ISC Class 12 English Language Board Exam Question Paper 2017 with Solutions

ISC Class 12 English Language Board Exam Question Paper with Solutions 2017

Question 1. Write a composition (in approximately 450-500 words) on any one of the following subjects : [30]
(a) Imagine that you visited a remote village untouched by the influence of technology. Describe the village, the people, their routine and at least one person you met there. How did you feel at first? What were your feelings when you had to return?
(b) You were waiting at the ATM booth of Focus Bank, when a white car drew up and four men with masks rushed into the bank. Narrate how an attempted bank robbery was foiled by an alert security guard.
(c) 'Today's youth is more practical and less swayed by emotions'. Argue for or against the given statement.
(d) Sacrifice.
(e) 'It is easier to preach than to practise'. Express your views on the given statement.
(f) Write an original short story beginning with the following words: "Everything went horribly wrong that evening" .........................

Answer:
(a) A Visit to Raiwala
It was perhaps in a vivid daydream that I found myself transported far away from the blaring horns, concrete jungles, and relentless hum of urban life, landing straight into the tranquil lap of Raiwala, a remote village untouched by the modern tentacles of technology. Stepping out, I was immediately greeted by a wave of pure peace and crisp, fresh air that filled my lungs like a rare elixir. There were no telephones ringing, no internet connections buzzing, and absolutely no polluting vehicles, cars, or bikes speeding on muddy lanes. Instead, the village was surrounded by lush greenery, sprawling agricultural fields, and laden fruit trees that whispered in the gentle breeze.
The people of Raiwala led a life of incredible simplicity, bound by nature and community. During my stroll, I met the village Sarpanch, Mahinder Singh, a tall, weathered man whose eyes held immense wisdom and warmth. He spoke of a life unburdened by digital anxieties, where people gathered under the banyan tree at dusk to share stories rather than stare at glowing screens. Their profound simplicity touched my heart deeply, making me feel like staying there forever, far away from the chaotic rhythm of the city. However, when the time came for me to return, a heavy sadness gripped my soul. Leaving behind the pristine quietude of Raiwala to re-enter the mechanical rat race felt like waking up from a beautiful dream into a harsh, blinding reality.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ensure that descriptive compositions maintain a consistent tone, rich imagery, and logical paragraph transitions.
b) Students must strictly adhere to the suggested word count of 450-500 words to avoid negative marking.

Question 2. As a reporter you have visited a number of hospitals in your city. Write a newspaper report entitled 'City Hospitals', based on the following points: [20]
Buildings and infrastructure - maintenance of the hospitals - quality of services - Doctors - nursing staff - waiting period for treatment - emergency facilities - other facilities available - medical equipment - overall opinion.

Answer:
City Hospitals
November 25, Nagpur
Directed by the Health Department, I visited as many as ten leading hospitals of the city last week. Most of the hospitals feature impressive double or triple storey buildings equipped with modern infrastructure. However, a closer inspection reveals that the general maintenance of these healthcare institutions is far from satisfactory. The influx of patients in each hospital is overwhelming and far beyond manageable limits, causing out-door patients to wait for grueling hours just to consult a doctor.
Despite infrastructure shortcomings, the quality of medical service provided is commendable. The doctors are highly qualified, dedicated, and deeply committed to their duty. What deeply pinches the patients, however, is the agonizingly long waiting period for treatment. In cases of acute pain or extreme old age where waiting is impossible, the existing provision allows patients to pay a double fee to see a doctor out of turn. While affluent patients easily utilize this loophole, the underprivileged are forced to languish in waiting rooms for hours.
On the positive side, emergency facilities and robust ambulance services are readily available in every hospital to transport patients safely from any part of the city. Furthermore, almost all institutions are fully outfitted with cutting-edge medical equipment. The only persistent grievance among patients is the occasional rudeness and abrasive attitude of the overworked nursing staff. Ultimately, patients require empathy and compassion just as much as medical treatment.

