Provincial Department of Education

Northern Province
Practice Exam – 01
English Language G.C.E (O/L) - 2024 (2023)

Part 1
01. Match the following notices with the places given below. Write the correct letter of the place
in the given box against each notice. The first one is done for you.

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Notices Places
a) Reserved for pregnant ladies. C a) In a school.

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b) No bathing, rough sea. b) In the zoo.
c) Keep the taps closed after use. c) In a bus.
d) Caution! Men at work. d) At a building site.
e) Reference only. e) On a beach.
f) Please do not feed the animals.

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(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)
02. Fill in the blanks in the following dialogue using the words given. Write the letter of the
correct word in the space given. The first one is done for you.
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Kala – Where did you (i)……. c……… yesterday?
Ruban – I went (ii)…….…………….. Colombo.
Kala – Why did you go (iii)…………………………?.
Ruban – To face an (iv)………………..………..
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Kala – How was (v)…………………….……..?

Ruban – I did it (vi)………….………………

a) there b) well c) go d) it e) to f) interview

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(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)
03. Study the picture and fill in the blanks using the given words.
( cleaning, classroom, stool, sweeping, books, plants, seven, standing, picture, board, paper. )
 This is a picture of a (1) ….classroom…..There are( 2)………….students working here. One
boy is (3)………………………….. the floor. A girl is cleaning the (4)…………….. Another
girl is (5)…………………………… near the dustbin and she is putting a
(6)……………….…………. into it. A boy is carrying some (7) ……………….…….…. . A
girl is (8)…………………………. the board. There is a (9)………………….….. hanging on
the wall. A boy is standing on a (10)……………. He is watering the
(11)……………………..…..
( ½ x 10 = 5 Marks)

04. Fill in the blanks in the following invitation using the words given in the box. The first one is
done for you.

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on, at , from , to , of , in

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Invitation
The Principal, staff and students

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…of.... J/Central College
cordially invite
Dr.K. Namasivayam
…………….
the Annual English Day
………….. 20th November 2023
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……………. 10.00 am
……………... the school Main hall.
Prof. Hema.Chardran
the senior lecturer
…………….
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the University of Vavuniya

will grace the occation
as the Chief Guest.
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(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)

05. Read the text and complete the table given below. The first one is done for you.
The giraffes are the tallest mammals in the world. They are known for their long necks,
long legs and spotted bodies. Giraffes have small horns at the top of their heads that grow to be
about 5 inches. These knobs are used to protect from an enemy.
Male giraffes are taller than female giraffes and can stand nearly 19 feet tall. Most giraffes
can live up to 25 years of age in the world. They like roaming around in the Savannas of Africa.
African Savannas are mainly dry and are covered with grass. With the giraffes’ necks being so long
they are able to eat leaves from tall Acacia tress. Giraffes can go many days without drinking water
and can live by eating wet leaves. How many days do you think that you can live without
drinking any water?
1) The name of the animal.

2) One special feature of the animal.

3) The maximum life expectancy of the

animal.
4) The natural living habitat.

5) Leaves they mostly eat.

6) The things that giraffes eat instead of
drinking water.

(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)

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06. Imagine that you are the secretary of the Sports club of your school. Write a notice to inform

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about the extension of the deadline to handover applications for the inter-school chess
tournament. Include all the necessary information.
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(5 Marks)
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07. Read the story given below and answer the questions.

Once upon a time, there was a town called Hamlin. The people of Hamlin were not
happy, because there were a lot of rats in the houses. The rats made holes in the clothes, ate
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the food and harassed the people day and night. The people requested the Mayor to get rid of
the rats, but he could not do that.
One day, a piper came to Hamlin. He said "Why is everybody so unhappy?". The people
told him, that the rats were creating a lot of troubles to them.
The piper went to meet the Mayor and told him. "If you promise to pay one thousand
pounds, I will get rid of the rats." The Mayor agreed. The piper played a tune and rats
followed him out the town into the forest.
1) The name of the town was,
(a) Hamlin (b) Helmet (c) Hamlet
2) The reason for the unhappiness of the people in the city was
(a) holes of the clothes (b) food shortage (c) nuisance of rats
3) Underline the correct answer.
(a) The people could get rid of rats easily
(b) The people could not get rid of rats easily.
(c) The people never wanted to get rid of rats.
 4) The people complained about the harassment of the rats to the
(a) Mayor (b) Citizens (c) Piper
5) How much money did the piper request the Mayor to give him?
(a) Thousand rupees (b) Thousand dollars (c) Thousand pounds

