1. Choose the most appropriate phrase for the sentence: Detectives found suspicious stains on the floor of the room

a. looking for

b. shopping for

c. agonizing for

d. eager for


2. What would he the most appropriate phrasing for the question? A banana? rather have that orange?

a. Would you

b. Had you

c. Wouldn't you

d. Would you better


3. Complete the question with the most appropriate phrase.. There is a door
a. is there?

b. was there?

c. isn't there?

d. is it not?


4. Which of the options listed would you use in place of the underlined word in the sentence so that the meaning of the sentence remains the same: Most people are unfailingly obsequious to persons in authority.

a. perfunctorily obedient

b. attentive and deferential

c. disgruntled and rude

d. servile and compliant

5. Given the sense of the sentence, which verb fits the blank? After a painstaking explanation, the prosecutor the accused did indeed commit the crime.
a. protected

b. revoked

c. proved

d. illustrated


6. The statement given here is followed by two assumptions, and Identify which of the assumptions is implied.The privatization of India's healthcare system enables excellent treatment, but only for those who can afford it. Assumption

The privatization of healthcare is good for the
entire country. Assumption

Only certain sections of society benefit from the privatization of healthcare.

a. Neither nor

b. only

c. only

d. both and


7. In order to change the phrase below to the plural, add an apostrophe in the correct place: Singular: The class's games. Plural: The classes games.

a. The classes' games

b. The classe's games

c. The class'es games

d. The clas'es games


8. What would be the best order of adjectives in the following sentence? Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence:
A cotton dirty old tie

A dirty old cotton tie

A cotton dirty old tie

a. only

b. Both and

c. only

d. neither nor


9. Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence

All the world's a stage...

a. Simile

b. Personification

c. Metonymy

d. Metaphor


10. Which word from the options listed would you use in place of the underlined one in the sentence so that meaning of the sentence is completely reversed?
At the sale I obtained several exquisite things at wonderful prices.

a. special

b. unique

c. ordinary

d. rare


11. It is a waste of time to so dimwitted; he is too dull to recognize your barbs.
Which two words from the list below can be used to complete the sentence in a logical manner which will produce sentences with closely similar meanings?
i. disparage

ii. ridicule

iii. lampoon

iV. laud

a. i and iv

b. iii and iv

c. i and ii

d. ii and iii


12. Addison's Cato, highly praised in Johnson's day for its 'correctness,' is damned with faint praise by Johnson: "Cato affords a splendid exhibition of artificial and fictitious manners, and delivers just and noble sentiments, in diction easy, elevated, and harmonious, but its hopes and fears communicate no vibration to the heart." According to the passage above, Johnson's opinion of Cato was

a. roundly condemnatory

b. ultimately negative

c. highly effusive

d. uncritically adulatory


13. "Now of my threescore years and ten
Twenty will not come again
And take from seventy springs a score
It only leaves me fifty more."

How old is the poet?

a. Fifty

b. Twenty

c. Seventy

d. Forty


14. "I've been working on this." What would you correctly gather from this sentence?

a. That the work is over.

b. That the. work is far from over.

c. That the work has been over at this time.

d. That the work will never end the way it should.


15. "The boys brought home the trophy." What would be the next logically correct sentence?

a. They are practising the game for a tournament these months.

b. They will practise the game for a tournament for months.

c. They have been practising the game for a tournament for months.

d. They will be practising the game for a tournament for months.


16. Fill in the blanks in the following sentence with the most suitable words from the options given
That house is adjacent to the church is mine; I was the one· met you the other day.

a. that, who

b. where, that

c. who, that

d. that, which


17. Why say "Everyone supported the Government", when the evidence of a single dissentient voice will be enough to prove you wrong? It is surely better to say, instead, ..,

a. Many supported the Government.

b. None supported the Government.

c. Few supported the Government.

d. Only one supported the Government.



18. "She had no dress sense; she wore fashionable clothes." "She had no dress sense, yet she wore fashionable clothes." In the latter, we haveused "yet" which is

a. preposition
b. adjective
c. article
d. conjunction

19. Identify the crucial figure of speech that affords interpretative options for readers:
... for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain....

a. The simile in the first 2 lines

b. The illusory world suggested in "seems"

C. The irony of the world that belies its dreamy aura

d. The pun on "lie"


20. What feeling of the speaker do the following lines suggest?
"O that 'twere possible
After long grief and pain
To find the arms of my true love
Round me once again!"

a. Resolution

b. Hope

c. Regret

d. Comfort


21. How do the following sentences mean differently?
The candidates who got high marks were pleased. The candidates, who got high marks, were pleased.

a. Those who got high marks and those who did not were pleased.

b. While the first sentence implies that others who got low marks were not pleased, the second implies that all candidates got good marks.

c. While the first sentence implies that all candidates got good marks, the second implies that others who got low marks were not pleased.

d. the deletion of parenthetic commas affects the meaning of the two sentences.


