1. In an essay on the topic Were a Teacher', a child wrote ambitiously-"I'll be teaching
children for ever until I am alive."
When the author characterises the child's writing as 'ambitious' ...

A. He is making a wry comment on the child's error in the use of instead of long

B. The writer is mocking the child's ambition
c.
The writer is being non-committal

D.
The writer is echoing the child's ambition


2. "Then they started with the brooms again." This sentence implies that
A. They had been working with the brooms non-stop
B. They had worked with the brooms before, and after a break were returning to working with them again
C. They had begun with the brooms only now
D. None of the above
3. "As the architecture of the villa is consonant with modem so too the interior is
furnished in the 'best style', of course under the supervision ohhe owner."
The sentence clarifies that

A. The house's architecture and interior were done under the supervision of the owner
B. The house was architecturally planned keeping in mind the consonants.
C. The 'best style' is not that of the owner but of the architect
D. None of the above
4. This morning I composed the following sentence: "Only then can the extension ofthe poem begin." My computer grammar-check found fault with the underlined expression, suggesting the following two "correct" alternatives

extension of the poem begins


extensions ofthe poem begin


In the above when the computer 'corrects' my sentence it is because
A. 'extension' being singular requires 'begins'
B. 'begin' is being treated as the verb in the sentence
C. The computer is ignoring the initial part of the sentence
D. The computer is not working properly
5. "Thou hast not seen black fingers pick
White cotton when the bloom is thick."
The historical phenomenon these lines refer to is ...

A. Revolt
B. Slavery
C. Murder
D. Press ganging
6. "I turned my head and saw the wind, Not far from where I stood,
Dragging the corn by her golden hair,
Into a dark and lonely wood."


In the last two lines of this verse is metaphorized as:
A. Aman
B. Awoman
C. An animal
D. None ofthe above

7. "Eyes in the green, in the shade, In the motioneless brake,
Voices that said what I said,
For mockery's sake."

In this verse the last two lines refer to...
A. Echoes
B. Enemies
C. Tape Recorders
D. Friends
8. A poem, describing an experience at night, presents these lines: "I tum to where the lighted farm
OJ
Holds out through the open door a golden arm."
golden arm' means...
A. A mental hand
B. An ornament
C. A beam of light
D. None of the above
9. Pick the odd one out:
A. "The Rape ofthe Lock"
B. "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
C. Culture and Anarchy
D. "Why the Novel Matters"
10. My friends are always most careful not to overdo the thing in the matter of praise.
'Overdo the thing' means:
A. Downplay
B. Exaggerate
C. Falsify
D. Deny
The old man was beside himselfwith anger. With great difficulty they somehow held him off before he hurt Jonas. The phrase 'held him off' means...
A. Covered
B. Protected
C. Restrained
D. Tied up
12. "I have forgotten more about the sea hereabouts than they ever knew."
The above sentence is an idiomatic way of saying that
A. I know more about the sea hereabouts than they ever will
B. I have forgotten what I knew about the sea hereabouts
C. I remember everything I knew about the sea hereabouts
D. They know as much about the sea hereabouts as me
13. "Since he was in hiding from her, he had to school himself into keeping quiet whenever he was with his beloved."
'School' here implies
A. Educate
B. Train
C. Force
D. Make
14. "In the evenings she tried to catch up on education to be on equal terms with other naval wives."
'Naval wives' means
A. Women who were in the Navy
B. Women who were married to Naval Officers
C. Women who were interested in the Navy
D. None of the above
15. "On moving day, things were at sixes and sevens."
sixes and sevens' means
A. People were doing sums
B. Everything was in a state of confusion
C. Everything was peaceful
D. Things were being counted wrongly
Read the following poem and answer the questions (numbers 16 to 18) that follow:
You Fit Into Me
By Margaret Atwood

You fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye.

16. The poem can be classified as a poem about
A. Fishing
B. Sewing
C. Relationships
D. Fitting appointments at the tailors
17. The poem employs the simile of the hook and eye to image
A. A close and well fitting bond
B. A savagely cruel tie
C. Neither a nor b
D. Bothaandb
18. The poem
A. Is a conventional one expressing routine sentiments
B. Disturbs with its visceral impact
C. Is a humourous exercise regarding tailoring
All ofthe above

19. "Faith, hope and charity"; "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; "Blood, sweat and
tears" "Friends, Romans, countrymen"
The common feature of all these phrases is that

A. They are all connected to politics
B. They all use the writing 'rule ofthree'
C. They all relate to America
D. They are all excerpts from literary fiction
20. The sentence "She was driven from her home by her parents" could mean
I. Her parents gave her a ride from her home
II. She was asked to drive
III.
Her parents evicted her from her home
Which of the following is most accurate?


