english core cbse class xii

193 Pages·2015·2.28 MB·English

ENGLISH CORE
CBSE
CLASS XII

Prepared by
Army Public School Gwalior

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BLUE PRINT OF QUESTION PAPER
SECTION - A
READING COMPREHENSION

READING UNSEEN PASSAGES AND NOTE-MAKING [30 Marks]

Two unseen passages with a variety of very short answer/ short answer or MCQ type
questions to test comprehension, interpretation and inference. Vocabulary such as word
formation and inference of meaning will also be tested.
The total length of the two passages will be between 1100-1200 words. The passages will
include two of the following.
(a) Factual Passages e.g., instructions, descriptions, reports.
(b) Descriptive Passages involving opinion, e.g., argumentative, persuasive or
interpretative text.
(c) Literature Passages, e.g., extract from fiction, drama, poetry, essay or biography. A
poem could be of 28-35 lines.
 The passage can be literary, factual or discursive to test comprehensions. The length
of one passage should be between 600-700 words.
 A third passage of 400-500 words for note making and abstraction.

SECTION – B
WRITING SKILLS

(30 Marks)
Short Answer Questions, e.g., advertisements and notices, designing or drafting posters,
writing formal and informal invitations and replies.
Long Answer Questions: Letter based on verbal/visual input.
Letter types include
 Business or official letters (for making enquiries, registering complaints,
asking for and giving information, placing orders and sending replies)

 Letters to the editor (giving suggestions or opinion on issues of public interest)

 Application for job

Very Long Answer Questions: Two compositions based on visual and/or verbal Input may
be descriptive or argumentative in nature such as an article, a debate or a speech.
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SECTION C
LITERATURE TEXTBOOKS AND LONG READING TEXTS

FLAMINGO / VISTAS / THE INVISIBLE MAN
(40 MARKS)
 Very Short Answer Questions - Based on an extract from poetry to test the
comprehension and appreciation.

 Short Answer Questions - Based on prose/drama/poetry from the texts.

 Long Answer Questions - Based on texts to test global comprehension and
extrapolation beyond texts to bring out the key
messages and values.

 Long Answer Questions - Based on texts to test global comprehension
along with analysis and extrapolation.

 Long Answer Questions - Based on theme, plot and incidents from the
prescribed novels.
(THE INVISIBLE MAN)

 Long Answer Questions - Based on understanding, appreciation, analysis
and interpretation of the character sketch.
(THE INVISIBLE MAN)

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QUESTION PAPER DESIGN
English CORE XII (Code No. 301) Time- 3 hours Marks-100
Typology Typology of questions/ MCQ Very Short Short Short Long Long Very Total Over all
learning outcomes 1 mark Answer Answer Answer Answer-1 Answer-2 Long Answer marks %
Question Question Question 80-100 120-150 150-200
1 mark 3 mark 4 mark words words words
5 marks 6 marks 10 marks
Reading Conceptual, 6 16 1 - 1 - - 30 30
Skills Understanding
Decoding,
Analysing,
Inferring,
Appreciating,
Literary conventions and
vocabulary, summarising
and using appropriate
format/s
Writing Reasoning, appropriacy - - - 1 - 1 2 30 30
Skills of style and tone, using
appropriate format and
fluency, inference,
analysis, evaluation and
creativity
Literary Recalling, reasoning, - 4 4 - - 4 - 40 40
Textbooks appreciating literary
and long conventions, inference,
reading analysis, evaluation,
text/novel Creativity with fluency
TOTAL 6*1=6 20*1= 20 5*3=15 1*4=4 1*5=5 5*6=30 2*10= 20 100 100

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CONTENTS
PART-I

SECTION -A [READING UNSEEN PASSAGE AND NOTE-MAKING]
1. Reading Unseen Passage
2. Note-making & Abstraction
SECTION- B [WRITING SKILLS]
3. Short Compositions
 Advertisements
 Notices
 Designing or Drafting Posters
 Invitations and Replies
4. Letter Writing
5. Article/Speech/Debate
SECTION -C[LITERATURE TEXTBOOKS AND LONG READING TEXTS]
6. Flamingo (Poetry)
7. Flamingo (Prose)
8. Vistas
9. Long Reading Texts : Novels
 The Invisible Man

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SECTION A (30 Marks)
READING
Reading Comprehension
Note Making & Abstraction

Reading Comprehension
(Two unseen passages to test comprehension, interpretation and inference) [12+10=22 Marks]

S.NO. CONTENT NO. PAGE NUMBER

1. Discursive Passage 2 11-16

2. Factual Passage 5 17-31

3. Literary Poem 3 32-39

Note Making & Abstraction [5+3=8Marks]

S.NO. CONTENT NO. PAGE NUMBER

1. Discursive Passage 1 40-46

2. Factual Passage 5 47-58

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GUIDELINES FOR ATTEMPTING SECTION A
Reading Comprehension is defined as the understanding of a passage or a text. Basically,
Reading Comprehension tests the reader’s ability to comprehend the content as well as style
and theme of the passage.
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
The students are mostly tested on content-based questions which include factual questions
and inferential questions.
Some vocabulary questions are also asked from the passages. These questions include
meanings, synonyms, antonyms etc., of words in the passages.
Three types of passages will be designed to test the reading skills of students. These include
(I) Factual passages,
e.g., instructions, descriptions, reports..
(ii) Discursive passages involving opinion,
e.g., argumentative, interpretative or persuasive text.

(iii) Literary passages,
e.g., an extract from fiction, drama, poetry, essay or biography.

STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED WHILE ATTEMPTING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Step 1 Skim once as rapidly as possible to determine the main idea before you look at the
questions. Do not worry about words you do not know at this stage.
Step 2 Underline the words that you do not understand to facilitate a complete
understanding of the passage. This will enable you to solve the vocabulary questions quicker.
Step 3 Look through the words carefully You are advised to maintain the order in which the
questions appear in the test paper. Read intensively the portion relevant to the answer.
Step 4 Concentrate on the vocabulary items and puzzle out from the context the meanings
of those words you do not know.

IDEAS TO FOLLOW WHILE SKIMMING

1. Read the title of the passage/poem very carefully, if given. Determine what clues
it gives you about the passage/poem.
2. Watch for keywords like causes, results, effects etc. do not overlook signal
words such as those suggesting controversy (e.g., versus, pros and cons), which
indicate that the author is intending to present both sides of an argument.
3. Concentrate on the main ideas and ignore details.
Most passages requires at least two readings. Before writing the answer, check the
questions again to be sure you have really understood them.
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GUIDELINES TO ATTEMPT COMPREHENSION PASSAGE
1. First of all read the passage quickly study the questions given at the end of your
passage.

2. Start your second reading of the passage. This reading should be thorough. Underline
key sentences or words related to the given questions.

3. An alternate method could be to go through the questions first, which gives a rough
idea about the content or subject of the passage. It becomes easier to underline the
keywords while going through the passage and will help to reach to the answers faster.

4. While answering the questions, try not to give vague or general answers; be specific;
sometimes students use one general description when four or five points have to be
made. Avoid general answers.

5. Write in short , simple sentences unless required to do otherwise.

6. Do not repeat yourself. This is a waste of time. Avoid using slang. Do not use vague
words when a precise one will do.

7. Make sure that you use your own words as far as possible. This means that you must
summarise and interpret information; never copy whole ‘chunks’ from the passage.

8. When answering factual questions. i.e., questions that involve words like ‘what’, ‘when’,
‘how’ and ‘why’, do not include information not given in the passage. While answering
the ‘why’ question, you may begin your answer with ‘This is because……….’ or a
similar phrase.

9. While answering vocabulary questions, determine the part of speech of the word. Your
answer should have the same part of speech.

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Recognising Literary Forms / Figures of Speech
Name of Figure of What it Means Example
Speech
Alliteration Repeating a constant sound in The phrase “buckets of big blue
close proximity to others, or berries” alliterates with the
beginning several words with the consonant ‘b’.
same vowel sound.

Cacophony The term in poetry refers to the “Lick, crack, sick hack. The
use of words that combine sharp, beggar harried her open back.
harsh, hissing, or unmelodious Crash, bang, clang!! We want no
sound. parlay with you and your grisly
gang who work your wicked will.”-
- Winston Churchill
Euphemism Using a mild or gentle phrase Saying “Grandfather has passed
instead of a blunt, embarrassing, away” is a euphemism for
or painful one. “Grandfather has died.”
Metaphor An implied comparison between “She is a fox”. This implies that
two unlike things that actually the lady has the character traits
have something important in as that of a fox.
common.
Metonymy Using a vaguely suggestive, “The pen mightier than the sword”
physical object to embody a more suggests that the power of
general idea. The term metonymy education and writing is more
also applies to the object itself potent for changing the world than
used to suggest that more general military force.
idea.
Onomatopoeia The use of sounds that are similar For instance, the words like
to the noise they represent for a ‘buzz’, ‘click’, ‘rattle’ and ‘grunt’
rhetorical or artistic effect. make sounds akin to the noise
they represent and are used both
in prose and poetry.
Pun A play on two words similar in “A horse is a very stable animal”.
spelling or sound but different in (Here the pun is on the word
meaning. ‘stable’.
Refrain A phrase, verse, or group of “For men may come and men
verses repeated at intervals may go, but I go on forever.” (This
throughout a song or poem, refrain is repeated after every
especially at the end of each stanza in Tennyson’s poem “The
stanza. Brook”)
Repetition Simple repeating of a word, within I looked upon the rotting sea, And
a sentence or a poetical line, with drew my eyes away; I looked
no particular placement of the upon the rotting deck, And there
words, in order to emphasis. It the dead men lay.
also has conn notations to listing (Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
the effect.
Rhythm It acts just like the beat does in Half a league, Half a league (‘The
music rhythm in poetry arises charge of the Light Brigade’ by
from the need for some words to Tennyson)
be pronounced more strongly.
They might also be stressed for a
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longer time, which sounds more
pleasant to the mind, thus
unconsciously creating identifiable
patterns. This gives a musical
effect to the literary piece.
Rhyme A matching similarity of sounds in “Once upon a time a frog/croaked
two or more words at the end of a away in Bingle Bog” (Vikram
line, especially when their Seth’s poem “The Frog and the
accented vowels and all Nightingale”)
succeeding consonants are
identical.
Rhyme scheme The pattern of rhyme. The “The glories of our blood and
traditional way to mark these state -------------- a
patterns of rhyme is to assign a Are shadows, not substantial
letter of the alphabet to each things; ------------ b
rhyming sound at the end of each There is no armour against fate; --
line. ---------------- a
Death lays his icy hand on kings: -
----------------- b
Sceptre and crown -------------------
-------------- c
Must tumble down, -------------------
------------- c
And in the dust be equal made ----
-------------- d
With the poor crooked scythe and
spade”----- d (Extract from James
Shirley’s poem “Of Death”) The
rhyme scheme for this stanza is
ababccdd.
Simile An analogy or comparison implied “Friends are like chocolate cake,
by using an adverb such as ‘like’ you can never have too many.”
or ‘as’.
Synecdoche This involves a part of an object “Twenty eyes watched our every
representing a whole, or the move.” Here, rather than implying
whole of an object representing a that twenty different eyes are
part. swiveling to follow him as he
walks by, the author means that
ten people watched the group’s
every move.

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