22. "Why would you think of cutting off your nose to spite your face? Isn't it foolish?" What this means is that:

a. It is foolish to cut your face rather than spite your nose, and bleed for life.

b. It is foolish to disadvantage yourself through a willful attempt to gain an advantage or assert yourself.

c. It is foolish to cut your nose rather than spite your face, and bleed for life.

d. It is foolish to disadvantage others through a willful attempt to gain an advantage or assert yourself.


23. What is a "falchion"?

a. A vegetable

b. A sword

c. A piece of furniture

d. A bird


24. "A beautiful picture" is a

a. Noun Phrase

b. Adjective Phrase

c. Prepositional Phrase

d. Verb Phrase


Questions 25-28 are based on the following passage.
The sugar plantation has been" the most civilizing as well as the most demoralizing influence in West Indian development. When three centuries ago the slaves came to the West Indies, they entered directly into the large-scale agriculture of the sugar plantation, which was a modern system. It further required that the slaves live together in a social relation far closer than any proletariat of the time. The cane when reaped had to be rapidly transported to what was factory production. The product was shipped abroad for sale. Even the cloth the slaves wore and the food they ate was imported. The Negroes, therefore, from the very start lived a life that was in its essence a modern life. That is their history-as far as I have been able to discover, a unique history.

In the first part of the seventeenth century, early settlers from Europe had made quite a success of individual production. The sugar plantation drove them out. The slaves saw around them a social life of a certain material culture and ease, the life of the sugar plantation owners. The clever, the lucky and the illegitimate became domestics or artisans attached to the plantation or the factory. Long before the bus and the taxi, the small size of the islands made communication between the rural areas and the urban quick and easy. The plantation owners and the merchants lived an intense political life in which the ups and downs of sugar and in time the treatment and destiny of the slaves played a crucial

and continuous role. The sugar plantation dominated the lives of the islands to such a degree that the white skin alone saved those who were not plantation owners or bureaucrats from the humiliations and hopelessness of the life of the slave. That was and
is the pattern of West Indian life.

25. What is the most civilizing as well as the most demoralizing influence in West Indian
development?

a. Evangelization

b. Slavery

c. The sugar plantation

d. Radio


26. "The Negroes, therefore, from the very start lived a life that was in its essence a modem life." Why?

a. Because they wanted to live a modem life

b. Because the sugar plantation was a modem system

c. Because they inherited a modem life from Africa

d. Because they resented tradition.


27. What made communication between the rural areas and the urban quick and easy?

a. The small size of the islands

b. The presence of rail roads

c. The presence of horse-carriages

d. The presence of canal-ways


28. The political life of the plantation owners and merchants revolved around

a. Ups and downs of sugar; and treatment and destiny of slaves

b. Parliamentary debates

c. The right to vote

d. Religion


29. What is a neologism?

a. A word with roots in a native language

b. A word whose meaning changes with every renewed use

c. A word newly coined or used in a new sense

d. An obsession with new words and phrases


30. In which of the following poems of Nissim Ezekiel do we get a moving picture of a mother's suffering?

a. "The Couple"

b. "Th6 Night of the Scorpion"

c. "The Visitor"

d. "Philosophy"


31. Who among the following compiled the first English Dictionary?

a. Dr. Samuel Johnson

b. Ben Johnson

c. John Dryden

d. William Shakespeare


32. A person who is very particular·about details is a/an

a. disciplinarian

b. stickler

c. miser

d. boaster


33. The act of violating the sanctity of the church is

a. blasphemy

b. heresy

c. sacrilege

d. execration


34. His appearance is unsmiling but

a. his heart is full of compassion.

b. people are afraid of him.

c. he is full of jealousy towards his colleagues.

d. he looks very serious on most occasions..


35. play second fiddle' means

a. to be happy, cheerful and healthy

b. to do back seat driving

c. to support the role and view of another person

d. to reduce the importance of one's senior


36. Who is creating this mess? Change the question into the passive voice.

a. Who has been created this mess?

b. By whom has this mess being created?

c. By whom this mess is being created?

d. By whom is this mess being created?


