CBSE Class 10 English Term 1 Sample Paper Set E

See below CBSE Class 10 English Term 1 Sample Paper Set E with solutions. We have provided CBSE Sample Papers for Class 10 English as per the latest paper pattern issued by CBSE for the current academic year. All sample papers provided by our Class 10 English teachers are with answers. You can see the sample paper given below and use them for more practice for Class 10 English examination.

CBSE Sample Paper for Class 10 English Term 1 Set E

READING SECTION

I. Read the passage given below: 

1. The drama before Shakespeare, found its full flowering with the dramatists called the ‘University Wits’.

2. They wrote in the closing years of the 16’th century. This name of University Wits was given them because they were nearly all educated at Oxford or Cambridge University Wit was the synonym for scholar.

3. All the University Wits have several features in common. They had stormy careers. All of them were actively associated with the theatre. They were usually actors as well as dramatists. They understood the requirements of the stage and felt the pulse of the audience. They often worked in collaboration with each other. Their store material was also common.With these dramatists English drama reached the highest point of glory. In many ways they developed English drama.

4. Christopher Marlowe was the most shining star among the university wits. Others were Lyly, Peele, Greene, Lodge, Nashe and Kyd.

5. John Lyly: As a dramatist Lyly occupies a peculiar position. He selected classical themes and stories for his plays. He himself was a courtier and wrote for countries. He wrote eight plays in all. They are-Campaspe, Sapho and Phao,Gallathea,The Man in the Moon, Midas, Mother Bombie, Love’s Metamorphosis and Woman in the Moon. He was a comic playwright. He gave shape to romantic comedy. Suitable blank verse was used in his comedies. He added to drama the qualities of delicacy, grace, charm and subtlety. He is well known as originator of Euphustic style of prose writing.

6. George Peele: Peele was one of the greatest University Wits. His The Old Wives Tales is the first English play of dramatic criticism. His important plays are Arraignment of Pairs, The Battle of Alcazar, The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the first, The Love of King David and Fair Bathsheba and The Old Wives Tales. The list shows Peele’s versatility as a dramatist. In his plays we notice a high level of poetic attainment. As a humorist he showed the way to Shakespeare.

7. Robert Greene: Greene was a playwright and novelist in one. He attained high excellence in both arts. His best plays are-The Comical History of Alphonsus, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay and James IV. He was a master of his craft in the art of plotting. With him the love story became central in the art of drama. He contributed much to the development of romantic comedy.

8. Thomas Kyd: The English tragedy moves on its way with Kyd. He adhered to the Senecan school. It is he who popularised the blood and thunder element in drama. His ‘The Spanish Tragedy’ occupies an important place. It is a landmark in English tragedy. It is a well-constructed play. Kyd brought the revenge theme to the stage.

9. Christopher Marlowe: Marlowe was the central sun of the University Wits. He is the true founder of the popular English drama. His contribution to the English tragedy is very vital. His main works are Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus,Edward II, The Jew of Malta and The Tragedy of Dido. With Marlowe the English drama reached the highest point of its glory. He raised the subject matter of drama to a higher level. He gave life and reality to his characters. He made the blank verse smoother and gave unity to drama. Thus in many ways, he showed a path to Shakespeare.

10. Thus the University Wits contributed much to the English drama. They prepared the ground for drama. In the spheres of comedy and tragedy they made notable contribution and prepared the way for Shakespeare. (581 words)

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any eight out of the ten questions by choosing the correct option.

Question 1. Select the option that suggests a synonym for ‘wit’.
(a) Teacher
(b) Scholar
(c) Researcher
(d) Professor

Question 2. Name the group of scholars who paved the way for Shakespeare as a dramatist.
(a) University Wits
(b) Metaphysical Poets
(c) Romantic Poets
(d) Neo-classical Poets

3. Select the option which does not list one of the plays written by John Lyly.
(a) Sapho and Phao
(b) Midas
(c) The Battle of Alcazar
(d) Mother Bombie

Question 4. Who is the most notable dramatist among the University Wits?
(a) William Shakespeare
(b) Christopher Marlowe
(c) Thomas Kyd
(d) Robert Greene

