1. Read the following passage and answer the questions given below it
In my time at the company, I saw many such transformations. One was how the perception of IT changed rapidly across Indian industry fifteen years ago, the chairman of a leading bank, the Union Bank of India, criticized my efforts to promote the benefits of bank computerization to the industry. Recently, however, his successor called me up and told me with pride that they were running the entire bank on one central computer system.

India has gained dramatically from similar, massive changes in our attitudes towards our population, entrepreneurs, the English language, globalization and democracy. It has made India a country that right now has a unique cadence, where all our major strengths have come together and matured at the same time. There are countries around the world, for instance, which are at a demographic sweet spot, but lack the democracy they need to exploit it. There are some nations that have huge natural resources, but not the entrepreneurs and technologies to spread the wealth. And there are countries whose previous, unsuccessful experiences with globalization have scarred them so deeply that they shun it, and this limits how much they can gain from their domestic strength. In essence, I think no other country in the world right now has the combination that makes the Indian opportunity so significant.

We Indians have keenly felt both our humiliations and our successes. So the buzz surrounding our two and a half decades of growth has not been missed by any of us. Wherever I go, I find that Indians know our growth numbers backwards and forwards, and there is a strong, common feeling among us that our country has finally come of age. But it has not been an easy ride the ideas that now bedrock India's economy took decades to be widely accepted and were often caught up in the storm of our politics and shifts in public opinion. In retrospect, each big part of the Indian miracle seems a little miraculous.

Answer the questions given below:

What do you think is the profession of the writer?

What are the reasons for India's significant gain, according to the writer Give any four.

Name three things that can make a nation successful.

Describe the feelings that Indians have about their country.

Why did these "ideas" take so long to come to fruition?

2. Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following words/phrases

great changes (Paragraph

people who begin a business (Paragraph

special (Paragraph

badly hurt (Paragraph

feeling of being looked down upon (Paragraph


Find words from the passage which mean the opposite of the following words/phrases:

slowly (Paragraph

praised (Paragraph

lost (Paragraph

few (Paragraph

ordinary (Paragraph


3. There is a recession in the country and your company wants to introduce austerity measures. Write a memo to the staff of your company, suggesting ways of economizing on the use of paper, electricity and so on.

4. Write short notes on any two of the following topics:

Characteristics of a good formal letter

Preparing for a job interview

The importance of understanding different cultures

Different styles of communication


5. Complete each sentence with suitable forms of the verbs given in brackets.

Cars the air in the cities for many years. In addition to pollution, cars (increase) the problem of congestion in crowded urban areas. A professor of medicine from an American University that the automobiles responsible for a large number of heart attacks that Americans have because they walk) much any more.

6. Make Wh-questions with the following as shown in the example:
e.g.: Find out when Mr. Jain will be back.
Answer: When will Mr. Jain return

You want to know where the nearest chemist is.

Find out when Mr. Joseph normally arrives at the office.

Find out what the mobile number of the Managing Director is.

Find out how she spells her name.

You want to know why the consignment has been delayed.