UK Board 10 Class English – (Writing) – Composition

A short writing task is mainly to test your expressing your ideas in the said efficiency in language.

Points to keep in mind while developing outline into a short writing task:

e.g.,

Ans. A Science Fair

24th April, 2008. A science fair was held in A.S.N. Senior Secondary School Nainital. The Director of Education inaugurated it. There were 150 exhibits on display in a big hall. A model to control air pollution caught every eye. The school science staff must be congratulated and encouraged for further progress.

Ans. One night I was all alone in my house as my parents had left for Hardwar. At midnight I suddenly woke up and saw a thief opening my mother’s jewellery box. For some time I lay still. Then I left the bed quietly. I came out of the room and locked it from outside. Then I raised a hue and cry. The thief was thus arrested.

Ans. I still cannot forget that day. All of a sudden without any prior notice, the water supply was disrupted in our locality. Nobody could take bath and wash clothes. It was a problem to fetch water from somewhere. We had no water the whole day. May God that day never come again.

Ans. Once I reached the platform after purchasing the ticket just when the Bombay Frontier Mail began to move. The train was over crowded as the people were hanging by the doors of the carriages. I ran along with the train. With much difficulty I caught the door-bar and entered the compartment. But oh! My purse in the hip pocket was missing. I took a vow never to catch a running trains.

Ans.  An Earthquake

On 19th October, 1991 at 2 a.m. an earthquake was felt in Delhi. The walls of the houses shook and the doors rattled violently. Although there was no damage in Delhi. Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand was badly affected. Most of the houses levelled to the ground, bridges broke and the roads blocked. A large number of people died and some were never traced.

Ans. Let the holiday-months come; here begins the unending fortunes of travel be it by bus or trains which are the most commonly used means of transport in India. The sad tale of journey by train begins a month before. One has to stand for hours infront of the reservation counter. Only the luckiest will get their tickets confirmed. With an RAC or waiting list ticket one has to approach a T.C. and please him if you want to get a place to sit in. The crowd is so much that one will have to stand for hours on one leg inside a fast moving train. Even if one is extra vigilent, his pocket will get picked. Travelling by bus is beyond the imagination of peace loving men. You need to stand by the side of a road at a bus stop. You will be thrown into a moving bus. Once you are trapped inside never dream of getting outside, except by the same process of being thrown out.

Ans. (a) Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born in England in 1642. He was a posthumous child. He was brought up by his mother, who was an intelligent woman. She encouraged him to study and he did so with enthusiasm. He obtained his degree from Cambridge University.

Newton’s first discovery was the law of gravitation. A popular story about this discovery is that one day Newton was sitting in his garden and thinking deeply. He happened to be sitting under an apple tree, and a ripe apple fell to the ground near him. Newton began to think about this apple that why it had fallen to the ground. He asked himself, “Why did the apple not rise, instead of falling ?” This led to his theory that the apple falling from the tree was attracted by a force which he termed gravity.

Edison worked hard till the very end of his life to make the world a happier place to live in. He improved telegraphy, Bell’s telephone and the typewriter. He invented the electric fan and in 1913, he also produced. the first ‘talkie’ or talking pictures. And before his death in 1931, this wonderful inventor had produced or improved about a thousand things. When he died, the electric lights were turned off for a while in many American homes as a mark of respect for the man who had given them those lights.

James Simpson was born in Scotland. His father was a baker. James was a very intelligent boy and so he was sent to the university. And thus, instead of becoming a baker, he became a doctor. He started working in a hospital as an assistant.

The senior surgeons were assisted by Simpson during surgical operations. He noticed that patients suffered unbearable pain while they were being operated on. They were tied to the operation tables and held down by several assistants while the surgeons worked.

Simpson decided to find something that would help the patients and the surgeons as well. First of all a pain-killer was to be discovered. It had to be something that would kill pain but not the patient. Soon a chemical which was named chloroform was found and tested by Simpson.

There are many stories of Lincoln’s kindness to animals. Once he was riding in the company of some lawyer-friends. On their way they saw a pig struggling to get out of a deep mud-hole into which it had fallen. If left in the hole the poor animal was sure to die. Lincoln could not bear the thought of it. He went up to the hole and stood there for some time, looking now at the pig and then at the new clothes he had on. His friends, who knew what he was thinking, made fun of him, saying, “You can stay here and attend to the pig if you like. You are dressed for the job. We shall go along.” Lincoln waited for them to pass around a bend on the road. Then picking up some rails that were lying nearby, he used them to get the pig out of the hole, and watched it run to the nearest farm.

Florence Nightingale was born on 15th May, 1820 at Florence in Italy and her parents called her after the city where she was born. Her main ambition was to be a nurse and so she gave up all thoughts of marriage and personal happiness. She spent years visiting hospital after hospital. Day and night she visited every bed in the hospital to see that no patient was neglected and all that were as comfortable as possible. However, hard she might have worked all day, every night she would take her lamp and move from bed to bed. The ‘Lady with the Lamp’ the soldiers called her and that is the name by which the world has remembered her ever since.