A.
I and III

B.
IandII

C.
I,ll and III

D.
II and III


21. The phrase "A Blow for Open Access" means
A. A blow has been struck on behalf of Open Access which will help it
B. A blow has been struck against Open Access
C. Neither a nor b
D. Bothaandb
Read the following paragraph and answer the questions (numbers 22 to 26) that follow:
In its defense, I would say that ascribing iconicity to a work allows young readers to temporarily defer critical judgment--which in some ways is just the haphazard accretion of literary tastes uncritically adopted from parents, teachers, peers and media figures. In some way, critical judgment can merely be attaching the wagon of confirmation bias to the horse of conformism. Listening to the news or to political candidates, one sees that mediocrity, bad will, mendacity, greed has no end of critical justifications. Promoting critical judgment (say what you like or dislike about this book and give your reasons) can be a way to kill literature, to bury it alive.
In the phrase its defense' refers to
A. Awork
B. A young reader ofindeterminate gender
C. Crediting a work with the status of an icon or classic
D. None ofthe above
23. According to the author the 'critical judgment' ofthe young reader is
A. A random collection of opinions drawn from various sources
B. The critically considered adoption of the views of authority figures
C. A way of determining iconicity
D. The result of a rational and careful perusal of recommended texts
24. The horse and wagon analogy is connected to
A. The desire of the young to learn to read well
B. The idea that unless people read recommended texts they cannot conform
t.
Earlier times when those who drove wagons were the ones who read well

D.
The idea that opinions are based on the desire to conform


25. According to the passage by putting the stamp of greatness upon a work
A. Readers are usually put off reading that work
B. Readers are given the opportunity to read without having to formulate an instant opmlOn
C. Readers are told that this is the only acceptable view ofthe work
D. None of the above.
26. The author concludes that critical judgments ...
I. Are always valid and necessary
II. Might possibly endorse and support terrible negatives
III.
Might do more harm than good Which ofthe following best sums up the content ofthe last two lines?

A.
IandII


B. III
C. II and III

D. I
27. "A fine mess" is an instance of
A. humour
B. bad English
C. oxymoron
D. Indian English
28. You must all acquire a profisciency in the English language. The sentence is ...
A. Iromc
B. irritating
C. allegoric
D. ambiguous
29. When the dictator issued the order, they all ... right away.
A. trembled
B. acquiesced
C. acquired
D. disagreed
30. People in authority generally have 'yes men' around them, praising everything they say. Another term for 'yes men' is
A. sycophants
B. parasites
C. siblings
D. stalwarts
31. Seeing the canoe brought the newcomers a thousand miles, it could take us the fifteen. "" Here 'seeing' implies
A. Viewing
B. Considering
C. Associating
D. Signifying
32. And then looking suddenly forward they saw their goal magically near.

Here 'magically' suggests:
A. Quickly
B. Very
C. Unexpectedly
D. Happily
33. The young find all difficult things possible on earth.
The adjective which has become a noun in this sentence is
A. Difficult
B. Young
C. Possible
D. Earth
34. Mr. Jones must be a man of substance to live in such a posh area, a successful young businessman very likely.
The phrase which best captures the sense of the word in the above sentence
IS
A. Man of substance
B. Successful young businessman
C. Live in such a posh area
D. None ofthe above.
35. "Roberts has changed, he didn't have this when I went away. What hair he had was on the top of his head."
Here refers to
A. An earring
B. A beard
C. Baldness
D. A clean shaven look

D-bb

36. "He had been talking for ten minutes without pause when the doorbell rang. That was a pity, for he was just warming up."
He was warming up
A. To open the door
B. To conclude talking
C. To ignore the doorbell
D. To keep on talking
Read the following passage and choose the most appropriate answer from the options that follow each question (numbers 37 to

Suppose I say to you in English that "I spent yesterday evening with a neighbour." You may well wonder whether my companion was male or female, but I have the right to tell you politely that it's none of your business. But if we were speaking French or German, I wouldn't have the privilege to equivocate in this way, because I would be obliged by the grammar of language to choose between voisin or voisine; Nachbar or Nachbarin. These languages compel me to inform you about the sex of my companion whether or not I feel it is remotely your concern. This does not mean, of course, that English speakers are unable to understand the differences between evenings spent with male or female neighbours, but it does mean that they do not have to consider the sexes of neighbours, friends, teachers and a host of other persons each time they come,up in a conversation, whereas speakers of some languages are obliged to do so.
On the other hand, English does oblige you to specify certain types of information that can be left to the context in other languages. If I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbour, I may not have to mention the neighbour's sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event. I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever they describe an action.
When, your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.
Languages that treat an inanimate object as a he or a she force their speakers to talk about such an object as if it were a man or a woman. And as anyone whose mother tongue has a gender system will tell you, once the habit has taken hold, it is all but impossible to shake off. When I speak English, I may say about a bed that "it" is too soft, but as a native Hebrew speaker, I actually feel "she" is too soft. "She" stays feminine all the way from the lungs up to the glottis and is neutered only when she reaches the tip of the tongue.
37. "I have the right to tell you politely that it's none of your business."
"None of your business" refers to ...

