San Ġorġ Preca College Secondary School, Blata l-Bajda
Half-Yearly Examinations - February 2015
English Language
Track 1
Name & Surname:
Form: 1
Class:
Time: 2 hours
Index No:
Teacher:
Speaking
Listening
Writing
Section A: Language
Total
15 marks [ ]
A. Continue the letter by underlining the correct form of the verb in brackets. The first
answer has been given as an example.
Hi Lisa,
How (is, am, are) you? Yesterday (is/ was/ were) a fantastic day for me because my sister and
I (go/ am going/ went) to see the fantastic pop group called Slam. Actually, let me tell you
something about the group first. Well, the main members are Paul, Sarah and Ben. Paul (play/
plays/ played) the guitar while Sarah (sing/ sang/ sings) and Ben (play/ is playing/ plays) the
drums. At the moment they (visit/ are visiting/ visited) Malta and they (stay/ stayed/ are
staying) here for another week. Last week my dad (give/ gave/ is giving) me two tickets for
the Slam concert which was held at Ta’ Qali. It (take/ takes/ took) us a long time to get there.
There was so much traffic that I was afraid we were not going to make it. Fortunately, we got
there just in time. (Won’t you think/ didn’t you think/ don’t you think) I’m lucky?
5 marks [
]
B. Underline the correct Comparatives and Superlatives.
Two boys were playing football. Peter was the (big/ bigger/ biggest) and the (strong/
stronger/ strongest) of the two. Tim, his friend, was (young/ younger/ youngest) and (short/
shorter/ shortest). Suddenly they started arguing about who the (good/ better/ best) footballer
player in England was. Peter was certain Bill Jones was the (skilful/ more skilful/ most skilful)
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 1 of 12
player, but Tim still thought that Mark Davis was (good/ better/ best). “Last year Davis did
not play well and this year he was (bad/ worse/ worst). He scored (little/ less / least) goals,
while Jones scored so many that his team was given the (expensive/ more expensive/ most
expensive) trophy of the year.
5 marks [ ]
C. Fill in with a suitable word from the following box.
Note: There are extra words.
the, with, When, to, stopped, an, sad, expensive, A, too, happy, from, excited, out of, a.
_______________ very poor woman received _______________ invitation to a party
_______________ a rich friend of hers. She had nothing to wear so she made a dress
_______________ some cloth and borrowed an ______________ necklace. “I can go now
and I can have fun _______________”, she thought. At the party she felt _______________
and ________________ . _______________ she got home, she was still laughing but putting
her hand up to touch the beautiful necklace, the laughter ______________. The necklace was
stolen!
5 marks [ ]
Section B: Reading Comprehension
20 marks [ ]
1. The famous Leonardo Da Vinci is said to have been a
so-called polyphasic sleeper, organising his life around
an endless series of naps. Cosmo Kramer tries to do like
Da Vinci in the classic episode of Seinfeld.
2. When we think about sleep today, this episode is much
more useful, because it shows that human rest fails once
it goes beyond what is common. Kramer ends up falling
asleep on guest actress Lisa Arch, who immediately
thinks he is dead and calls her criminal friends; Kramer
is rolled up in a carpet, driven to the Hudson River, and,
well, you can watch it yourself.
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 2 of 12
3. The point is that abandoning monophasic sleep is not a great idea if you have a job and
enjoy, if only for short amounts of time, the company of others.
4. How much sleep do I really need? If you’re in a hurry, the answer is seven to nine hours. If
not, let’s find out why.
How Much?
5. It is not difficult to find information about best practices for sleep online: a well-rested
society is a happy society.
6. The National Sleep Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation devoted to
everything sleep, has created a list detailing the sleep needs associated with various stages in
life.