Teacher's Note:
a) Newspaper reports must include a formal headline, dateline (City and Date), and an objective, journalistic tone.
b) Ensure all given stimulus points are seamlessly integrated into the body paragraphs without skipping any.

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 sentence B in each case. [10]

Answer:
(i) Besides buying a desktop he also bought a laptop.
(ii) The plants were revived by heavy showers.
(iii) In spite of poor light the men were forced to work.
(iv) As soon as we saw a flash of light in the sky we heard a loud explosion near us.
(v) Not having brought a pen she is writing with a pencil.
(vi) No other city in India is as vibrant as Mumbai.
(vii) Their dog is so friendly that it cannot be an effective guard dog.
(viii) Sameer asked Ramesh if he could help him with his homework.
(ix) No nook or corner was left unchecked.
(x) The tenure of my stay is doubtful.

Teacher's Note:
a) Transformation of sentences requires strict adherence to grammatical rules without altering the core meaning of sentence A.
b) Watch out for spelling errors and punctuation marks when rephrasing statements.

(b) Fill in each blank with a suitable word. (Do not write the sentence.) [5]

Answer:
(1) out
(2) up
(3) to
(4) at
(5) for
(6) of
(7) on
(8) out
(9) with
(10) among

Teacher's Note:
a) Prepositions and phrasal verbs test the student's familiarity with standard English collocations.
b) Students should write only the serial number and the corresponding word as instructed.

(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]

Answer:
(1) were discussing
(2) talked
(3) were
(4) began
(5) governing
(6) agree
(7) arguing
(8) had
(9) came
(10) broke

Teacher's Note:
a) Sequence of tenses requires careful reading of narration context and temporal markers in the passage.
b) Ensure correct spelling of irregular verb forms and participles.

Question 4. Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow:

(1) My father and I left the hall and made our way out to walk across to headquarters. There were street lights round the square, but underfoot the cobblestoned ground was dark and lumpy. My father tripped on the uneven surface and went down on one knee, trying not to fall entirely.
(2) At exactly the same moment there was a loud bang and a sharp zinging sound and a scrunch of glass breaking.
(3) I bent over my father and saw that his eyes were stretched wide and his mouth grim with pain.
(4) "Run," he said. "Run for cover. For God's sake, Ben! That was a gunshot!"
(5) We were halfway across the square, easy immobile targets. He struggled to get to his feet and told me again to run; and for once I disobeyed him.
(6) "Stay down," I told him.
(7) "You don't understand..." His voice was anguished.
(8) "Are you bleeding?"
(9) "What? I don't think so. I twisted my ankle."
(10) People ran out of the hotel, drawn by the bang that re-echoed around the square. There was confusion and people saying, "What happened, what happened?" and hands stretching down to my father to help him up. When he was well surrounded he finally took my arm. Putting his left foot down caused him much discomfort.
(11) "That noise..." a woman said.
(12) Heads nodded. "It sounded like... Was it... a gun?"
(13) "But where? There's no one here with a gun."
(14) Everyone looked round, but it was far too late to see the rifle, let alone the person shooting. My father put his arm round my shoulders for support, and indicated that we should set off.
(15) We walked in a procession to the headquarters and my father called the police.
(16) I went to the open door, looking across the square to the hotel.
(17) I remembered the zing of the bullet. If the bullet had been aimed at my father, and if he'd stumbled at the exact second that the trigger was squeezed, and if the bullet had smashed some glass so that I heard the tinkle, then why was every pane of the window in the headquarters intact?
(18) I told myself that the whole thing had been a coincidence and turned to go back inside, and saw for an instant a flash of light on broken glass down on the ground.
(19) It was a window of the shop next door that had been hit.
(20) Zing. Ricochet. Smash. The straight line could have been deflected by the curve of a cobblestone.
(21) The police arrived at headquarters, and it was nearly two o'clock when I finally closed and bolted the doors and switched off the lights.
(22) My father moved himself into one of the single beds in the bedroom. I lay on the second, not at all sleepy.
(23) My father said, "Ben, why didn't you run?"
(24) I answered, "I didn't want you to get shot."
(25) "So you stood in the way..."
(26) After a while, I said, "I'd say it was a .22 rifle with a high-velocity bullet. Hitting you in the body, it quite likely won't kill you. You need to hit the head or the neck to be lethal. All I did was shield your head."
(27) There was a silence. Then he said, "I'd forgotten you could shoot."
(28) "I was in the school team. We were taught by one of the country's best marksmen." I smiled in the dark. "You paid for it, you know."
(Adapted from Penalty by Dick Francis)

