ISC Class 12 Sample Paper 2023 English Elective

ELECTIVE ENGLISH
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Maximum Marks: 80
Time Allowed: Three hours
(Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper.
They must NOT start writing during this time).
The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
Attempt ten questions from Question 1 and five questions from Question 2 in
Section A on any three out of the five prescribed textbooks.
Attempt three questions from Section B on any three out of the five prescribed
textbooks.
Do not attempt extra questions.

SECTION A – 20 MARKS
(Attempt any ten subparts of Question 1 and any five subparts of Question 2)

Question 1
Choose the most appropriate option from among those given for any ten of the questions
or statements from any three of the prescribed textbooks.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee

(i) Scout and Jem discovered gifts in the knot-hole of ________. [1]

(a) a mango tree
(b) an oak tree
(c) a camellia bush

(ii) When Scout asked how a snake felt, what did Jem fetch? [1]

(a) A hose pipe
(b) Calpurnia’s ladle
(c) A broom
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(iii) Who had Atticus covered all time with a double-barrelled shotgun at the [1]
Maycomb jailhouse?

(a) Mr. Avery

(b) Mr. Underwood

(c) Judge Taylor

(iv) The novel can be called [1]

(a) a Bildungsroman.

(b) historical fiction.

(c) an autobiography.

THE HUNGRY TIDE: Amitav Ghosh

(v) The ‘barefoot nurse’ programme by the Trust was meant to [1]

(a) absorb poor widows in and around Lusibari in useful work.

(b) provide medical assistance to remote villages.

(c) teach nurses to hold literacy classes for the unlettered in villages.

(vi) Why was Nilima surprised at the date of Nirmal’s diary? [1]

(a) It was a year in which Nirmal had done no writing.

(b) It was the year the flood had washed away all school children’s ‘khatas’.

(c) It was the year Nirmal had retired as headmaster.

(vii) What did Nirmal consider the story of Bon Bibi to be? [1]

(a) Rural superstition

(b) False consciousness

(c) Poetic fallacy

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(viii) In Lusibari, who had a providential escape from a venomous snake while [1]
fastening a mosquito net in the darkness?

(a) Nilima

(b) Kusum

(c) Kanai

A DOLL’S HOUSE: Henrik Ibsen

(ix) What best describes the way Nora manipulates Torvald? [1]

(a) Nora plays up her femininity by emphasising on her beauty and
helplessness.

(b) Nora is dramatic about leaving Torvald so that he will try to win her back.

(c) Nora cannot manipulate Torvald because he has power over her.

(x) Which of the following is not an example of the sacrifice women make in the [1]
play?

(a) Anne Marie has to give up her daughter in order to work as a nanny.

(b) Nora uses her allowance to pay off the loan she takes to save Torvald’s life.

(c) Nora is forced to spend her spare time caring for her children.

(xi) Why does Nora feel she can spend more money that Christmas? [1]

(a) Torvald has increased her allowance.

(b) Torvald has got a new position which means a better salary.

(c) Torvald offers to pay the bills of his “skylark”.

(xii) Torvald hates indebtedness because [1]

(a) a home in debt can never be free.

(b) it would make him too much like Nora’s father.

(c) it is a hereditary ill.

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DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Arthur Miller

(xiii) What does Charley offer Willy? [1]

(a) Moral support

(b) A job

(c) Companionship

(xiv) While talking to Happy, Biff considers borrowing money from [1]

(a) Howard Wagner to buy a ranch.

(b) Bill Oliver to open a sporting goods store.

(c) Bill Oliver to buy a ranch.

(xv) Linda is Willy’s [1]

(a) pillar and support.

(b) foundation and pillar.

(c) foundation and support.

(xvi) Where did Bernard tell Willy he was taking a train to? [1]

(a) Washington

(b) Ebbets Field

(c) Boston

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY VERSE – Ed. Chris Woodhead

(xvii) The use of the word “bodkin” in The Ship of Death implies [1]

(a) metaphorically stitching together one’s preparation for death.

