MBOSE Class 12 Question Paper 2024 for English Alternative

Meghalaya Board of School Education

QUESTION
PAPERS

Total No. of Printed Pages—12
HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24

2024

ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH

Full Marks : 100

Time : 3 hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions

General Instructions :

(i) Write all the answers in the Answer Script.

(ii) Attempt Part—A (Objective Questions) serially.

(iii) Attempt all parts of a question together at one place.

( PART : A—OBJECTIVE )
( Marks : 50 )

SECTION—I
( Marks : 30 )

1. Fill in the blanks by choosing the right word from the
alternatives given in the brackets (any five) : 1×5=5

(a) While Major was speaking ——— large rats had crept
out of their holes and were sitting on their
hindquarters, listening to him.

( three / four )

/2 [ P.T.O.

( 2 )

(b) The fields were full of weeds, the buildings wanted
roofing, the hedges were neglected, and the animals
were ———.

( underfed / unfed )

(c) Sethji was ———.

( shocked / aghast )

(d) The poor fellow was ——— flying on the wings of
religion.

( veritably / variably )

(e) He turned to the other Indians for ———.

( corroboration / collaboration )

(f) It was an age-old method of accustoming a cat to
a ——— home.

( new / strange )

(g) Jenny was ——— and had lately taken furiously to
reading.

( ten / twelve )

(h) Quick felt a sense of ———.

( sadness / stuffiness )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ Contd.

( 3 )

2. Write whether the following statements are True or False
(any five) : 1×5=5

(a) Snowball was a large, rather fierce looking boar.

(b) Mr. Jones went into Willingdon and did not come
back till mid-day on Saturday.

(c) Rod decided to use persuasion to get the jaguar
inside the cage.

(d) The Indians believed that the jaguar would return by
the same trail.

(e) A farmer owed Sethji ten rupees.

(f) Sethji used to go out in a palanquin carried by
sixteen attendants.

(g) Jane Martin was the Chairman of the Welfare
Committee.

(h) Kate seized Mr. Quick by the collar as if to strangle
him.

3. Fill in the blanks by choosing the right word from the
alternatives given in the brackets (any five) : 1×5=5

(a) For my ——— soul would drain Earth’s utmost bitter,
utmost sweet.
( satiate / insatiate )

(b) Life is a prism of My ———,
And Death the shadow of My face.
( love / light )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ P.T.O.

( 4 )

(c) And ——— born of murmuring sound
Shall pass into her face.
( beauty / silence )

(d) While She and I together live
Here in this ——— dell.
( lovely / happy )

(e) He has his Winter too of pale _____.
( misfeature / misfortune )

(f) On mists in ——— to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
( laziness / idleness )

(g) A ——— crowd of little hope.
( struggling / straggling )

(h) A section claimed its ——— to leave the group.
( liberty / freedom )

4. Write whether the following statements are True or False
(any five) : 1×5=5

(a) Sarojini Naidu entreats God to bless her only with
the good things of life.

(b) God is ready to listen to the prayer of the poetess.

(c) The adult loves to ruminate on youthful thought.

(d) Keats believes that lusty Spring is the time of fanciful
ideas and imagination.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ Contd.

( 5 )

(e) Nature will teach Lucy to be stormy as the storm.

(f) Lucy died when nature had fulfilled her promise.

(g) The pilgrims passed by three cities where a sage had
taught.

(h) The expectations of the pilgrims were not fulfilled.

5. Answer any five of the following questions in
2/3 sentences each. Choose either Group—A or
Group—B. 2×5=10

GROUP—A

(a) Why did the convict say that he was a man once but
was transformed into a beast?

(b) Why did the gendarmes bring the convict to the
Bishop’s house?

(c) What crime had the convict committed leading to his
imprisonment?

(d) Why did the Bishop save the convict from the police?

(e) Before leaving, the convict asks the Bishop to bless
him. What brought about this change in him?

(f) What were the convict’s reasons for wanting to go to
Paris?

(g) Explain the phrase “this poor body is the temple of
the living God”.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ P.T.O.

( 6 )

GROUP—B

(a) What did Macbeth see before killing Duncan?

(b) Why couldn’t Banquo sleep?

(c) What did Lady Macbeth do with the bloody daggers?

(d) What did Banquo and Macduff decide to do after
their king’s murder?

(e) “My hands are of your colour; but
I shame to wear a heart so white.”
Why did Lady Macbeth say so?

(f) Why were Malcolm and Donalbain suspected of being
their father’s murderer?

(g) Why did Macbeth leave for Scone?

SECTION—II
( Marks : 20 )

6. Answer any five of the following questions in
2/3 sentences each : 2×5=10

(a) What is the nature of life of the animals according to
Old Major?

(b) What was the first sign of the jaguar’s presence?

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ Contd.

