CBSE Class 9 English Communicative Sample Paper Set A

SECTION : A

READING

1. Read the following passage carefully :

Python snake, also known as Ajgar, is one of the most massively built snakes of the Indian subcontinent. It belongs to the Boidae family and is dependent on water to quite an extent.

One of the unique features of the rock pythons of India is that they can raise their body temperature above the ambient level through muscular contractions.

Python snake grows to an average length of somewhere around 4m, with the longest python measuring 5.85 m. Its weight varies from 70 to129 pounds. An adult python is white or yellow in colour, depending on its habitat.

The rock python of India is a lethargic creature, moving only while hunting a prey or when threatened. It shows great swimming ability and is quite at ease in water.

Python snakes can be found in dense as well as open Indian forests, mostly estuarine mangrove forests, arid scrub jungles and rainforests. They may live in abandoned mammal burrows, hollow trees, dense water reeds and mangrove thickets. However, pythons prefer to live near a permanent source of water, like rivers and lakes. The rock python of India is an

Endangered species, partly protected by the Tamil Nadu Government currently. The reason for this is that it is killed for its fine skin, meat and even for medicinal purposes.

These snakes are carnivorous animals and they feed on mammals, birds and reptiles indiscriminately, but seem to prefer mammals. Roused to activity on sighting prey, the snake will advance with a quivering tail and lunge with an open mouth. The live prey is constricted and killed. One or two coils are used to hold it in a tight grip. The prey, unable to breathe, succumbs and is subsequently swallowed head first. After a heavy meal, these snakes are disinclined to move, if forced to move, hard parts of the meal may tear through their bodies.

Based on your reading of the passage, answer the questions/complete the sentences by writing the missing word /phrases: (1x8=8)

(a) How does a rock python increase its body temperature?

(b) The colour of an adult python depends on its ..................

(c) On what is a python snake largely dependent on?

(d) Which is the preferred habitat of python snakes?

(e) Where can python snakes be found?

(f) What has made the rock python a threatened species?

(g) What happens if rock pythons are forced to move after a heavy meal?

(h) Find the word from the passage which means the same as ‘in danger of becoming extinct’.

2. Read the passage given below carefully:

Children are texting, tapping and typing on keyboards more than ever, leaving less time to master that old- fashioned skill known as handwriting. So will the three “T’s” replace a building block of education? It’s not likely. Emerging research shows that handwriting increases brain activity, hones fine motor skills, and can predict a child’s personality. 

“For children, handwriting is extremely important. Not how well they do it, but that they do it and practice it,” said Karin Harman James, an assistant professor in the department of Psychological and Brain Science at Indiana University. Here’s how handwriting makes its mark:

Handwriting can change how children learn and their brains develop. Indiana University researchers used neuro-imaging scans to measure brain activation in preliterate preschool children who were shown letters. One group of children then practised printing letters; the other group practised seeing and saying the letters. After four weeks of training, the kids who practised writing showed brain activation similar to an adult’s, said James, the study’s lead researcher. The printing practice also improved letter recognition, which is the number one predictor of reading ability at the age of five.

Good handwriting can mean better grades. Studies show that the same mediocre paper is graded much higher if the handwriting is neat.

Handwriting aids memory. If you write yourself a list or a note –then lose it – you’re much more likely to remember what you wrote than if you just tried to memorize it, said occupational therapist Katya Feder, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa School of Rehabilitation.

Handwriting proficiency inspires confidence. The more we practice a skill such as handwriting, the stronger the motor pathways become until the skill becomes automatic. Once it’s mastered, children can move on to focus on the subjects, rather than worry about how to form letters.

Handwriting engages different brain circuits than keyboarding. The contact, direction and pressure of the pen or pencil send the brain a message. And the repetitive process of handwriting “integrates motor pathways into the brain,” said Feder. When it becomes automatic or learned, “there’s almost a groove in the pathways,” she said. The more children write, the more pathways are laid down. But if they write them poorly, then they are getting a faulty pathway, so you want to go back and correct it, Feder said.

Based on your reading of the passage, answer the following questions: (2x4=8)

(a) What are the three “T’s” mentioned in the first paragraph? How are these harming the skills of children?

(b) Why are the children with good handwriting more confident than those who don’t possess this skill?

(c) How is the brain engaged while writing?

(d) Enumerate any four advantages of handwriting.

(e) Find out words from the passage which mean the same as : ( 1x4= 4)

i) Talent

A) Work b) skill c)task d) effort

ii) Forecaster

a) Forecast b) forbid c) predict d) freedom

iii) Inferior to quality

a) Mediocre b) middle c) cheap d) inferiority

iv) Channel

a) Canal b) way c) process d) groove

SECTION- B

WRITING SKILL AND GRAMMAR

3. You are upset over the growing use of plastic bags by people, who use them without giving a thought about how much harm they are causing to the environment. You decide to write an article for the newspaper making people aware of pollution caused by plastic bags and giving some useful suggestions.(100-120 words) (5)

Hints:

¶ Made a harmful chemicals

¶ Things in them become unhealthy

¶ Choke drainage

¶ Animals may eat them and die as plastic gets stuck in their bodies

¶ If burnt, release poisonous gases.

