english passages for practice for class 10th maharashtra board

ENGLISH PASSAGE WITH SOLUTION FOR SSC

Q.I. (A) Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow : (10 marks)

A.1. Complete the following.

(i) ___________ has planned and executed Saina’s progress.

(a) Her coach (b) Her mother (c) Her physiotherapist

(ii) _____________ is her coach.

(a) Prakash Padukone (b) Pullela Gopichand (c) Her father

Saina is already a big star at such a young age. It will bring a lot of media attention. What is important is not to get carried away. It is equally important to realize that she has a long career ahead of her and a lot more tournaments to win. From whatever little I know of Saina, I am sure, she will stay focused and it is only a matter of time before she becomes World No.1. Full credit to her coach Pullela Gopichand for the way he has planned and executed her progress as well as the support team of the physiotherapist and physical trainer who, as always work quietly behind the scenes.

Saina, you have done all of us proud, you have the ability to go all the way. In this format it will not be possible to win every tournament you enter. What is critical is choosing your tournaments carefully and resting enough between them to make sure that you remain in peak condition all the time and injury-free. This is just the beginning. Do not worry about the odd loss here and there. Keep it up. The entire country is behind you.

A.2. The two things that are important for Saina in order to be successful are :

(i) __________________________

(ii) __________________________

A.3. Give the antonyms of the following using words from the passage.(i) humble (ii) heal

(iii) decline (iv) noisy

A.4. Rewrite as an affirmative sentence.

(i) In this format it will not be possible to win every tournament you enter.

(ii) Do not worry about the odd loss here and there.

A.5. Why do you think has Saina reached great heights?

Answers

Q.I. (A) Read the following passage and answer the questions given below :A.1. (i) (a) Her coach

(ii) (b) Pullela Gopichand

A.2. (i) not to get carried away

(ii) to realize that she has a long career ahead of her and a lot more tournaments to win

A.3. (i) proud (ii) injure

(iii) progress (iv) quiet

A.4. (i) In this format it will be impossible to win every tournament you enter.

(ii) Avoid worrying about the odd loss here and there.

A.5. Saina has all the attributes vital to be among the best in the world - she is technically sound, physically fit and mentally strong apart from being patient, hardworking and self-confident. All these qualities have made her reach great heights.

from

https://www.omtexclasses.com/2014/10/english-passage-with-solution-for-ssc.html

Comprehension of passages for practice for class 10th

Alaskan polar bears have mastered the art of living in ice. Even during the frigid days of winter, these furry white creatures don’t hibernate in cozy dens, like other bears do. Instead, they go north, hunting for seals living in the ice-covered water.

In recent years, however, Earth’s climate has been getting warmer, and ice near the Poles has been melting. Now, a new study shows that disappearing ice is changing polar bear behavior. For instance, more than half of pregnant polar bears used to give birth in dens on solid blocks of ice that were floating out at sea. Today, they’re digging their dens on or near land.

The reason? Most of the ice has disappeared. Studies have shown that 27 percent of sea ice in the Arctic that stays frozen from year to year has disappeared during the past 30 years. So there’s now much less space for dens. Moreover, as the warming continues, the remaining ice becomes less stable. These conditions are unappealing to mother polar bears, who want a safe place to give birth. A mother polar bear often has two cubs at a time. Baby cubs stay with their mothers for more than 2 years.For now, Alaska’s polar bears seem to prefer returning to land rather than taking the risk of giving birth on shaky ice. That solution might not work forever, however, especially if the ice keeps melting. The bottom line? Polar bears are in trouble.

Answer the following questions.

1. Where do seals live?
2. Describe one trait that makes Alaskan polar bears different from other bears.
3. Polar ice is melting. Why?
4. What has forced polar bears to dig their dens on or near the land?Answers

1. Seals live in the ice-covered water of the north.
2. Alaskan polar bears are different from other bears in that they do not hibernate during winter. Instead, they go north hunting for seals.
3. Ice near the poles is melting because the earth’s climate is getting warmer.
4. Polar bears are now digging their dens on or near the land because the ice that used to float out at sea has disappeared.

from 

http://perfectyourenglish.com/blog/class-10-reading-comprehension-exercise/

punctuation for class 10th

Punctuation

You may possess good language skills and know how to express yourself in the language but without the knowledge of punctuation marks, your skills, especially written, is incomplete. A piece of writing which does include punctuation marks is difficult to read as compared to a piece of writing which carries proper punctuation marks at the right places. To make an impact on the examiner, it is important for you to take care of these little marks, to come across as a serious and professional writer. This module discusses the commonly used punctuation marks, their significance and their implementation.

