Write an article for the newspaper about free rides for women in buses and the metro. Do you feel all women deserve this facility even though they may be in the higher pay bracket ? What are your views on this decision of the government ?

Write in about 250 words.

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :

Through their evolution, humans have devised many things to make their lives better. Some of these have made life easier, others have been purely hedonistic. We have invented spirituality, religion, travel and the arts to give us happiness. The invention this century has been online shopping. The internet has changed our lives fundamentally in so many ways. Across many spheres of our existence, it has added things that were once unimaginable. And at the top of that list, perhaps in online shopping, which has given us a joy our ancestors never experienced. What I am talking about, however, is not convenience or access. I am referring to the childlike excitement in 20-, 30- and 40-year olds eagerly waiting for the deliveries of things they ordered from Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, etc. Online shopping, then, is a phenomenon where the ‘joy of giving’ and the ‘joy of receiving’ are both packed into one act. Interestingly, as online shopping has evolved, companies have started to deploy immersive technologies like virtual reality and delivery methods like drones, to cut down both on the time and uncertainty of this fulfilment. But, inadvertently, they might just be killing the joy that millennials have discovered for themselves.

(a) On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions :

(i) Give a suitable title to the passage.

 (ii) What have humans invented in the past to give happiness ? What does the author think gives us happiness today ?

 (iii) Why is online shopping considered a phenomenon by the author ?

 (iv) What has made online shopping a reality ?

(b) Find words with similar meanings from the given passage.

(i) plan or invent

(ii) basically

(iii) area of activity

(iv) develop

(v) surrounded

(vi) accidentally

Identify the prepositions in the sentences.

(i) He is in agreement with the decision.

(ii) He has been asked to enquire into the matter.

(iii) Do not complain against everything.

(iv) Mr. Saha has decided to retire from his work.

(v) This is being demolished for a purpose.

Write a letter to the Sales Manager of Bloom Electronics, New Delhi, placing an order for a microwave cooker. Ask for the discount admissible as you are buying it for a students’ hostel.

Write in about 150 words.

Fill in the blanks with the correct verb form.

(a) Yesterday, I __________ (receive) a phone call from my father.

(b) What __________ (be) meditation ?

(c) Tomorrow I __________ (go) for an entrance test.

(d) Let’s see what __________ (happen).

(e) He __________ (construct) buildings.

You wish to join a choreography institute to take up dancing as a career. Discuss with your parents why you want to do this. You will need to convince your parents who would like you to go for any other regular course. Use the dialogue form for this discussion.

Write in about 250 words.

Do as directed against each sentence :

(a) She sang a song. (Change the voice)

(b) Ram is as tall as his brother. (Change the degree)

(c) Why quarrel with neighbours ? (Change into assertive)

(d) I saw that she had fever. I took her to the hospital. (Begin with ‘as soon as’)

(e) He finished his dinner. He sat down to play chess. (Combine the sentences.)

(f) My car was driven by my sister. (Begin with ‘My sister’)

(g) She is so sick to meet anyone now. (Use so...that)

(h) The old man will die. The family will be upset. (Use a connector)

(i) My house is very old. (Change into negative)

(j) Nobody in the college is as good at singing as Jyoti. (Change into affirmative)