37. In the sentence 'Hurt people hurt people' the word functions as

a. an adjective and a verb respectively

b. a noun and a verb respectively

c. an adjective and another adjective respectively

d. an adjective and an adverb.


38. "The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran". The word "seasoned" puns upon

a. the seasons (summer, winter, etc)

b. seasonings and condiments

c. sauces and sprays

d. All of the above.


39. In the following list mark the odd one out:

a. Paradise Lost

b. The Iliad

c. Samson Agonistes

d. The Divine Comedy


40. As a result of his regimented upbringing, that left him unable to see the nuances of complex situations, he was often accused of being
Which two words from the list below can be used to complete the sentence in a logical manner which will produce sentences with closely similar meanings?

i. tyrannical

ii. obtuse

iii. xenophobic

IV. imperceptive

a. ii and iv

b. i and ii

c. iii and ii

d. iii and iv



41. The human mind can often reject the most data in favour of something that, though valueless, at least sounds familiar.
Which two words from the list below can be used to complete the sentence in a logical manner which will produce sentences with closely similar meanings?
i. inconsequential

ii. peripheral

iii. pertinent

iv. germane

a. iii and iv

b. iii and ii

c. i and ii

d. ii and iv


42. Christopher Ricks has written extensively not only on the poetry of such

figures in-English poetry as Milton and Houseman, but also on the less obviously

of Bob Dylan.

a. obscurantist (ii)popular

b. arcane popular .

c. established judicious

d. established canonical


43. Unwilling to admit that they had been in error, the researchers tried to case with more data obtained from dubious sources.

a. ascertain

b. buttress

c. refute

d. dispute


44. When it was feared that the serfs might go too far and gain their freedom from serfdom, the Protestant leaders joined the princes at crushing them. Choose the correct alternative to the italicized word which may improve the sentence.

a. without

b. in

c. into

d. no improvement is necessary


45. Which of the four options will be the correct version of the following sentence? The students are hell bent at getting what they believe they are entitled to.

a. hell bent for getting

b. hell bent upon getting

c. hell bent in getting

d. no improvement necessary


46. Choose the appropriate option.
That certainly is known work by the playwright. though the interest in his plays seems to be growing. It tires me not to read his plays in
class.

a. little by little, a little, a little

b. little, little by little, a little

c. a little, little by little, little

d. a little, little by little, a little


47. Complete the sentence with the most appropriate phrase. It hot since a week now.

a. was been

b. had been

c. been

d. has been


48. What is the name for the process of dividing land into privately owned agricultural holdings?

a. Partition

b. Enclosure

c. Segregation

d. Enfolding


49. Which of the underlined words is incorrect?
It assume that time and resources are available to plan, collect, and analyze relevant information for a planned program of instruction.

a. resources

b. assume

c. to plan

d. for a planned


50. Fill in the blank with the best possible phrase from the choices given. The book she wants is available on the subject.

a. one of the many

b. many of the one

c. the one of many

d. of one the many



1. Write an essay on any ONE of the following topics

1. The Politics of Surnames

2. Food Snobbery

3. Smart Cities and Unsmart Citizens

4. My Eureka Moments

5. Slavery in the Modem World

6. Is Commercial Fiction Considered Literature?

7. Why Read When You can Watch?

8. The Cruelty of Comedy

9. World War III

10. "Never mind, life goes on...."


II. Write an essay on the following poem indicating your views on openness and plain speaking in matters of love and longing among young adults. Comment on the language of the poem, especially its nuances of tone and address.
"No, Thank you, John"
I never said I loved you, John:
Why will you'teaze me day by day,
And wax a weariness to think upon With always "do" and "pray"?

You know I never loved you, John;
No fault of mine made me your toast:
Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
As shows an hour-old ghost?

I daresay Meg or Moll would take
Pity upon you, if you'd ask:
And pray don't remain single for my sake
Who can't perform that task.

I have no heart? Perhaps I have not;
But then you're mad to take offence
That I don't give you wl1at I have not got:
Use your own common sense.

Let bygones be bygones.
Don't call me false, who owed not to be true.
I would rather answer to fifty Johns
Than answer "Yes" to you.

Let's mar our pleasant days no more,
Song-birds of passage, days of youth:
Catch at today, forget the days before:
I'll wink at your untruth.

Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
No more, no less, and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in view ulterior ends,
And points not understood

In open treaty. Rise above
Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here's friendship for you if you like; but love, No, thank you, John.