1) COMMA (,)
The comma is used to indicate a short pause. It is used:
a. for words, phrases, and clauses in a series.For example, "Gandhiji, the Father of the Nation, died on 30th January, 1948.

                         "Apples, Mangoes and Bananas are my favourites."
                          "Gandhiji, who was the Father of the Nation, died on 30th January, 1948.

b. when you address a person.
For example, "Yes, Sir."

c. to separate numbers, dates and address.
For example, I was born on 9th August, 1990 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

d. When two persons, things or other elements are contrasted, the two are separated by a comma.
For example, I meant Raj, not Robin.2) SEMICOLON (;)

The semicolon represents a stronger pause than a comma. It is used to stress the close relationship between one sentence and another. 
For example, Today we love what tomorrow we hate;today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear.

3) COLON (:)
The colon is used to show that something is to follow.
For example, The principle parts of a verb in English are: the present tense, the past tense, and the past participle.) DASH (-)

The dash is used to make an abrupt stop or change of thought.
For example, If my husband were alive-but why lament the past?
                         He has-you may not believe it-failed.

5) EXCLAMATION MARK (!)
The exclamation mark is used after interjections and after phrases and sentences expressing sudden emotion or wish.
For example, Alas! Oh dear!

6) INVERTED COMMAS (")
Inverted Commas are used to enclose the exact words of a speaker, or a quotation.
For example, "I would rather die," he exclaimed, "than join the oppressors of my country."

7) QUESTION MARK (?)
Question Mark is used, instead of the Full Stop, after a direct question.
For example, Have you finished writing?8) FULL STOP (.)

The full stop is used to mark the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence. It represents the greatest pause.
For example, Rohan, Vinay and Sabay are best friends.8) FULL STOP (.)

The full stop is used to mark the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence. It represents the greatest pause.
For example, Rohan, Vinay and Sabay are best friends.

Test Yourself/ Punctuate the Sentences

Q1. Punctuate the following sentences.

a. i like playing with my friends sandy sunny sameer

b. we went through the smoky mountains, near shimla on our way to leh

c. my favourite soap is pears and my favourite toothpaste is pepsodent

d. i’m a catholic and that’s why i go to st.joseph’s school. my friend priya speaks german and she is teaching me some words 

f. he was honest sincere hard working

g. hindusmuslimssikhschristians live together in India

h. long ago in a town in Switzerland there lived a famous man called william

i. akbar the greatest of the mughal emperors ruled wisely

j. tanya said to ila rahul is a nice guy

from

https://www.mbarendezvous.com/punctuation/

idioms and proverbs for class 10th useful idioms

Idioms and Phrases

English is a fascinating language. It is colourful and full of expression, and well-written prose can transport you to another world. One such tool that authors usually employ to make their words memorable are idioms and phrases. It is important for us to understand the concept and the correct usage of idiom and phrases. Let’s get cracking!dioms are a collection of words or phrases which have a figurative meaning that is generally well established and known. So these words can’t be taken at their literal meanings since they would sound farcical. Idioms, at times, seem grammatically unusual as well.

Idioms are a useful tool in linguistics. They add life and colour to the prose. It allows the authors to play with words and make it an interesting read, rather than straightforward boring paragraphs. Idioms are often used in stories, poems and even in the spoken words. The origins of these idioms are not always known, but they said to originate from stories and creative writing, and are modified over time.

Let us take a look at some really creative examples of idioms and their subsequent meanings.

Idiom	Meaning
Penny for your thoughts	Asking someone what is on their minds
Beat around the bush	Trying to avoid a subject/person/situation
Burn the midnight oil	Work or labour late into the night
Judge a book by its cover	Rely on outward appearances
Takes two to tango	Most deeds/actions/misdeeds require participation from two people
Kill two birds with one stone	Accomplish two things with the same effort
A piece of cake	An easy task/job
Whole nine yards	The entire thing, all of something
A dime a dozen	Very common/commonplace
Bite off more than you can chew	Try to take on a task too big for oneself
Cry over spilled milk	Regret/complain about something that cannot be rectified
Hit the road	Begin one’s journey
Once in a blue moon	Once in a while, infrequently
Have a blast	To enjoy oneself, have a good time

Phrases

A phrase is a small group of words that are like a unit. These units are a part of a bigger sentence or a clause. Phrases are unlike idioms, they are actually direct and to the point. They do not figurative meanings, the expression means what the words indicate.A phrase, unlike a complete sentence, does not have a subject and a verb. So it does not express a complete sentence, they are a unit of a complete sentence. There are broadly eight types of phrases – noun, verb, infinitive, gerund, appositive, participial, prepositional and absolute phrases.