( 7 )

(c) Describe the ekka driver’s wife.

(d) How can you tell that Kate and Jenny loved their
father?

(e) “Speak, Master, and reveal to me.” Who is the
speaker and who is she speaking to? What does she
want revealed?

(f) In which places does Nature plan to educate Lucy?

(g) In the poem, Enterprise, what did the pilgrims
“observe and put down”?

(h) Describe the period of Autumn in the poem,
The Human Seasons.

7. Rewrite the following sentences as directed : 1×10=10

(a) Only he can do it.

( Replace ‘Only’ by ‘None’ )

(b) He was elected leader.

( Change the voice )

(c) The fact is so evident that it requires no proof.

( Replace ‘so’ by ‘too’ )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ P.T.O.

( 8 )

(d) Hard as he worked, he failed the examination.

( Use ‘though’ )

(e) She would not go home during the holidays.

( Use a question tag )

(f) The Prime Minister’s speech was loudly cheered by
the assembly of hearers.

( Supply a single word for the
underlined words )

(g) Kalidas is ——— Homer of India.

( Insert an appropriate article )

(h) He is blind ——— his own faults.

( Use the correct preposition )

(i) The three friends never quarrelled between
themselves.

( Correct the sentence )

(j) I must have a reply without ——— delay.

( Choose the correct word to fill up the blank :
further / farther )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ Contd.

( 9 )

( PART : B—DESCRIPTIVE )
( Marks : 50 )

8. Answer any two of the following questions : 5×2=10

(a) What do you understand by the term ‘Animalism’?
Where did its seed germinate? What were the
different reactions of the animals to Animalism?
1+1+3=5

(b) What are the suggestions given by the natives to Rod
in order to capture the jaguar? Why was birdlime the
best option? 2½+2½=5

(c) Describe the meeting between Seth Chetaram and
the Ekka driver’s wife. 5

(d) Why did Robert Quick decide to go to the club? What
did he plan to do? 2+3=5

9. Answer any two of the following questions : 5×2=10

(a) Critically analyze the poem, The Soul’s Prayer.

(b) Justify the title of the poem, The Education of Nature
with evidence from the text.

(c) What are the traits that best describe the ‘Summer’
and the ‘Winter’ of a man’s life?

(d) How does Ezekiel use imagery and metaphor to
convey his message in the poem, Enterprise?

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ P.T.O.

( 10 )

10. Explain with reference to the context (any two). Choose
either Group—A or Group—B. 5×2=10

GROUP—A
( The Bishop’s Candlesticks )

(a) Well for my part I believe that charity begins at home.

(b) I’m too old a bird to be caught with chaff.

(c) I will not stand by and see you robbed.

(d) You have your soul to lose, my son; it is of more
value than my heart.

GROUP—B
( Macbeth )

(a) “Lest our old robes sit easier than our new !”

(b) O horror ! horror ! horror !
Tongue nor heart, cannot conceive nor name thee !

(c) I, go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

(d) What will you do? Let’s not consort with them:
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easily.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ Contd.

( 11 )

11. Write a précis of the following passage and give a suitable
title : 8+2=10

Every man, be he rich or poor, is fond of building castles
in the air. The poor man dreams of prosperity, the
rich man of increasing wealth. Nor need we wonder at
this, for all men are forever under the magic spell of hope.
As the poet has written : Hope springs eternal in the
human breast. In youth it blooms like a flower, delicate
and fragrant, shedding over the golden years of childhood
the sweetness of its perfume. To the old it offers strength
in hours of weariness. But air is an unstable element;
castles in the air are worse than houses built on sand.
They are frail structures, more delicate than a spider’s
web.

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

Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and
ends it in stillness. In the intervals he does all he can to
make a noise in the world, and there are a few things of
which he stands in more fear than of the absence of noise.
Even his conversation is in great measure a desperate
attempt to prevent a dreadful silence. If he is introduced
to a fellow-mortal, and a number of pauses occur in the
conversation he regards himself as a failure, a worthless
person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatter-
box. He knows that ninety-nine percent of human
conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but
he longs to join the buzz, and to prove that he is a man
and not a wax-work figure. The object of conversation is

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 [ P.T.O.

( 12 )

not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep
up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted,
different qualities of buzz. Most buzzing fortunately is
pleasing to the ear, and some of it is agreeable even to the
mind. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the
hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content
if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into
other people’s ears, though they have nothing to tell them
except that they have seen two or three new plays or that
they had bad food in a Swiss hotel.
Questions :

(a) How does the author prove that silence is unnatural
to man? 2

(b) When does a man consider himself a worthless
person? 2

(c) How does the author characterize human
conversation? 2

(d) What, according to the author, characterize human
conversation? 2

(e) What is the object with which most people join in a
conversation? 2

HHH

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com/Ae/24/2 24K—9000

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