(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage: [4]
(1) unmoving
(2) full of severe pain and agony
(3) complete, not damaged
(4) protect

Answer:
(1) immobile
(2) anguished
(3) intact
(4) shield

Teacher's Note:
a) Vocabulary questions require scanning the text for exact contextual synonyms.

b) Ensure exact spelling matches the words found in the passage.

(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage: [4]
(1) feet (line 11)
(2) square (line 16)
(3) second (line 29)
(4) head (line 45)

Answer:
(1) The carpenter measured the wooden plank and found it to be six feet long.
(2) The old town square was decorated with colorful lights and festive banners for the carnival.
(3) She took only a second to decide which dress she wanted to purchase for the party.
(4) The newly elected chairperson will head the committee responsible for environmental welfare.

Teacher's Note:
a) Students must frame original sentences demonstrating a completely different semantic sense of the given word.
b) Each sentence must meet the minimum length requirement of ten words.

(b) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:
(i) What two things happened simultaneously when Ben and his father were walking to the headquarters? [2]

Answer:
Ben's father tripped on the uneven cobblestoned ground and, at the exact same moment, there was a loud gunshot bang and the sound of breaking glass.

Teacher's Note:
a) Comprehension answers must be written concisely in the student's own words based on the text.
b) Both simultaneous events must be clearly mentioned to secure full marks.

(ii) What did Ben see when he looked at his father on the ground? [2]

Answer:
When Ben bent over his father, he saw that his eyes were stretched wide and his mouth was grim with pain.

Teacher's Note:
a) Focus strictly on the physical description given in paragraph 3.
b) Avoid adding unnecessary details from outside the text.

(iii) Why did Ben's father tell him to run and why did Ben disobey him? [2]

Answer:
Ben's father told him to run because he realized the loud bang was a gunshot and they were vulnerable targets; Ben disobeyed because he wanted to stay and protect his injured father.

Teacher's Note:
a) This question has two distinct parts requiring both motives to be answered clearly.
b) Check for accurate reference to the narrative context in paragraphs 4 and 5.

(iv) What was Ben's logical answer to his father explaining why he did not obey him? [4]

Answer:
Ben logically explained that a bullet hitting the body might not be fatal, whereas a shot to the head or neck would be lethal. By refusing to run, he had acted to shield his father's head from potential gunfire.

Answer:
- Ben and his father walked across the dark, uneven cobblestoned square towards the headquarters.
- His father tripped and fell down on one knee.
- Simultaneously, a loud gunshot bang and breaking glass were heard.
- His father immediately urged Ben to run for cover, realizing it was a gunshot.
- Ben refused to run, choosing to stay down beside his father.
- People rushed out from the hotel in confusion, gathering around to help his father up.

Teacher's Note:
a) Summary notes must capture the essential chronological sequence of events from paragraphs 1 to 10.
b) Use concise bullet points without writing full complex sentences.

(ii) In about 100 words, write your points in the form of a connected passage. [6]

Answer:
While Ben and his father were walking across the dark, uneven cobblestoned square towards the headquarters, his father tripped and fell on one knee. At that exact moment, a loud gunshot and the sound of breaking glass shattered the quiet. Recognizing the danger, his father urgently instructed Ben to run for cover. However, Ben disobeyed and stayed behind to protect him. Attracted by the sudden noise, confused people poured out of the nearby hotel and rushed forward to help his father to his feet.

Teacher's Note:
a) The summary passage must flow logically using appropriate transitional linkers.
b) Strict adherence to the 100-word limit is mandatory to prevent negative marking.