Students can refer to the following Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set E with Answers provided below based on the latest syllabus and examination guidelines issued for ICSE English Literature. All specimen papers have been prepared covering all chapters given in ICSE English Literature book for Class 10. You should also refer to ICSE Class 10 English Literature Solutions.
Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set E with Answers
MODEL EXAMINATION,
STD MARKS:80
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH TIME:2 HRS
Attempt five questions in all.
You must attempt at least one question from each of the sections A, B and C and not more than
two other questions from the same books you have already compulsorily chosen.
The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets ( ).
Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set E
SECTION A – DRAMA
Answer one or more questions from only one of the following plays:
The Merchant of Venice
OR
The Mousetrap
The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare
Question 1.
Read the given extract and answer the questions following it:
‘It must not be; there is no power in Venice
Can alter a decree established:
‘Twill be recorded for a precedent,
And many an error, by the same example,
Will rush into the state: it cannot be.’
(a) Where is this scene set? Who are the speaker and listener? (3)
(b) What ‘must not be’? What offer had the listener made, prior to this? (3)
(c) When, according to the listener, would malice bear down truth? (3)
(d)What does the speaker ask to see, as mentioned after this extract? What does the speaker reveal about what is seen? (3)
(e)Explain why no one in Venice could help in this situation.
Question 2.
‘Answer the questions following the extract:
‘Truly the more to blame he: we were Christians
enow before; e’en as many as could well live,
one by another. This making of Christians
will raise the price of hogs:…’
(a) Who is ‘he’ ? Why should he be blamed? (3)
(b) What is the reason for this discussion? (3)
(c) Why would the making of Christians ‘raise the price of hogs’? (3)
(d) What, according to the speaker, won’t the listener receive? Why? To whom does the listener report this? (3)
(e) What does the speaker comment about sins of a father? Why is that mentioned? (4)
Question 3.
Read the given extract and answer the questions following it:
‘There I have another bad match: a bankrupt,
A prodigal, who dare scarce show his head
On the Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come
So smug upon the mart;…’
(a) Who is the ‘bankrupt’ referred to here? Why has the person gone bankrupt? Why is that person called a ‘prodigal’? (3)
(b) What is the ‘Rialto’? Why was the person said to go ‘so smug upon the mart’? (3)
(c) What are the incidents that show that the man referred to in the extract used to insult Shylock? (3)
(d) How did the bankrupt cause loss to Shylock in Venice? (3)
(e) How is the bankrupt likely to go into a loss? How will such a loss affect Shylock as far as his revenge and financial position are concerned (4)
The Mousetrap: Agatha Christie
Question 4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
MOLLIE: (Moving down to the sofa and sitting) Oh! I do so want everything to go well at first. First impressions are so important.
GILES: (Moving down to Right of the sofa) Is everything ready? Nobody’s arrived yet, I suppose? MOLLIE: No, thank goodness. I think everything’s in order. Mrs. Barlow’s hooked it early. Afraid of the weather, I suppose.
GILES: What a nuisance these daily women are. That leaves everything on your shoulders.
MOLLIE: And yours! This is a partnership.
(i) When and where does this conversation take place? Briefly describe the weather outside. (3)
(ii) On whom do Mollie and Giles wish to make a favourable impression? Why is it important that they do so? (3)
(iii) Who is Mrs. Barlow? Why has she left early? (3)
(iv) Explain what Mollie is referring to when she says, “This is a partnership.” (3)
(v) What mood does the playwright seek to create in the above extract? What techniques does she use?
Question 5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Mrs. Boyle: You’re very young.
Mollie: Young?
Mrs. Boyle: To be running an establishment of this kind. You can’t have had much experience.
Mollie: (backing away) There has to be a beginning for everything hasn’t there?
Mrs. Boyle: I see. Quite inexperienced. (She looks around) An old, old house. I hope you haven’t got dry rot. (She sniffs suspiciously).
Mollie: Certainly not!
