NBSE Class 8 Question Paper 2021 English

Total number of printed pages: 2 NB-E/E/1 2021 CLASS - VIII (Phase-1) ENGLISH Total marks : 40 Time : 1½ hours General instructions: i) Approximately 12 minutes is allotted to read the question paper and revise the answers. ii) All questions are compulsory. Internal option is given in some questions. iii) The question paper consists of 12 questions, divided into Sections A & B. iv) Marks allocated to every question are indicated against it. N.B : Check to ensure that all pages of the question paper is complete as indicated on the top left side. SECTION –A (Prose) 1. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives given: 5x1=5 i) The letter received by Mrs. Jim Macpherson was written in pencil and dated at the top a. Dec 1914 b. Dec 25, 1915 c. Dec 26, 1914 d. Dec 26, 1916 ii) Hans Wolf thought the ________ was the best he had ever tasted. a. black forest b. caramel c. marzipan d. marble cake iii) The Smith family were celebrating ________ at a beach resort in Thailand. a. New Year b. Christmas c. Thanksgiving d. Durga Puja iv) Meghna spent ________ days floating in the sea. a. five b. two c. one d. ten v) Bepin Choudhury dropped in at Kalicharan’s in New Market to buy books every a. Tuesday b. Monday c. Saturday d. Friday Answer the following questions in about 15-20 words: 4x2=8 2. Who had written the letter to whom and when? (The Best Christmas Present in the World) 3. Had Hans Wolf ever been to Dorset? Why did he say he knew it? 4. What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw? (The Tsunami) 5. Why did the man stare at Bepin Babu in disbelief? (Bepin Choudhury’s Lapse of Memory) Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words: 2x4=8 6. How are Meghna and Alma’s story similar? (The Tsunami) 7. Why did Bepin Babu hesitate to visit Mr. Mukherjee? Why did he finally decide to phone him?

-2- NB-E/E/1 Answer any one of the following questions in about 40-50 words: 1x5=5 8. a. What is Connie’s Christmas present? Why is it the ‘best Christmas present in the world’? Or b. Why was Dr. Chanda Puzzled? What was unusual about Bepin Babu’s loss of memory? SECTION –B (Poetry) 9. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives given: 5x1=5 i) Go then, says the ant, “and dance the ________ away.” a. winter b. spring c. summer d. autumn ii) Macavity is a _________ cat, he’s very tall and thin. a. ginger b. chilli c. garlic d. onion iii) ‘Macavity-the Mystery Cat’ is written by a. T.S.Eliot b. Rabindranath Tagore c. Shakespeare d. William Wordsworth iv) “Oh! what will become,” says the ________ , “of me?” a. ant b. spider c. cricket d. caterpillar v) Macavity’s powers of levitation would make a _________ stare. a. fakir b. reverend c. pastor d. none of the above Answer the following questions in about 15-20 words: 2x2=4 10. In the poem, “The Ant and the Cricket”, find the lines that mean the same as “neither a borrower nor a lender be.”(Shakespeare) 11. If Macavity is not a cat really, who can Macavity be? Answer the following questions in about 40 - 50 words: 5x1=5 12. ‘Folks call this a fable. I’ll warrant it true. Some crickets have four legs and some have two’ a. Name the poem from which the above lines are taken. (1) b. What is a fable? (1) c. Write the poet’s comments in your own words. (3) **************************************