Question 5. Who among the University Wits brought revenge theme on the stage?
(a) Christopher Marlowe
(b) William Shakespeare
(c) Ben Johnson
(d) Thomas Kyd

Question 6. Who showed William Shakespeare the way as a humourist?
(a) George Peele
(b) Thomas Kyd
(c) Lodge
(d) Nashe

Question 7. Which among the following was not a feature of the University Wits all-together?
(a) Acting
(b) Novel writing
(c) Well educated
(d) Understanding of the requirement of stage

Question 8. Select the option that states the type of plays written by Robert Greene.
(a) Tragic-comedy
(b) Tragedy
(c) Romantic comedy
(d) Revenge

Question 9. Who can be considered as the true founder of the popular English drama?
(a) Christopher Marlowe
(b) Thomas Kyd
(c) Robert Greene
(d) George Peele

Question 10. Select the option that states who did not belong to the University Wits?
(a) Thomas Kyd
(b) William Shakespeare
(c) George Peele
(d) Lodge

II. Read the passage below:

1. The crude birth rate (CBR) at all India level had declined from 36.9 in 1971 to 33.9 in 1981, registering a fall of about 8 per cent. During 1991-2016, the decline has been about 31 percent, from 29.5 to 20.4. The rural-urban differential has also narrowed over these years. However, the CBR has continued to be higher in rural areas compared to urban areas in the last three decades. The total fertility rate (TFR) has declined from 5.2 to 4.5 during 1971 to 1981 and from 3.6 to 2.3 during 1991 to 2016. The TFR in rural areas has declined from 5.4 to 2.5 from 1971 to 2016 whereas the corresponding decline in urban areas has been from 4.1 to 1.8 during the same period. In 2016, around 80.8 percent of the deliveries were institutional which includes Government as well as private hospitals. The percentage of institutional deliveries in urban areas is 94.2 as against about 76.1 percent recorded in rural areas.

2. Apart from the fertility indicators at State and National levels, the SRS report 2016 also provides estimates of birth rates at sub-State, viz. NSS Natural Division Level. NSS natural divisions have been formed taking into consideration the geography of the State and by grouping contiguous districts having similar topography, population density, cropping pattern and rainfall etc. The Table 11 of this report contains data on birth rate besides death and infant mortality rate for 71 Natural Divisions of 22 bigger States/UTs.

3. The CBR at national level is 20.4 varying from 22.1 in rural to17.0 in urban areas. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal are the States having birth rate below 20 both in rural and urban areas. On the other hand, Bihar has the highest birth rate in rural areas (27.7) and Uttar Pradesh has the highest birth rate in urban areas (22.8) areas, followed by Uttar Pradesh (27.3) and Rajasthan (21.6) in rural and urban areas respectively. The lowest CBR was recorded in rural areas of Kerala (14.3) and in urban areas of Himachal Pradesh (10.5). Based on the figures in the Statement 14 given below, the graphical representation of birth rate of bigger States/UTs by residence is depicted in Chart 26. Chart 27 gives the distribution of bigger States/UTs by values of birth rate for rural and urban areas. 4. At the national level, the rate of decline in birth rate between the periods 2004-06 and 2014-16 for India and bigger States/UTs separately for rural and urban areas is 13.0 percent. The rate of decline in average birth rate varies from 17.6 percent in West Bengal to 2.0 percent in Kerala. Such decline in rural areas is from 18.9 percent in West Bengal to 3.3 percent in Kerala. In Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Kerala and Uttarakhand, the 3-year average crude birth rate in urban areas has increased in by 1.8 percent, 2.0 percent. 2.2 percent, 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. The 3- year average crude birth rate of Kerala and Tamil Nadu is nearly same in rural and urban areas during 2014-16. (523 words)

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer any six out of the eight questions by choosing the correct option.