(b) considering – but rejecting – suicide.

(c) considering – and embracing – suicide.

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(xviii) Where was the narrator of As the team’s head brass sitting? [1]

(a) Among the boughs of a fallen elm, by a woodpecker’s round hole

(b) Among the boughs of a fallen spruce, by a woodpecker’s round hole

(c) Among the boughs of a fallen fir, by a peewit’s round hole

(xix) In Musee des Beaux Arts, what must the “expensive delicate ship” have seen? [1]

(a) A boy falling out of the sky

(b) A pair of white legs in the green sea

(c) Nothing, but may have heard the forsaken cry

(xx) Edward Thomas uses a ________ to compare himself to a river in the evening [1]
in the poem Beauty.

(a) metaphor

(b) consonance

(c) simile

Question 2

Briefly answer any five of the following questions from any three of the prescribed
textbooks:

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee

(i) What does Mr. Avery attribute as the cause for the unusual coldest weather in [2]
Maycomb since 1885?

(ii) On the first day of school who, according to Scout, was the “filthiest human” [2]
she had ever seen and why?

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THE HUNGRY TIDE: Amitav Ghosh

(iii) How did Nilima get to know Moyna’s husband was Fokir? [2]

(iv) What was Nilima’s reaction when Kanai told her he was going away for a few [2]
days into the forest?

A DOLL’S HOUSE: Henrik Ibsen

(v) What jobs does Nora do secretly to earn money to pay off the loan? [2]

(vi) What are the terms of Krogstad’s blackmail? [2]

DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Arthur Miller

(vii) Mention two consequences of the episode at Boston. [2]

(viii) What two reasons were given by Howard Wagner to Willy for refusing to give [2]
him a desk job in New York?

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY VERSE – Ed. Chris Woodhead

(ix) Give any two examples Auden uses in Musee des Beaux Arts to illustrate [2]
indifference to human suffering.

(x) In Seamus Heaney’s poem Follower, what does the poet say he “wanted to grow [2]
up” and do? What does he say he “ever did”?

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SECTION B – 60 MARKS

Attempt three questions from Section B on any three out of the five prescribed
textbooks.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee

Question 3

(i) How does Scout defy the conventions of a ‘Southern lady’ in her dress and [20]
behaviour?

OR

(ii) Write short notes on:

(a) Charles Baker Harris [10]

(b) Aunt Alexandra’s views on Maycomb society and appropriate behaviour [10]

THE HUNGRY TIDE: Amitav Ghosh

Question 4

(i) Give a detailed description of Piya’s first meeting with Fokir. Do you consider [20]
this incident significant to the plot?

OR

(ii) Write short notes on:

(a) Piya’s observations as Fokir and Tutul catch crabs while she tracks the [10]
Orcaella.

(b) Kanai’s description of the creation and destruction of Port Canning. [10]

A DOLL’S HOUSE: Henrik Ibsen

Question 5

(ii) Analyse the character and role of Mrs Linde in the play A Doll’s House. [20]

OR

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(ii) Write short notes on:

(a) The Tarantella [10]

(b) Nora as a victim of blackmail [10]

DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Arthur Miller

Question 6

(i) With close reference to Death of a Salesman, assess the character of Happy [20]
Loman. Do you feel he is truly ‘happy’?

OR

(ii) Write short notes on:

(a) The significance of stockings in the play. [10]

(b) Charley as a friend. [10]

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY VERSE – Ed. Chris Woodhead

Question 7

(i) W.H. Auden’s The Unknown Citizen is written in praise of a man who has [20]
recently died and is termed as an ideal role model by the government. Discuss.

OR

(ii) Write short notes on:

(a) The poet as an “artful voyeur” in the past and the present, as suggested in [10]
Punishment.

(b) The intricate detail of the progress of the fox in Ted Hughes’ The Thought- [10]
Fox.

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