Read the extract and complete the activities given below : (12 marks)As a boy, Dalkoff was terribly insecure and shy. He had few friends and no self-confidence. Then one day in October 1965, his high-school English teacher, Ruth Brauch, gave the clas…

Q.2 (A) Read the extract and complete the activities given below : (12 marks)

As a boy, Dalkoff was terribly insecure and shy. He had few friends and no self-confidence. Then one day in October 1965, his high-school English teacher, Ruth Brauch, gave the class an assignment. The students had been reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Now they were to write their own chapter that would follow the last chapter of the novel.

Dalkoff wrote his chapter and turned it in. Today he cannot recall anything special about the chapter he wrote, or what grade Mrs. Brauch gave him. What he does remember - what he will never forget - are the four words Mrs. Brauch wrote in the margin of the paper : “This is good writing.”

Four words. They changed his life.

“Until I read those words, I had no idea of who I was or what I was going to be,” he said. “After reading her note, I went home and wrote a short story, something I had always dreamed of doing but never believed I could do.”

Over the rest of that year in school, he wrote many stories and always brought them to school for Mrs. Brauch to evaluate. She was encouraging, tough and honest. “She was just what I needed,” Dalkoff said.

He was named co-editor of his high-school newspaper. His confidence grew; his horizons broadened; he started off on a successful, fulfilling life. Dalkoff is convinced that none of this would have happened had that woman not written those four words in the margin of his paper.

For his 30th high-school reunion, Dalkoff went back and visited Mrs. Brauch, who had retired. He told her what her four words had done for him. He told her that because she had given him the confidence to be a writer, he had been able to pass that confidence on to the woman who would become his wife, who became a writer herself.

A1. Read the following statements and arrange them in proper sequence : (2)
(a) Dalkoff contributed as co-editor to his high school newspaper.
(b) Dalkoff wrote a short story for the first time.
(c) Dalkoff met Mrs. Brauch after her retirement.
(d) Class assignment was given by Mrs. Brauch.

A2. Describe Dalkoff’s visit to his High-school’s 30th reunion. (2)

A3. ‘They changed his life.’ Here ‘They’ means .................... and write ‘the change’ they brought in his life. (2)

A4. ‘The reward or the words of praise,’ what you will remember the most. Justify your view point. (2)

A5. Do as directed : (2)

(i) The students had been reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ (Choose the correct option from the given alternatives showing the correct use of ‘Future Perfect Tense’ and write it.)
(a) The students will have been reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’
(b) The students will be reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’
(c) The students will be read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’
(d) The students will have read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’

(ii) He was named co-editor of his high-school newspaper. (Choose the correct option from the given alternatives showing the correct use of ‘Active Voice’ and write it.)
(a) His high-school newspaper named him as a co-editor.
(b) They named him co-editor of his high-school newspaper.
(c) He was named by them as a co-editor of his high-school newspaper.
(d) They name him co-editor of his high-school newspaper.

A6. Match the column : Match the words / phrases in column ‘A’ with their meaning in column ‘B’ : (2)