Question 11. At the national level, the rate of decline in birth rate between the periods 2004-06 and 2014-16 in India is-
(a) 14%
(b) 13%
(c) 18%
(d) 16%

Question 12. Apart from the fertility indicators at state and national level, what other estimation does SRS provide?
(a) Mortality rate at national level
(b) Birth rates at sub-state, viz., NSS National Division Level
(c) Death rate at state level
(d) None of the above

Question 13. In the years, 2004-06, which state had the highest birth rate according to Fig.1?
(a) Tamil Nadu
(b) Maharashtra
(c) Bihar
(d) Uttar Pradesh

For the Visually Impaired Candidates
What is the full form of CBR?
(a) Crude Birth Rate
(b) Crude Birth Ratio
(c) Common Birth Rate
(d) Common Birth Ratio

Question 14. The 3-year average crude birth rate of Kerala and Tamil Nadu is _______ on rural and urban areas during 2014-16.
(a) More
(b) Less
(c) nearly same
(d) Exactly the same

Question 15. Decline in birth rate in rural areas of West Bengal between the periods 2004-06 and 2014-2016 is-
(a) 14%
(b) 17.8%
(c) 17.5%
(d) 17.6%

Question 16. Select the option that mentions the name of the state(s) whose birth rate is below 20 both in rural and urban areas for 2016.
(a) Andhra Pradesh
(b) Kerala
(c) West Bengal
(d) All the states mentioned above

Question 17. What is the full form of TFR?
(a) Total Fertility Ratio
(b) Tally Fertility Ratio
(c) Total Fertility Rate
(d) Total Fertile Rate

Question 18. What is the percentage of institutionalized deliveries in 2016?
(a) 80.8
(b) 80
(c) 80.9
(d) 80.7

WRITING

III. Answer any four out of the five questions given, with reference to the context below.

Rajan, the President of Science Club of Narayanan International School, has to put a notice regarding the celebration of National Science Day.

Question 19. Select the appropriate heading for the notice.
(a) Innovative Minds.
(b) Come Celebrate Science Day
(c) Science and Innovation
(d) Let Us Celebrate Science Day

Question 20. What should be the tone of the notice?
(a) Formal yet attractive
(b) Informal
(c) Narrative
(d) Descriptive

Question 21. Which information (select from the options) should not be included in the notice?
(a) Date and time of the programme
(b) Name of Rajan’s class-teacher
(c) Registration fees
(d) Last date for registration

Question 22. Select the option that lists the informative points to be included in the notice.
(I) Date and venue of the event (II) Deadline for registration
(III) Preference of snacks (IV) Types of events
(V) Budget for the programme
(a) All the above points
(b) Only (I)
(c) (I), (II), and (IV)
(d) (II), (III) and (V)

Question 23. Select the most appropriate ending for the notice.
(a) Cooperation expected.
(b) All are welcome for enthusiastic participation.
(c) Refer to the guidelines properly.
(d) Last chance to participate.

IV. Answer any six of the seven questions given, with reference to the context below.

Dishani, a resident of Netaji Nagar, Kolkata, wants to write a letter to the Editor of The Telegraph, appealing to install garbage bins at the beginning and end of each lane by the concerned authority.

Question 24. Select a suitable subject for the letter.
(a) Install garbage bins
(b) Appeal to install garbage bins at shorter intervals
(c) Both can be written
(d) Bin in Lane

Question 25. Select the most appropriate opening tone for the letter.
(a) Through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to bring to notice of the administrative head of Kolkata Municipality…
(b) Please install garbage bins…
(c) Only option A could be written
(d) None of the above

Question 26. What should be the tone of the letter?
(a) Formal and appealing
(b) Friendly
(c) Suggestive
(d) All of the above

Question 27. Select an option that mentions the most appropriate opening line for the conclusion part of the letter.
(a) I would like if you tell the concerned authority…
(b) Hence, through the column of your esteemed daily, I would like to appeal to the concerned administrative authority of the city…
(c) The authority must take necessary steps to…
(d) You should make immediate contact between the concerned authority and me, and we will discuss further about…

Question 28. Select an option that mentions one of the problems that cannot be included in the letter.
(a) Noise pollution
(b) Air pollution
(c) Soil pollution
(d) Breeding place for insects and pests

