Tag: reading comprehension

Questions Related to reading comprehension

State whether true or false:
Parody is often confused with satire. Parody can be used to develop satire, in addition, parody and satire are not completely similar in meaning.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

A parody is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work—its subject, author, style, or some other target—by means of satiric or ironic imitation whereas a satire uses ridicule, sarcasm, humor, irony, or exaggeration, to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. So, we can conclude that  satire uses humor and to a certain extent parody to make a social commentary. In this context, we can deduce taht the given statement is true. Option A is the answer.

State whether the statement is True of False:

A parody intends to make fun of an original workits subject, author, style, or some other target by means of satiric or ironic imitation. 

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon says, "parody is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text."
Parody is one of the most important art forms mastered in the present era. It's basically a reworking of one kind of composition into another from a different perspective, usually a humorous one. A prominent example would be:
Charlie Chaplin's impersonation of Adolf Hitler for comic effect in the satirical film, The Great Dictator (1940). Thus, the statement is true.

State whether the statement is true of false:

A parody does not always need to refer to the entire work it's parodying, but can instead pick and choose aspects of it to satirize, exaggerate, disparage, or mock.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

It's a universally acknowledged fact that an entire thing or topic or person cannot be parodied. Certain aspects, some qualities or features are taken from them and reworked upon to generate a fun feeling or treated from an alternate perspective to bring out a humorous aspect of the subject. Hence, the statement is true.

State whether the statement is True of False:

The word "spoof" is somewhat more commonly used today than "parody," but they're essentially synonyms.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

A parody also called a spoof, or caricature, or joke is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original workits subject, author, style, or some other targetby means of satiric or ironic imitation. Hence, the statement is true.

State whether the statement is True or False:

Parody can sometimes be satirical, and satires can sometimes utilize parodies.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Parody and Satire share a few fundamental elements. Both often use exaggeration to illuminate the flaws and absurdities of a figure or social entity. Alec Baldwin's impression of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live is an example of both parody and satire.
In light of this example, we can claim that the given statement is true.

Identify the literary style of the following passage:

   Come ye to this twin-peaked slope of Parnassus with distant views, [where dancers are welcome], and [lead me in my songs], Pierian Goddesses who dwell on the snow-swept crags of Helicon. Sing in honour of Pythian Phoebus, golden-haired, skilled archer and musician, whom blessed Leto bore beside the celebrated marsh, grasping with her hands a sturdy branch of the grey-green olive tree in her time of travail.And the whole vault of heaven rejoiced, [cloudless and bright] and the air subdued to calmness the swift rushing of winds, and the [mighty] deep-thunderous swell of Nereus subsided, and great Oceanus who surrounds and embraces the earth with his waters. 

   Then, leaving the island where Mount Cynthus stands, the god crossed over to the famed land of Attica where the first crops were grown, landing on the earth-peaked headland of the Tritonian goddess.
   And the Libyan aulos, pouring forth a honey-sweet sound, sings forth, mingling its delightful voice with the trilling melodies [of the cithara]; and Echo, who lives among the rocks, cries forth.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. Sonnet

  2. Epigram

  3. Paean

  4. Ode

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The passage is definitely not a sonnet (a fourteen line poem); it is not an ode (a three part lyrical poem); its also not an epigraph (a short quotation at the beginning of a book or a chapter). The only option left is Paean- a song of praise or triumph and "Sing in honour of Pythian Phoebus, golden-haired, skilled archer and musician, whom blessed Leto bore beside the celebrated marsh, ..." supports the claim that the passage is a Paean. Option C is the answer.

Identify the genre that the following passage belongs to:

Meliboeus.
You, Tityrus, 'neath a broad beech-canopy
Reclining, on the slender oat rehearse
Your silvan ditties: I from my sweet fields,
And home's familiar bounds, even now depart.
Exiled from home am I; while, Tityrus, you
Sit careless in the shade, and, at your call,
"Fair Amaryllis" bid the woods resound.

Tityrus.
O Meliboeus, 'twas a god vouchsafed
This ease to us, for him a god will I
Deem ever, and from my folds a tender lamb
Oft with its life-blood shall his altar stain.
His gift it is that, as your eyes may see,
My kine may roam at large,

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. Satire

  2. Allegory

  3. Pastoral

  4. Sonnet

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Meliboeus and Tityrus present a idealized version of the country life as evidenced by lines and phrases like "my sweet fields". It is evident from the passage that Meliboeus is exiled from the fields that he used to cultivate and he is asking Tityrus how he alluded exile and is free to cultivate his fields.  This classifies the passage as pastoral literature. So, the answer is option C.

Identify the literary device used in the following passage:

The Farmer

A farmer, bent on doubling the profits from his land,
Proceeded to set his soil a two-harvest demand.
Too intent thus on profit, harm himself he must needs:
Instead of corn, he now reaps corn cockle and weeds.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. Metonymy

  2. Parable

  3. Satire

  4. Tragedy

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The Farmer is a short , simple story that preaches a moral- greed is never good. This story being a  short, simple tale that teaches a moral lesson makes it a Parable. So, option B is the answer.

Identify the genre to which the following passage belongs:

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. Satire

  2. Allegory

  3. Pastoral

  4. Comedy

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

"...we will all the pleasures prove, 
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, 
Woods, or steepy mountain yields." - these lines from the given poem idealize the countryside and so the poem qualifies as pastoral. The given poem is definitely not satiric or allegoric (a poem with an implied moral lesson) and it also does not belong to the genre of comedy. So, the answer is option C. 

Identify the literary device used in the following passage:

   This was early in March. During the next three months, there was much secret activity. Majors speech had given to the more intelligent animals on the farm a completely new outlook on life. They did not know when the Rebellion predicted by Major would take place, they had no reason for thinking that it would be within their own lifetime, but they saw clearly that it was their duty to prepare for it. The work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.  
   Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and  Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale.... Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and expounded the principles of Animalism to the others.
techniques of style reading comprehension english

  1. Simile

  2. Allusion

  3. Allegory

  4. Satire

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The passage given belongs to the genre of allegory. Allegory generally refers to a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning which usually turns out to be  either moral or political. This passage is allegoric as it has a moral lesson: animalism. The principle of Animalism is that all animals are friends. So, option C is the answer.