Writing and Communication Skills

An essay, in a nutshell as per the passage can briefly be described as

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is a pleasant story of an itinerant sign-painter who while going his rounds came to a village inn upon whose signboard he had had his eye for some months and had watched with increasing hope and delight its rapid progress to blurred and faded dimness. To his horror he found a brand-new vanished sign. He surveyed it with disgust, and said to the innkeeper, who stood nervously by hoping for a professional compliment, ‘This looks as if someone had been doing it himself.’
That sentence holds within it the key to the whole mystery of essay-writing. An essay is a thing which someone does himself; and the point of the essay is not the subject, for any subject will suffice, but the charm of personality. It must concern itself with something ‘jolly’, as the schoolboy says, something smelt, heard, seen, perceived, invented, thought, but the essential thing is that the writer shall have formed his own impression, and that it shall have taken shape in his own mind; and the charm of the essay depends upon the charm of the mind that has conceived and recorded the impression. It will be seen, then, that the essay need not concern itself with anything definite; it need not have an intellectual or a philosophical or a religious or a humourous motif; but equally none of these subjects are ruled out. The only thing necessary is that the thing or the thought should be vividly apprehended, enjoyed, felt to be beautiful, and expressed with a certain gusto. It need conform to no particular rules. All literature answers to something in life, some habitual form of human expression. The stage imitates life, calling in the services of the eye and the ear; there is the narrative of the teller of tales or the minstrel; the song, the letter, the talk—all forms of human expression and communication have their antitypes in literature. The essay is the reverie, the frame of mind in which a man says, in the words of the old song, ‘Says I to myself, says I’.
It is generally supposed that Montaigne is the first writer who wrote what may technically be called essays. His pieces are partly autobiographical, partly speculative, and to a great extent ethical. But the roots of his writings lie far back in literary history. He owed a great part of his inspiration to Cicero, who treated of abstract topics in a conversational way with a romantic background; and this he owed to Plato, whose dialogues undoubtedly contain the germ of both the novel and the essay. Plato is in truth far more the forerunner of the novelist than of the philosopher. He made a background of life, he peopled his scenes with bright boys and amiable elders—oh that all scenes were so peopled!—and he discussed ethical and speculative problems of life and character with a vital rather than with a philosophical interest. Plato’s dialogues would be essays but for the fact that they have a dramatic colouring, while the essence of essay is soliloquy. But in the writings of Cicero the dramatic interest is but slight, and the whole thing approaches far more nearly to the essay than to the novel. Probably Cicero supplied to his readers the function both of the essayist and the preacher, and fed the needs of so-called thoughtful readers by dallying, in a fashion which it is hardly unjust to call twaddling, with familiar ethical problems of conduct and character. The charm of Montaigne is the charm of personality—frankness, gusto, acute observation, lively acquaintance with men and manners. He is ashamed of recording nothing that interested him; and a certain discreet shamelessness must always be the characteristic of the essayist, for the essence of his art is to say what has pleased him without too prudently considering whether it is worthy of the attention of the well-informed mind. (AC Benson’s The Art of the Essayist)

