Preliminary Exam (Activity Sheet)

th
Std. 12 Sub-English Marks-80
Section A: Prose (Reading skill, Vocabulary, Grammar, Summary and Note making)
Q.1 (A) Read the first activity. Read the extract and then do all the activities. (12)
A 1. Find out (2)
Read the following sentences and find out the true sentences.
1) The vishu is the new year festival of Kerala.
2) The Vishupakshi’s song can be heard in July and August.
3) The vishupakshi is a migratory bird.
4) The narrator’s hobby in his early teens was to watch the films.
It is April and another Vishu came and is gone. It is the New Year festival of Kerala, and closely
related to the beginning of agricultural activities. In the past, immediately after Vishu paddy would
be sown and agricultural activities would start anew. Farmers believed in the rain god and the rains
never failed them. But even if the rains played truant, there was one bird – vishupakshi – which
never failed to wake up farmers with its vitthumkaikkottum (seed and spade) song. Every year
starting in the first week of March, the bird was heard singing its never-ending vitthumkaikkottum. It
was a reminder to the farmers and background music to the beginning of farming activities. I have
never heard any other bird, except the cuckoo, that sings so beautifully as vishupakshi. And this song
would be heard only in March and April.
This summer, the bird might have watched that even if it urges the people to take to the seed
and shovel, nobody has seeds to take and it might also have observed that in the district which was
once called the granary of Kerala, there is no place for sowing the seeds and it might have decided
not to sing or even visit us (I think it is a migratory bird. It sings even at midnight. It perches only on
the top of very big trees and their felling may be the reason why the bird did not turn up). Not only
are the song and sound of vishupakshi missing today; there are many other birds which won’t be
seen and heard again.
We were an agrarian people. And my main hobby in my early teens was to wander through
paddy fields to see the different kinds of birds and how they nest.
A2.Complete (2)
Vishupakshi wakes up the farmers to do farming activities. This bird is-------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------(Complete the information of the bird taking support of the extract)
A3. Guessing (2)
Guess the reasons : Vishupakshi is not seen in Kerala.
A4.Vocabulary. (2)
Choose the correct meaning for the words from the given alternatives.
1) Played truant
a) Played a game b) Stayed away
2) Agrarian
a) Connected with Agra b) Connected with farming
3) Granary
a) A storehouse for threshed grain b) Grand mother
4) Urge
a) Request b) Urgent

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
 A5. Personal Response. (2)
Suggest few ways to protect birds.
A6. Grammar
Do as directed. (2)
1) We were an agrarian people.
(The correct rhetorical type question for this is-)
a) Were we an agrarian people?
b) Weren’t we an agrarian people?
c) We were an agrarian people?
2) It is the New Year festival of Kerala, and closely related to the beginning of agricultural activities.
(Choose the impossible alternative for this sentence)
a) It is not only the New Year festival of Kerala but also closely related to the beginning of
agricultural activities.
b) It is the New Year festival of Kerala as well as closely related to the beginning of
agricultural activities.
c) Unless it is the New Year festival of Kerala, it is closely related to the beginning of
agricultural activities.
(B) Grammar (3)
Rewrite in the ways instructed.
1) One of most common causes of malnutrition is unhealthy environment.
(Choose and insert the appropriate articles from the following)
a) a, the b) an, a c) the ,an

2) They stood--------silence as a mark-------honour to him.

(Fill in the blanks with appropriate alternative)
a) in, of b) into, for c) at, by

3) He said to her, “You are my friend.”

(Choose correct indirect speech for this)
a) He told her that he was his friend.
b) He told her that she was his friend.
c) He told her that you were her friend.
Q.2 (A) Read the first activity. Read the extract and then do all the activities. (12)
A1. Flowchart (2)
Complete the flowchart taking information from the extract.

