In this Post, We Provide Complete Model Question and Answer Solution of Class 12 Optional English Model Question with complete Solution 2079/2080 SET Issued By NEB.
NEB Class 12 Optional English Model Question Solution 2079-2080
Sub. code 3341
NEB-XII
Model Question
(2079/2023)
Optional English
Candidates are requested to give their answers in their own words as far as practicable.
Attempt all the questions.
Time: 3 hours
Full Marks.: 75
Group - 'A'
Tick (✅) the correct answer from the alternatives given in each question below. (11x1=11)
1. To which one of the following language families does official Nepali language belong?
a. Afro-Asiatic
b. Sino-Tibetan
c. Niger-Congo
d. Indo-European ✅
2. Language change as a result of globalization occurs due to which of the following reasons?
a. fashion
b. foreign influence ✅
c. broadening
d. narrowing
3. Kituba is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is based on Kikongo, a Bantu language. It is also a national language in the democratic Republic of the Congo. Which one of the following types of language is it?
a. pidgin
b. creole✅
c. vernacular
d. slang
4. Who is the author of the story ‘Paul’s Case’?
a. Willa Cather✅
b. Sir Arthur Canon Doyle
c. M C Vassanji
d. Rudolfo Anaya
5. What kind of story is “The Three Students’?
a. a horror story
b. a humorous story
c. a detective story✅
d. a satirical story
6. ‘I can resist anything but temptation.” What is this sentence an example of?
a. paradox✅
b. oxymoron
c. analogy
d. euphemism
7. Which one of the following poems is a ballad?
a. Mending Wall
b. No Second Troy
c. A Woman
d. The Three Knights✅
8. What does the poet imply through the line ‘I grew whiter and whiter’ in the poem ‘Kidnapped’?
a. he became a more learned person.
b. he got influenced by western education system.
c. he was happy to become a European.
d. he got assimilated in the western culture.✅
9. What year was the play ‘All My Sons’ written?
a. 1947✅
b. 1949
c. 1953
d. 1955
10. Which one of the following literary elements is richly endowed in the play ‘All My Sons’?
a. irony
b. symbol✅
c. image
d. metaphor
11. Which of the following does linguistic sign comprise?
a. sign and signifier
b. signifier and signified✅
c. arbitrariness and conventionality
d. signified and binary
Group- 'B'
Give short answers to the following questions in about 75 words each. (8x5=40)
12. What is language death? Give suitable examples of language death.
Answer:
Language death is the condition in which it loses all the native speakers of it. When the last speaker of a language dies, that language also dies. A dead language is a language that no one speaks any more.
When the people who speak a particular language die or leave to speak and the next generation does not know to speak, it is called language death. There can be natural, social or political causes of language death. Language death is not good because it causes the loss of particular culture and identity of people. Their literature dies along with language death.
Some examples of languages that have died include:
- Manx: the Celtic language of the Isle of Man, in use as a ceremonial language and increasingly revived since the late 20th century.
- Eyak: historically spoken by the Eyak people, indigenous to south-central Alaska. It died out in the 1990s.
- Taita: Taita is a language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It died out in the 2000s.
13. Is content knowledge more important than acquisition of skills?Why, why not? Give reasons to support your answer.
Answer:
There are a number of reasons why content knowledge is important. First, content knowledge provides a foundation for learning new skills. Without a strong foundation in content knowledge, it can be difficult to learn new skills. Second, content knowledge helps us to understand the world around us. When we have content knowledge, we can better understand the causes and effects of events, and we can make more informed decisions.
Skills are also important in learning. Skills allow us to apply our knowledge to solve problems. They also help us to be more productive and efficient in our work.
So, which is more important, content knowledge or skills? It depends on the situation. In some cases, content knowledge may be more important, while in other cases, skills may be more important. However, in general, I believe that content knowledge is more important than skills. This is because content knowledge provides a foundation for learning new skills, and it helps us to understand the world around us.
14. How does Julian show the important theme of hypocrisy in the story ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’?
Answer:
The story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor tells the story of Julian, a young man who is deeply prejudiced against African Americans. However, Julian's prejudice is challenged when he is forced to interact with an elderly African American woman on a bus.
Julian's hypocrisy is evident in the way he treats the woman. He initially tries to ignore her, but she eventually strikes up a conversation with him. Julian is initially condescending and dismissive of the woman, but as they talk, he begins to see her as a human being.
However, Julian's prejudice is not entirely eradicated. When the woman dies on the bus, Julian feels a sense of relief. He is glad that he will no longer have to interact with her. However, Julian's relief is also tinged with guilt. He knows that he should have treated the woman with more respect.
