Oswal 61 Sample Question Papers ICSE Class 10 English-I Solutions
Answer 1.
(i)
MY SANITY WAS RESTORED
A gamut of behaviour categorised by certain abnormal behavioural pattern is known as insanity, craziness or madness. It may be considered as violations of social norms, or may be at times the person becoming a danger to himself or others. Since ancient times, insanity was taken as a curse or black magic trick of a witch, or a ghost. It was to be treated by mantras and yagnas to please the supernatural power to get rid of one’s insanity.
In scientific term, insanity is disturbed mental order. I went through a phase in my life where a terrible shock took away my sanity. It shook my spine when I heard of my dear brother-in-law’s severe accident. As soon as I heard it, I went out of my senses. I couldn’t recognise any family member nor could I take care of myself. I became like a toddler, unknown and unaware of social ethics and my responsibilities. I was very closed to my brother-in-law.
My parents and my siblings used to look after me for around one month. They were worried about
me, and wanted to restore my sanity. They went to a lot of people who claimed themselves to be well acquainted with supernatural powers, to get me treated. You know, superstition. But all of it was of no use. My parents wasted a lot of money and time to get my sanity restored. They even took me to a top neurological hospital where I underwent a long list of medical tests. The reports said that it’s a temporary state of mind. It can be restored, but it will take time. It was because the kind of shock my mind couldn’t withstand, that was to be recreated to restore my normal condition.
During the course of treatment, one day I was sitting on my wheelchair in the balcony of my hospital room. I saw a man yelling wildly. I don’t know what happened to me, I started crying loudly as if that man was yelling to save my brother-in-law or vice-versa. The entire team of nurses, attendants along with the doctor and my parents rushed to me. I was surprised to see myself in a hospital in a poor appearance. I asked my parents “what is all this”? They were happy to see me in my proper mental senses. In this way and gradual close monitoring, my sanity was restored.
(ii) Life nowadays has become so fast that I am reminded of a famous poem—”Leisure“ by William Henry Davies which starts with :
These days everything is easier to get or to achieve but it’s almost impossible to spare a few minutes for family members, relatives or friends. The internet which was meant to connect us easily to our near ones has created a much unavoidable void as it has brought us closer to unknown ones and took us far from our near ones. Wedding is the only good place where all our family, friends, and most of the relatives gather having ample spare time to enjoy the real emotions of humanness. I miss my relatives a lot as no one visits us as frequently as it was during my childhood. I am also busy enough to go out and meet any of them or even my dear friends.
I would like to share a wedding where I went with my family. It was a memorable one. As we reached there we were welcomed with great zeal and warmth by our uncle and aunt, whose son’s marriage we had come to attend. Then we entered the house. It was amazingly decorated with all rendezvous extravagance. The house was full of people. I saw my maternal uncle there with his family. I screamed out of happiness to see them. Our parents met him and I had a nice time with my cousin. We went to the pandal where snacks with evening tea were arranged and a lot of children were having fun. There I met my childhood friend whom I missed the most, because he has changed his school last year. Sometime later, a red car arrived, I was gazing at it and saw that my boy cousin, who is my brother, with his parents and his maternal grandparents had arrived there. I rushed to hug him. He too was happy to see me. His grandparents blessed me with their sweet words. His parents patted me and asked for my parents.
We came to know a lot of people residing in our neighbourhood. So, the wedding event allowed me to meet, enjoy and get acquainted with people around me. Weddings are really one of the best events for social interaction.
(iii) FOR THE MOTION
The whole world is full of many shocking treatments of children towards their old parents. A large number of parents, even some of the celebrities too, are in this list who are dragged to old age homes or left in hospitals to struggle with difficulties and are isolated. I think that it’s our first and foremost duty to serve our dear parents who bring us into this beautiful world and look after us well to help us grow up into a healthy and a well-educated person. They make sure to provide us a roof, and protect us from all the evils. They sacrifice their dreams and needs for our better upbringing. So, it’s our moral
duty to look after our family’s elderly members.
We hardly think about all the distress we create for our parents since our infancy when we used to spoil the party dress of our mother, start a crazy cry in public, didn’t let them sleep the whole night, when we tore up any important document or scribble on any precious book or break an expensive show-piece, at the age of six when we yelled or craved to buy expensive useless items hanging in a shop, at the age of thirteen when we brought a lot of complaints from school, etc. Those highly irritating and sometimes embarrassing moments when we frustrated our parents, they didn’t pack up
our bags to throw us out or drag us to an orphanage.
Parents, in their old age, need a companion to look after them, to make them at ease, sit, and listen to them. We must owe our best care and love to them who gave us life and nurtured us into the people we are today. It should be kept in mind that our parents are not going to live forever, they are only for a short span of time with us.
