CBSE Board Class 11 English Elective Previous Year Question Papers 2009

English Elective 2009
SECTION ‘A’
(READING)
A. 1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, companies need to communicate
information pertaining to whole range of issues in a lucid and precise manner to their customers

2. This is particularly so in the case of companies which do business in areas such as
manufacturing, information technology (I T), engineering products and services companies whose
products and services may not be understood by a customer not familiar with its technical aspects

3. These communication materials are prepared in a company these days by ‘technical writers’ —
people who can effectively communicate to an intended audience.

4. The skills of a technical writer are being increasingly sought for preparing marketing
documents such as brochures, case studies, website  content and media kits and for the
preparation of a whole range of manuals. Though technical writers in a company do a good
portion of such work, the trend now is to outsource technical writing to free-lancers.

5. Technical writing and writing text-books are poles apart. The former is aimed at those who do
not have an in-depth knowledge about a product and hence should l direct and lucid. An overdose
of technical terms and jargon would only add to the confusion of the customer.

6. The basic requirement for being a technical writer is near-total mastery over English language.
A technical writer should be natural in creative writing and needs to be an expert in using
Business English.

7. This simply means that those with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature along with a
diploma/degree in Journalism and having a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications
(PGDCA) are ideal candidates for being employed as technical writers.

8. According to Joe Winston, Chief Executive Officer of ‘I-manager’, speaking ability is not
imperative for a technical writer. All that one needs is the talent to write in a simple and effective
manner. Many have inhibitions in speaking English but their writing skills would be very sharp.

9. Technical writing would be a good option of such people. If a candidate is to be assigned the task
of preparing high-end technical manuals, he/she is required to have higher qualifications such as
an M.A./M.Phil. in English Literature and a degree such at M.C.A.

10. Companies look for such qualifications because technical writers first need to understand the
technical information themselves, before trying to  communicate it in de-jargonised language to
the potential customers. 11. However, it s. also true that many companies provide rigorous on-the-job training to fresh
technical writers before allowing them to graduate to high-end Products.

12. Thought the demand for good technical writers has risen sharply over the years, the emphasis
is never on numbers but on skills. 

13. The point out that even graduates of English Literature are often found it comes to creative
and effective writing.

14. Merely having the right mix of writing and comprehension skills is not sufficient. A technical
writer should keep his ‘writing blades’ constantly sharpened. It means untold hours of reading up
the latest in the technological trends and ceaseless honing of one’s Business English and writing
skills. The nature of technical writing is such that a writer has to be at the peak of his expressive
power in each piece of writing he produce.

15. A career in technical writing is seen as good choice for women mainly because it is widely held
that women are more adept at creative writing than men and the job does not entail ‘graveyard
shifts ‘ or ‘arduous travelling’. 

16. A beginner can expect to be paid anywhere between Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 15,000 a month. Technical
Writers usually join executive technical writers and then go on to become senior technical writer
team leaders, documentation heads and some even manage to make it to a management job within
a decade. As in most private sector job, merit is the main Criterion for rise in job and not
necessarily the number of years one has put in.
a) What is the need to technical writing in today’s world?      1
b) What is the nature of the job of a technical writer?      2 
c) Whom does the technical writing aim at?       1
d) According to Joe Winston who could be a technical writer?     1 
e) What should be the academic qualification of a technical write?    2 
f) Is technical writing a good career for women? Give tow reasons.    2 
Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following:    3x1=3
a) clear (Para 1)
b) continuous/without stopping (pare 14) 
c) difficult (Para 15)

A. 2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
There are two problems which cause great worry to our educationists—the problem of religious
and moral instruction in a land of many faiths and  the problem arising out of a large variety of
languages
Taking up the education of children, we see that they should be trained to love one another, to be
kind and helpful to all, to be tender to the Lower animals and to observe and think right The task
of teaching them how to read and write and to count and calculate is important, but it should not
make us lose sight of the primary aim of molding personality in the right way
For this, it is necessary to call into aid, culture, tradition and religion. But in our country we have,
in the same school, to look after boys and girls born in different faiths and belonging to families
that live diverse ways of life and follow different forms of worship associated with different
denominations of religion. It will not do to tread  the easy path of evading the difficulty by
attending solely to physical culture and intellectual education. We have to evolve a suitable
technique and method for serving the spiritual needs of schools children professing different
faiths. We would thereby promote an atmosphere of mutual respect, a fuller understanding and
helpful co-operation among the different communities in our society. Again we must remain one
people and we have therefore to give basic training in our schools to speak and understand more
languages than one and to appreciate and respect the different religions prevailing in India. It is
not right for us in India to be dissuaded from this by considerations as to overtaking the young
mind. What is necessary must be done. And it is not in fact too great a burden.
Any attempt to do away with or steamroll the differences through governmental coercion and
indirect pressure would be as futile as it would be unwise. Any imposition of a single way of life
and form of worship on all children or neglect of a section of the pupils in this respect or barren
secularization will lead to a conflict between school and home life which is harmful. On the other
hand, if we give due recognition to the different prevailing faiths in the educational institutions by
organizing suitable facilities for religious teaching for boys and girls of all communities, this may
itself serve as a broadening influence of great national values.
a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it in points only, using
headings and sub-headings. Also use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (minimum
4)  Supply a suitable title for it.          5
b) Write a summary of the above passage in about 80 words.      3

