Assam Board Class 11 Question Paper 2023 English

ASSAM BOARD
QUESTION
PAPER
2023

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Total No. of Printed Pages--12
23E-ENGL

2023

ENGLISH

Full Marks: 90
Pass Marks : 27

Time: 3 hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions

ALLOTMENT OF MARKS

Q. Nos. l and 2 (Section--A (Reading)] = 20

Q. Nos, 3-5 (SectionB(Writing)] 20

Q. Nos. 6-8 (Section-c(Grammar)] = 10

Q. Nos. 9-14 |Section-D (Textual Questions)] = 40

Total = 90

/119 | Contd.

(2 )
SECTION-A
(Reading )
and answer the
L. Read the following passage carefully
questions that follow
I got into the coach. It drove away. At
last Ireached
masters of the
London in the morning. There one of the
school was waiting for me. His name was Mr. Mell. Isaid
that I had had no breakfast.
"We will buy some food", said Mr. Mell. Ihave to visit an
old lady; you may eat it at her house."
We walked short distance and came to Some
a

almshouses. (These are small houses built by some rich
men for very poor people to live in) Mr. Mell went into one
of these houses.

"My Charley!" said the woman. She was Mr. Mell's mother.
We sat down and ate breakfast. Afterwards the old woman
said, "Have you got your whistle, Charley?"
(He took out a whistle and began to play a very sad tune.
have never heard anyone play worse.
We went back and got into another coach. It drove away
and we came at last to Blackheath.
We wallked a short distance and came to a high brick wall.
Over a door in this wall there was a board with SALEM
HOUSE written upon it.)
The door was opened by a man with a wooden leg.
The new boy", said the master

/119

(3 )
(Salem House was a square, sad-looking brick building.
I was led into a schoolroom-the saddest and emptiest
place Ihave ever seen. It was a long room with three long
lines of desks in it. Bits of paper lay on the floor. The walls
were covered with ink as if a rain of ink had come through
the roof and there was a strange unpleasant smell in the
air) For some days I was alone in the place with Mr. Mell.
The boys had not comne back yet from the holidays; and
Mr. Creakle, the headmaster, was away at the sea. I had
my meals with Mr. Mell. He wrote, and when he had
finished writing he pulled out his whistle and played sad
tunes on it. I read, or listened to the whistle, and cried
myself to sleep when Iwent to bed at night in a big room
with mnany empty beds in it.

Questions :

(a) When does the speaker reach London? 1

(b) By what name does Mr. Mell's mother call him? 1

(c) At which place do the speaker and Mr. Mell arrive at
last? 1

Who opens the door at Salem House?

(e) What are almshouses? 2

/119 [Contd.

(4 )

Give a brief description of Salem House.
2
)

eating with
(g) What did Mr. Mell do after he had finished
2
the speaker?

(h) Pick out words from the passage that mean the
1x2-2
following :
(i) Scent
(i) Vacation

2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions
that follow :

1. Indian society is old and it is extremely complex.
According to a popular estimate it has covered a span
of five thousand years the period of its first known
civilization, During this long period several waves of
immigrants, representing different ethnic strains and
linguistic families, have merged into its population to
contribute to its diversity, richness, and vitality.

2. Several different levels of social evolution coexist in
contemporary India primitive hunters and food
gatherers; shifting cultivators who used digging sticks
and hoes (not ploughs and draft cattle); nomads of
different types (breeders of goats, sheep, and cattle;
itinerant traders; and artisans and craftsmen);settled
agriculturists who used the plough for cultivation;

/119

(5 )

artisans, and landed as aristocracies of ancient
Most of the major religions of the
lineage,
worldHinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhismn- -are
found here, and in addition there is a bewildering
variety of cults and sects with different orientations in
belief and ritual. In the process of its evolution, Indian
society has acquired a composite culture, character
ised by stable patterns of pluralism.

3. tIt is difficult to identify the earliest inhabitants of
Indias Not surprisingly, there are no written records
aboutthem because at that time writing had not been
invented. The oral tradition of the people is also not of
much help, for later additions and subtractions render
it unreliable as a guide to history) The evidence of
prehistory is more dependable, though it can rarely
tell the whole story. (Many of the minute details of life
cannot survive the ravages of time. We now

know that early human activity in India goes
back to the second Inter-Glacial period, between
400,000 and 200,000 BC.)

Questions:

(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage,
make note on it and add a suitable title to it. 5

(b) Make a summary of the above passage in about
80 words. 3

/119 [Contd.

