ICSE Class 10 English Language Sample Question Paper 1 with Answers
Maximum Marks: 40
Time: 1 1/2 Hours
- Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
- You will not be allowed to write during the first 10 minutes.
- This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
- The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
- Attempt all questions
- The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
(Attempt all questions from this Section)
Write a composition (300 – 350 words) on any one of the following: 
(i) Imagine a situation where a child runs away from home but later returns. Why did he or she run away? What made him/her come back? Write an original short story entitled: ‘Finding My Way Home’.
(ii) Parents can never be friends with their children. Express your views either for or against this statement.
(iii) Describe an area in your city or hometown which is famous for its street food. Give details of the familiar sights and sounds you would experience on this street.
(iv) It is very important for young people to spend time quietly or alone for a short while every day. If you were given an hour to spend on your own, how will you spend it? What will you learn from the process?
(v) Study the picture given below. Write a short story or description or an account of what the picture suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it.
(i) Golu was furious on each and every living being on earth except Sheru, his pet dog. So what if he finished up the whole bowl of Gajar ka halwa and nariyal laddoos meant for guests? Why did mom and dad have to scold him so much? Why don’t they make another round of the dishes if they want? He decided this is it! There has to be a limit! Last week dad promised to take him to Pizza Hut but the dinner ended up being some boring sabji and roti. They said “beta adjust karlo”. But not anymore. Golu has decided to leave home today itself. After everyone was done scolding him and got busy with their work, the 7 years old packed his bag carefully. He took his favourite red t-shirt, his notebook, Tintin comics, one Frisbee, one mobile which had no other tune except “dhoom machale dhoom”, some chocolates and 50 rupees which he saved as pocket money.
He cautiously tiptoed out of the room, and started walking without looking back. He took an auto and said “station chalo uncle”. Reaching there, he waited for any train to stop by. A rail police noticed him sitting quietly and munching chips. “Hi beta! Are you waiting for someone?” Sad Golu spoke his heart out to the police uncle. Lastly he added, “Uncle I want to set up my own halwa shop! So I can eat as much halwa as I wish! I have 20 rupees with me. Can you help me set up the shop?” The policeman was amused and said, “Yes sure beta! I can help…but beta, don’t you think that you should set up the shop some years later after you finish studies? Because then you’ll have more money and you will be able to make tastier halwa?” Golu realised his point and wanted to go back home. Seeing Golu back, his parents were amazed and silent for some time, till then they have been breaking their heads from the moment Golu went missing. Teary eyed Golu finally said, “I have only come back to finish my studies! After that I will run away with more money and open a big halwa shop! Until then, I’m staying!”
Everyone burst into laughter after some time.
FOR THE MOTION
(ii) The concept of parenthood and the idea of parents in our country are extremely dicey. While it is true that we come to exist in the world solely because of our parents, it is also true that they are not above every discussion and are absolute. The main motive of our parents is to develop us into the best version of ourselves and also guide us to do the same for ourselves. They make endless sacrifices throughout their lives as a means to the end. It is very true that nobody will hold our hands and be by our side till the end except our parents. They are our safest place. We can share all our worries and secrets with our parents. They never leave us alone even when we be angry on them. We find the solution to all our problems when we talk to our parents. They hold our hands through thick and thin. Their unconditional love make them our best friends.
So I strongly disagree with the statement that parents can never be friends with their children.
AGAINST THE MOTION
Parenting is one of the greatest responsibilities in the world. Giving birth to a human being and giving them shape to make them ready for the world is a herculean job. They always try to give their child the best of the world, even at the cost of their happiness. They always try to be for their child; trying to be their guide and friend. But behind all this we often forget that they see the child as an extension of their own personalities, that is, they expect their child to become mini versions of themselves. Being different is unacceptable for the majority of parents. Sometimes they thrust their own unfulfilled dreams and ambitions on their children, forgetting the fact that they are entitled to have their own sets of likes, dislikes, ambitions and goals and as parents, they should support it as long as the goals are valid, honest and positive.
