ICSE Class 9 English Language Sample Question Paper 2 with Answers
Question 1.
Write a composition (300 – 350 words) on any one of the following :
(a) Write an original story titled, ‘All is well that ends well
(b) You have been to your favourite place during the holidays. Write an essay describing the sights and persuade others to visit the same place.
(c) You are on your way back home from school and it suddenly thunders and starts pouring. Write a narrative essay on the topic.
(d) Express your views either for or against the statement.
“Grades do not measure how smart you are”.
(e) Study the picture given below. Write a short story or a description or an account of what it suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it; however, there must be a clear connection between the picture
Answer:
All is Well that Ends Well
(a) It was my sixteenth birthday and my dad was supposed to come from sailing. He works in the merchant navy and he promised he would make it for my birthday. My mother was planning a big-birthday bash and it was no secret at all for she enjoyed organising parties and the moment I saw her scurrying around I knew she was planning something big.
On the day of my birthday, I woke up early and soon was drowned with wishes and gifts from my family and friends. I was very happy because my grandmother and grandfather had come home for my birthday. But amidst all this, I was looking forward to seeing my father.
As I was getting ready to go to school, we got a call and my mother answered. She told us that there had been an unfortunate delay as the person who had to take over could not reach in time. So, my father had to stay back.
I dragged myself to school trying to be happy. My friends wished me and my teachers took it easy on me as it was my birthday. Usually, I am up to some tricks in the class but that day I was feeling sober and sad.
When I went home I saw that everyone else at home were quiet too, not knowing what to say to me. They all knew that I was very eager to see my father and I had waited for a long time as his sailing went on for more than six months.
The party was about to begin and I didn’t want to sadden everybody, so I plastered on a smile and walked towards the cake table. As I was about to cut the cake, I looked up and saw my father at the door. I ran to him and hugged him tightly. It was so surprising My birthday turned out to be great after all. My father somehow got things coordinated and came home just in time. In the end, All’s well that ends well.
My Favourite Place to Travel
(b) The summer holidays had been entirely a series of events that kept us going from one place to another. We attended the wedding of our cousin. It was great meeting all of the family and friends and it was so much fun.
The day after the wedding we travelled to Valparai, a hill station around four-hour drive up the hill from a town called Pollachi in Tamil Nadu. We were a group of five families travelling together. It was wonderful with each of the cars going one behind the other.
There were forty hairpin bends in all right up to the mountain. At about the 10th hairpin bend one could stop and see the bends below like snakes winding down a stair. The place had no major attractions like Ooty and Coonoor which are quite famous, but still, this trip was the most enjoyable and relaxing we have ever had.
The hills stretched with tea plantations as far as the eyes could see, even right up to the top of the hills. On the way, we saw the Nilgiri Tahr, the state animal of Tamil Nadu and it did not stop there for we saw elephants from afar. We also saw a bison and a few lion-tailed monkeys that are especially found in that area.
The hills were pristine and the forest was so still that you could hear the insects and the gentle gurgle of the stream at night. We visited a dam which had very less water but heard stories from the local people that the water runs deep, even in a seemingly small stream and there could be flash floods at any point in time. We still went to the stream below the dam and could only imagine what it would be if things went wrong. It gave us quite a scare, and we rushed up to the ground level.
We also visited a local tea factory and witnessed how tea was produced and how they were graded for different markets. We also learnt that branding of the tea does not happen there and the middlemen buy the tea and sell it to various other companies which adds flavour and blends them to the regular tea powder.
We enjoyed every bit of our stay in’Valparai and if you love serene and beautiful places, Valparai is the best for a holiday.
My Encounter with Thunder
(c) The day at school was a pleasant one with easy subjects as art, sports and library. The day was made better when it became cloudy and there were gentle showers and the smell of dirt after the showers were so earthy and wonderful. It was amazing to take it all in while sitting in our art class. Then the bell rang which was a welcome relief and all the kids ran out of their classes to get wet in the showers for it had rained after a very long dry spell.
I took my bicycle and headed out of the school. I took the long, winding road to my house, suddenly there was a loud thunder and lightning struck right about 10 feet in front of me and I rattled in fear. I almost fell off my cycle and within seconds it began pouring and I was completely soaked.
