HBSE Class 11 Sample Paper 2026 English Special

SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER (2025-26)
CLASS -XIth
SUBJECT-ENGLISH( Special)
Time-3Hours. M.M.80
General Instructions-
1. The Question paper contains two sections- Reading skill and Writing skill.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
Section-A
Reading Skill

Q.1)Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions that follow:. 10×2=20

A. The choices we make on a daily basis—wearing a seatbelt, lifting heavy objects
correctly or purposely staying out of any dangerous situation—can either ensure our
safety or bring about potentially harmful circumstances.

You and I need to make a decision that we are going to get our lives in order. Exercising
self-control, self-discipline and establishing boundaries and borders in our lives are some
of the most important things we can do. A life without discipline is one that’s filled with
carelessness.

We can think it’s kind of exciting to live life on the edge. We like the image of “Yeah! That’s
me! Living on the edge! Woo-hoo!” It’s become a popular way to look at life. But if you see,
even highways have lines, which provide margins for our safety while we’re driving. If we
go over one side, we’ll go into the ditch. If we cross over the line in the middle, we could get
killed. And we like those lines because they help to keep us safe. Sometimes we don’t even
realize how lines help to keep us safe.

I’m not proud of this, but for the first 20 years of my life at work, I ignored my limits. I felt
horrible, physically, most of the time. I used to tell myself, “I know I have limits and that I’ve
reached them, but I’m going to ignore them and see if or how long I can get by with it.” I
ran to doctors, trying to make myself feel better through pills, vitamins, natural stuff and
anything I could get my hands on. Some of the doctors would tell me, “It’s just stress.” That
just made me mad. I thought stress meant you don’t like what you do or can’t handle life,
and I love what I do. But I kept pushing myself, travelling, doing speaking engagements
and so on— simply exhausting myself.

Finally, I understood I was living an unsustainable life and needed to make some changes
in my outlook and lifestyle.

You and I don’t have to be like everyone else or keep up with anyone else. Each of us
needs to be exactly the way we are, and we don’t have to apologize for it. We’re not all

alike, and we need to find a comfort zone in which we can enjoy our lives instead of
making ourselves sick with an overload of stress and pressure.

On the basis of understanding the passage, answer the following questions (1×10=10)

Q1) The reason why living on the edge has become popular is because of the

a) constant need for something different.

b) population being much younger.

c) exhausting effort to make changes.

d) strong tendency to stay within our limits.

Q2) The phrase “potentially harmful circumstances” refers to circumstances that can

(a) certainly be dangerous.

(b) be fairly dangerous.

(c) be possibly dangerous.

(d) seldom be dangerous.

Q3) Select the option that makes the correct use of “unsustainable”, as used in the
passage, to fill in the blank space.

a) In the long run, the ______ officials followed emergency procedures.

b) Emergency procedures were _______ by the officials.

c) Officials reported an ________ set of events during the emergency.

d) Officials admit that the emergency system is _______ in the longer run.

Q4) What does the author mean when he says, “to get our lives in order”?

a) To resume our lives.

b) To organize our lives.

c) To rebuild our lives.

d) To control our lives.

Q5) Choose the option that best captures the central idea of the passage from the given
quotes.

A.It’s all about quality of life and a happy balance between work and friends.

B. To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

C. Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

D. Balance is not something you find. It’s something you create.

Q6) The author explains the importance of discipline and boundaries in our lives using the
example of

a) road accidents.

b) traffic rules.

c) lines on the highway.

d) safe driving.

Q7) The author attempts to __________________ the readers through this write-up.

a) rebuke

b) question

c) offer aid to

d) offer advice to

Q8) What is the message conveyed in the last paragraph of the passage?

a) Love what you do.

b) Love yourself to love others.

c) Be the best version of yourself.

d) Be yourself

Q9) Which of the following will be the most appropriate title for the passage?

a) Much too soon

b) Enough is enough

c) How much is too much?

d) Have enough to do?

Q10) The author uses colloquial words such as “yeah” and “Woo-hoo!”. Which of the
following is NOT a colloquial word?

a) hooked

b) guy

c) stuff

d) stress

B.) Cataract is the major cause of blindness, which is also caused by damage to the
cornea. It occurs more often in old age. As one starts growing old, the lens of the eye
hardens, loses its transparency and becomes opaque. It obstructs the light rays from
entering the eye.