Instead of beginning with a definition at the very outset, the author recounts a story of an itinerant sign-painter. What objective(s), if any, does the author achieve by this? A. Quite effectively, he draws the readers attention to the avaricious nature of a sign-painter. B. He draws the readers immediate attention to the personal element in essay writing. C. It was customary then that such sign paints were carried out by professionals.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is a pleasant story of an itinerant sign-painter who while going his rounds came to a village inn upon whose signboard he had had his eye for some months and had watched with increasing hope and delight its rapid progress to blurred and faded dimness. To his horror he found a brand-new vanished sign. He surveyed it with disgust, and said to the innkeeper, who stood nervously by hoping for a professional compliment, ‘This looks as if someone had been doing it himself.’
That sentence holds within it the key to the whole mystery of essay-writing. An essay is a thing which someone does himself; and the point of the essay is not the subject, for any subject will suffice, but the charm of personality. It must concern itself with something ‘jolly’, as the schoolboy says, something smelt, heard, seen, perceived, invented, thought, but the essential thing is that the writer shall have formed his own impression, and that it shall have taken shape in his own mind; and the charm of the essay depends upon the charm of the mind that has conceived and recorded the impression. It will be seen, then, that the essay need not concern itself with anything definite; it need not have an intellectual or a philosophical or a religious or a humourous motif; but equally none of these subjects are ruled out. The only thing necessary is that the thing or the thought should be vividly apprehended, enjoyed, felt to be beautiful, and expressed with a certain gusto. It need conform to no particular rules. All literature answers to something in life, some habitual form of human expression. The stage imitates life, calling in the services of the eye and the ear; there is the narrative of the teller of tales or the minstrel; the song, the letter, the talk—all forms of human expression and communication have their antitypes in literature. The essay is the reverie, the frame of mind in which a man says, in the words of the old song, ‘Says I to myself, says I’.
It is generally supposed that Montaigne is the first writer who wrote what may technically be called essays. His pieces are partly autobiographical, partly speculative, and to a great extent ethical. But the roots of his writings lie far back in literary history. He owed a great part of his inspiration to Cicero, who treated of abstract topics in a conversational way with a romantic background; and this he owed to Plato, whose dialogues undoubtedly contain the germ of both the novel and the essay. Plato is in truth far more the forerunner of the novelist than of the philosopher. He made a background of life, he peopled his scenes with bright boys and amiable elders—oh that all scenes were so peopled!—and he discussed ethical and speculative problems of life and character with a vital rather than with a philosophical interest. Plato’s dialogues would be essays but for the fact that they have a dramatic colouring, while the essence of essay is soliloquy. But in the writings of Cicero the dramatic interest is but slight, and the whole thing approaches far more nearly to the essay than to the novel. Probably Cicero supplied to his readers the function both of the essayist and the preacher, and fed the needs of so-called thoughtful readers by dallying, in a fashion which it is hardly unjust to call twaddling, with familiar ethical problems of conduct and character. The charm of Montaigne is the charm of personality—frankness, gusto, acute observation, lively acquaintance with men and manners. He is ashamed of recording nothing that interested him; and a certain discreet shamelessness must always be the characteristic of the essayist, for the essence of his art is to say what has pleased him without too prudently considering whether it is worthy of the attention of the well-informed mind. (AC Benson’s The Art of the Essayist)

What, according to the passage, is the essence of an essay?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is a pleasant story of an itinerant sign-painter who while going his rounds came to a village inn upon whose signboard he had had his eye for some months and had watched with increasing hope and delight its rapid progress to blurred and faded dimness. To his horror he found a brand-new vanished sign. He surveyed it with disgust, and said to the innkeeper, who stood nervously by hoping for a professional compliment, ‘This looks as if someone had been doing it himself.’
That sentence holds within it the key to the whole mystery of essay-writing. An essay is a thing which someone does himself; and the point of the essay is not the subject, for any subject will suffice, but the charm of personality. It must concern itself with something ‘jolly’, as the schoolboy says, something smelt, heard, seen, perceived, invented, thought, but the essential thing is that the writer shall have formed his own impression, and that it shall have taken shape in his own mind; and the charm of the essay depends upon the charm of the mind that has conceived and recorded the impression. It will be seen, then, that the essay need not concern itself with anything definite; it need not have an intellectual or a philosophical or a religious or a humourous motif; but equally none of these subjects are ruled out. The only thing necessary is that the thing or the thought should be vividly apprehended, enjoyed, felt to be beautiful, and expressed with a certain gusto. It need conform to no particular rules. All literature answers to something in life, some habitual form of human expression. The stage imitates life, calling in the services of the eye and the ear; there is the narrative of the teller of tales or the minstrel; the song, the letter, the talk—all forms of human expression and communication have their antitypes in literature. The essay is the reverie, the frame of mind in which a man says, in the words of the old song, ‘Says I to myself, says I’.
It is generally supposed that Montaigne is the first writer who wrote what may technically be called essays. His pieces are partly autobiographical, partly speculative, and to a great extent ethical. But the roots of his writings lie far back in literary history. He owed a great part of his inspiration to Cicero, who treated of abstract topics in a conversational way with a romantic background; and this he owed to Plato, whose dialogues undoubtedly contain the germ of both the novel and the essay. Plato is in truth far more the forerunner of the novelist than of the philosopher. He made a background of life, he peopled his scenes with bright boys and amiable elders—oh that all scenes were so peopled!—and he discussed ethical and speculative problems of life and character with a vital rather than with a philosophical interest. Plato’s dialogues would be essays but for the fact that they have a dramatic colouring, while the essence of essay is soliloquy. But in the writings of Cicero the dramatic interest is but slight, and the whole thing approaches far more nearly to the essay than to the novel. Probably Cicero supplied to his readers the function both of the essayist and the preacher, and fed the needs of so-called thoughtful readers by dallying, in a fashion which it is hardly unjust to call twaddling, with familiar ethical problems of conduct and character. The charm of Montaigne is the charm of personality—frankness, gusto, acute observation, lively acquaintance with men and manners. He is ashamed of recording nothing that interested him; and a certain discreet shamelessness must always be the characteristic of the essayist, for the essence of his art is to say what has pleased him without too prudently considering whether it is worthy of the attention of the well-informed mind. (AC Benson’s The Art of the Essayist)

