English Language

Literary Analysis

4,495 Questions

Analyze classic and modernist novels, autobiographies, plays, and graphic novels across various genres. This topic tests your familiarity with prominent authors, literary movements, and thematic elements. Questions appear regularly in the English language sections of SSC, banking, and teaching competency exams.

Classic and modernist novelsAutobiographies and biographiesPoetic language and farcesThematic literary elements

Literary Analysis Questions

Multiple choice novels, society and history history

Name the famous novel of Charles Dickens.

  1. Hard Times

  2. Oliver Twist

  3. Great Expectations

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Charles John Huffman Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some best fictional characters.

  • Hard Times: - He writes about the times during the industrial revolution in this novel.  It focuses on the fictional town of Coke town, England and the people who live there and their struggles.
  • Oliver Twist was the second novel by Charles Dickens.  It portrays the life of an orphan who is sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. From there he escapes and joins criminal gangs. This shows the life of the criminals.
  • Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens which depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip.

Multiple choice novels, society and history history

The first novel to be serialised was ____________.

  1. Pickwick Books

  2. Pickwick Papers

  3. Pocket Books

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Pickwick papers are of Pick Wick club is Charles Dickens first novel. He wrote this novel at the age 24. It is the first novel that has been serialized. It consisted of sequences of loose adventures. The novel’s main character is Samuel Pickwick hence the name Pickwick papers.

Multiple choice social studies print culture and the modern world film and print media evolution of writing and communication system great reformers and reform movements

Which invention made the novel popular?

  1. Invention of Ink

  2. Invention of paper

  3. Invention of printing technology

  4. Invention of rubber
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Novels had played a very significant role for imbibing a sense of nationalism in Indians.
Novels had brought this aspect by bringing together people from varied background and produced a sense of shared community.

Novel was made popular after the invention of printing press as it made printing cheap and affordable. Printing was made easier as age old tiresome techniques of printing have been replaced by new mechanical printing press

Multiple choice history the middle ages europe in the middle ages feudal systems in europe medieval america and decline of feudalism

What did the priest tell people about what would happen when they die?

  1. Their souls would be tortured for their sins

  2. They will reincarnate after 3 days of their death if they lived a good life

  3. They will reincarnate after 3 days of their death

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century, the Church appeared as the new dominant power of Europe. Like the Romans, they had their capital in Rome and they had their own emperor – the Pope. In the Middle Ages, almost everyone believed strictly in the doctrine of the Church, which meant they believed they were either going to heaven or hell when they died. The Medieval Church inherited and taught the doctrine of original sin, the belief that all human beings share in collective guilt as a result of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the Fall of Humankind, together with an ongoing predisposition to disobey God. Mortal, or ‘deadly', sins were wrong acts committed consciously and deliberately. They, therefore, placed the soul in serious danger and the Church taught that, in normal circumstances, they could only be forgiven through the sacrament of penance and by confession to a priest. It was said that people who die with mortal sins in their hearts are condemned to hell for all eternity. Put another way, people who hide from God’s mercy and refuse communion with him are “left” alone for all eternity. Hence, Option A is correct. Among the rest, reincarnation was attributed only to the son of God, Jesus Christ, and no other mortals. Hence, these are incorrect. 


Multiple choice sentences and types writing english

What effect is created by the structure and length of the following sentences:

The cat prowled silently towards the unsuspecting mouse. It laid one paw carefully, cautiously, upon the ground, the whole while keeping a fixed, unwavering gaze on its next meal. Suddenly, it plunged forward and grabbed the creature between its canines.

  1. Suspense

  2. Action

  3. Time-dragging

  4. Laziness
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A,B Correct answer
Explanation

The correct answers are Options A and B. The sentences are small and the main role is played by the verbs used in the sentences. The action verbs are predominant in the giving sentences. Thus, an effect of action is created by the sentence. At the same time, the sentences are small and creates an effect of suspense leaving the reader curious to know what happens further.
Options C and D are incorrect as the structure and length of the sentences do not adhere to the given effects.