Some examples of phrases are

• The phone was on the table
• The children were giggling and laughing when the teacher left the room
• The nice neighbour offered him a glass of water.

Solved Question for You

Q: Choose the option that best describes the underlined idiom: It will take him some time to get a handle on how things run in this part of the world.

1. Teach himself
2. Develop an understanding of
3. Write it down
4. Explain to someone

Ans: The correct option is B. “Get a handle on” means to understand and comprehend something or some situation. So in the context of the sentence, the person will need to understand how things work in this part of the world.

from

https://www.toppr.com/guides/english/vocabulary/idioms-and-phrases/

rules ffor making question tag for class 10th

Rules of Question Tag in English Grammar

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• 240 comments

Updated : Dec 31, 2019, 8:50

By : Neha Uppal

SSC Aspirants must have come across many questions to complete the question tags. This may be easy for some of you while difficult for others. So, let us make it easy for all of you through these Rules of Question Tag in English Grammar which will make these questions very easy for you to answer. We hope the post will be helpful for the upcoming SSC &  other Competitive Exams

Rules of Question Tags in English Grammar

1. The sentence and the question tag  must be in the same tense.
2. For negative question tag, use the Contracted form of 'helping verb' and 'not' .E.g didn't, hadn't, won't etc
3. If the Sentence is positive, the question tag must be negative and vice versa.
4. Always use pronoun in the question tag.

Rule-1: Some words are negative in meaning . For e.g. hardly, seldom, scarcely, rarely, barely etc. Hence they will take positive question tag after them.

• E.g.- He hardly does any work, does he?
• He found barely anything to eat , did he?
• He is seldom absent, is he?

Rule-2:If a sentence starts with "There", the question tag will have "there" in the place of pronoun.

• E.g- There is no water , is there?
• There were no good schools in the town, were there?

Rule-3: Question tag is always made in accordance with the main part of the sentence.

• E.g- I think, he is right, isn't he? (Here 'I think' is not important and hence it is not the main part of the sentence".

Rule- 4 : There is no contracted form of 'am not' but 'aren't' is used in question tag.

• Eg- I am fine, aren't I?

Rule-5 : Each, every, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, none are singular and hence will take singular verb/ singular pronoun/ singular adjective with them but their question tag will take plural verb and plural pronoun.

• E.g- Everyone has come, hasn't he ( Incorrect)
• Everyone has come, haven't they (correct)
• None of your friends like her, do they
• Everyone can speak English, can't they?

Rule-6: If the sentence starts with "let us/ let's ", " shall we" is used in the question.

• E.g.- Let us go to party tonight, shall we?

Rule-7: In Imperative sentences, question tag 'won't you' is used.

• E.g- come in, won't you?

Rule-8: Collective noun takes singular verb and singular pronoun in question tag.

• E.g.- The jury has taken its decision, hasn't it?

Rule-9: If we talk about the individual members of the collective noun or if there is a difference in opinion among the members of the collective noun, plural verb and plural pronoun are used.

• E.g.- The comm are divided in their opinion, aren't they?
• The audience have taken their seats, haven't they?

Rule-10: If in a imperative sentence, somebody is being offered anything, or if someone is being asked to do something, "will you/ would you" is used in the question tag.

• E.g- Open the door, would you?

from

https://gradeup.co/ssc-question-tag-rules-i-51c7a20c-4103-11e6-98c0-4b1e35caa58f

Degree for class 10th how to make degree positive

Degrees of Comparison

In grammar, the degrees of comparison relate to adjectives and adverbs.


Every adjective and adverb can be written in one of three degrees:

• The Positive Degree. This offers no comparison. It just tells us about the existence of a quality. For example:
• adjectives: slow, beautiful, happy
• adverbs: slowly, beautifully, happily
• The Comparative Degree. This compares two things to show which has the lesser or greater degree of the quality. For example:
• adjectives: slower, more beautiful, happier
• adverbs: more slowly, more beautifully, more happily
• The Superlative Degree. This compares more than two things to show which has the least or greatest degree of the quality.For example:
• adjectives: slowest, most beautiful, happiest
• adverbs: most slowly, most beautifully, most happily
• from 
• https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/degree.htm

active and passive voice rules how to make for class 10th

English Grammar: Rules of Active and passive voice

Here We are providing you English Grammar notes on Active/Passive Voice. These rules will be so helpful to grab score better in SSC Exams. 