AGAINST THE MOTION
Though it sounds discourteous but in today’s fast life full of several other problems and issues, taking care of parents is really stressful. It should not be a burden on children to take care of their parents only because they are parents. It shouldn’t be an exchange deal that parents have brought them up so the children should too do the same to parents. Parents have brought up children to this world for their own happiness and with their own choice. So, they have to take the responsibility of their choices.
It is painful to know about some of the tragic stories of old parents being ill-treated by their children. However, the elderly parents should pre-plan their own care, as a part of being a responsible adult. There are a lot of government and semi-government plans to invest in it at a younger age and get a good return throughout the life. I think we should be responsible for our life on our own. When parents are old enough to have money or time to invest and wait, they come over to their children for all kinds of favours they did for them. Some of the children are poorly treated by their own parents and are often victims of parental physical and emotional abuses and negligence.
So, it is not at all necessary for children to take care of their ageing parents. It might sound very rude but it is very true that ageing parents have their own traditional belief and so they fail to cope with the advancement. This age difference becomes a reason for conflicts and neither the parents nor their children enjoy a peaceful life. Therefore, it is better for parents to make arrangements for their old age in advance and lead a better life.
(iv) The world is not the same anymore and the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives forever. The virus seems like a permanent addition in our lives according to most scientific studies and may never go away even if its cure or vaccination becomes commonplace. It consumed lakhs of people. Many were able to fight its effects and survived but most could not.
What the doctors and experts have been saying is pretty basic. Wash our hands, cover our noses and sanitise our surroundings often. These are the first line of defence against our fight with the virus. So hygiene is now as important as oxygen. Keeping ourselves relatively clean, taking care not to touch things in public places, wearing masks when travelling in public transport, and consistently making sure we do not dirty the surroundings should become a norm.
Secondly, our lives have changed with the way we work and study. The dependency on the virtual world will gain more traction and people will have to upgrade their way of work and education. It has been an eye-opener to witness the way the world has geared itself up to fight the outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic. Students never thought they would have to depend on their teacher’s online notes, but it has become the new normal. Parents have to update their knowledge of computers and the internet to help their children navigate this transition.
Thirdly, people now have understood the importance of leading a healthier life, and more so knowing that the medical system is not equipped to take care of lakhs of people at the same time.
For example, the home quarantining and home packages have become common today. Doctors and experts are urging people with minor symptoms to stay at home and quarantine themselves instead of overburdening the resources. Furthermore, the days of going to any public event without necessary precautionary measures like face masks, temperature checks and gloves seems impossible. We can imagine the world in masks now. And it is not going to change anytime soon.
(v) THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, RULES THE WORLD
Napoleon said, “Give me good mothers, I will give you a good nation.”
‘‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that Rules the World” appeared in a poem written by William Ross Wallace. This brilliant phrase placed Wallace among the most celebrated poets of all time. It actually means that a mother living in the household has the power to rule the world. But often his magnificent ability of a mother is ignored or looked upon at with pity. Mothers play an important role in building nations.
I would like to quote the story of Revathi, a proud mother of a scientist, an economist and also an archaeologist. Revathi was a widow mother of three children. She worked in a factory near her slum and sold idlis and vadas on Sunday when her factory was closed. By the earning from these sources she nurtured her children. The most appreciable part of her care and upbringing was that she taught her children, the importance of cleanliness and to adhere to their education with their best efforts.
So, many times it happened that she was left with no food for her after serving to her children and she had to sleep empty stomach. But it couldn’t deter her from her goal to educate her children for a brighter future. With all the hardships, she succeeded finally when her two sons won a scholarship to a top college for their respective subjects. Her younger child was her daughter Savitha who had secured the 10th topper rank on state level in her board exams. Savitha received an amount of rupees 25000/- from the state government and a bicycle from the school as an honour.
Revathi did a lot of compromise to fulfill the financial needs of her children. Equally, her children too made her proud by achieving great positions. As her sons started earning, they took their sister’s education and all household expenses on themselves and freed their mother from all burden and pain.
Her daughter opted to join the archaeology department after her graduation, which was again a huge success for her mother. So, we can say that the hands that rock the cradle are the hands that rule the world.
A Mother is the power behind the throne. Hence, there are great responsibilities on the shoulders of a mother and every nation should do enough to take care, empower and educate mothers, so that they can shoulder the responsibility of building up the nation with grace and dignity.
Answer 2.
(i) Ring Road, Near Pearsales,
Daffodil Apartment,
A Block, 12th floor,
Pune–901211.
6th June, 20XX.