4. Write a story with the given beginning in 150-200 words : ( 10 )

Rohit was one of the most intelligent students of the class. But he was a victim of insecurity as he thought that he may score poorly in the examinations. Ms. Shruti, the English teacher......................

5. Complete the following paragraph by filling in the blanks with the help of given options : ( 3 )

The importance of caring about road safety has been ........... ( stress, stressed, stressing)time and again. It is necessary to................(see, observe, follow )the rules of the road, especially by school children because they ...............( are, were, will be ) the worst affected by accidents.

6. The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line . Write incorrect word and correction: (4 )

                                                       Incorrect      Correct

The situation was alarming e.g .       was............ is ..............

The global obesity crises or rising levels of ................. ....................

Chronic disease such as diabetes and strokes ......................... ....................

Has put pressure on fast food chains to cut ......................... ........................

The salt, fat and sugar content of what they sell ........................ .......................

7. Rearrange the jumbled words / phrases into meaningful sentences: (3)

An elephant excels other animals in intelligence. 

a) Displays/he/his/intelligence/actions/in his

b) With a difficulty/a way out/with/his intelligence/faced/he finds/whenever

c) The world/ is/one of/loved/the most/animals/in/elephant

SECTION –C

LITERATURE TEXTBOOK AND LONG READING TEXT

8. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow: (3)

‘O haste thee haste!’ the lady cries,

Though tempests round us gather;

I’ll meet the raging of the skies,

But not an angry father’.

a) Who is the lady? Who is she talking to?

b) Why does she prefer meeting the ‘raging skies’ than meeting her angry father?

c) What is the meaning of the word ‘haste’?

Or

‘I am touching the feet of a teacher, not my granddaughter’.

a) Who is the speaker here?

b) Why does the speaker say this?

c) Which quality of the speaker is highlighted here?

9. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: (2x4=8)

1) How did Marcy react after Duke met with a fatal accident?

2) How is road a metaphor?

3) What impression do you form of Gaston after reading the play?

4) Why does the poet call the foreland ‘fairy foreland’?

10. Answer any one of the following questions in 80-100 words: (4)

a) A positive attitude and determination are the keys to success .Explain with reference to Sudha Murthy’s grandmother.

Or

Courage and never-say die attitude can help a person rise from any adversity. Justify the statement with reference to the lesson’ A Dog Named Duke’.

11. Answer any one of the following questions in 150-200 words: (10)

‘Three Men in a Boat’ is a humorous story Describe the incident that you found the most amusing in the novel.

Or

Write the character sketch of the narrator Jerome k. Jerome.

SOLUTIONS TO MODEL QUESTION PAPER

SECTION –A (READING)

1.a) A rock Python can increase its body temperature by muscular contractions. 1X8=8

b) habitat

c) Python snakes are largely dependent on water.

d) pythons prefer to live near a permanent source of water, like rivers and lakes.

e) Python snakes can be found in dense as well as open Indian forests, mostly estuarine mangrove forests, arid scrub jungles and rain forests.

f) It is killed for its fine skin meat and for medicinal purposes.

g) If they are forced to move, hard parts of the meal may tear through the body.

h) endangered

2.a) texting ,tapping n typing. 2X4=8

b) they leave less time to master the skill known as handwriting.

c) The contact, direction and pressure of the pen or pencil send the brain a message.and handwriting process integrates motor pathways into brain.

d)i) Handwriting can change how children learn and how their brain develop.

ii) Good handwriting can mean better grades.

iii) aids memory

iv ) Inspires confidence

e)i) skill 1X4=4

ii) predictor

iii) mediocre

iv)groove

3. Subject matter, fluency will be tested (5)

4. (10)

5. a) stressed (3)

b) follow

c) are

6. Incorrect Correct (4)

a) or and

b) disease diseases

c) has have

d) of in

7.a) He displays his intelligence in his actions. (3)

b) He finds a way out with his intelligence whenever faced with a difficulty.

Whenever faced with a difficulty, he finds a way out with his intelligence.

c) Elephant is one of the most loved animals in the world.

8. a) Lord Ullin’s daughter , to boatman. (3)

b) because her father and his men would surely kill her and her lover if they catch them.

c) sense of urgency.

Or

a) The grandmother

b) Because she had been illiterate and her granddaughter had taught her to read and write.

c) Dutiful and respectful

9. a) She herself carried Duke to the hospital and got him the best possible treatment. (8)

b) Road is metaphor for the choices that we make in life. It is used to show two alternative ways of life.

c) Gaston an opportunist, witty person

d) because willow trees and mallow plants with colourful flowers give the area a magical quality.

10. a) Grandmother –illiterate-could not study-badly wants to read the story- asks granddaughter to teach –very hard (4) working and positive-ultimately able to read.

Or

Hooper meets an accident-partially paralysed – unable to move.-starts practising step by step with the help of the dog –walks with difficulty-slowly increases speed. –ultimately recover fully

b) Humorous story with funny incidents-amusing Uncle Podger- character with a gentle satire-incapable to do anything. (10)

Or

Main character in the story-always feels unwell-his friends too like him-has taken many trips with family- laughs at himself- has deep knowledge of culture, history costumes etc.

Please click the link below to download CBSE Class 9 English Communicative Sample Paper Set A