English Language

English Reading Comprehension

2,692 Questions

English reading comprehension questions assess the ability to understand, analyze, and interpret written passages. Formats include paragraph rearrangement, cloze tests, and fact finding from text. Regular practice is essential for scoring well in the English sections of banking, SSC, and railway exams.

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English Reading Comprehension Questions

Multiple choice

In "The Solitary Reaper," what is the speaker's reaction to the reaper's song?

  1. He is amazed by its beauty.

  2. He is saddened by its loneliness.

  3. He is indifferent to it.

  4. He is annoyed by its interruption.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Wordsworth describes the reaper's song as "a voice so thrilling" that it fills the air with beauty and wonder.

Multiple choice

In Ernest Hemingway's novel \"The Old Man and the Sea\", the protagonist Santiago's struggle with a giant marlin can be interpreted as a metaphor for:

  1. The inevitability of death

  2. The futility of human endeavor

  3. The importance of perseverance in the face of adversity

  4. The beauty and majesty of the natural world
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
Correct answer
Explanation

Santiago's relentless pursuit of the marlin, despite the odds stacked against him, can be seen as a reflection of the human spirit's confrontation with the inevitability of death.

Multiple choice

In the poem \"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night\" by Dylan Thomas, the speaker urges his father to:

  1. Accept death peacefully and gracefully

  2. Fight against death with all his might

  3. Embrace death as a natural part of life

  4. Seek solace and comfort in religion
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
Correct answer
Explanation

The speaker implores his father to resist death and to fight against it with all his strength.

Multiple choice

What is the moral of the Jataka Tale 'The Lion and the Jackal'?

  1. Pride comes before a fall

  2. Honesty is the best policy

  3. A friend in need is a friend indeed

  4. Slow and steady wins the race
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The Jataka Tale 'The Lion and the Jackal' teaches the moral that pride and arrogance often lead to downfall.

Multiple choice

In the short story 'The Tell-Tale Heart', what is the narrator's motive for killing the old man?

  1. The old man's evil eye

  2. The old man's wealth

  3. The old man's snoring

  4. The old man's madness
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The narrator in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' kills the old man because he is driven to madness by the old man's evil eye.

Multiple choice

In William Blake's poem "The Tyger," what does the speaker ask about the creator of the tiger?

  1. Why did he create such a fierce and powerful beast?

  2. How did he come up with the idea for the tiger?

  3. What is the purpose of the tiger in the world?

  4. Where does the tiger come from?
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In "The Tyger," Blake asks why the creator would create such a fierce and powerful beast, questioning the nature of good and evil in the world.

Multiple choice

In William Blake's poem "The Tyger," what does the speaker ask about the creator of the tiger?

  1. Why did he create such a fierce and powerful beast?

  2. How did he come up with the idea for the tiger?

  3. What is the purpose of the tiger in the world?

  4. Where does the tiger come from?
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In "The Tyger," Blake asks why the creator would create such a fierce and powerful beast, questioning the nature of good and evil in the world.

Multiple choice

In the fourth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the fourth stanza, Keats writes, "Away! away! for I will fly to thee, / Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, / But on the viewless wings of Poesy, / Though the dull brain perplexes and retards: / Already with thee! tender is the night, / And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne, / Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays; / But here there is no light, / Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown / Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the fifth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "embalm" the nightingale's song?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In the fifth stanza, Keats writes, "I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, / Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, / But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet / Wherewith the seasonable month endows / The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; / White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; / Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves; / And mid-May's eldest child, / The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, / The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to "embalm" the nightingale's song in poetry, which suggests that he sees poetry as a way to preserve and share the beauty of the natural world.

Multiple choice

In the sixth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the sixth stanza, Keats writes, "Darkling I listen; and, for many a time / I have been half in love with easeful Death, / Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, / To take into the air my quiet breath; / Now more than ever seems it rich to die, / To cease upon the midnight with no pain, / While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad / In such an ecstasy! / Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain-- / To thy high requiem become a sod." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the seventh stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the seventh stanza, Keats writes, "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! / No hungry generations tread thee down; / The voice I hear this passing night was heard / In ancient days by emperor and clown: / Perhaps the self-same song that found a path / Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn; / The same that oft-times hath / Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the eighth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the eighth stanza, Keats writes, "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! / No hungry generations tread thee down; / The voice I hear this passing night was heard / In ancient days by emperor and clown: / Perhaps the self-same song that found a path / Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn; / The same that oft-times hath / Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the ninth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the ninth stanza, Keats writes, "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! / No hungry generations tread thee down; / The voice I hear this passing night was heard / In ancient days by emperor and clown: / Perhaps the self-same song that found a path / Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn; / The same that oft-times hath / Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the tenth stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the tenth stanza, Keats writes, "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! / No hungry generations tread thee down; / The voice I hear this passing night was heard / In ancient days by emperor and clown: / Perhaps the self-same song that found a path / Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn; / The same that oft-times hath / Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.

Multiple choice

In the eleventh stanza, what does the speaker say he would do if he could "leave the world unseen, / And with thee fade away into the forest dim"?

  1. He would write poetry

  2. He would travel the world

  3. He would become a nightingale

  4. He would live in a forest
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the eleventh stanza, Keats writes, "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! / No hungry generations tread thee down; / The voice I hear this passing night was heard / In ancient days by emperor and clown: / Perhaps the self-same song that found a path / Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, / She stood in tears amid the alien corn; / The same that oft-times hath / Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn." Here, the speaker expresses his desire to escape from his own reality and live in a forest, which suggests that he sees the forest as a place of peace and beauty.