Q1. [5]
I started right away at the Montessori nursery school. I stayed there until I was six, at which time I started in the first form. In the sixth form my teacher was Mrs. Kuperus, the headmistress. At the end of the year we were both in tears as we said a heartbreaking farewell.
In the summer of 1941 Grandma fell ill and had to have an operation, so my birthday passed with little celebration.
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow :
- (i) The narrator 'I' refers to [1]
- (a) Mr. Keesing
- (b) Mrs. Kuperus
- (c) Anne Frank
- (d) Miss Margot
- (ii) The phrase 'right away' in this extract most nearly means [1]
- (a) with delay
- (b) the correct way
- (c) immediately
- (d) overtaking from right
- (iii) What does the narrator mean by saying 'we were both in tears' ? [1]
- (iv) Complete the analogy by selecting a word from the text :
dawn : dusk :: mourning : _______. [1]
- (v) Select the option that correctly captures the application of the word 'form' as used in the extract. [1]
- (a) Raghav was in good form while playing the match.
- (b) Saheb was promoted to the next form after the annual exam.
- (c) My brother did not know how to form a circle.
- (d) Anne saw the form on the headmaster's desk.
Previously asked in CBSE board exam
2023 2/6/1 Q6(a)
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-15 07:18 · grounding stimulus+chapter
Model Answer
(i) (c) Anne Frank
(ii) (c) immediately
(iii) By saying 'we were both in tears', the narrator means that both Anne and her teacher Mrs. Kuperus were very sad and emotional at the time of their farewell at the end of the year. It shows the deep bond they shared.
(iv) dawn : dusk :: mourning : farewell
(mourning relates to sadness at a loss; farewell is its contextual opposite — a parting that ends a relationship, just as dusk ends day)
(v) (b) Saheb was promoted to the next form after the annual exam.
(Here 'form' is used to mean a class/grade in school, exactly as in the extract — "first form", "sixth form".)
Source: From the Diary of Anne Frank, Chapter — From the Diary of a Young Girl
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Explanation
- (i) The entire chapter is Anne Frank's diary; 'I' always refers to her.
- (ii) 'Right away' is a common idiom meaning immediately/without delay — eliminate the literal/wrong options.
- (iii) This is a 1-mark inference question; mention both people (Anne + Mrs. Kuperus) and the emotion (sadness/deep bond).
- (iv) The analogy is dawn↔dusk (beginning↔end of day). The mourning↔farewell pair works because farewell appears in the extract and signals the end of a relationship/parting — the contextual "end" that mirrors mourning's beginning. Some students write celebration (from the next sentence), but farewell is the word directly from the extract that best fits.
- (v) 'Form' in the extract = a school class/grade. Only option (b) uses it in the same sense.
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