As the thunder was getting louder along with the lightning, I took cover under the tree and stood close to it. I saw the water flowing fast and the water was rising. Soon some bikers also came under the tree to take shelter. But it was the best one could do as it is safe to be under a tree when lightning strikes.
We soon started talking among ourselves about the rain and it helped me assuage my fears and I was waiting for the rain to slow down or stop for I was really scared. The rain slowly came down to a mild shower and all those waiting under the tree soon started moving out. I took my bicycle and went home. It was a striking experience because I usually enjoy the thunder and lightning, sitting at home sipping hot tea but this time it made me realise how strong nature can be.
(d) (i) For the Motion
It is true that grades cannot measure how smart you are for we now belong to the era where multiple intelligences have promulgated and people are more than aware of the concept. Therefore, it is not grades that really matter, for intelligence in certain areas do make them competent and better than those who have recieved good grades. It is not the grades that define their intelligence but their ability to do things in a greater manner.
It is imperative that this intelligence is recognised on a larger scale. The wide range of cognitive abilities need to be appreciated and children or people need to be considered smart as they are good in some field or the other. For example, one might find it difficult to do math but will have high intelligence in art and design. There is always a need for good talent and skills. In today’s world, skills and emotional intelligence are valued more than just knowledge and good grades.
People who have scored high grades consistently will never have an idea of failure and when such people face trials and failures they are often found not making smart choices. They are clueless and emotionally drained when there are hard knocks and in such situations, people who are emotionally smart despite not getting good grades, cope up with tough situations better.
In many cases, school dropouts are smart and achieve great things in life. There are so many examples of such people and also of those who we meet every day and with such heroes, we can say, “Grades do not measure how smart you are.”
(ii) Against the Motion
Grades are everything in the country we live in today. All our lives revolve around grades. Time after time grades and marks are everything that drives parents and society to base their children’s lives on it. Grades do tell that one is smart as students who make good grades are able to solve all answers and are able to reproduce everything that is being taught.
When it comes to gaining admission into a good institute, it is certain that grades do matter for it is an indicator that unless one is smart one cannot get good grades. Students who are smart find ways in which they can get better scores and it reflects in them finding a better position not just in education but also when getting better jobs than others whose grades are not up to mark.
Right from the day, children get into kindergarten their parents push them towards studies. Parents believe that grades tell them that their children are smarter. To a large extent, children who are intelligent do get good grades.
Therefore, grades determine the intelligence level in an indivisual. Smart people put in a lot of effort to study and fetch good grades. After all, intelligence is defined as a person’s ability to acquire and apply the knowledge and skills they have, in real life.
So it would be right to say that grades and especially good grades show that a person is smart. So, yes it is good that students do drive towards good grades as it would help them in the long run.
Question 2.
Select any one of the following :
(a) You have watched any latest movie. Write a letter to your friend telling about the movie and also recommending him/her to watch the movie.
(b) You are the Student Secretary and you would like to bring it to the Principal’s attention that the school canteen needs to change the menu to make the food offered, healthier and nutritious.
Answer:
Happy faces amidst such filth is a contradiction yet a reality when we look at this picture. It depicts a scene where we see children making the best of the situation. But the question is, should they be in such a situation at all.
The picture shows that children are exposed to such a dangerous situation quite early in life. When one part of the population sends their children to schools, we see children like these in the picture taking comfort in old cardboard boxes, that no one knows where it had been, before it reached the dump. Cardboard boxes are craft material for some and here it is the shelter for children from the hot sun and from the immediate filth.
Such children often wade through broken glass, rubbish and toxic waste to collect scrap metal and plastic which they sell to earn their living. These children are exposed to bad putrefying smells when they should be experimenting in school labs.
They do not earn much, as the middlemen buy the waste material, process and sell it at huge profits. These children are being cheated day in and day out of their livelihood and their lives as they are in the garbage dumps when they should be learning in schools. Children such as these are not just in our country but in many nations across the world. It is important that nations and governments choose to provide education to them and that they should be taken into the mainstream society for making them great citizens of the country and the world.
In the meantime, governments and people should have the drive to create a cleaner world, by taking the first step of reducing waste, sorting waste in their homes which will go a long way in taking children out from garbage dumps and into schools, parks and cleaner housing in order to build a better society.