Hence they stop trying to understand the kid and keep subscribing to some beliefs just because the beliefs are old. They forget the fact that new ideas are not wrong always and that every old idea and concept is not free from fault. These indicate that they cannot always be friends to their children. Often children cannot confide in their parents for fear of being judged, abused, and misunderstood. And the sad part is, the fact that parents can be toxic too is one of the hardest pills for society to swallow.
(iii) A city means not only the people residing there; it is the food, festivals, styles, traditions, and customs of the city. Every Indian city is extremely vibrant and vivid in their existence. But Kolkata is the city with a difference; the existence of Kolkata is itself an Art. Not only due to the appreciation and thriving of the literal sense of art and culture, but there’s more to it. Each and every location has their own style and type of food, which is also influenced by the creed and sect of people living in majority in that area. For example, North Kolkata is much more traditional in style and so they are home to traditional Bengali food.
The area of Park Street and adjoining areas like Bow Barracks, has a concentration of Anglo-Indians, Jews etc. are famous for wine, cakes, cookies. The areas where Muslims are in majority have wholesome biryani shops and other related dishes. There’s an area called Territi Bazar which is famous for its variety of Chinese breakfast! Out of all, the area of New Market or Esplanade has some of the best and unique street food. Named Dacres Lane after the sailor Mr. Philip Miner Dacre who met up with his sailor friends over food, it’s an area of multicultural food. One can find piping hot khichuri (khichdi) served with fried papad, beguni, brinjal pieces fried with coating of besan, tomato and dates chutney, payesh or kheer;and also lip-smacking rolls, combo plates of Chinese food like Fried rice or chowmein with chilli chicken, mutton stew served with bread, lassi shops and what not! Famous due to the wide range of tiffin and lunch options to the office-going common Calcuttan as well as a paradise for food enthusiasts, one can find them munching on their favourite dishes and also the office-goers endless chatters and rants about life over a steaming plate of khichuri or mutton stew. They prefer to chew away the problems of life over rolls and cutlets. And the best part is all of these come with a pocket-friendly price. One will definitely find more posh and sophisticated options throughout the world, but there’s no city like Kolkata. There’s Art in every plate of food, breath, words and corners of this city!
(iv) Alone time is a good opportunity to think back about whatever we did, said , did not say or do throughout the day. Various people utilize it for various purposes. Some practice their hobby; some write a diary or journal, some chat with people. I would prefer to maintain a diary. For some time, I would lie down and think about how I spent the day, about the ones I came across, words we exchanged and the activities we did. I want to grasp the impact of my activities and the people I meet, on me and my outlook. I also want to look back on the mistakes I committed. Then I want to record these in my journal. Sometimes I would read them one by one. As the days will pass and as I keep filling in the pages, it will look like a panorama of activities, ideas, words exchanged, experiences and much more. It will help me to understand myself and the world around me better. I will be able to learn how to socialize with the world.
I will think if I could have done or said something better, if I could have not said or done something. It will help me to understand my mistakes: if I could have avoided making them, if yes then how? If at all I made it, how could I come out of it? How could I reduce chances of committing it again? I believe it can make a more thoughtful, sensitive human because we mostly learn from our experiences, and inversely, we are built from our experiences: both pleasant and unpleasant. In this process, over the years we can become even better as individuals and learn a lot about the society and ourselves. When we become better, we would be able to turn the world around us into a nice place. Since young people are in the stage where they prepare themselves for the world and are in the nascent stage as individuals, they can adapt to newer improvements and discard the unwanted parts of their personalities.
(v) The children seen in the picture are the kids of Ramakant Chaurasia of Delhi. He is a grocery shop owner in the Chandni Chowk area. He has three sons named Vishu, Raju and Lalit and four daughters named Lila, Rani, Shashi and Pinky. The eldest one is Shashi and the youngest of all is Lalit. They are a lower middle class family but could afford proper meals for the members. Apart from the children, there’s Ramakant and his wife Savita, his widowed mother Raj Lakshmi. Mr. Ramakant’s father Biswanath passed away 10 years ago. Everything was going on well in the family until the pandemic in 2020. The children went to school: Shashi was in class 5, Lila, Rani and Pinky were in classes 4,3 and 2 respectively.
Out of the boys, Vishu and Raju were in class 4. The youngest one Lalit was in pre-primary. During the pandemic Ramakant suffered huge losses, since the chief income is on daily basis profit. But things got worse in early 2021, when Raj Lakshmi got infected with covid. She had to be admitted to a private hospital where Ramakanta lost a huge portion of his savings. Their family expenses had gone up after that since she had to be kept in extreme care with healthy food and regular checkups. Not only that, Ramakanta had to bear the expenses of his two cousin brothers who lost jobs during the pandemic since Ramakanta is the eldest in their family and it was not possible for him to shoo away his responsibilities. The brunt of all this had to be borne by his daughters. In order to cut down expenses, it was decided after much deliberation that the girls Shashi and Lila be dropped out of school.
The elders of the family said that their class 5th and 4th standard education were enough for a girl. Only Rani and Pinky can still go to school since they were in class 3 and 2 respectively. Shashi and Lila now help their mother Savita in household chores since the once- housewife has taken up some stitching job to earn some money to increase family income. The boys continue their studies as they did because Ramakanta said they need to be good in Math and accounts for looking after their grocery shop in future. This picture was taken when all the siblings were playing on a Sunday afternoon.
Select any one of the following: 
(i) You have been given a small sum of money to buy a gift for a friend. What gift would you choose (specify) and why would you choose this? Write a letter to your friend telling him/her about the gift and how it will benefit him/her.
(ii) You have planned to organize a health camp at school. Write a letter to the Manager of a supermarket requesting sponsorship for the event. Name the event and explain how it will benefit both the community as well as the supermarket
(i) 32/5 Tollygunge,
Kolkata 700 048.
5th June, 2021
Hope this letter finds you hale and hearty! It’s been a long time since we exchanged letters. So today I got to write quite a few important things. From the time I heard that you are about to head to London for your higher studies, I have been planning to buy you a gift. After much thinking, I have come up with a unique item and not the usual books, pens etc. As it is that you’ll already be busy with studies and assignments. I want to give you something which will allow you to relax and be happy. I decided to buy a Fujifilm instax camera for you. It comes with film sheets and you can get Polaroid pictures instantly. It also has selfie mode and is easy to carry and use. With this you can click artsy and beautiful snaps of beautiful locations and yourself. You can prepare cute diaries and boards with the pictures and look them up as and when you wish.
Do let me know if you love my idea and then I will place the order for the same so that I can meet you up with your gift! Meet you soon.
(ii) 44/2 Park Circus,
January 01, 2022
We are still affected by the pandemic though according to scientists, it is about to end. We all learnt that health is the topmost priority. But there are many people who are still not conscious about the precautions and are ignoring their health. Especially in the festive season people are solely concerned about the merriment. That is why, we have an idea of organizing a health camp at an important school, where all are welcome. I earnestly request you to sponsor the camp. This will be advantageous to your business as well. We can do a promotion of the sanitizers, masks and some lifestyle medicines available at your store which people will buy at subsidized rates as part of an offer at the camp. If they find the products good, they will be a part of your regular customer.
I will be highly obliged if you kindly permit the sponsorship for the camp.
(i) You are the President of the school Science Club. You and your team are planning to organize a creative mask-making event using renewable materials. Write a notice to be put up on the school notice board, giving details of the event. 
(ii) Write an e-mail to the General Manager of a local hospital requesting him / her to send a senior doctor to talk to the participants at the event about the quality of mask which would give them the best protection. 
Let’s Fight The Virus Together!
Creative Mask Making Event
Venue: St. Stephen’s School Event Date: 10th January, 2022
There will be a creative mask making event at the grounds of our school on 10th of January 2022. Any student from any class who has a knack for crafts and making useful items are welcome. Make sure the items are recyclable. Come one, come all.
(President, Science Club)
(ii) To: email@example.com
Subject: A senior doctor required
Drishti Public Hospital
This is a request for sending a senior pulmonologist or virologist to the creative mask-making event held at St. Stephen’s school ground. We want to have an hour long talk about the quality of masks that should be used by the public to fight with COVID. There’s a total lack of unanimous opinion among the commoners on this issue. As the general secretary of the club I’m requesting for the presence of a doctor at our event.
I’ll be highly obliged if our request is granted.
Thanks & Regards
(President, Science Club)