Adults (18+) — 7-9 hours

Teens (11-17 years) — 8.5-9.5 hours

School Age Children (5-10 years) — 10-11 hours

Preschoolers (3-5 years) — 11-13 hours

Toddlers (1-3 years) — 12-14 hours

Infants (3-11 months) — 14-15 hours

Newborns (0-2 months) — 12-18 hours
7. The hour range does not mean you can choose any amount of sleep within that range.
Instead, you should use this range to calculate your individual basal sleep need, as well as
your sleep debt, that is, how much sleep you need to make up for what you lost.
Need & Debt
8. Basal sleep need is quite self-explanatory: It refers to your personal baseline for rest. This
is the amount of sleep your body wants you to get every single night. A healthy person who
reaches this amount every night will basically remain well-rested throughout her whole life.
9. Unfortunately, no one reaches their basal sleep need every single night. That is why you
also have to consider sleep debt. Sleep debt is basically the amount of sleep you need to give
your body. If you stay up late watching TV or playing a computer game, without sleeping in
the next day, your ability to pay attention and your levels of energy may suffer silently for
several days. You will be distracted more often than usual.
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 3 of 12
10. While it’s possible to solve this debt by compensating for it the following night, it is
important to remember that lost sleep cannot always be recovered. Dr. Raghu Reddy, a sleep
medicine specialist, explained, “The amount of sleep lost and recovered may not be the same,
though. Most of the first few hours of sleep can be recovered, but if the amount of sleep lost is
more than a few hours, not all of it will be recovered.”
Now answer the following questions:
1. State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE
(4 marks)
a. Leonardo Da Vinci was a monophasic sleeper. _________
b. Polyphasic sleep is sleeping briefly over and over again. ________
c. Basal sleep need is the amount of sleep every person needs every night. _______
d. Sleep debt is how much extra sleep you need in order to grow taller. _______
In questions 2 to 4 underline the correct answer.
2. What happens to Cosmo Kramer when he tries to imitate Da Vinci’s sleeping habits?
a. He makes the actress fall in love with him.
b. He falls asleep and ends up in trouble.
c. He falls asleep after which she feels sorry for him and looks after him.
(1 mark)
3. What is the purpose of the hour range?
a. To show how many hours a person needs to sleep every night.
b. To show how many hours a person needs to sleep every now and again.
c. To show how many hours a person needs to sleep per night and how to make up for the
hours of sleep missed.
(1 mark)
4. Why do you think the criminal friends of Lisa Arch rolled Kramer up in a carpet and took
him to a river?
a. They wanted to kidnap him.
b. They thought he was dead and wanted to get rid of his body by throwing him into the river.
c. They wanted to make sure he was dead by drowning him in the river.
(2 marks)
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 4 of 12
5. Why do you think that ‘a well-rested society is a happy society’?
(2 marks)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. How many hours should adults and school-age children sleep?
(1 mark)
___________________________________________________________________________
7. What will happen to a person who reaches his/her basal sleep need?
(1 mark)
___________________________________________________________________________
8. What two things may happen if you stay up late watching TV or playing a computer game?
(2 marks)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. Is it possible to recover lost sleep? Explain in full.
(2 marks)
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
10. What do the underlined words refer to in the passage?
a. it (paragraph 2)
______________________________________________
b. he (paragraph 2)
______________________________________________
c. It (paragraph 8)
______________________________________________
d. it (paragraph 10)
______________________________________________
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
(2 marks)
Page 5 of 12
11. Underline the meanings of the following words in bold as used in the passage: (2 marks)
a. endless (paragraph 1)
- never-ending/ having an ending/ unbroken
b. abandoning (paragraph 3)
- leaving/ ending/ dumping
c. self-explanatory (paragraph 8)
- explains a person’s self/ transparent/ understandable
d. compensating (paragraph 10)
- balancing/ making up for/ rewarding
Section C: Literature
20 marks [ ]
A. Prose\Drama – Unprepared Prose Text
10 marks [
]
Answer all questions
The three siblings crept along the dark hallways of their new house. Mallory was in the lead,
walking a few paces and then stopping to listen. Every now and then there would be a scratch