Question 29. Which is the option that most appropriately states one of the problems of littering in the open street?
(a) Traffic congestion
(b) Crowding of people
(c) Emission of foul smell and breeding of insects and pests
(d) Only (a)

Question 30. The subject of the letter should be _________.
(a) Brief and relevant
(b) Descriptive
(c) Suggestive
(d) Only C

LITERATURE

V. Read the given extract to attempt questions that follow:

After the grammar, we had a lesson in writing. That day M. Hamel had new copies for us, written in a beautiful round hand – France, Alsace, France, Alsace. They looked like little flags floating everywhere in the school-room, hung from the rod at the top of our desks. You ought to have seen how every one set to work, and how quiet it was! The only sound was the scratching of the pens over the paper. Once some beetles flew in; but nobody paid any attention to them, not even the littlest ones, who worked right on tracing their fish-hooks, as if that was French, too. On the roof the pigeons cooed very low, and I thought to myself, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?” Whenever I looked up from my writing I saw M. Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and gazing first at one thing, then at another, as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how everything looked in that little school-room. Fancy!

Question 31. What lesson did the narrator have after grammar?
(a) Writing
(b) Singing
(c) Drawing
(d) Spoken language

Question 32. What was the only sound when everything was so quiet?
(a) Chirping of the birds
(b) Fighting in the road
(c) Scratching of pen over paper
(d) Talking among students

Question 33. For how many years M. Hamel had been there in the school?
(a) Forty
(b) Thirty
(c) Fifty
(d) Forty-five

Question 34. When was M. Hamel leaving the country as mentioned in the passage above?
(a) The next day
(b) Day after the next day
(c) Next Monday
(d) None of the above

Question 35. Give an antonym for ‘fancy’.
(a) Gaudy
(b) Lavish
(c) Unadorned
(d) Elegant

VI. Read the given extract to attempt questions that follow:

A few years later when I came to know the waters of the Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever I did – whether I was wading the Tieton or Bumping River or bathing in Warm Lake of the Goat Rocks – the terror that had seized me in the pool would come back. It would take possession of me completely. My legs would become paralysed. Icy horror would grab my heart. This handicap stayed with me as the years rolled by. In canoes on Maine lakes fishing for landlocked salmon, bass fishing in New Hampshire, trout fishing on the Deschutes and Metolius in Oregon, fishing for salmon on the Columbia, at Bumping Lake in the Cascades – wherever I went, the haunting fear of the water followed me. It ruined my fishing trips; deprived me of the joy of canoeing, boating, and swimming.

Question 36. ‘All we have to fear is fear itself.’ Who said these words?
(a) Douglas
(b) his instructor
(c) his father
(d) President Roosevelt

Question 37. Douglas went down towards the bottom
(a) only once
(b) twice
(c) thrice
(d) five times

Question 38. Though Douglas was frightened, he was not
(a) afraid to die
(b) going to survive
(c) out of his wits
(d) able to shout for help

Question 39. The misadventure at the Y.M.C.A pool happened when
(a) Douglas was accompanied by friends
(b) he was with his father
(c) he was alone
(d) he was with his mother

Question 40. Where was lake Wentworth?
(a) In New Hampshire
(b) in Washington
(c) in California
(d) in Washington D.C

VII. Read the given extract to attempt questions that follow:

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal-
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Question 41. Identify the literary device in ‘slums as big as doom’.
(a) Simile
(b) Metaphor
(c) Alliteration
(d) Personification

Question 42. The imprisoned minds and lives of the slum children can be released from their bondage if they are given an experience
of the outer world.
(a) Never
(b) Soon
(c) Eventually
(d) Magically

Question 43. The map is a bad example as it makes one aware of
(a) the real beautiful world outside
(b) cleaner lanes
(c) the political structure
(d) the civil design

Question 44. Identify the literary device in ‘father’s gnarled disease’.
(a) Simile
(b) Metaphor
(c) Alliteration
(d) Personification

Question 45. Mention any two images used to explain the plight of the slum children.
(a) open handed map; spectacles
(b) from his desk;slag heap
(c) belled, flowery
(d) foggy slums and bottle bits on stones