The onset of cataract blurs the vision. Sometimes, the cataract patient sees multiple
images instead of a single object image. Because of the gradual development of
cataract, the afflicted person loses his/her vision, and the world becomes dark to him/her.

The development of cataract is a complex process. However, the following factors can be
attributed to its formation. Cataract generally develops in old age but sometimes,
children are born with cataract because of hereditary defect. Eye injuries too, can cause
cataracts.

People exposed to sun rays for longer periods develop cataract earlier than others.
Researchers opine that the smoke inhaled while smoking carries substances internally
damaging the eyes.

Ultraviolet radiation, invisible to the human eye, is linked to skin cancer. The victim loses
vision and the world becomes dark to him.

On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the following
questions: 1×10=10

(a) What is the major cause of blindness?

(b) Why does the lens of the eye become opaque in old age?

(C) How does cataract affect its victim ultimately?

(d) How does one detect cataract in the early stages?

(e) Give any two factors which are responsible for the formation of cataract.

(f) Find the word from para 1 that means ‘that through which light cannot enter’.

(g) Which type of cancer is caused by ultraviolet radiation?

(h) When does cataract generally occur?

(i) How is smoking responsible for the development of cataract?

(j)How does ultraviolet radiation connect to blindness?

Q.2 Precis Writing:- 10×2=20

A. In reality, the soldier who is engaged in armed combat in a national war deliberately
measures from day to day the sum of all degradation inflicted upon many by colonial
oppression. The man of action has sometimes the exhausting impression that he must
restore the whole of his people that he must bring every one of them up out of the pit
and out of the shadows.
He very often sees that his task is not only to hunt down the enemy forces but also to
overcome the kernel of despair which has hardened the native’s being. The period of
oppression is painful, but the conflict, by reinstating the downtrodden, sets on foot a
process of reintegration which is fertile and decisive in the extreme.
A people’s victorious fight not only consecrates the triumph of its rights; it also gives to
that people consistency, coherence, and homogeneity. For colonialism has not simply
depersonalized the individual it has colonized; the depersonalization is equally felt in the
collective sphere, on the level of social structures. The colonized people find that they are
reduced to a body of individuals who only find cohesion when in the presence of a
colonizing nation.
The fight carried on by a people for its liberation leads it, according to the circumstances,
either to refuse or else to explode the so-called truths that have been established in its
consciousness by the colonial civil administration, by the military occupation, and by
economic exploitation. Armed conflict alone can drive out these falsehoods created in
man which force into inferiority the liveliest minds among us and which mutilate us.
A. A. Give a suitable title to this passage.

B. Precis it in your own words.

B.) Culture is a forbidding word. I have to use it, knowing of none better to describe the
various beautiful and interesting objects which man has made in the past and handed
down to us, and which some of us are hoping to hand on. Many people despise them.
They argue with force that cultural stuff takes up a great deal of room and time, and
better be scrapped.

Cultivated people are like drops in an ocean. They mix easily and genially with other
drops, for those exclusive days are over when cultivated people made only cultivated
friends, and became tongue-tied or terror-struck in the presence of anyone whose make-
up was different from their own. Culture, thank goodness, is no longer a social asset, it can
no longer be employed either as a barrier against the mob or as a ladder into the
aristocracy.
All the same, we are a drop in the ocean. Few people share our enjoyment so far. Strictly
between ourselves, and keeping our limited circulation in mind, let us put our heads
together and consider for a moment our special problem, our special blessings, our
special woes. No one needs to listen to us who does not want to. We whisper in the corner
of a world which is full of others’ noises, and louder ones.
Come closer, our problem, as I see it, is what we have got worth passing on. What we have
is (roughly speaking) a little knowledge about books, pictures, tunes, and a little skill in
their interpretation. Seated beside our gasfires, and beneath our electric bulbs, we inherit
a tradition that has lasted for about three thousand years.
A. Give a suitable title to this passage.

B. Precis it in your own words.

Q.3Attepmt any two:-10×2=20

A. Write an application to the Principal of your school requesting him to change your
section of 11th class

B. Write a letter to the editor of Dainik Jagran about the problem of using unfair means in
exams .

C. Write a letter to the editor of the esteemed news paper about the problem of
corruption.

Q.4 Attempt any two:- 10×2=20

A. Write a paragraph on Morning Walk

B. Write a paragraph on Importance of Education.

C. Write a paragraph on Cheating in Exams.