fine trees. The poet says that his apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines. But the neighbour believes good fences make good neighbours.
Only when you see the fence or wall you will know how far you can go. If there are no walls or fences there will be trespasses and that will lead to troubles between neighbours. Frost’s poem is much longer than lain Crichton Smith’s. Frost has used many more poetic devices than lain Crichton Smith. Mending the Wall has a mesmerising quality. Both are excellent poems, but I prefer “Mending Wall” to “Neighbpur”.