The story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" shows how hypocrisy can be a destructive force. Julian's prejudice ultimately leads to his own downfall. He is unable to see the woman as a human being, and he is therefore unable to connect with her on a meaningful level.
15. In what way does the story ‘A Deal on Wheat’ reflect influence of naturalism? Explain briefly.
Answer:
Naturalism is a literary style that portrays everyday life and social issues in a realistic manner. It shows the harsh realities of society and struggle of the common people. Naturalist writers depict characters who are the victims of forces beyond their control, such as poverty, social conditions.
"A Deal in Wheat" is a naturalistic story written by an American writer Frank Norris. It has the ordinary central character Sam Lewiston who is a farmer by profession. He becomes the victim of his heredity (being born as a working class, poor, farmer) and his surrounding environment (economic environment of Chicago in wheat trade). He becomes the victim because of business monopoly and corrupted and unhealthy business Practices of the greedy traders/ businessman. Sam Lewiston is compelled to give his property to the creditors and leave his wife at her sister's house and he wanders in the street of Chicago like a beggar. In this way, 'A Deal in Wheat' reflects influence of naturalism.
The story "A Deal on Wheat" is a classic example of a naturalistic story. It shows how the environment and heredity can shape human behavior in deterministic ways.
16. How does lean production combine the best features of both craft and mass production? Explain.
Answer:
Lean production is a manufacturing philosophy that seeks to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the production process. It combines the best features of both craft and mass production.
Craft production is characterized by skilled workers who produce high-quality products. However, craft production is often inefficient because it is labor-intensive.
Mass production is characterized by the use of standardized parts and assembly lines to produce large quantities of products. However, mass production can lead to low-quality products because it is often not as flexible as craft production.
Lean production combines the best features of both craft and mass production. It combines standardized processes and flexible operations. It takes the efficiency and consistency of mass production and the attention to detail and customization of craft production. It merges both of them and produces high-quality products at low cost per unit. Lean production reduces waste and enables workers/employees to improve the production process. It has rapid response to changing customer demands improving quality and productivity. Moreover, quick delivery is another feature of lean production.
OR
‘The reality is that we do not know what to think about death: not that of a fly, or of a dog or a pig, or of ourselves.” Do you agree or disagree with this key idea given by Stephen Cave? Give reasons based on the essay 'Not Nothing'?
Answer:
Lean production is a manufacturing philosophy that seeks to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the production process. It combines the best features of both craft and mass production.
Craft production is characterized by skilled workers who produce high-quality products. However, craft production is often inefficient because it is labor-intensive.
Mass production is characterized by the use of standardized parts and assembly lines to produce large quantities of products. However, mass production can lead to low-quality products because it is often not as flexible as craft production.
Lean production combines the best features of both craft and mass production. It combines standardized processes and flexible operations. It takes the efficiency and consistency of mass production and the attention to detail and customization of craft production. It merges both of them and produces high-quality products at low cost per unit. Lean production reduces waste and enables workers/employees to improve the production process. It has rapid response to changing customer demands improving quality and productivity. Moreover, quick delivery is another feature of lean production.
17. Summarize the poem ‘If I Should Die.’
Answer:
The poem "If I Should Die" by Emily Dickinson is a meditation on death. The speaker contemplates the possibility of their own death and what it would mean for their loved ones.
The speaker of this poem is not afraid of death. Death is a natural phenomenon to occur for her. She says that even if she dies, her loved ones should live. They should not shed tears. She says that the natural world will continue its course even after her death. The sun will rise, afternoon will be scorching, birds will make nests, and bees will buzz/sing, as usual after her death. They will not stop their work due to grief. People die turn by turn at option. One dies when it is his/her time. Similarly, in the human world, those people left behind will keep experiencing life. The dead ones will be lying in graves with daisies on their graves.
The poem ends with the speaker coming to terms with the possibility of their own death. They accept that death is a part of life and that it is something that everyone must face eventually.
18. Differentiate textual perspective from contextual perspective.
Answer:
Textual analysis focuses on the text itself whereas contextual analysis focuses on the surrounding conditions and environment in which the text was written.
Textual perspective is the way that a text is interpreted by the reader. It is influenced by the reader's own experiences, beliefs, and values. Contextual perspective is the way that a text is interpreted in the context of its historical, cultural, and social setting.
Here is a table that summarizes the differences between textual perspective and contextual perspective:
| Feature | Textual Perspective | Contextual Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | The text itself | The text's historical, cultural, and social setting |
| Influences | The reader's own experiences, beliefs, and values | The text's historical, cultural, and social context |
| Purpose | To understand the text's meaning | To understand the text's significance |
19. According to Sigmund Freud, literary creation emerges from unconscious state of mind. Do you agree or disagree? Justify your opinion.