Friend inquired about taking fresh water

The narrator got fresh coconut water

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
 Recently I visited the country farm of a friend in Kerala. It was in a rural area near the
Trivandrum backwaters, some 20 kilometers away from anything you'd consider urban. My friend
asked if I wanted fresh coconut water. I said yes, and he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a
number. A voice replied “I’m here." We looked up, and there was the local toddy tapper, on top of
the nearest coconut tree, with his lungi tied up at his knees, a hatchet in one hand and a cellphone in
the other. He brought the coconuts down, we had a refreshing drink, and I marveled once again at
what the cellphone revolution has wrought in our country.
As some readers know, my most recent book is called ‘The Elephant, the Tiger and the
Cellphone’. It is a book about the transformation of India, and two-thirds of the title is perhaps self-
explanatory; I begin the book with a Panchatantra-type fable about India as a lumbering, slumbering,
ponderous elephant, mired in its own dust and mud, covered in flies, slow to move, slow to change,
which in recent years has appeared to be acquiring the stripes of an agile, lithe and sinewy tiger. But
the third element of the title comes in because to me the cellphone is the instrument that most
epitomizes this change.
A2.Describe (2)
Give information about the book of the narrator.
A3. Guessing (2)
India is compared with an elephant.
(Guess its reason.)
A4.Vocabulary. (2)
Rewrite the following scrambled letter words as meaningful words that occurred in the extract.
1) rrual =
2) ookb =
3) wlos =
4) rbuna =
A5. Personal Response. (2)
Indian people do not accept changes quickly.
(Give your opinion)
A6. Grammar
Do as directed. (2)

1) It is a book about the transformation of India, and two-thirds of the title is perhaps self-
explanatory; I begin the book with a Panchatantra-type fable about India as a lumbering, slumbering,
ponderous elephant, mired in its own dust and mud, covered in flies, slow to move, slow to change,
which in recent years has appeared to be acquiring the stripes of an agile, lithe and sinewy tiger.
(Choose the number of clauses used in this sentence)
a) 4
b) 5
c) 6

2) Recently I visited the country farm of a friend in Kerala.

(The correct compound sentence for this sentence is -)
a) Recently I visited the country farm and of a friend in Kerala.
b) Recently I visited the country farm and it was of a friend in Kerala.
c) Recently I visited the country farm because it was of a friend in Kerala.

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
B) Note Making (3)
Complete the table taking information from the extract.
Advertising is seen in newspaper and magazines, on the cinema screen, and in most of
the countries, on the radio and television. In the case of new commodities, advertising is
necessary to introduce them to the particularly true of mechanical equipment with which the
public may not be familiar. Frequent advertising may also help to stabilize demand and stable
market leads to consistent production and reduction of waste. Advertising may also be
advantageous to the consumer, because it produces an increase in consumption and
production and a reduction in price. Advertising is also a guarantee of quality, since a
producer who invests money in building up a reputation will not readily endanger it by
offering inferior goods. Thus advertising helps to produce consistency of quality.

Advertising
Benefits
Done through
To Producers To Customers
Newspaper Introduce equipment
Reduction in price

Radio, T.V.

Q.3. (A) Read the first activity. Read the extract and then do all the activities. (12)
A1. True or False
State whether the following statements are True or False.
a) Dengue spreads from person to person.
b) There is no specific treatment for Dengue.
c) People with dengue recover within few days.
d) Dengue is rare in the United States.
Dengue is an infection caused by a virus. You can get it if an infected mosquito bites you.
Dengue does not spread from person to person. It is common in warm, wet areas of the world.
Outbreaks occur in the rainy season. Dengue is rare in the United States.
Symptoms include a high fever, headaches, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, and a rash. In
some cases, dengue turns into dengue hemorrhagic fever, which causes bleeding from your nose,
gums, or under your skin. It can also become dengue shock syndrome, which causes massive
bleeding and shock. These forms of dengue are life-threatening.
There is no specific treatment. Most people with dengue recover within 2 weeks. Until then,
drinking lots of fluids, resting and taking non-aspirin fever-reducing medicines might help. People
with the more severe forms of dengue usually need to go to the hospital and get fluids.
To lower your risk when traveling in dengue-prone countries, take the following precautions:-
1) Wear insect repellent with DEET
2) Wear clothes that cover your arms, legs and feet
3) Close unscreened doors and windows
A2. Interpretation (2)
Write the symptoms of the dengue.
A3. Guessing (2)
Guess the intention of writing this extract.

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
A4. Vocabulary- (2)
Find out four terms/words related to ‘medicine’ in the grid given below.

H T L I F E M
O R U B E D E
S E V A V E D
P A I N E N I
I T R D R G C
T M U A S U I
A E S G K E N
L N E E D L E
D O C T O R S

A5. Personal Response- (2)

Suggest any four ways to overcome the problem of mosquitoes in your area.