(i) State the three complaints that Mrs. Boyle makes. (3)
(ii) What answer does she give when Giles tells her that she is welcome to leave? (3)
(iii) What does this tell you about her character? (3)
(iv) Who is she, really? (3)
(v) What happens to her at the end? Why? (4)
Question 6. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Trotter: We don’t actually know a thing. All we’ve got so far is that the woman who joined with her husband in ill-treating and starving those children has been killed, and that the woman magistrate who was responsible for placing them there has been killed. (He moves down to Right of Sofa.) The telephone wire that links me with police headquarters has been cut…
(i) What is Mollie’s response to this? How is she answered? (3)
(ii) What news does Trotter give Mollie about the children’s father? (3)
(iii) What is Mollie’s ‘surmise’? (3)
(iv) Why is Major Metcalfe a possible suspect? (3)
(v) How is the mystery solved? (4)
SECTION B : POETRY
A COLLECTION OF POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Question 7. Answer the questions following the extract:
The athletes had come from so many countries
To run for the gold, for the silver and bronze
Many weeks and months in training
All building up to the games.
(a) Where had the athletes come to? What are the ‘games’ referred to? What was ‘building up to the games’? (3)
(b) What achievement would the athletes receive? How were they sure of an achievement? (3)
(c) Are the games exciting? Explain, with examples from the poem, why you say so. (3)
(d) Who are the ‘young women and men’ mentioned in the poem? What event was to take place? Which event, in chronological order, was this event? (3)
(e) How would the event begin? What happened at this particular event? (4)
Question 8. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
(i) Who are Peterkin and Wilhelmine? How does the poet describe the scene at the beginning of the poem?
(ii) What, did Young Peterkin find, and where ? Describe what was found. (3)
(iii) Who are referred to as ‘each other’ ? What did they fight for?
(iv) To whom are the words in the extract addressed ? How was this person’s family affected by the war?
(v) What, according to the poet, are the consequences that are often associated with great and famous victories ? What message does the poet want to convey to the readers?
Question 9. Answer the questions following the extract:
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line:
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.’
(a) What are continuous as the stars that shine? Why is this comparison made? (3)
(b) What do you understand by: ‘milky way’? Why is that mentioned here? (3)
(c) What is found along the margin of a bay? How are they found? What is meant by ‘the margin of a bay’?(3)
(d) How does the technique of exaggeration raise the poetic effect in the extract? (3)
(e) Explain how this sight had a profound effect on the poet.
Section C: Short Stories
A Collection of Poems and Short Stories
Question 10: Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
‘It had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth head – with a school cap on top of it! And that’s where the story should
end. But for Mr. Oliver it did not end here.
The torch fell from his trembling hand. He turned and scrambled
down the path, running blindly through the trees and calling for help.
He was still running towards the school buildings when he saw
a lantern swinging in the middle of the path.
(i) Who was Mr. Oliver? Where did he encounter ‘It’? (3)
(ii) Where did Mr. Oliver work? Why did Life magazine describe this place as the ‘Eton of the East’? (3)
(iii) Why had Mr. Oliver approached ‘It’ in the first place? What had he mistaken ‘it’ for? (3)
(iv) What is a lantern? Who was holding the lantern? Why did Mr. Oliver feel relieved at the sight of the lantern?
(v) Briefly describe the meeting between the lantern-bearer and Mr. Oliver. State one reason why ‘A Face in the Dark’ could be considered a horror story. (4)
Question 11. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped from several inches beyond the take-off board for a foul.
(i) When and where is this story set? What reason does the narrator, Jesse Owens, give for the heightened nationalistic feelings at this time? (3)
(ii) In which event had Owens been confident of winning a gold medal? Why? (3)
(iii) What had made Owens angry enough to make mistakes ? (3)
(iv) Name Owens’ rival who approached him at this point. What advice did this athlete give Owens? (3)
(v) How did the two athletes perform in the finals ? What does Jesse Owens consider his ‘Greatest Olympic Prize’? Why? (4)
Question 12. Answer the following questions with reference to the story, ‘Hearts and Hands’:
(a) Describe Miss Fairchild in your own words. What opinion do you form of her from the story? (4)
(b) What do we get to know of Easton’s past from his conversation with Miss Fairchild(4)
(c) Explain, with examples from the story, how we can rightly say that ‘Appearances are deceptive’.