or a sound like small footsteps inside the walls.
The scuttling grew louder as they neared the kitchen. In the kitchen sink, Jared could see a
pan crusted with the remains of the macaroni and cheese they’d had for dinner.
“I think it’s there. Listen”, Mallory whispered.
The sound stopped completely.
Mallory picked up a broom and held the wooden end like a baseball bat. “I’m going to knock
open the wall,” she said.
“Mom is going to see the hole when she gets back,” Jared said.
“In this house? She’ll never notice.”
“What if you hit the squirrel?” Simon asked. “You could hurt …”
(The Spiderwick Chronicles – The Field Guide – Diterlizzi & Black)
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 6 of 12
1. Underline the correct answer
a) The passage is about three adventurous children who explore abandoned houses.
b) The passage is about three children who hear noises in the night and start exploring an
old house.
c) The passage is about three hungry children who raid the kitchen to eat some macaroni and
cheese.
1 mark [ ]
2. Write down on the lines provided
a) Two words that show sound.
__________________
___________________
b) Two words that show movement.
__________________
___________________
2 marks [ ]
3. Find one simile in the passage and one onomatopoeia
simile: ____________________________________________________________________
onomatopoeia: _______________________________________________________________
2 marks [ ]
4. Why did Mallory pick up the broom?
___________________________________________________________________________
1 mark [ ]
5. a) Who loves animals? ___________________
b) Who is very scared? ___________________
c) Who is a born leader? ___________________
3 marks [ ]
6. Underline two correct answers
The writer creates an atmosphere of:
sadness,
excitement,
boredom,
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
quiet,
mystery.
1 mark [
]
Page 7 of 12
B. Poetry – Unprepared Text
Answer all questions.
I'd Like to Meet an Alien
I'd like to meet an alien.
Yeah, wouldn't that be neat?
I'm sure there's not another
creature I would rather meet.
I wouldn't care if he was big,
or medium, or tiny,
or if his skin was rough and tough,
or super smooth and shiny.
I'd like him if his head were bald
or covered up with hair.
I'd like him if his face were round,
triangular, or square.
He could be colored black and white,
or yellow, red, and green.
He might be awfully dirty
or meticulously clean.
I'd like him if he whispered
and I'd like him if he yelled.
I'd like him if he used perfume
or positively smelled.
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 8 of 12
It wouldn't matter much to me
if he was soft or scaly,
or if he danced the rhumba
or he played the ukulele.
He could look like a lizard
or be furry and mammalian.
I'd simply like to scare my mom
by bringing home an alien.
-
Kenn Nesbitt
1. Find three words that describe the skin of the imagined alien.
(1½ marks)
a. __________________ b. ________________ c. ____________________
2. Give two pairs of opposite phrases that describe the alien as used in the poem.
Phrase 1
Phrase 2 (Opposite)
(2 marks)
3. What two words describe the sound this alien could make?
(1 mark)
a. _________________________ b. ___________________________
4. Which two animals is the imagined alien compared to?
(1 mark)
a. _________________________ b. ___________________________
5. What reason does he give for wanting to ‘bring home an alien’?
(1½ marks)
__________________________________________________________________
6. There is one simile in the poem. Which is it? _______________________ (1 mark)
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 9 of 12
7. Give two sets of rhyming words.
(2 marks)
1a. _______________________________ 1b. _____________________________
2a. _______________________________ 2b. _____________________________
Section D - Writing
25 marks [ ]
Write between 100 and 150 words on ONE of the following:
1. Write an e-mail to a friend in which you invite him/her to spend the week at your
house during the Easter holidays. In the e-mail include:

directions to your house from the nearest bus stop

activities you could enjoy doing together.

people your friend might meet during the visit.
2. The funniest person I have ever met. Include:

a physical description

the different ways in which he/she is funny
3. When I was turned into a dragon… (You may wish to use some of the following
words or phrases: fire, flap my wings, pointed tail, breathe, castle, scales, drawbridge,
swish)
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 10 of 12
4. Using the pictures below tell the story of this town that remains flooded during a
storm.
The Flood
Task Number: __________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 11 of 12
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
English Language, Form 1 , Track 1
Page 12 of 12