An essay, in a nutshell, as per the passage, can briefly be described as

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is a pleasant story of an itinerant sign-painter who while going his rounds came to a village inn upon whose signboard he had had his eye for some months and had watched with increasing hope and delight its rapid progress to blurred and faded dimness. To his horror he found a brand-new vanished sign. He surveyed it with disgust, and said to the innkeeper, who stood nervously by hoping for a professional compliment, ‘This looks as if someone had been doing it himself.’
That sentence holds within it the key to the whole mystery of essay-writing. An essay is a thing which someone does himself; and the point of the essay is not the subject, for any subject will suffice, but the charm of personality. It must concern itself with something ‘jolly’, as the schoolboy says, something smelt, heard, seen, perceived, invented, thought, but the essential thing is that the writer shall have formed his own impression, and that it shall have taken shape in his own mind; and the charm of the essay depends upon the charm of the mind that has conceived and recorded the impression. It will be seen, then, that the essay need not concern itself with anything definite; it need not have an intellectual or a philosophical or a religious or a humourous motif; but equally none of these subjects are ruled out. The only thing necessary is that the thing or the thought should be vividly apprehended, enjoyed, felt to be beautiful, and expressed with a certain gusto. It need conform to no particular rules. All literature answers to something in life, some habitual form of human expression. The stage imitates life, calling in the services of the eye and the ear; there is the narrative of the teller of tales or the minstrel; the song, the letter, the talk—all forms of human expression and communication have their antitypes in literature. The essay is the reverie, the frame of mind in which a man says, in the words of the old song, ‘Says I to myself, says I’.
It is generally supposed that Montaigne is the first writer who wrote what may technically be called essays. His pieces are partly autobiographical, partly speculative, and to a great extent ethical. But the roots of his writings lie far back in literary history. He owed a great part of his inspiration to Cicero, who treated of abstract topics in a conversational way with a romantic background; and this he owed to Plato, whose dialogues undoubtedly contain the germ of both the novel and the essay. Plato is in truth far more the forerunner of the novelist than of the philosopher. He made a background of life, he peopled his scenes with bright boys and amiable elders—oh that all scenes were so peopled!—and he discussed ethical and speculative problems of life and character with a vital rather than with a philosophical interest. Plato’s dialogues would be essays but for the fact that they have a dramatic colouring, while the essence of essay is soliloquy. But in the writings of Cicero the dramatic interest is but slight, and the whole thing approaches far more nearly to the essay than to the novel. Probably Cicero supplied to his readers the function both of the essayist and the preacher, and fed the needs of so-called thoughtful readers by dallying, in a fashion which it is hardly unjust to call twaddling, with familiar ethical problems of conduct and character. The charm of Montaigne is the charm of personality—frankness, gusto, acute observation, lively acquaintance with men and manners. He is ashamed of recording nothing that interested him; and a certain discreet shamelessness must always be the characteristic of the essayist, for the essence of his art is to say what has pleased him without too prudently considering whether it is worthy of the attention of the well-informed mind. (AC Benson’s The Art of the Essayist)

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

A. But in this, as in other sciences, when the truth has been reached it can generally be presented in a comparatively simple form, and the main positions can be justified even to the general reader by methods much less complicated, and much more lucid, than those originally followed by the investigators themselves. B. Historical criticism is a comparatively modern science, and in its application to this, as to other histories, it has made many false and uncertain steps. C. The process of disentangling the twisted skein of tradition is necessarily a very delicate and complicated one, and involves certain operations for which special scholarship is indispensable. D. The modern view has been reached by a mass of investigations and discussions of which no satisfactory general account has ever been laid before the English reader.

Which of the following if placed after sentence (11) will be the most effective concluding sentence for the passage?