A. My spending or not spending an evening with my neighbour
B. Your wondering whether my neighbour is male or female
C. Wondering whether it is my right or not to tell you politely that it's none of our business
D. Your wanting to know whether my neighbour was male or female
38. The gender-marker ofthe words we use in a language is determined by...
A. Linguistics
B. Morphology
C. Syntax
D. Grammar
According to this passage the true statement about Chinese and English is

A. Chinese is indifferent unlike English to events in time
B. Chinese cannot distinguish between the English tenses
C. Chinese words for action do not reflect the tenses the way those ofEnglish do
D. Chinese words cannot understand the sense of time the way English words do
40. When you refer to the people of China you say and when you refer to the people ofEngland you say,
A. the Chinese, the English
B. Chinese, English
C. the Chinese, English

D. Chinese, the English
41. "When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information." The underlined word means...
A. as done sometimes out of compulsion
B. as done always out ofcompulsion
C. as done regularly as procedure
D. as done by default, not otherwise

42. "Such habits of speech", "settling into habits of mind" means
A. By force of habit, one's thoughts influence one's speech
B. By force of habit, one's speech influences one's thoughts
C. By force of habit, one learns one's language
D. None of the above
43, "All but impossible to shake off" refers to
A. habits ofthe mind
B. habits of speech
C. grammatical rules of mother tongue
D. the gender system of mother tongue
44. The mother tongue of the writer of this passage is
A. Hebrew
B. English
C. Chinese
D. German
Read the following poem. Questions 45 to 50 will test your understanding of the poem called "Chess." You will choose the most appropriate answer from the options.
Rosario Castellanos 45. We know that the speaker and the other person are somehow already related because
Because we were friends and sometimes loved each other, perhaps to add one more tie to the many that already bound us, we decided to play games ofthe mind. 4
We set up a board between us; equally divided into pieces, values, and possible moves. We learned the rules, we swore to respect them, and the match began. 9
We've been sitting here for centuries, meditating ferociously how to deal the one last blow that will finally annihilate the other one forever. 13


A. They are playing a game of chess
B. The speaker refers to adding "one more tie"
C. The speaker refers to playing "games ofthe mind"
D. They "have been sitting here for centuries"
46. Cite the phrase in the poem that suggests that playing chess is intellectual.
A. "possible moves"
B. "the one last blow"
C. "learned the rules"
D. "games of the mind"
The line, "Because we were friends and sometimes loved each other..." suggests
A. Their friendship was always steady
B. Their love was not always steady
C. They loved each other without fail
D. They were friends but hardly loved each other
48. in the phrase, "the many that already bound us" refers to
A. ties
B. friends
. D. games

D. relationships
49. Lines 5-9 carry certain words with symbolic meaning. They are
A. we, equally, match
B. set up, between, us
C. wore, respect, began
D. pieces, values, moves
50. Lines 10-13 suggest that chess is a sort of end-game. Cite the phrase that suggests this " idea.
A. "annihilate the other"
B. "the one last blow"
C. "for centuries"
D. "meditating ferociously"




Section-B
(25 Marks)
Attempt EITHER OR
Essay
Write an essay on of the given topics.
1.
Postcolonialism is an idea whose time can never come.

2.
The Graphic novel does not need to be graphic.



3.
From criticism to critique.

4.
Narrative and/or/in fiction.

5.
The Necessity ofsubalternity.

6.
Literature and social control.


II: Critical Commentary
Given the fact that the following poems both employ the myth of Icarus compare them in of
•
Their titles

•
The tone and themes

•
The peripheral centrality of the myth

•
The symbolism.


. Poem 1
Musee des Beaux Arts
By W. H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,
" The old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position: how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge ofthe wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Poem 2
Landscape withthe Fall of Icarus By William Carlos Williams
According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring

a farmer was ploughing his field the whole pageantry
of the year was
awake tingling
with itself

sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax

unsignificantly off the coast there was
a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning.

"t:.


PAGEl HALL TICKET NUMBER
II
Department of English University of Hyderabad
Ph.D ENGLISH ENTRANCE EXAMINATION, FEBRUARY 2013 ANSWER BOOK FOR SECTION B pages)