(ii)
SBOA School,
Madurai- 7
26th July 2Oxx
The Principal,
SBOA School,
Madurai-7
Subject: Suggestions for improvement of school centeen service
Dear Madam,
I, Srikanth Rao, the Student Secretary of the school, on behalf of the Student Council and all the students would like to bring it to your notice that the food served in the canteen is often oily and greasy which seems unhealthy. So, we would like you to consider changing the menu and to include some suggestions from the students to make choices on the menu. We will also create awareness among students to make better food choices. Thanking you for helping us in moving forward towards a healthier school campus.
Yours sincerely,
Srikanth Rao
Student Secretary
Question 3.
(a) Your School Literary Club is organising a book donation camp for the benefit of poor children, near the campus. Write a notice announcing the camp to all students to donate books.
(b) Write an e-mail to the Principal asking for permission and support for the cause.
Answer:
(a) BOOKS OFF THE SHELF
Book Donation Camp
on 17th September, 20xx
from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
at the Auditorium of St. Wilford College
Interested students may contact the Secretary of School Literary Club, Simran Ahuja on or before 15th September 20xx
(b) To : principaladarshhss@gmail.com
Subject: Book Donation Camp
Dear Sir,
I am Ashish Herbert, secretory of the School literary Club, St. Wilford College. Our School Literary Club would like to organise a Book Donation Camp as a part of our annual event. We request you to grant us permission to conduct the camp.
This is to be held on the 17th of September, 20xx from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the auditorium of St. Wilford College.
We would like to make this year’s book donation to the local government school in Santhosh Nagar. We would also like to use the school auditorium for the collection of books.
Thanking you for your constant support in all our endeavours.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Ashish Herbert
Secretary, School Literary Club
Question 4.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :
I have no idea of the extent of this zoo. I know only my corner and whatever passes before me. On the day I was wheeled in, I only noticed two gates opening to admit me. When I stood up I caught a glimpse of some cages ahead and also heard the voice of a lion. The man who had transferred me from the forest stepped out of his jeep and said, after a glance in my direction, ‘He is all right. Now run up and see if the end cage is ready.
This animal is used to human company and a lot of free movement. We must keep him where people will be passing. The open-air enclosure must also be available to him when the wild ones are not let out. See to it.’
They have shown special consideration towards me, by the grace of my 10 Master, whom I may not see again. All the same, lying here on the cool floor, I madly hope that my Master might suddenly appear out of a crowd, open the door of my cage and command, ‘Come out, let us go.’ Such is my dream.
I keep scrutinising faces, but all the faces look dull and monotonous, none radiant like my Master’s. Men, women and children peer through the bars, and sometimes cry aloud, ‘Ah, see this tiger. What a ferocious beast!’ and make crude noises to rouse me, fling a stone if the keeper is not looking, and move on to appreciate similarly the occupant of the next cage.
You are not likely to understand that I am different from the tiger next door, that I possess a soul within this forbidding exterior. I can think, analyse, judge, 20 remember and do everything that you can do, perhaps with greater subtlety and sense. I lack only the faculty of speech.
But if you could read my thoughts, you would be welcome to come in and listen to the story of my life. At least, you could slip your arm through the bars and touch me and I will hold out my forepaw to greet you, after retracting my claws, of course.
You are carried away by appearances – my claws and fangs and the glowing eyes frighten you no doubt. I don’t blame you. I don’t know why God has chosen to give us this fierce makeup, the same God who has created the parrot, the peacock and the deer, which inspired poets and painters. 30
I myself shuddered at my own reflection on the still surface of a pond while crouching for a drink of water, not when I was really a wild beast, but after I came under the influence of my Master and learnt to question,
‘Who am I?’
(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
One word answers or short phases will be accepted.
(i) glimpse (line 3)
(ii) consideration (line 10)
(iii) monotonous (line 14)
Answer:
(i) notice
(ii) thoughtfulness
(iii) dull and uninteresting
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
(i) What is the initial idea of the narrator about his surroundings?
(ii) What are the two things the narrator gets a glimpse of when he enters the cage?
(iii) What does the man who got the tiger to the zoo say about him?
