ISC Class 11 English Syllabus

English syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for English in ISC Class 11, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Prose

   2 topics

   • The Portrait of a Lady
   • The Canterville Ghost
2. 2

   Poetry

   2 topics

   • The Frog and the Nightingale
   • A Photograph

English flashcards for ISC Class 11

23 of 51 cards from the English deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Who is the author of the prose piece 'The Portrait of a Lady'?

   Khushwant Singh.

2. In 'The Portrait of a Lady', who is the 'lady' referred to in the title?

   The narrator's grandmother.

3. How does the narrator describe his grandmother's physical appearance in 'The Portrait of a Lady'?

   Short, fat and slightly bent, dressed in spotless white, with silver locks scattered over her pale, wrinkled face; she is compared to the serene winter landscape of the mountains.

4. What two objects were almost always with the grandmother as she moved about the house?

   A walking stick (for support) and her rosary, whose beads she told while her lips moved in constant prayer.

5. What are the three distinct phases of the grandmother-grandson relationship in 'The Portrait of a Lady'?

   (1) Their close bond in the village during his childhood, (2) the turning point in the city when she could no longer accompany him to school, and (3) their growing separation when he went to university and abroad.

6. In the village, how did the grandmother help with the narrator's schooling each morning?

   She woke him, bathed and dressed him, gave him breakfast, and walked him to the school attached to the temple, carrying stale chapattis to feed the village dogs on the way.

7. Why did the grandmother disapprove of the narrator's English-medium city school?

   It taught no scripture or knowledge of God, and it taught music—which she considered indecent and fit only for beggars and harlots.

8. How did the grandmother spend her later years once she had distanced herself from the narrator's modern education?

   She turned to her spinning wheel and prayers, and her chief joy became feeding the sparrows that gathered in the courtyard.

9. What unusual thing did the grandmother do on the evening before her death?

   She ignored her usual prayers, gathered the women of the neighbourhood, and sang and beat the drum celebrating the homecoming of soldiers (her grandson's return).

10. How did the grandmother die in 'The Portrait of a Lady'?

    She lay in bed telling her beads and praying; gradually her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her hands—she passed away peacefully.

11. What remarkable thing did the sparrows do at the grandmother's death and funeral?

    Thousands of sparrows gathered silently in mourning around her body; they ignored the bread crumbs the narrator's mother threw, and flew away only after her body was carried out for cremation.

12. What is the central theme of 'The Portrait of a Lady'?

    The deep, loving bond between a grandmother and grandson, and how time, distance and modern urban education gradually weaken such relationships.

13. In the city, why was the grandmother unable to accompany the narrator to school as she had in the village?

    The school was far away and reached by motor bus, so she could not walk him there; she also felt useless because she could not help with his English lessons about science and Western subjects.

14. Who wrote 'The Canterville Ghost', and what kind of story is it?

    Oscar Wilde; it is a humorous, satirical parody of the traditional Gothic ghost story.

15. What is the name of the ghost in 'The Canterville Ghost'?

    Sir Simon de Canterville.

16. Which family buys Canterville Chase, and who is its head?

    The American Otis family, headed by the U.S. minister Mr. Hiram B. Otis.

17. What is the significance of the recurring bloodstain in the library of Canterville Chase?

    It marks where Sir Simon murdered his wife, Lady Eleanore de Canterville; the stain reappears daily (in changing colours) even after Washington Otis removes it with Pinkerton's Champion Stain Remover.

18. How does the Otis family's reaction to the ghost subvert the typical ghost-story response?

    Instead of being frightened, they treat him with practical, matter-of-fact indifference—offering oil for his chains and medicine for his groaning.

19. What product does Mr. Otis offer the ghost to silence his clanking chains?

    Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator.

20. How do the Otis twins torment the ghost, and what nickname is associated with their American spirit?

    Called the 'Stars and Stripes,' they harass him with pea-shooters, tripwires, a butter-slide, falling water, and a fake ghost they build to scare him.

21. Why is Sir Simon doomed to haunt Canterville Chase?

    He murdered his wife, Lady Eleanore; her brothers then starved him to death, and his guilt and crime curse him to wander as a restless ghost.

22. Which member of the Otis family shows the ghost compassion and ultimately helps him?

    Virginia Otis, the daughter.

23. How does Sir Simon finally find peace in 'The Canterville Ghost'?

    Virginia's prayers, sympathy and tears free his soul; she accompanies him through the Garden of Death, fulfilling the old prophecy, and he is finally able to rest.

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