Multiple choice great depression between the two world wars - the russian revolution and the great depression history russian revolution the russian revolution

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck describes the fortunes of a family forced out of Oklahoma by the ravages of the ______.

  1. New Deal

  2. War Department

  3. Great Society

  4. Dust Bowl

  5. Potato famine
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck describes the fortunes of a family forced out of Oklahoma by the ravages of the Dust Bowl.

Multiple choice great depression between the two world wars - the russian revolution and the great depression history russian revolution the russian revolution

The novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis _________.

  1. warned Americans in the 1920s that excessive buying on credit could lead to an economic crisis.

  2. described what the United States would look like if communists led a successful revolution in the 1950s.

  3. imagined a fascist takeover in the United States in the 1930s.

  4. addressed the danger of nuclear war in the 1960s.

  5. woke Californians up in the 1970s to the dangers of a devastating earthquake.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis imagined a fascist takeover in the United States in the 1930s.

Multiple choice great depression between the two world wars - the russian revolution and the great depression history russian revolution the russian revolution

Matches the artist and the cultural product he or she created:
X) John Steinbeck                      1) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Y) Frank Capra                         2) The Good Earth
Z) Margaret Mitchell                3) The Grapes of Wrath
                                                  4) Gone With the Wind
                                                  5) Waiting for Lefty

  1. X-2, Y-4, Z-5

  2. X-3, Y-2, Z-4

  3. X-5, Y-2, Z-1

  4. X-3, Y-4, Z-1

  5. X-3, Y-1, Z-4
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

John Steinbeck wrote 'The Grapes of Wrath' (X-3), Frank Capra directed 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (Y-1), and Margaret Mitchell wrote 'Gone With the Wind' (Z-4).

Multiple choice great depression between the two world wars - the russian revolution and the great depression history russian revolution the russian revolution

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck's Depression-era novel, chronicles the lives of ________.

  1. Mexican migrant farm workers.

  2. displaced Dust Bowl farmers.

  3. Southern sharecroppers.

  4. coal miners from West Virginia.

  5. unemployed autoworkers from Michigan.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck's Depression-era novel, chronicles the lives of  displaced Dust Bowl farmers.

Multiple choice great depression between the two world wars - the russian revolution and the great depression history russian revolution the russian revolution

Identify the correct statement about the novel "It Can't Happen Here" written by Sinclair Lewis.

  1. It warned Americans in the 1920s that excessive buying on credit could lead to an economic crisis.

  2. It described what the United States would look like if communists led a successful revolution in the 1950s.

  3. It imagined a fascist takeover in the Europe in the 1930s.

  4. It addressed the danger of nuclear war in the 1960s.

  5. It woke Californians up in the 1970s to the dangers of a devastating earthquake.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Multiple choice zoology why classification? history of classification of organisms introduction to classification of living organisms living world and classification

Which of the following book was written by Theophrastus?

  1. 'Enquiry into Plants'

  2. 'On the Causes of Plants'

  3. 'Historia Plantarum'

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Theophrastus is considered father of botany. He was the Greek philosopher and the first to attempt to classify plants of the basis of their morphological features. On the basis of their height, girth and branches, the plants were classified as tree, shrubs, sub-shrubs and herbs. He considered the trees as most advanced plant and classified around 500 plant species of plants which are mentioned in his book Historia Plantarum. Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants were also penned by him. 

Thus, the correct answer is option D. 

Multiple choice biography and autobiography writing english

A/An ____________ is a book about a person's life written by someone else.

  1. Biography

  2. Autobiography

  3. Epilogue

  4. Novel
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The correct answer is Option A.
A biography is the description of a real person's life. The biography includes the personal life experiences of the person. Majority of biographies are written about people who are or were famous.
Option B is incorrect as an autobiography is the type of biography which tells the life story of the author. It is the written record of the author's life.
Option C is incorrect as an epilogue comes at the end of a text and it provides a comment or reflection on what has occurred in the text.
Option D is incorrect as a novel is a long narrative work of fiction with some realism.