(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)
08. Write a paragraph on one of the given topics. Use about 50 words.
a. Let’s prevent dengue. b. Best practices for a healthy life.
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Part 11
09. Read the text and underline the most suitable word given within brackets.
Udawalawe National Park lies on the boundary of Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces in Sri
Lanka. It was (1)……………(establish, established, establishing ) on 30th of June in 1972. The
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National Park was created to (2)…………… ( provide, provider, provided ) a sanctuary for wild
animals displaced by the (3)……………………. ( construct, constructing, construction ) of the
Udawalawe Reservoir on the Walawe River as well as to protect the catchment of the reservoir.
Udawalawe is the home to Sri Lankan wildlife such as the Rusty-spotted Cat, Fishing Cat and the Sri
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Lankan Leopard. Other species of animals (4)…………………… ( include, includes, including ) the
Sri Lankan sambar deer, elephants, cheetah and wild boar. Dry zone birdlife includes grey headed
fish eagle, black-shouldered kite, changeable hawk eagle, crested serpent eagle, white-bellied sea
eagle, shikra, common kestrel, brown fish owl and western marsh harrier. Udawalawe National Park
is known for its amazing (5)……………( tour, tourist, tourism ) and wildlife among local and
foreign tourists.
(1x5=5Marks)
10. Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verb given within brackets.
The first one is done for you.

Dani (1) …was called………. (call) for an interview by a reputed company in Colombo. He (2)
……………………(give) a particular time to be present at the interview. Dani had to
(3)……………………………… (be) present at the interview at 10.30 a.m. He (4)
………………………………… (leave) home to catch an early bus. While he (5)
………………………………… (stand) at the bus halt, a friend (6) …………………………….
(offer) him a lift. Dani was very happily (7) ………………………………. (talk) to his friend, all at
once a motor cyclist (8) ……………………………… (over take) without signals. Both vehicles (9)
………………………… (knock) each other and were badly (10) ………………………………

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(damage). Dani got frustrated as he (11) ……………………………….. (know) that he would be late

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for the interview.
(½ x 10 = 5 Marks)
11. Fill in the blanks with the words given below. There is one extra word.

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bound, effect, this, we, to, society, that, in,
on, some, of, and, our, the, actions

We need to know and learn our responsibilities as good citizens. We are a part of the (1)……… We
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must understand that each (2) …………. us is responsible for what (3)…………… do in this
society. Don’t think (4)…………… our actions will have no (5)…………… on our life. If (6)
…………… society gets hurt due (7)…………….. our reckless actions, we are(8) …………… to be
affected at (9) ……………… point of time. Our collaborative (10)…………… and thoughts have
many effects (11)……………… the overall society. So, (12) ……………… responsibility as good
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citizen of (13)……………….. country is to care of the society (14) …………. also to unite the
entire country.
(1/2 x 14 =7 Marks )
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12. Mr.S.Kugathas is the teacher in charge of grade 11 A of J/Kokuvil Hindu College. He met the
class to talk about their progress. The following is a part of the conversation. Read it and fill in the
blanks of the description given below. The first one is done for you.
Maheesan : I've already prepared short notes.
Sharma : Maheesan, pasting charts around the room is more effective for me.
Raveender : I'll organize a study circle next week.
Nisha : Can I join the study circle?
Raveender : Why not? Can you bring the past papers from 2015 to 2018.
Vinayagi : I'm planning to make a test paper for our study circle.
Raveender : That’s’s great.
Mr.S.Kugathas’s description
I have very clever class of pupils who study hard. We discussed about their progress. Maheesan said
(1) that he had already prepared short notes and Sharma, his best friend, told him that
(2)…………………………………………………..….. more effective for him. Raveender said that
(3)....……..….….…...….….…..….….………………… week. Nisha asked
(4)…………………………………………………………………. the study circle. Raveender agreed
and asked her (5)……………………..……………………………… the past papers from 2015 to
2018. Vinayagi said that (6)…………………………………………………… a test paper for their
circle. Everyone was pleased to hear that.
(1 x 5 = 5 Marks)

13. Read the following passage and match the sub topics with the paragraphs and write them in the

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given blanks.