Important Rules on Active Passive Voice

Active: They will do the work

Passive: The work will be done by them.

• When the person doing the action is the subject, we use an Active verb. But when the subject is what the action is pointed at, then we use a passive verb.

As in the above example, ACTIVE sentence is the one where the person (THEY) is also the subject of the sentence.

While PASSIVE sentence is the one, where the subject is the action showing word (WORK).

NOTE: However, the sentences only with transitive verb (verb with object) can be changed into PASSIVE VOICE.

For Example,

Active: The man is running.

Passive: Not Possible as the object after verb (Running) is missing.

To Recognize the Active & Passive Sentence easily ask these question.

• What is the action/verb in this sentence?
• What/who is the subject of this sentence?
• Is the subject of the sentence PERFORMING the action/verb?

If the answer to the last question is YES, then the sentence is in the ACTIVE voice. If the answer to the last question is NO, then the sentence is in the PASSIVE voice.

General Form:

Active: SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT

Passive: OBJECT (OF ACTIVE VOICE) + HELPING VERB (FORM OF VERB “BE”) + PAST PARTICIPLE OF TRANSITIVE VERB + BY + SUBJECT (if required).

NOTE: Sometime while converting sentence from Passive Voice to Active voice, the subject is missing.

For Example,

Passive: The room was cleaned.

Active: Someone cleaned the room.

“BY SOMEONE” is missing from the Passive Sentence.

Conversion of Active to Passive Sentence in different Tenses

1. Present Simple Tense

Passive Voice: Object + is/am/are + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice: He sings a song.

• He does not sing a song.
• Does he sing a song?

Passive voice: A song is sung by him.

• A song is not sung by him.
• Is a song sung by him?

2. Past Simple Tense

Passive voice: Object + was/were + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice: I killed a snake

• I did not kill a snake.
• Did I kill a snake?

Passive voice:

• A snake was killed by me.
• A snake was not killed by me.
• Was a snake killed by me?

3. Future Simple Tense

Passive Voice: Object + will/shall + be + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice: 

• She will buy a car.
• She will not buy a car.
• Will she buy a car?

Passive voice:

• A car will be bought by her.
• A car will not be bought by her.
• Will a car be bought by her?

4. Present Continuous Tense

Passive Voice: Object + is/am/are + being + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice: 

• I am writing a letter
• I am not writing a letter.
• Am I writing a letter?

Passive voice: 

• A letter is being written by me.
• A letter is not being written by me.
• Is a letter being written by me?

5. Past Continuous Tense

Passive Voice: Object + was/were + being + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice:

• He was driving a car.
• He was not driving a car.
• Was he driving a car?

 Passive voice:

• A car was being driven by him.
• A car was not being driven by him.
• Was a car being driven by him?

6. Present Perfect Tense

Passive voice: Object + has/have + been + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice:

• She has finished her work
• She has not finished her work.
• Has she finished her work?

Passive voice:

• Her work has been finished by her.
• Her work has not been finished by her.
• Has her work been finished by her?

7. Past Perfect Tense

Passive Voice: Object + had + been + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice:

• They had completed the assignment.
• They had not completed the assignment.
• Had they completed the assignment?

Passive voice:

• The assignment had been completed by them.
• The assignment had not been complete by them.
• Had the assignment been completed by them?

8. Future Perfect Tense

Passive Voice: Object + shall/will + have + been + Verb (3^rd form) + by + Subject

Active voice:

• You will have started the job.
• You will have not started the job.
• Will you have started the job?

Passive voice: 

• The job will have been started by you.
• The job will not have been started by you.
• Will the job have been started by you?

Important Points to Remember

• Future continuous & perfect continuous tenses do not form passive voice.
• Some verb cannot be passive like be, belong, exist, lack, resemble, seem, suit, have (= own).

For example:

• Tom has a guitar.
• The building seemed empty.
• Certain verb take fixed preposition after them that replaces the “by”. Such verb are – known to, surprised at/by, amazed at, astonished at, vexed at, annoyed with/at, contained in, decorated with, filled with, tired of, engulfed in. etc.

For example:

Active: The fire engulfed the building.

Passive: The building was engulfed in the fire.

• Some verb have two objects like give, send offer award etc. The sentence having these words have two possible passive forms.

For example:

Active: He gave me a book.

Passive 1: I was given a book by him.

Passive 2: A book was given to me by him.

from

https://gradeup.co/ssc-active-passive-voice-i-28e66aba-3525-11e6-b55b-7c0746793292