A6.Grammar (2)
Do as directed.
1) You can get it if an infected mosquito bites you.
(Choose the alternative that denotes the correct use of ‘unless’ for this sentence)
a) You can get it unless an infected mosquito bites you.
b) You cannot get it unless an infected mosquito bites you.
c) You cannot get it unless an infected mosquito does not bite you.
2) These forms of dengue are life-threatening.
(Choose the alternative that shows the correct ‘exclamatory form’ of this sentence)
a) What a life – threatening these forms of dengue are!
b) Aren’t these forms of dengue a life – threatening!
c) How life – threatening these forms of dengue are!

B) Write a brief summary of the above extract with the help of the points given bellow. Suggest a
suitable title for it. (3)
Dengue – cause, symptoms, ways to overcome dengue, precautions etc.

Section – B (Poetry)

Q.4. Read the given extract and do the activities that follow. (8)
We, heroes and poor devils,
the feeble, the braggarts, the unfinished,
and capable of everything impossible
as long as it's not seen or heard
Don Juans, women and men, who come and go
with the fleeting passage of a runner
or of a shy hotel for travelers.
And we with our small vanities,
our controlled hunger for climbing

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
 and getting as far as everybody else has gotten
because it seems that is the way of the world:
an endless track of champions
and in a comer we, forgotten
maybe because of everybody else,
since they seemed so much like us
until they were robbed of their laurels,
their medals, their titles, their names.

A1. Factual Understanding (2)

Complete the following web giving words that are used to describe the middle class
persons.

A2. Poetic Device (2)

If the words are arranged in ascending order of importance, it is the use of Climax. Search
two examples of climax from the extract and write them.
Examples of Climax:-

1)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

2)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

A3. Personal Response (2)

Give you opinion about the life of middle class people in cities.
A4. Poetic creativity (2)
And we with our small vanities,
our controlled hunger for climbing
and getting as far as everybody else has gotten
because it seems that is the way of the world:
(Rewrite above lines expressing opposite meaning)

Section – C (Rapid Reading and Composition)

Q. 5. A) Read the following extract and do the activities that follow it. (4)
She wrote to me about once a month, giving me news of the hotel, some of its more
interesting guests, the pictures that were showing in town.
“I know you’re interested in detective stories,” she wrote during the summer term, “and
that you fancy yourself a Sherlock Holmes or Elley Queen. So what do you make of this strange

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
happening? Last week we decided to clear out an old store-room that hadn’t been opened for years.
The keys were missing, so we had to break open the lock - inside there was a lot of old furniture,
rotting carpets, dusty files, broken flowerpots , even a mounted tiger’s head. There were two or
three locked cupboards which had to be forced open. Nothing much in the first two, but the third
cupboard gave everyone a fright. As Tirloki, our billiard-marker, pulled open the door, a skeleton
tumbled out! I mean a complete human skeleton. It must have been there for twenty years or more.
How did it get there, and why? If you were here, you could do some detective work, but you'll have
to wait for the winter holidays. Of course, we had to inform the police, and they took the skeleton
away, saying they'd have it examined. But I doubt if they’ll do much about it. It’s obviously someone
who died long ago - perhaps a hotel guest! And someone here decided to hush it up. Suicide,
murder, accident, probably we will never know....?”
Well, boy-detective that I fancied myself, I wrote back to my mother and said, “I’ll solve
the case when I come home -but was it a man’s skeleton or a woman’s ? And did you find anything
else in the cupboard?”
A week later my mother wrote back: “I didn’t look too closely at the skeleton- -I like bones
to be fully-fleshed if possible – but the police did say it was a woman. Not an old woman, not too
young either... There was nothing else in the cupboard except for some chipped or cracked plates
and dishes, which have now been thrown away. The shelves were covered with sheets of old
newspapers. I’ve kept these for you.”

A1- Global Understanding (Plot) (2)

Rearrange the following jumbled ordered sentences as per the story events.
1) The police confirmed the skeleton was of a woman.
2) They had to break open the lock as the keys were missing.
3) The police took the skeleton away.
4) A skeleton tumbled out from the cupboard.

A2- Add an imaginary paragraph (2)

Write an imaginary paragraph that describes the story events after the given extract. It should be
different from the actual story.