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1. Communication 2. Instinctive behaviour 3. Social behaviour
4. Learned behaviour 5. Territory behaviour
Animal Behaviour

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All animals respond to their surroundings. Everything that an animal does and the way in which it
does it, makes up its behavior. An animal behavior enables it to increase its chances of survival.
Some behaviors are inbuilt; others are learned during the animal’s lifetime.
a)………………………………………………
It is a behaviour that an animal performs automatically without having to learn them. It is
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programmed by genes and it consists of unchanged patterns or fixed- action patterns. This will be
active when there is a stimulus; another animal, change in surrounding or response of another
creature.
b)……………………………………………….
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This occurs when an animal adapts to its surroundings by changing its behaviour. By responding to
experience and adapting to changing conditions, an animal increase its chances of survival. Learning
takes time, and animals that are depend on this type of behaviour have long lives and large brains.
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c)……………………………………………..
Animals send out signals that are recognized by other animals, and alter their behaviour in some
way. The signals can be sights, sounds or scents. This is used, for example to find a mate, threatened
rivals or enemies, depend a territory, warn of danger, or hold a group together.
d) …………………………………………….
Many animals defend their living area to maintain access to food, water, shelter and to reproduce.
Living places can be large or small and held by one animal or by a group.
e) ……………………………………………
Some animals live in groups. Individuals co-operate to find food, defend themselves and look after
the young. Social groups range from shoal of fish, which are purely defensive, to societies of
honeybees, where social organization affects all aspects of an individual’s life.
(1 x 5 =5marks)
14. Imagine that you are the President of the English Union of your school. Write a letter to your
friend who is in abroad about the debate your union is going to hold under your leadership.
Include the following
✓ The date, time and venue.
✓ Theme and the teams.
✓ Your role and how you are supported and guided.
✓ What you have already done and your plans to make the event a success.
Or
The following Pie chart shows the favorite television programmes of 145 students of the grade 11
classes of J/Holy Family Convent.

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Study the chart below and write a
description about it. Use about 100 News

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words. Use the following phrases given drama 7
documen 10
below. tary
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most of the students Sports
Cartoons 33
the majority
the lowest number
the most popular
less popular than
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Film
23
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equal
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(10 Marks)
15. Read the following text and answer the questions given below it.
(1) Global warming refers to the increase of the earth's average temperature due to increasing
amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to
greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists agree that the burning of fossil fuels like oil and coal causes
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide to escape into the air and act like a warm blanket over the
earth.
(2) One way to reduce greenhouse gases is to reduce deforestation, the cutting down of trees. Trees
soak up carbon dioxide from the air, so having lots of trees around is good for the atmosphere. There
are already some changes happening because of global warming. Sea level is rising and some
animals are moving to new homes because their natural habitat is disappearing. If the warming gets
worse, as scientists expect, there may be some kinds of plants and animals that become extinct.

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(3) There may be more storms, floods and fires. Due to melting ice caps, sea levels may rise so much

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that people have to move away from the coasts. Some areas may become too dry for farming. All
humans contribute to global warming by burning fossil fuels when they drive a car, fly in an
airplane, heat or cool their houses and cut down trees to clear land. The best way to help slow down
global warming is to put less carbon into the air by using less fossil fuel- something that is easy to
say, but hard to do!

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1) Why would animals become extinct because of global warming?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2) Which sentence says what is global warming? Write the sentence from the paragraph.
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(1 Mark)
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(1 Mark)
3) Say whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F) by writing "T" or "F" in the
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space given.
i) Trees soak up carbon dioxide. (……………)
ii) Trees give off carbon dioxide. (……………)
(1/2 x 2 = 1 Mark)
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4) Find the words from the text which mean the following.
(Paragraph 1) The production and discharge of something especially gas or radiation………
…………………………………………………………………………………
(Paragraph 2) the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet…………………
……………………………………………………………………………
(1/2 x 2 = 1 Mark)

5) What's the best way to slow down global warming? Underline the correct one.
A. Work all the air conditioners harder.
B. Use more coal.
C. Use less fossil fuel.
(1 Mark)
 6) Answer the following questions.
A. Why would sea levels rise because of global warming?
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(1 Mark)
B. Which is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions?
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(1Mark)

7) Underline the correct answer

Burning which of these fuels puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
1. Coal

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2. Oil
3. Both are correct.

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(1Mark)
16. Write on one of the following. Use about 200 words.
a. Write an article to a school magazine on the following topic.

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"Technology modernizes our life"
✓ How technology has made our life smooth and convenient.
✓ Different fields that the technology is being used.
✓ How it has transformed our life to a better life.

b. Write a speech you would make at the school assembly on

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"Taking care of public property”
✓ Types of public properly.
✓ Uses of them.
✓ How to protect them.
✓ Responsibities as a citizen.
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c. Write an essay on “My favourite book."

✓ The story and the writer.
✓ Characters
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✓ Interesting events.
✓ Lesson or moral.

d. Complete the following story.

It was a holiday. Everybody was at home. Suddenly the door bell rang. I went to open
the door. …………………
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(15 marks)