Dear Archit,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am very happy to receive a letter from you. It is great to learn that you have topped the school and International Science Olympiad too. Congratulations, dear friend. You were one of the most intelligent students of your class. Your success is going to inspire other students’ future. Let’s meet once and we’ll decide for a celebration. Do share with me how you prepared your study plans, what was your exam strategy, how you managed your time for your cricket and karate classes. Waiting for your reply in anticipation.
I am ending my letter here. Give my regards to uncle and auntie.
Yours lovingly,
Srikanth
(ii) Sahzad Society,
3rd lane, 5th floor,
Khari Bawli, Daryaganj,
Delhi-110 009
13th October, 20XX
The Editor,
The Times of India,
K.G. Marg,
New Delhi-110 001
Dear Sir,
Through the esteemed column of your newspaper, I wish to bring to public notice that constantly erupting bandhs and protests are disrupting the daily life of middle class people and their earnings in Delhi. Its taking away the social life too.
In this fast world, it is harmful wasting a few minutes without work. But the regularly rising protests in the name of freedom of expression disrupt common people’s regular life. These issues can be solved by peaceful means of discussing or writing to the concerned authority/department. Traffic jams and road blocks have become regular causing a tremendous rush in the metro. Office workers and students going to take exams are the worst sufferers. I would therefore request you to publish my letter in the columns of your esteemed daily so that it gets noticed by the government officials and they take prompt action accordingly.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Avtar Raheja
Answer 3.
(i)
have to compulsorily attend the Remedial Classes.
(ii) To : e-mail addresses of all parents of the students of classes IX-XII
Subject : Remedial Classes for students of classes IX-XII before school hours.
Dear parents,
Our school has always tried to help children in all possible ways. In accord with this, we have initiated Remedial Classes for all students of classes IX to XII who scored less than 60% in the first terminal examination. The classes will be conducted from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. i.e., before school hours from 20th July, 20XX.
Please be informed that students who scored less than 60% in the first term examination have to
compulsorily attend the Remedial Classes.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. R. K. Swami
Principal,
Modern School, Guwahati
Answer 4.
(i) 1. (c) the floor of a fireplace
2. (c) having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.
(ii) (c) Cheerful
(iii) (a) The place where the family dwelt was the ‘bleakest spot’ of all in New England. It was in the Notch of the White Hills where the wind was sharp throughout the year, and pitilessly cold in the winter.
It gave their cottage all its fresh inclemency before it descended on the valley of the Saco.
(b) The dry wood was collected from driftwood of mountain streams, the dry cones of the pines and
the splintered ruins of great trees that came crashing down the precipice.
(c) Here the phrase “herb, heart’s-ease,” means peace of mind. The family had found their peace of mind in the bleak spot and as a matter of fact, lived happily.
(d) The travel through the romantic pass of the Notch was an extremely lonely one across the wild and bleak road. To overcome this despondency arising out of the lonely travel most of the travelers paused to exchange a word with the family. Apart from paying for food and lodging the traveler got homely kindness beyond all price.
(e) The hearty hospitality, kind warmth in reception and homely kindness were the qualities of the family that endeared them to the traveler and they got refreshed from the long lonely and tiresome journey. The travelers no doubt got brightened up during their short sojourn.
(iv) In the romantic pass of the Notch, a stage-coach always drew up before the cottage of the family. The way-farer and his staff paused there to exchange words. The teamster, on his way, would sit there for an hour beyond the usual bedtime. The family would welcome all of them. (50 words)
Answer 5.
| (i) | (1) sitting | (2) peeped | (3) had | (4) thought |
| (5) making | (6) ran | (7) took | (8) looked | |
| (ii) | (a) along | (b) with | (c) with | (d) despite |
| (e) after | (f) thoroughly | (g) for | (h) in |
(iii) (1) (b) The cat ran out of the door because it was chased by the dog.
(2) (c) Since Smitha is usually calm and peaceful, she doesn’t lose her temper easily.
(3) (a) Since she did such intricate embroidery, her eyesight was affected.
(4) (c) The children relished the apples as they were delicious.
(iv) (1) (b) It being a hot day, everyone bought ice-cream.
(2) (b) Owing to health problems, he suffered from unemployment.
(3) (a) Since it was raining heavily, people opened their umbrellas.
(4) (a) Not only did she miss the bus, but also the dog bit her.
(5) (c) No sooner had the fever left him than he got up and worked.
(6) (b) If only he had studied hard, he would have passed his exams.
(7) (b) On account of his athletic physique, he took part in sports.
(8) (a) As a result of loving adventure sports, she was considered a dare devil.
ICSE 61 Sample Question Papers
All Subjects Combined for Class 10 Exam 2024
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