(iv) What are some of the responses of the visitors when they see the tiger?
(v) Why did the tiger shudder at his own reflection?
Answer:
(i) The narrator has no idea about the extent of the zoo knowing just the things that pass before him.
(ii) The narrator observes cages ahead of him and also hears the voice of a lion. He is unable to see much when he is in the cage.
(iii) The man who got the tiger from the forest tells the other person to get the end cage ready and the tiger is fine with human company, for movement. He also asked to provide the open-air enclosure for the tiger when the other wild animals are not let out.
(iv) People consider it a ferocious beast. They tease it by making crude noises, throwing stones when the keeper is not looking and go on to do the same to the animal in the next cage.
(v) The tiger shuddered at his own appearance as he considered himself to be gentle and subtle until he looked at his own reflection and wanted to know more about who he is.
(c) In not more than 50 words, describe how the tiger feels that he possesses a soul.
Answer:
The tiger calls us to attention stating that within that forbidding exterior there is a soul and only if we were to touch him he would greet us gently. He can think, analyse, judge, remember and do everything we can do but the only thing he lacks is the faculty of speech. (52 Words)
Question 5.
(a) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. Do not copy the passage, but write in correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank space.
Example :
(0) slowed
(0) ……………. I (slow) the car as I saw the new house. I come from a very large family and recently my parents (1) ……………. (decided) that they (2) ……………. (spend) long enough living in an overcrowded house in Mumbai. “We (3) ……………. (move) to the country”, my father, ……………. (4) (announce) one evening. “I ……………. (5) (sell) this house and we (6) ……………. (live) on a farm”. So last week we (7) ……………. (load) all our belongings into two hired vans, and for the last few days we (8) …………….. (try) to organise ourselves in our new home.
Answer:
(1) decided
(2) had spent
(3) are moving
(4) announced
(5) am selling
(6) will live
(7) loaded
(8) are trying
(b) Fill in each blank with an appropriate word :
1. I prevailed ……………. him to join the gymnasium.
2. The curious child eagerly begged ……………. an answer to the riddle.
3. He was bent ……………. coming first in the examinations.
4. The theory exam was followed ……………. a group discussion.
5. The Phoenix is a legendary bird that rises ……………. its ashes.
6. The police pulled the briefcase from ……………. the table.
7. The mob rushed onto the pavement, everyone seemed angry ……………. everyone else.
8. The old women looked ……………. the cupboard, searching for the photograph.
Answer:
(1) upon
(2) for
(3) upon
(4) by
(5) from
(6) under
(7) with
(8) inside / through
(c) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so :
(i) Polar bears are fiercely territorial animals. Grizzly bears are the same.
(ii) My friend is not a judge. He is not a lawyer.
(iii) He is being victimised. He still keeps a level head.
(iv) He was found guilty. He was hanged.
Answer:
(i) Polar bears, as well as Grizzly bears, are fiercely territorial animals.
(ii) My friend is neither a lawyer nor a judge.
(iii) Though he is being victimised, he still keeps a level head.
(iv) As he was found guilty he was hanged.
(d) Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.
(i) They didn’t want to be late for the meeting so they left in plenty of time.
(Begin : So as…)
(ii) This is the first time I’ve been here.
(Begin : I haven’t )
(iii) He plays tennis as well as football.
(Begin : Not only )
(iv) Arm stayed away from work because she was ill.
(Begin : If she had not )
(v) “Sebastian is the one who stole the video recorder,” said Bernard.
(Begin : Bernard accused )
(vi) She was the only person capable of being House Captain.
(Use : Capability)
(vii) Mary will only come to the party if Peter is invited.
(Begin : Unless)
(viii) I would prefer you to deliver the table on Saturday.
(Use : would rather )
Answer:
(i) So as not to be late for the meeting, they left in plenty of time.
(ii) I haven’t been here before.
(iii) Not only does he play tennis but also football.
(iv) If she had not been ill, Ann would not have stayed away from work.
(v) Bernard accused Sebastian of stealing the video recorder.
(vi) She was the only person with the capalrlity of being the house captain.
(vii) Unless Peter is invited, Mary will not come to the party.
(viii) I would rather you delivered the table on Saturday.