Answer:
Sigmund Freud believed that literary creation emerges from the unconscious state of mind. He argued that the unconscious mind is a storehouse of our thoughts, feelings, and memories that are hidden from our conscious awareness. These thoughts, feelings, and memories can sometimes find expression in our creative work.
According to Sigmund Freud, there are three layers in human mind: Id, Ego and Superego. Id is also called unconscious mind. It is full of desires. Superego is conscious mind which is aware of social rules and norms. It represses socially unacceptable desires.
Ego is subconscious mind. All the repressed desires are stored in it. According to Freud, human behaviours are guided by unconscious desires. Unconscious mind of the person shapes his behaviour and character/personality. Human beings have many desires for power, love, sex and so on. But all the desires cannot be fulfilled easily. The repressed desires make a storehouse in our mind. Those desires affect our unconscious mind.
Our unconscious directs our conscious activities. The desires try to come out but we control it and tell a joke, or write an erotic poem or see an attractive person in dream. Unfulfilled desires are expressed through dreams, tongue-slip and literature. Hence, I agree that literary creation emerges from unconscious state of mind.
OR
Evaluate how postmodern perspective addresses the issue of plurality.
Answer:
The postmodern perspective addresses the issue of plurality by recognizing that there is no single, objective truth. Instead, there are multiple truths, each of which is valid from a different perspective.
Postmodernism is a broad cultural, literary and philosophical movement that emerged in the late 20th century as a reaction to modernism. It rejects the idea of absolute truth and objective reality. It emphasizes the idea of subjectivity, individualism and diversity. It addresses the issue of plurality in literature by focusing the multiplicity of perspectives. It rejects the single, dominant narrative.
According to this perspective, there is no single and final meaning of the text. There can be multiple meanings. It addresses the issue of plurality by respecting multiple styles, voices, narrators, cultural references, diversity of experiences, etc. It challenges traditional literary conventions and techniques. This perspective is more democratic and inclusive approach, to literature,since it celebrates diversity.
Group -'C'
Write long answer to the following questions in about 150 words each. (3x8=24)
20. Summarize the essay ‘A Black Grandmother’.
Answer:
MAIN SUMMARY OF THE ESSAY:
A Black Grandmother by Sally Morgan
This narrative essay " A Black Grandmother" begins on 14th February 1966. That particular day, the Australian authority changed its currencies from Pound, Shillings and Pence to Dollars and Cents. Due to that change in currency, People in Australia struggled a lot.
At the home of Sally Morgan, there was a great discussion about changing money. In the discussion, Nan (Grandmother) remarked, "There is no money like old money." She started collecting all the old money in a jar and kept it on a kitchen shelf. When Sally asked her grandmother the reason why she was collecting all the old money instead of handing it to the government, Nan replied that one day this money would be more valuable. The aboriginal people always had a hope that the old things would revive once again.
Sally discussed things with her mum. She came to know that mum and grandmother were frightened of the government authority. Nan even said, "You never trust anybody who works for the government."
Later, Sally Morgan discussed her academics. Apart from Art and English, Sally failed in every other subject in the second term of her third year in her high school. Actually, Sally didn't want to continue in her school. She wanted to leave the school. Sally's ambition was to be an artist. When her mum knew about her decision, she said, "You will leave the school over my dead body." She also added that the artist only earned money after they died and were gone. But Nan believed in Sally's drawing. She allowed her to paint the pictures over the asparagus seeds that were covered on their back veranda.
Aunty Judy, the friend of Mum, advised Sally not to be an Artist. Sally became absolutely furious because someone from outside the family spoke to her about this. Even the art teacher at school discouraged Sally. She always had a belief that drawing was her only talent. After hearing all these discouragements, Sally collected all her drawings and paintings and burnt them in the backyard.
One day, when Sally came from her school, she saw that Nan was crying at the dining table. When she asked the reason, Nan said "You bloody kids don't want me. You want a bloody white grandmother. I am black. Do you hear black, black, black!" After this, Sally got conscious of her granny's colour. At night time, she discussed it with her sister Jill. From Jill, Sally realised that they were aborigines. Jill knew that they were aborigines but she was not at all willing to say it to her sister because Aborigines were not at all accepted in society. Jill wanted to be accepted in society whereas Sally Morgan wanted to uphold her own aboriginal identity.
Jill explained to Sally how aborigines were not acceptable in society. There was a friend of Jill named Lee who almost took two years to accept that Jill was an Indian. Jill said to all that she was an Indian because she wanted to be socially accepted. Jill heard from her other friend Susan's mother that the aboriginal people were a bad influence. Jill remarked, "In Australia, you can be Indian, Dutch, Italian, anything but not aboriginal!" After this, Sally started pestering mum and Nan regarding aboriginal origin but they didn't provide her with answers. Sally didn't get any answer to her questions.