Ans. (a) An incident of your student life

There is an incident which occurred at the examination during my first year at the High School. Mr. Ramlal Sharma, the Education Inspector, had come on a visit of inspection. He had set us five words to write as a spelling exercise. One of the words was ‘kettle’. I has mis-spelt it. The teacher tried to prompt me with the point of his boot, .but I would not be prompted. It was beyond me to see that he wanted me to copy the spelling from my neighbours slate for I had thought that the teacher was there to supervise us against copying.

The elephant is the only animal with a trunk. It uses its trunk in many ways. It pulls leaves of trees with its trunk and then puts them into its mouth. It can even use its trunk to get water. The trunk can hold a lot of water.

When an elephant is angry, its trunk can be dangerous. The tusks of an elephant are really its front teeth. People pay a lot of money for ivory of an elephant’s tusks. In Africa men have hunted elephants for their tusks. The ivory from tusks is made into many beautiful things. It has been easy for men to train elephants in Asia. They use elephants to carry heavy things for long distance.

In spite of its vast resources, the people of India are very poor. It is generally said that India is a rich country inhabited by the poor. The vast natural resources have not been fully exploited for the benefit of the Indian people.

Millions of people do not live; they merely exist and their existence, too, is wretched. The Indians are very poor and their per capita income is one of the lowest in the world. Most of the Indians do not get even two square meals a day and find it difficult to keep their body and soul together. They do not get sufficient clothes to wear. They have no houses to live in comfort, and luxuries of life are totally unknown to them. Their standard of living is very low. Thus we see that the vast majority of the people in India is living in poverty and misery.

Education aims at the physical, the intellectual, the spiritual and moral development of man. Games keep the body healthy and fit, and keeps away all kinds of ailments. Players have good health, good appetite and better digestion than others. Education teaches the need and value of recreational activities. Education does not approve of the bookworm. Recreation refreshes both body and mind, provides an escape from dull routine work. It is a useful diversion for the mind..

On hearing the crook, the mother gharial approaches her nest. She first digs out the sand from the nest. She makes the pit wider and slopping gradually. Male gharial is anxious to see hatchlings but the mother stops him. Even then he goes right over the nest to see the hatchlings. The mother works like a skilful midwife. She places her head over the half open nest. She turns sideways to see the eggs. She removes the sand from them. Piercing the shells with their egg tooth, the hatchlings come out quickly. Some of them come out of the nest themselves. The mother throws out all the hatchlings out of the nest they instinctively head towards the water.

Poets are called dreamers. But their dreams are as practical as that of scientists. The poets and scientists differ in the worldly sense alone. Both have different fields and they are ahead of their times. We should understand the practicableness of dreams. Dreams mean a new day of scientific progress. Man first imagines and then takes a forward step. Dreams change into reality. Robert Foulton first dreamt the steamboat, he then invented it. Men first dreamt automobiles, then they invented them. If you look deeply into the poetry of yesterday, you will find there the cold scientific magic of today and you will be able to enjoy it in future. Poets have clear vision. They put before us its practical aspect. They are not only dreamers.

The Great Wall of China is a great structure on earth which was seen by astronauts on the moon. It is a 1,500 miles long wall which crosses the northern province of China. In the eastern section its height and width vary. There is a pathway on its top where six horse-men can ride side by side. When the Wall was first built, it had about 25,000 towers with holes from which the defenders could shoot at attackers. There were many watch-towers on the enemy side. All these towers were used for signalling. The Wall acted as a boundary between China and the north. It kept out the nomads. It strengthened the nation’s defences and was a substitute for a strong army and state.

Rashness is filled with dangerous consequences. Napoleon in a rash and proud moment invaded Russia. His armies were bogged down in the snows and his brave soldiers perished. It brought about his complete fall. In the Second World War, Hitler drunk with power and pride attacked Russia. He met disaster and paid the price for his rash decision. True statesman thinks many times before he decides the course of action. He assesses the situation fully. In moments of crisis or emergency, boldness or rashness may be preferred to cool calculation. A person should act at once in earthquakes, famines, floods and national calamities. The right course is quickness guided bv prudence. Hate and rashness are storms and tempests. They break and wreck business.

The system of higher education in India has been faulted on several grounds. The higher education has been lacking a national and result-oriented policy. It has failed in its aim. It could not equip young men and women for the needs of Indian society. It could not make them morally and intellectually strong. They could not stand on their own feet. Unfortunately teachers set bad examples for students. The colleges and universities are politicized. Teachers resort to tactics extra educational. There is a ruinous atmosphere in the seats of higher learning.

Civilization has given man many benefits but it also created a number of problems. The first problem is environmental pollution. If it is not controlled, it will threaten man’s existence. Noise pollution is a great menace. The skies, the earth and the seas all echo the hell-noises. A jangle from aeroplane grates on the human car. A long drawn out spell of grating sound may rupture the ear-drum. Environmental pollution is undermining the health of modern man. It is making him a victim of shoal of diseases. Noise is a torture to all intellectual people. Man has still to learn how to control the menace of noise.