(6 )

SECTION-B

( Writing)
3. You are the Cultural Secretaryof your
school/college and
programme on the
Pianning to organize a cultural
the
Occasion of Golden Jubilee of vour school/college, in
Second week of April. Write in about 100 words, how you
6
are going to orgarnize it.
OR

24th
YOur school/college observed Lachit Divas' on
November. Many students and teachers took part in the
celebration. Prepare arenort on how the celebration took
place. (Maximum 100words) 6

4. Write a speech to be delivered at the morning assembly of
your school/college on the topic, The Importance of
Physical Exercise'. 6

OR

Writean article for your school/college magazine on "The
importance of proper use of smart phones'. 6

5. You are Deepa/ Dilip. You have seen an advertisement in a
regional newspaper for the post of a Manager at Kaziranga
Resort, Kaziranga. Write an application to the concerned
authority in response to the advertisement stating your
qualification and experiences.

/119

(7)
OR

Write a letter to the Editor of The Assam Tribune drawing
attention of the authorities concerned to the insufficient
supply of pure drinking water in your locality.

SECTION-C

( Grammar )
6. (a) Fill in the blanks with suitable determiners given in
the brackets : Vax2=1

(i) She spent rupees her mother had given her.
(few/a few/the few)
(ü) Do you have complaint against me?
(any/some)
(b) Rewrite the following sentences with the correct forms
of the verbs given in the brackets Vax2=1

() She (suffer) from fever since the day before
yesterday.
(ü) The play (start) before we reached the stadium.
(c) Fill in the blanks with
appropriate modal
auxiliaries (the sense of the sentence is indicated in
the brackets) : hx2=1

(i) You not steal. (Command)

(ü) I help you as far as possible.
(Willingness)
/119 |Contd.

(8 )
(d) Correct the following :
returned back to
() The cricket team India
yesterday.
() He took his sheeps to graze.

T (4 Complete the following piece of conversation by
brackets :
Choosing the correct alternatives from the 2
I
Ankita said to his mother, Mother,
(have/had) finished my homework. May Igo to
Anju's house?"Her mother replied, "No, you
not. " Ankita said again,
(should/woyld) mother
No, I (must/may) see her." Ankita's
replied, "In that case, you can go. But you
(Can/ must) come back before it is dark."
(b) Rewrite the following sentences as directed 1x2=2
) Iam responsible for what I do.
(Make it a simple sentence)
() All glittering things are not gold.
(Make it a complex sentence)

8. Rearrange the words in the following to form meaningful
sentences 1x2=2
(a) began to / the station / cards / the train when
play / whistled off / we / from.
(b) of smoke / outside | a ring | there | curling / the
kitchen / out of was the chimney.

/119

(9 )

SECTION-D
(Textual Questions )

9. kead any one of the stanzas given below and answer the
questions that follow :
(a) And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer,
as here translated :
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the
land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd,
altogether changed,
and yet the same,

(1) To whom does the speaker address? 1

() Who says, I am the Poem of Earth" ? 1

(ui) why is the sea called bottomless' ? 1

(iv) Who goes Upward to heaven' ?
(u) What is the meaning of Eternal I rise
impalpable' ? 4

OR

(b) When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I realized that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,

/119 | Contd.

( 10 )

And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!
() What is the speaker asking about his childhood? 1

(11) At what age, did the poet's childhood go,
according to the poet?
1
(üi) What cannot be found in Geography?
(iv) What does the poet discover about Heaven and
Hell?
4
(v) Explain the main thought of the above stanza.
3«2=6
10. Answer any two of the following questions :
(a) What does the word 'cardboard' refer to in the poem,
A Photograph?
(b) Why did the poet's mother laugh at the snapshot?
(c) How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the
poem, The Voice of the Rain?
(d) What are the functions of rain?

le) What is the father's problem in the poem, Father to
Son?

() How does the father try to improve the situation of
tension and silence between the father and the son?

(g) Write about the hypocrisy of the adults mentioned in
the poem, Childhood.

(h) What does the expression producing thoughts that
were not those of other people' mean?

/119

(11 )
11. Answer any five of the
following questions : 2x5=10

(a) Give a pen picture of the
narrator's grandfather as he
appeared in the portrait.
(b) Why did the narrator's
grandmother give the
impression of winter landscape in the mnountains' ?
(c) Find out the correlations of Yin and
Yang in other
cultures.
(d) What is lacking in
Shanshui ?
(e) What is propagated by the concept of sustainable
development?
UJ Why is the growing population worldwide detrimental
to the earth's health?

(g) What does errier Elwin say about the hospitality of
the Assamese people?
(h) What are Verrier Elwin's views about Assamese
women's sense of colour?

12. (a) It has been well said that forests precede mankind;
deserts follow." Explain. 6

OR

(b) Write, in your own words, about the author's life with
his grandmother at their village home. 6

/119 [Contd.

(12 )

l3. (a) Give a brief account of Ranga's education, his views on
6
marriage, and how he finally got married.
OR

(b) Explain the cause of conflict between the history
teacher and Albert. 6

14. Answer any two of the following questions in brief : 2x2>4
(a) What was Mr. Koch's opinion about Albert?

() Why was Ranga's homecoming a great eventr
(C) What is the name of Ranga's village and what does the
narrator say about it?

t**

/119 C23