Sally always thought about her aboriginality and an old memory came to her about how her grandmother is good at tracking the food prints of kangaroo and emu. After remembering this incident, she confirmed that they were aborigines because most of the aborigines are hunters and gatherers. Again Sally Morgan discussed her academics. In the junior exams, Sally passed every subject. She even scored marks close to distinction in English and Art. It was Sally's pride that made her pass her exam.
21. Interpret the following lines of the poem ‘Lord! Make me a Sheep’ in your own words relating the speaker’s feelings to the contemporary materialistic society.
Let me have divine animality, O Providence,
Be kind to me and seize me quickly!
Come! Please!
Make me a sheep right now.
Answer:
The above given lines are taken from the poem "Lord! Make Me a Sheep" written by a great Nepali poet, Laxmi Prasad Devkota. It is a satirical poem which attacks on the behaviour and conducts of human society.
The speaker of this poem appeals God to make him a sheep because he is tired of being a human. He wants to get rid of the burden of responsibilities.
The speaker of this poem is tired of being a human being due to human conducts and activities such as rush for material prosperity, pomposity, hypocrisy, pain, struggle and burden of responsibilities. He wants to be alienated from the human society because he is fed up with this society which is running after materialistic prosperity.
The speaker feels that it is better to be a divine animal than to be a sinner human being. In the aforementioned lines, he urges God to take him quickly and make him a sheep right now. For him, the sheep is a far better creature than the human being which has no desire for anything. In this, way, he wants to be alienated from the present over compel Subtle/ materialism. He doesn't want to run in the race of being higher and richer than others.
OR
Do you believe that abstract reasoning is predominantly the male field of thought? Give reasons in support of your answer.
Answer:
Yes, I agree that abstract reasoning is predominantly the male field of thought. When the Greek philosophers invented geometry to divide the land of Egypt equally, they mixed abstract reasoning to convince the doubters. Under the name of philosophy, soon, it dominated all aspects such as mathematics, physics, metaphysics, religion, poetry, etc. Philosophy became new sports for leisurely people of Greece.
According to the essayist(Robert Graves), Greek women opposed the philosophers' abstract reasoning. They took it as a threat to themselves. Metaphysicians(philosophers) regarded Socrates as their hero and master. But, his wife Xanthippe scolded and nagged her husband publicly for failing to fulfill his familial responsibility because he was all the time philosophizing (talking philosophically) with others.
Socrates' love of proving everyone wrong made his wife Xanthippe angry and nagging. The essayist supports Xanthippe and says her intuitions were right. She foresaw that her husband's theories would bring family into public disgrace/hatred at the time when women were just regarded as child-bearing machine and sexual conveniences.
Hence, we can say that abstract reasoning is predominantly the male field of thought. Females prefer to use intuition instead of abstract reasoning which makes them allies of the poets.
22. Do you think the play ‘All My Sons’ is the play of responsibility, tragedy and guilt? Justify your answer with examples.
Answer:
'All My Sons' is a three-act play written by an American playwright, Arthur Miller. This is the play of responsibility, tragedy and guilt.
Joe Keller is a successful businessman devoted to his family and has no time for anything except working for the family welfare. He is a perfect family man. He is a responsible husband and father. He forgets his social responsibility while being too loyal to his family.
Similarly, this play is a tragedy too because most of the characters pass through various hardships and tragic events. The protagonist, Joe Keller committed horrendous/serious crime by supplying defective airplane parts. It caused the death of 21 pilots and their families suffered. His own son, Larry committed suicide due to his father's crime. Father-son relationship between Joe and Chris deteriorated when Chris knew about his father's crime. Kate Keller is in grief due to Lay's missing in the WWII. Ann's life is full of tragedy and devastation. She lost her boyfriend Larry and her father got imprisoned. George lost his girlfriend Lydia due to war. Steve Deever is the most tragic character who has been betrayed by Joe Keller.
Joe Keller blames his business partner Steve Deever for their joint crime and puts him in jail.
Later, he blames business practices and US Army except himself. At last, he accepts the blame and shoots himself. Larry has taken guilt and blame on himself and commits suicide. Chris feels guilty for surviving the war. He even blames his father for his own inability to send his father to prison.
Thus we can say "All My Sons' is the play of responsibility, tragedy and guilt.
Optional English Class 12 Model Question 2079/80 PDF
Optional English: Class 12 Model 2080 Video Solution
Complete Group A B C Solution is given as: