English Reading Comprehension

The 'Old Man' refers to

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question by selecting the most appropriate option.

1. This was one of the Old Man's pet schemes; and one about which he would brook no interference. Each child would review the events of his school week in his own words, in his own way; he was free to comment, to criticize, to agree or disagree, with any person, subject or method, as long as it was in-some way associated with the school. No one and nothing was sacred, from the Headmaster down, and the child, moreover, was safe from any form of reprisal.

2. "Look at it this way," Mr. Florian had said. "It is of advantage to both pupil and teacher. If a child wants to write about something which matters to him, he will take some pains to set it down as carefully and with as much detail as possible; that must in some way improve his written English in terms of spelling, construction and style. Week by week we are able, through his reviews, to follow and observe his progress in such things. As for the teachers, we soon get a pretty good idea what the children think of us and whether or not we are getting close to them. It may sometimes be rather deflating to discover that a well-prepared lesson did not really excite Johnny Smith's interest, but, after all, the lesson was intended to benefit Johnny Smith, not his teacher.

The phrase 'Old man's pet schemes' in line 1 refers to

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question by selecting the most appropriate option.

1. This was one of the Old Man's pet schemes; and one about which he would brook no interference. Each child would review the events of his school week in his own words, in his own way; he was free to comment, to criticize, to agree or disagree, with any person, subject or method, as long as it was in-some way associated with the school. No one and nothing was sacred, from the Headmaster down, and the child, moreover, was safe from any form of reprisal.

2. "Look at it this way," Mr. Florian had said. "It is of advantage to both pupil and teacher. If a child wants to write about something which matters to him, he will take some pains to set it down as carefully and with as much detail as possible; that must in some way improve his written English in terms of spelling, construction and style. Week by week we are able, through his reviews, to follow and observe his progress in such things. As for the teachers, we soon get a pretty good idea what the children think of us and whether or not we are getting close to them. It may sometimes be rather deflating to discover that a well-prepared lesson did not really excite Johnny Smith's interest, but, after all, the lesson was intended to benefit Johnny Smith, not his teacher.

Pick out a word from the passage, which means 'to go around in search of food'. (Para 2)

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question by selecting the most appropriate option.

Surviving a Snakebite

1 Annually, there are a million cases of snakebite in India and of these, close to 50,000 succumb to the bites.

2 When you look around the countryside, where most bites occur, and notice people's habits and lifestyles, these figures aren't surprising. People walk barefoot without a torch at night when they are most likely to step on a foraging venomous snake.

3 We encourage rodents by disposing waste food out in the open, or by storing foodgrains in the house. Attracted by the smell of rats, snakes enter houses and when one crawls over someone asleep on the floor and the person twitches or rolls over, it may bite in defence.

4 Once bitten, we don't rush to the hospital. Instead, we seek out the nearest conman, tie tourniquets, eat vile tasting herbal chutneys, apply poultices or spurious stones, cut/slice/suck the bitten spot, and other ghastly time-consuming deadly "remedies".

5 As Rom cattily remarks : "If the snake hasn't injected enough venom, even popping an aspirin can save your life." That's the key - snakes inject venom voluntarily and we have no way of knowing if it has injected venom, and if it is a lethal dose. The only first aid is to immobilise the bitten limb like you would a fracture, and get to a hospital for anti-venom serum without wasting time.

The woman wanted to go to a place where

Directions: Read the poem given below and answer the question.

On A Tired Housewife

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,

She lived in a house where help wasn't hired:

Her last words on earth were: 'Dear friends,

I am going

To where there's no cooking, or washing, or sewing,

For everything there is exact to my wishes,

For where they don't eat there's no washing

of dishes.

I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,

But having no voice I'll be quit of the singing.

Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,

I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.'

Anonymous

The woman's account in the poem shows

Directions: Read the poem given below and answer the question.

On A Tired Housewife

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,

She lived in a house where help wasn't hired:

Her last words on earth were: 'Dear friends,

I am going

To where there's no cooking, or washing, or sewing,

For everything there is exact to my wishes,

For where they don't eat there's no washing

of dishes.

I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,

But having no voice I'll be quit of the singing.

Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,

I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.'

Anonymous

The woman described in the poem

Directions: Read the poem given below and answer the question.

On A Tired Housewife

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,

She lived in a house where help wasn't hired:

Her last words on earth were: 'Dear friends,

I am going

To where there's no cooking, or washing, or sewing,

For everything there is exact to my wishes,

For where they don't eat there's no washing

of dishes.

I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,

But having no voice I'll be quit of the singing.

Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,

I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.'

Anonymous

The woman was always tired because

Directions: Read the poem given below and answer the question.

On A Tired Housewife

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,

She lived in a house where help wasn't hired:

Her last words on earth were: 'Dear friends,

I am going

To where there's no cooking, or washing, or sewing,

For everything there is exact to my wishes,

For where they don't eat there's no washing

of dishes.

I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,

But having no voice I'll be quit of the singing.

Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,

I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.'

Anonymous

Directions: Select the option that best answers the question at the end of the paragraph.

Directions: In following question, four statements are provided. These statements form a coherent paragraph when properly arranged. Select the alternative representing the proper and logical sequencing of these statements.

A. The sun is a great ball of hot gases.
B. It is distributed in layers. C. The hot gases are not actually gases but plasma. D. The layers are at different temperatures.

Directions: In following question, four statements are provided. These statements form a coherent paragraph when properly arranged. Select the alternative representing the proper and logical sequencing of these statements.

A. The pressure falls low at the centre. B. In a hurricane there are severing. C. The low pressure centre is called the 'eye'. D. The winds blow round at high speeds.

Directions: For the word given above the table, match the dictionary definitions on the left (1, 2, 3, 4) with their corresponding usage on the right (a, b, c, d). Out of the four possibilities given in the boxes below the table, select the one that has all the definitions and their usage correctly matched.

IMPERIAL ||| |---|---| | Meaning| Usage| | 1. relating to an empire or its rulers, colonial| a. The queen gave an imperial wave of her hand.| | 2. majestic, regal or grand | b. France had imperial designs on Africa.| | 3. domineering or overbearing| c. An imperial pint of beer, an imperial gallon of petrol.| | 4. an old-fashioned, nonmetric system of
weights, measures, etc.| d. She adopts an imperious tone with waiters.|

According to the passage it may be surmised that we get a vast number of bronze images cast during the reign of Chola kings.

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows.

The gallery named ‘Fifth Dimension’ was started by a young lady in 1978 and for about over 3 decades she has tried to work for the promotion of the young, upcoming and talented artists. Particularly, she has tried to promote the works in rather less explored media like sculpture and printmaking. It has been no less challenging experience for her. It is observed that the medium of sculpture has received comparatively less attention in the contemporary art than painting instead of sculpture for different reasons. However, sculpture has been an integral part of collection at ‘Fifth Dimension’. There are works in wood, terracotta, bronze, ceramic, stone and mixed media in its collection. Creations of Prabhu Katayal, an artist working with beaten and welded metal sheets finds a place in the collection. The themes of the works are mostly of mythical and lyrical nature. There is a sense of strength as well as lightness in his works. There are also works by a group of three artists who have been experimenting with ‘smooth against rough’ technique in granite. One of these artists works in a very interesting way of carving out facial forms with only one prominent feature like a finely rendered nose or mouth against a flat and rough ovoid face. Yet another sculptor who works in metal too has his share in the collection of the gallery. This sculptor’s work shows the influence of Chola bronzes i.e., the rich repository of cast-metal works carried out by the craftsmen during the Chola dynasty. Despite his leanings towards the traditional form of art, he has retained an abstract quality in his works.

According to the passage, only cast metal sculptures form a part of the gallery's collection among its metal sculptures. The statement is

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows.

The gallery named ‘Fifth Dimension’ was started by a young lady in 1978 and for about over 3 decades she has tried to work for the promotion of the young, upcoming and talented artists. Particularly, she has tried to promote the works in rather less explored media like sculpture and printmaking. It has been no less challenging experience for her. It is observed that the medium of sculpture has received comparatively less attention in the contemporary art than painting instead of sculpture for different reasons. However, sculpture has been an integral part of collection at ‘Fifth Dimension’. There are works in wood, terracotta, bronze, ceramic, stone and mixed media in its collection. Creations of Prabhu Katayal, an artist working with beaten and welded metal sheets finds a place in the collection. The themes of the works are mostly of mythical and lyrical nature. There is a sense of strength as well as lightness in his works. There are also works by a group of three artists who have been experimenting with ‘smooth against rough’ technique in granite. One of these artists works in a very interesting way of carving out facial forms with only one prominent feature like a finely rendered nose or mouth against a flat and rough ovoid face. Yet another sculptor who works in metal too has his share in the collection of the gallery. This sculptor’s work shows the influence of Chola bronzes i.e., the rich repository of cast-metal works carried out by the craftsmen during the Chola dynasty. Despite his leanings towards the traditional form of art, he has retained an abstract quality in his works.

The sculptor who works in the style of Chola bronzes is also a member of artists' group mentioned in the pasage. Which of the following is correct about the above statement?

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows.

The gallery named ‘Fifth Dimension’ was started by a young lady in 1978 and for about over 3 decades she has tried to work for the promotion of the young, upcoming and talented artists. Particularly, she has tried to promote the works in rather less explored media like sculpture and printmaking. It has been no less challenging experience for her. It is observed that the medium of sculpture has received comparatively less attention in the contemporary art than painting instead of sculpture for different reasons. However, sculpture has been an integral part of collection at ‘Fifth Dimension’. There are works in wood, terracotta, bronze, ceramic, stone and mixed media in its collection. Creations of Prabhu Katayal, an artist working with beaten and welded metal sheets finds a place in the collection. The themes of the works are mostly of mythical and lyrical nature. There is a sense of strength as well as lightness in his works. There are also works by a group of three artists who have been experimenting with ‘smooth against rough’ technique in granite. One of these artists works in a very interesting way of carving out facial forms with only one prominent feature like a finely rendered nose or mouth against a flat and rough ovoid face. Yet another sculptor who works in metal too has his share in the collection of the gallery. This sculptor’s work shows the influence of Chola bronzes i.e., the rich repository of cast-metal works carried out by the craftsmen during the Chola dynasty. Despite his leanings towards the traditional form of art, he has retained an abstract quality in his works.

According to the passage, the three artists experimenting with granite mostly make oval faces in their sculptures. Which of the following is correct about the above statement?

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows.

The gallery named ‘Fifth Dimension’ was started by a young lady in 1978 and for about over 3 decades she has tried to work for the promotion of the young, upcoming and talented artists. Particularly, she has tried to promote the works in rather less explored media like sculpture and printmaking. It has been no less challenging experience for her. It is observed that the medium of sculpture has received comparatively less attention in the contemporary art than painting instead of sculpture for different reasons. However, sculpture has been an integral part of collection at ‘Fifth Dimension’. There are works in wood, terracotta, bronze, ceramic, stone and mixed media in its collection. Creations of Prabhu Katayal, an artist working with beaten and welded metal sheets finds a place in the collection. The themes of the works are mostly of mythical and lyrical nature. There is a sense of strength as well as lightness in his works. There are also works by a group of three artists who have been experimenting with ‘smooth against rough’ technique in granite. One of these artists works in a very interesting way of carving out facial forms with only one prominent feature like a finely rendered nose or mouth against a flat and rough ovoid face. Yet another sculptor who works in metal too has his share in the collection of the gallery. This sculptor’s work shows the influence of Chola bronzes i.e., the rich repository of cast-metal works carried out by the craftsmen during the Chola dynasty. Despite his leanings towards the traditional form of art, he has retained an abstract quality in his works.