CSS 2023English (Precis & Composition)Q. 5
(a) Punctuate the Hodga story ("while taking a nap on the porch one hot summer day hodga dreamed that a stranger promised to give him ten pieces of gold…"). (b) Rewrite ONLY FIVE sentences after filling in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.
#cssnexusBy CSS Nexus Team ·
This answer to the CSS 2023 English (Precis & Composition) paper (Q. 5) was written by the CSS Nexus team. Read the outline first, then see how each point is developed.
Outline
- Q. 5(a): capital letters (sentence openings, Hodga, I), full stops, the apostrophe in Hodga's and I'll, quotation marks and commas for direct speech, a question mark
- Q. 5(b): common collocations (sit in the shade, shine by its own light, enter into an agreement, work hard at)
Answer
Q. 5(a) — Punctuated text
While taking a nap on the porch one hot summer day, Hodga dreamed that a stranger promised to give him ten pieces of gold. The stranger placed them in Hodga's hand one by one until he reached the tenth piece, which he hesitated to give him. "Come on! What are you waiting for?" said Hodga. "You promised me ten." Just then he woke up. He immediately looked at his hand and saw that it was empty. He quickly shut his eyes again, stretched out his hand and said, "All right, I'll settle for nine."
What was added
- Capital letters at the start of each sentence, for the name Hodga and for the pronoun "I".
- A comma after the opening participle phrase ("While taking a nap … day").
- Full stops to divide the run-on text into sentences.
- Apostrophes in "Hodga's" (possessive) and "I'll" (contraction).
- A comma before the non-defining clause "which he hesitated to give him".
- Quotation marks around each piece of direct speech, with an exclamation mark after "Come on", a question mark after the question and a comma before "All right".
- Commas in the series "shut his eyes again, stretched out his hand and said".
Q. 5(b) — Prepositions
1. The neighbours came to my house to see what was going on in the house.
2. She sat in the shade of the tree.
3. The moon does not shine by its own light. (It reflects the light of the sun.)
4. The burglar jumped over the compound wall.
5. She entered into an agreement with them.
6. I have been working hard at arithmetic.
7. He got on his bicycle. ("Off" is also correct if he dismounted.)
8. It cannot be done without offence. (That is, without giving offence.)
Tip
In a punctuation question, rewrite the whole passage neatly; examiners mark every capital and comma. Keep the spelling of names as given in the paper (here "Hodga").
Tags
- #Punctuation
- #Prepositions
- #Direct Speech
- #Capitalization
- #English Grammar
- #CSS 2023 English (Precis & Composition)
- #CSS English Precis and Composition Past Papers
- #CSS English Solved Papers
- #csssolvedpapers
- #csssolvedpapers2023
- #CSS English (Precis & Composition) Solved Paper 2023
- #Punctuate the Hodga story "while taking a nap
- #Rewrite ONLY FIVE sentences after filling in the
This topic in other CSS papers
Examiners return to the same themes. Compare how the question was framed in other years.
- CSS 2025 · Q. 5(a) Punctuate the text on Heer Ranjha, Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi Punnu where necessary. (b) Rewrite ONLY FIVE sentences after filling in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.Common topic: Punctuation, Prepositions
- CSS Special 2023 · Q. 5(a) Rewrite any FIVE sentences with correct punctuation (courts open today, however; his duty was clear; "I can do it again?"; Great Expectations; the item was discussed and decided; theatrical performances; "I regret having just one life to lose for my country?"; Shakespeare's play Hamlet). (b) Rewrite ONLY FIVE sentences after filling in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.Common topic: Punctuation, Prepositions
- CSS 2024 · Q. 5(a) Rewrite any FIVE sentences with corrected punctuation, without splitting a sentence or adding or changing any word (cordless vacuum, Dr. Seuss and "nerd", Edgar Allan Poe's death, "Play it again, Sam", poorly named animals, the Haskell Opera House, carnivorous plants, Harvey the driver). (b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions (ONLY FIVE).Common topic: Punctuation, Prepositions
- CSS 2026 · Q. 4, Q. 5 & Q. 6Correct the given sentences; punctuate the paragraph on "scientific language"; fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions; and use pairs of words (Dependant/Dependent, Funeral/Funereal, Fain/Feign, Gamble/Gambol, Hoard/Horde, Ingenious/Ingenuous, Luxuriant/Luxurious, Moat/Mote) in sentences.Common topic: Punctuation, Prepositions
Browse every CSS English (Precis & Composition) solved past paper or the full library of CSS solved past papers, and compare with the original CSS 2023 English (Precis & Composition) question paper.
Answered this question differently?
Submit your own answer — approved answers are published with your name.
Get new solved papers on WhatsApp
Follow the CSS Nexus channel to hear first when new answers are published.
Corrections and discussion
Nothing here yet. Spotted a mistake in this answer, or have a suggestion? Tell us below.