In every country people think themselves the best and the cleverest. Everybody wants to think well of himself and his country. But really there is no person who has not got some good and some bad qualities. There is no country, which is not partly good and partly bad. Unfortunately, India is in a bad way today. We should find out ways to make our countryman happier. We should take the good from other and give up what is bad in us.

Ans. How I Saved a Boy

While playing on the banks of a river, a small child fell into it. Seeing the child falling into the river, I ran towards the shore and jumped into the water. I saved his life. The child’s parents came and thanked me. The villagers also praised me for my courage.

Ans. Clever Crows

Two crows saw a dog holding a piece of bone. The dog started eating it in front of them. The crows thought of a plan. One of them teased him from behind. The angry dog ran to attack the crow leaving the bone on the ground. Meanwhile the other crow picked the bone up and flew to a nearby tree.

Ans. A House on Fire

I saw a house on fire. It was almost totally in flames. I heard the crying sound of a child. I managed to get a big ladder and I placed it against the building and climbed up. I go inside the house through the window and took the child in my arms and came down before the house collapsed. I was praised for my bravery.

Ans. A Village Market

This is a village market. There is a large crowd gathered here. They are buying vegetables. Some of them are bargaining for the price of the vegetables. Some of the women are buying clothes and the children are looking for balloons and toys.

Ans. Doctor is an asset to the economy because he treats to the sick or unhealthy people and make them healthy. Healthy people not only contribute in the development of a country by increasing efficiency and productivity but they are more able to enjoy the fruits of development.

Ans. The teacher gives education to the people. Thus, he or she adds to the quality of labour. This increases his/her total productivity. Total productivity adds to the growth of the economy.

Man has however always been cruel to them. He ill-treats them to such an extent that they often go without food and medical care. They bear inhuman treatment at the hands of circus ring masters. When they grow too old to be of any use to the man, they are discarded on the streets or sent to the slaughter houses.

The conditions of discarded, old, ill and wounded. cattle can be improved by developing various, charitable compounds that can look after their well’ being. There is need to arouse public awareness and enact stringent laws. Vigilance and severe punishments, besides banning slaughter of all kinds of animals, will go a long way in curtailing cruelty to animals.

Ans. Deforestation

For reclaiming more and more land for housing and industries we have been destroying our forests heedlessly. This has resulted in the phenomenon called ‘desertification’. The harmful effects of desertification are obvious.

Rains have stopped to come. Water, the elixir of life, has become a scarce commodity. There are long queues of women at the water taps. The trees have withered. There is a famine of firewood. Our women, especially in the rural areas, have to travel miles together for collecting firewood. The sun has become a burning ball of fire. Drought has become a regular feature. In the absence of rain, rivers get dry. Crops wither for want of water. We have to spend our precious foreign exchange in importing food grains.

The most harmful effect of desertification is the spreading of desert. Who doesn’t know that Rajasthan was once a fertile land with rich forests and ever-flowing rivers. Now it is a vast desolate area and wasteland, not fit for any crop whatsoever. Friends, desert is knocking at our door. We should stop this demon from swallowing our fertile lands by planting more and more trees on every inch of the available land.

Though the Indian law prohibits children from working in industries, it has nothing to say about them working in college industry, family households etc. The working conditions at the places where these children work are often very bad and border to being sub-human. There is very little light, ventilation, medicare and the wages are very low.

Public awareness and total ban on child labour along with restriction on the sale of goods produced by children are some of the few steps for keeping children away from the labour market.

Ans. Craze for Cards

Hundreds of cards shops have mushroomed in our metropolitan cities creating a craze in the minds of the youngsters for cards. There was a time when people used to send cards wishing Happy Diwali, Happy Christmas and Happy New Year. These cards were mostly hand-written and had charm of their own. Today, these cards for every occasion. Cardholism has become a way of life among the modern youth. Writing a letter is considered to be a tedious job and massive waste of time. There are cards with wonderful readymade write-ups for any occasion. If it were not for this card-craze the companies like ‘Archies’ would have never come into existence.

Ans. A Visit to a Zoo

This is a zoo. We go to see it. There is a long line before the ticket booking office. We buy tickets and go in. There is a lion and an elephant. The lion is sitting in a cage. A man is riding the elephant. The birds are chirping on the branches of trees. We see ducks in a big tank. They are very beautiful. We move on. We see monkeys on the branches of a tree. They make faces at us. We show them apples. They come down and take these. We come back home.

Long, long ago, there lived a slave in Rome. His master was cruel. He treated him badly. The slave was unhappy. So he ran away from his master’s house. He went into a forest. There he heard the groan of a lion. He was afraid. Soon the lion came to him limping. The slave saw a thorn in his paw. He pulled it out. They became friends. After some days, the slave was caught. He was thrown before a hungry lion. It was the same lion. He began to lick his feet. The slave was set free by his master.