SECTION B (ADVANCED WRITTING SKILLS)

B. 1. You want to dispose of your car, as you are going abroad. You are Harish of No. 10, KaiIash
Ganj, Lucknow. Draft an advertisement to be published in the daily, Hindustan Times’, under
classified columns.            5
Or
You are Sajjanraj, S/o Sh. Dharmaraj of Greater Kailash, New Delhi. Your father wants you to draft
a formal invitation to be sent on the occasion of your sister, Anita Raj’s marriage. Prepare the
invitation.
B. 2. You are Roshan / Roshini, Secretary of Cultural Club, Hyderabad Public School, Hyderabad. As
a member of N.G.C. (National Green Crops), write a report, in 100-125 words for your school
magazine, about the activities organized by your club for greening of the environment. 10
Or
You have attended a seminar on how to decrease the burden of studies on school- going children.
Write a report in 100-125 words for your school magazine you are Ravi / Raveena of Guru Nanak
Public School, Kanpur. B. 3. Your younger brother, Suresh, needs your advice for the preparation of his Secondary School
Examination. Write a letter to him giving some tips in brief. You are Ramesh / Reena staying at
kotagiri Public School Hostel, Kotagiri.        10
Or
Write a letter to the Editor, ‘The New Indian Express’ drawing attention of the concerned
authorities to the misused and poorly maintained subways in Chennai. Give your suggestions. You
are Ram / Rani living at 10, Kamraj Street, Chennai.
B4. You are Manoj / Meena Write an article in 150-200 words on the following:   10
Value education should be made a part of the curriculum in schools Highlight the steps taken by
your school in this direction.
Or
Your experience of going to school when suddenly it started raining heavily.

Section C (TEXT BOOK)

C. 1. (a) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: 
If this belief from Haven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan
Have I not reason to lament
When Man has made of Man? 
a) Identify the poet.      1
b) What is the Nature’s holy plan?    1
c) What is the poet’s lament?    2
Or
He came, not understanding, and obeyed, and stretched
His hand and took the sacred vessel. Lo ! it shone
With thrice its former luster, and amazed them all
a) Whom does ‘he’ refer to? Why did he come?     2
b) What is it that he did not understand?      1
c) Why did the sacred plate shine with thrice its luster?    1
(b) Answer the following in 30-40 words each:     3x2—6
(i) What does Tagore mean by “burden of ages”?
(ii) Why does Hardly call war “quaint and curious”?
(iii) What does the poet want to relearn in the poem, ‘Once upon a Time’?
C. 2. Answer the following in 30-40 words each:    5X2=10
a) What changes the Gandhi movement bring about in the status of the Indian women?
b) Why is a machine compared to Djinn?
c) What suggestions does Max Mueller give to the students studying law at Cambridge?
d) How, according to Edmund Burke, has a new nobility risen?
e) How does Mrs. Bouncer explain the smell, of tobacco smoke in Cox’s room? What was the
reaction of Cox?
C. 3. Answer the following in 125-150 words: 
‘The Price of Flowers’ is an apt title Do you agree “Justify Or
Give a character-sketch of the jailor of the Silver Jail.
C. 4. Answer the following in 125-150 words:     7 
“A prudent reserve is as necessary as a seeming openness is prudent.” Elucidate with reference to
your lesson ‘On Conduct in Company’.
Or
Bring out the element of humor in the story, ‘Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment’.
C. 5. Answer the following in 30-40 words each:     4x2=8
a) What were the misconceptions generally associated with the handicapped in the ancient times?
b) What does John Gresham decide finally?
c) Why is there a need for the youth in the modern age to be academically inclined’?
d) What happened to the Wang village after the Japanese Attack?’