VIII. Read the given extract to attempt questions that follow:

THE presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I’ve been on the third level of the Grand Central Station. Yes, I’ve taken the obvious step: I talked to a psychiatrist friend of mine, among others. I told him about the third level at Grand Central Station, and he said it was a waking dream wish fulfillment. He said I was unhappy. That made my wife kind of mad, but he explained that he meant the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and that I just want to escape. Well, who doesn’t? Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.
But that’s the reason, he said, and my friends all agreed. Everything points to it, they claimed. My stamp collecting, for example; that’s a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’ Well, maybe, but my grandfather didn’t need any refuge from reality; things were pretty nice and peaceful in his day, from all I hear, and he started my collection.

Question 46. Select the option that lists the correct statements.
(I) In the fast paced present times, the people are tired and exhausted by the general way of living and sometimes want an escape from reality.
(II) Most people of the time are happy-go-lucky kind of people, content with the way of living.
(III) Insecurity, fear and worry have overshadowed the feelings of happiness and joy in the modern day world.
(IV) Most people have a habit of collecting stamps.
(a) All the above points
(b) (1) and (3)
(c) (2), (3) and (4)
(d) (1) and (4)

Question 47. “Well, maybe, but my grandfather didn’t need any refuge from reality; things were pretty nice and peaceful in his day,…”-
Select the option that suggests the most appropriate explanation for the statement.
(a) The people at the time of narrator’s grandfather were uneducated.
(b) There was no sorrow or sadness at the time of the narrator’s grandfather.
(c) There was already an alternate reality that existed at the time of narrator’s grandfather.
(d) The narrator’s grandfather’s time was very laid back and without any hurry;their outlook on life was more optimistic, thus they did not have to seek escape mechanism to cope with the reality.

Question 48. What outlook of life and society could be observed in the author through the passage?
(a) Optimistic
(b) Pessimistic
(c) Neutral
(d) Realistic

Question 49. What collection was started by his grandfather?
(a) coin collection
(b) hat collection
(c) newspaper collection
(d) stamp collection

Question 50. What did the psychiatrist friend of the narrator tell him, when he said “…about the third level at Grand Central Station”?
Select the most appropriate answer from the list of options.
(a) That the narrator has sleep walking problem
(b) That the narrator was suffering from chronic depression
(c) That it was a waking dream wish fulfillment
(d) That it was just a dream

IX. Attempt the following:

Question 51. In what sense are the slum chidren different?
(a) their IQ
(b) their wisdom
(c) their dresses
(d) because of no access to hope and openness of the world

Question 52. The story ‘The Last Lesson’ highlights which human tendency?
(a) Male Chauvinism
(b) Procrastination
(c) Courage
(d) Cowardice

Question 53. The story ‘The Enemy’ revolves around the war between which countries?
(a) Japan USA War
(b) China Japan war
(c) India Japan war
(d) all of these

Question 54. “Sunny-gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow.” What is this a reference to in the story ‘Lost Spring’?
(a) clothes
(b) birds
(c) bangles
(d) bindis

Question 55. What question arises from the complexity of the situation in the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’?
(a) what to do in old age
(b) how to take care of one’s skin
(c) how to drive
(d) how to strike a balance between duties and responsibilities

Question 56. The rag pickers in the story ‘Lost Spring’ have no identity, but they have
(a) permits
(b) passports
(c) ration cards
(d) licenses

Question 57. What kind of person was Dr. Sadao’s father in the story ‘The Enemy’?
(a) a serious man
(b) a jolly good man
(c) very strict
(d) a true patriot and traditional person

Question 58. What is the stunted boy reciting?
(a) a happy song
(b) a religious song
(c) a sad song
(d) a lesson from desk

Question 59. Quote an example of a metaphor used in the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’.
(a) as a late winter’s moon
(b) ‘Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes’
(c) Driving from my parent’s home
(d) None

Question 60. What does The Last Lesson signify?
(a) Change of power
(b) Change of Government
(c) Change in life
(d) Change of teachers