Maharashtra SSC English - First Language (MSBSHSE) case studies
Maharashtra SSC English - First Language (MSBSHSE) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Maharashtra SSC English - First Language paper is the Class X board examination in English for students following the state board's first-language syllabus, typically built around the Kumarbharati textbook. It is intended for candidates who study English as their strongest school language and who are expected to read literature critically, write accurately, and produce sustained original prose. The Maharashtra SSC English - First Language (MSBSHSE) case studies are 5 cases and about 4,444 words.
1Re-checking an unseen-passage script: what earns inference and vocabulary marks
You are re-checking the First Language English paper of a school in Nashik. Section I is an unseen passage of about 300 words on the disappearance of sparrows from the city, carrying 12 marks: A1 complete a four-row table of causes (2 marks), A2 inference - Why does the writer call the sparrows 'tenants without leases'?
854 words, about 4 min2Four-mark prose question: distinguishing retelling from analysis
A revision group of four Std X students is working on the prose section. Their teacher sets a four-mark question on this extract: 'For six months I had looked past him - a grey man in a grey chair, part of the gate.
925 words, about 5 min3Poetry appreciation: naming a device is not explaining it
An appreciation question on a short poem asks for four marks: identify any two figures of speech (1 mark each), explain the effect of one of them (1 mark), and state the tone in one word with a justification (1 mark). The lines under study: 'The lamp I carried down the lane / was small against the dark; / it made a circle at my feet / and left the rest unmarked.
899 words, about 4 min4Marking 'Do as directed': where half marks belong and where they do not
A Std X teacher is marking five one-mark items of Do as directed and must decide how fine the marking may be, because the school's practice is to allow half marks for a partly correct transformation. The items and one candidate's answers: (1) Change the voice - 'The gardener had watered the plants before the sun rose.' Answer: 'The plants were watered by the gardener before the sun rose.' (2) Indirect speech - She said, 'I will finish the report today.' Answer: 'She said that she will finish the report today.' (3) Rewrite with 'No sooner … than' - 'As soon as the bell rang, the students rushed out.' Answer: 'No sooner the bell rang than the students rushed out.' (4) Make exclamatory - 'It is a very beautiful garden.' Answer: 'What a beautiful garden it is!' (5) Remove 'too' - 'The box is too heavy for me to lift.' Answer: 'The box is so heavy that I cannot lift it.' Items 4 and 5 are correct.
965 words, about 5 min5Notice writing: format marks, word limits and an unnecessary slogan
The writing section of a terminal paper asks for a notice in not more than 50 words, carrying 5 marks (format 2, content 2, expression 1), announcing an Inter-School Elocution Competition. The five points given are: competition on 12 August, school auditorium, Std VIII to X may participate, names to the class teacher by 5 August, contact the cultural secretary.
801 words, about 4 min