English Language & Literature — CBSE Class 10 board question

(i) The narrator (the adult speaker) issues sharp commands — "Don't bite your nails," "Don't hunch your shoulders," "Sit up straight" — focusing on discipline and physical correction. In contrast, Amanda's imagined world (in italics/brackets) is one of total freedom: a "languid, emerald sea" where she is a mermaid, the "sole inhabitant," drifting "blissfully." The poet uses the structural contrast between the spoken stanzas and Amanda's inner fantasy to show the conflict between the adult's demand for obedience and Amanda's longing for solitude and escape.

(ii) B — Instructive

(iii) Amanda's real actions (biting nails, hunching, slouching) are careless and listless. The emerald sea imagery presents the opposite — a serene, boundless world where Amanda is free, blissful, and unbothered, highlighting her deep desire to escape the constant instructions of real life.

(iv) The rhyme scheme of the extract's italicised stanza is AAA (sea/me/blissfully). The correct option is A, where lines end in wand/pond/beyond and dove/love/heart — though imperfect, it most closely mirrors a continuous rhyming pattern within grouped lines.

Source: "Amanda!", First Flight, Class 10

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• (i) needs to identify both sides of the contrast clearly — the commands AND the fantasy — with textual evidence. 2 marks = 2 points.
• (ii) The repeated name "Amanda!" functions as a reprimand/instruction, so B (Instructive) is correct.
• (iii) 1 mark — just contrast the real (messy habits) vs. imagined (peaceful freedom). One crisp sentence suffices.
• (iv) This is tricky. The italicised stanza rhymes sea/me/blissfully — an AAA scheme. Option A groups rhyming lines (pond/wand/beyond, dove/love) most similarly. Examiners generally accept A for this question. Focus on identifying the dominant rhyme pattern in the extract first, then match it.