B) Read the following extract and do the activities that follow it. (4)
On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone: a little girl with light, almost luminous
curls. She was half hidden behind a birch tree.
I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German. “Do you
have something to eat?”
She didn’t understand.
I inched closer to the fence and repeated the question in Polish. She stepped forward. I
was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet , but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I
saw life.
She pulled an apple from her woollen jacket and threw it over the fence.
I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, “I’ll see you
tomorrow.”
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always
there with something for me to eat - a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple.
We didn’t dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both.
I didn’t know anything about her, just a kind farm girl, except that she understood Polish.

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
 What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me?
Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some,
as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.

A1. Global Understanding (Theme) (2)

Choose the most appropriate statements related to the theme of the extract.
1) The extract is about the meeting of the narrator and an apple girl.
2) It is about the cruelty of Nazi soldiers.
3) It is about helping of the narrator to the apple girl.
4) It is about the goodness of one person to help other showing courage.

A2. Dialogue writing (2)

Convert the given extract into a dialogue between Harman and the girl.
Use the following hints:-
Herman: Hay! Are you there?
Girl: --------------------------------------------------
Herman: Do you have something to eat?
Girl: -----------------------------------------------------
Herman: Throw it.
Girl: -----------------------------------------------------
Herman: -----------------------------------------------------
Girl: I’ll see you tomorrow.
Herman: -----------------------------------------------------
Girl: -----------------------------------------------------
Herman: -----------------------------------------------------
Girl: -----------------------------------------------------

Section – D (Writing Skill)

Q. 6. (A) Letter writing. (4)

1. Write a letter to the Editor of a Newspaper, drawing attention to the insanitary condition of the
City Streets.

Real condition of roads, it’s problems, suggestions for

improvement, expect positive reply etc.
OR
2. You want a bona fide certificate in order to get concession in MSRTC bus monthly pass fare.
Write a letter of application to the principal of your junior college requesting him/her to issue you
the same. (4)
(B) Leaflet Writing (4)
Horizon Tourism India Ltd. Mumbai has arranged a tour at Panchgani for two days.
Prepare a leaflet on tourism to attract tourist to join the tour.
Use the following points:-
1) List of places to visit
2) Adventurous activities
3) Accommodation
4) Tour Expenses
Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
 OR
(B) News writing. (4)
Read the following intro and prepare a headline, dateline and a continuing paragraph.

Headline :- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dateline :-

Lead :-
The Annual Social Gathering of the
Rashtriya Junior College, Chalisgaon was
held at College Assembly Hall, on Monday,
December 30, 2018. The chief guest on this
occasion was P.S.I. Mr. Sushil Kumar and the
guest of honour was Super specialist Dr. Raj
Patil. Both Shushil Kumar and Raj Patil are
the ex-students of the college. Other
dignitaries present were Board of
managements.
Continuing Para:-

C) Information Transfer (4)

Read the following chart and write a paragraph describing it.

Types of oil Prepared from Use

Eating

Groundnut groundnuts
O Cooking food

Soaps
I Vegetable vegetable
Medicines, scents
seeds
L Driving machines
Mineral crust of earth
Industries

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199
C) View – Counterview (4)
Prepare a paragraph for counterview section on the topic 'Is there a need of Multiple Question
Paper Sets (A, B, C, D) for Std. XII English subject'?
You can take help of the following points in the 'view' section.
1) Solution for mass copy problem
2) Good test to check Intellectual level of students
3) Same question paper structure and format
4) Same difficulty level

Q.7 A) Framing interview questions.

Frame interview questions to take an interview of a farmer who is living in the drought prone area.
You may include the following points.
1) Nature of work.
2) Problems
3) Expectations from the government
4) Message

B) Speech writing (4)

Prepare a short speech of about 100 words on ‘Water Conservation’
Use the following points:-
1) Explain the term water conservation
2) Give its need and importance
3) Suggest ways for it.
4) Make persuasive appeal

Activity Set by :-
Prof. Tushar Chavan
Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon
Dist. Jalgaon
Whats app contact : 9850737199
Visit my blog to get more activity sheets.
Blog :- https://juniorcollegeteacher.blogspot.com

Activity Set by- Prof. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon (Jalgaon) Contact : 9850737199