Directions: Read the passage and select the best answer for the question:

(1) Research in education has of recent years turned its attention to the problem of assessing a student’s progress as accurately as possible. (2) Only when this is done, can a meaningful course of study be laid down and a student helped to recognize his difficulties and overcome it. (3) But, despite all the new thinking on this subject, there is still no acceptable alternative to the examination. (4) There have been remarkable advances in analyzing the process of learning and in framing tests and maintaining week to week records which provide the teacher with valuable information about the progress of his class and of each individual in it. (5) Whether it be at the end of term, or the year, or at the end of a school course or for the purpose of choosing candidates for a course of study and training, the only practicable way of measuring a student’s performance or of assessing his potential is by an examination, supplemented where necessary, by recommendation, interview and other devices.
(6) The most unfortunate by-product of this has been the proliferation of study notes, guides to passing examination, model answers, hints for writing essays and similar travesties of education. (7) There is no need to engage on the unethical nature of these publications. (8) From the student’s point of view a rigorous censorship of this kind of publication would be a great advantage. (9) For one thing these ‘notes’ promote the habit of rote learning. (10) For the other, they are priced more highly than the poems of Wordsworth or the plays of Shakespeare. (11) They are not worth the paper they are printed on.

Which one of the following sentences if deleted will not disturb the flow of the paragraph?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

(1) Under the present system of mass education by classes so much stress is laid on teaching and so little on active learning. (2) The child is not encouraged to discover his own powers, thus losing intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. (3) The over-taught child is the advertising-believing propaganda–swallowing, demagogue–led man. (4) Such is the man who makes modern democracy the force it is. (5) Moreover, lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied. (6) He has to be coerced into learning what does not interest him and the information acquired mechanically is rapidly forgotten. (7) Quite naturally, the child, being bored and unoccupied, is also mischievous. (8) A strict external discipline becomes necessary unless there is to be chaos and pandemonium. (9) The child learns to obey, not to control himself. (10) He loses moral as well as intellectual independence. (11) Such are the main defects in the current system of mass education. (12) Many others could be mentioned but there are defects in detail. (13) We need a new system of universal education of the same kind as that proved so successful in the training of detectives and infants, but modified so as to be suitable for older boys and girls. (14) We need a system of individual education.

Which of the following is the best revision of the underlined portion of sentence no. (3) below? These methods, when applied in politics, still represent

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

Which of the following is the best version of underlined portion of sentence 5? still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

The author's argument could be strengthened by

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

(1) Under the present system of mass education by classes so much stress is laid on teaching and so little on active learning. (2) The child is not encouraged to discover his own powers, thus losing intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. (3) The over-taught child is the advertising-believing propaganda–swallowing, demagogue–led man. (4) Such is the man who makes modern democracy the force it is. (5) Moreover, lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied. (6) He has to be coerced into learning what does not interest him and the information acquired mechanically is rapidly forgotten. (7) Quite naturally, the child, being bored and unoccupied, is also mischievous. (8) A strict external discipline becomes necessary unless there is to be chaos and pandemonium. (9) The child learns to obey, not to control himself. (10) He loses moral as well as intellectual independence. (11) Such are the main defects in the current system of mass education. (12) Many others could be mentioned but there are defects in detail. (13) We need a new system of universal education of the same kind as that proved so successful in the training of detectives and infants, but modified so as to be suitable for older boys and girls. (14) We need a system of individual education.

Which of the following can most logically be added after sentence [13] to conclude the essay?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.

What is the error in sentence 10?

Directions for the question:

The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answer for the question that follows. Keep in mind that some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask to consider organization and development. In choosing the answer, follow the requirements of standard written English.

[1] The whole progress of human civilization beyond its earliest stages has been made possible by the invention of methods of thought. [2] These methods enable us to interpret and forecast the working of nature more successfully than we could if we merely followed the line of least resistance in the use of our minds. [3] These methods, when applied in politics, still represent a difficult and uncertain art rather than a science producing its effects with mechanical accuracy.
[4] When the great thinkers of Greece laid down rules for valid reasoning, they had the needs of politics particularly in their minds. [5] If Plato could visit us now, he would learn that while our artisans proceed by rigorous and confident processes to exact results, our statesmen, like the artisans of ancient Athens, still trust to empirical maxims and personal skill. [6] Why is it, he would ask us, that valid reasoning has proved to be so much more difficult in politics than in the physical sciences?
[7] The universe which presents itself to our reason is the same as that which presents itself to our feelings and impulses—an unending stream of sensations and memories - every one of which is different from every other. [8] Our first answer might be found in the character of the material with which political reasoning has to deal. [9] Before these, unless we can select and recognize and simplify, we must stand helpless, unable to either act or think. [10] Man has therefore to create entities that shall be the material of his reasoning, just as he creates entities to be the objects of his emotions and the stimulus of his instinctive inferences. [11] Exact reasoning requires exact comparison. [12] In the desert or the forest there were few things which our ancestors could compare exactly. [13] The heavenly bodies seem, indeed, to have been the first objects of consciously exact reasoning, because they were so distant that nothing could be known of them except position and movement, and their position and movement could be exactly compared from night to night.