English Grammar Comprehension Notes and Questions
Introduction
Comprehension means understanding or the act or fact of grasping the meaning, nature, or importance of something.
Points to keep in mind while dealing with comprehension:
• Read the passage carefully.
• Understand the meaning.
• Draw an outline of the passage.
• Write the answers precisely and concisely.
• Write the answers in your own words.• Don’t add any extra information.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question 1 to 4:
A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. Like a mirror, a mirage shows images of things which are elsewhere. The principal physical cause of a mirage, however, is refraction rather than reflection.
In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon which can be captured on camera, since light rays actually are refracted to form the false image at the observer’s location. What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind. For example, inferior images on land are very easily mistaken for the reflections from a small body of water.
Mirages can be categorized as “inferior” (meaning lower), “superior” (meaning higher) and “Fata Morgana”, a kind of superior mirage which consist of a series of unusually elaborate, vertically stacked images which form one rapidly changing mirage.
What do you mean by optical phenomenon?
(A) An optical phenomenon is any observable event which results from the interaction of light and darkness.
(B) An optical phenomenon is a particular observable event which results from the reflection of light and matter.
(C) An optical phenomenon is any observable event which results from the interaction of light and matter.
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
What is responsible for the formation of mirage?
(A) Reflection of light
(B) Collision of light rays
(C) Noninvolvement of light
(D) Partial involvement of light
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
What kind of image causes illusion?
(A) Inferior image
(B) Superior image
(C) Moderate image
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
What is imaginary optical phenomenon.
(A) Fata Morgana
(B) Image formation
(C) Mirage
(D) Hallucination
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question 1 to 4:
Two conceptions of science embody two different valuations of scientific life and of the purpose of scientific enquiry. According to the first conception, science is above all else an imaginative and exploratory activity and the scientist is a person who takes part in a great intellectual adventure. The alternative conception suggests that science is above all else a critical and analytical activity and the scientist is preeminently a person who requires evidence before he or she delivers an opinion, and when it comes to evidence is hard to please. In the first conception, truth takes shape in the mind of the observer: it is his imaginative grasp of what might be true that provides the incentive for finding out, so far as he can, what is true. This view point is supported by other scholars of science. For instance, Greenwald, argued: “One’s preliminary hypotheses have a decided advantage in the judgment process.” According to the second conception, truth resides in nature and is to be got at only through the evidence of the senses: apprehension leads by a direct pathway to comprehension, and the scientist’s task is essentially one of discernment.
What do you mean by intellectual adventure?
(A) Exploring a new world
(B) Exploring a new thing
(C) Attaining maximum factual knowledge about the things around us
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
What does the second conception of science suggest?
(A) Science is an imaginative and explanatory activity.
(B) Science is a serious and logical activity.
(C) Science is a serious and irrational activity.
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
B
What is hypothesis?
(A) An observation
(B) A theory
(C) An exploration
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
B
Who is a scientist as per the first conception?
(A) A person who takes part in an illogical quest
(B) A person who takes part in an intellectual activity
(C) A person who takes part in a rational quest
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
Read the following poem carefully and answer the question 1 to 4:
Innocence stolen without my permission;
innocence gone without my submission.
Innocence lost through another’s plan;
innocence no longer for another man.
Innocence turned to hatred and fear;
innocence gone, no man can come near.
Innocence taken from a little girl’s heart;
innocence replaced by mistrust,
you thought you were smart.
Innocence disappears like dew in the sun;
innocence faded before it’s begun.
Innocence obscured like a cloud over the moon;
innocence ripped away too soon.
What is the mood of the poet about the lost innocence?
(A) The poet is in a plaintive mood on lost innocence
(B) The poet is feeling bad
(C) The poet is joyful about the lost innocence
(D) The poet is feeling depressed
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
What has taken the place of innocence?
(A) Hatred
(B) Fear
(C) Mistrust
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
‘’Like dew in the sun”. Which figure of speech do these words represent?
(A) Simile
(B) Metaphor
(C) Personification
(D) Repetition
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
What is the theme of the poem?
(A) Innocence is lost
(B) Man has lost the spontaneity
(C) Mistrust is everywhere
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
Directions: Read the following passages carefully and answer questions that follow:
The first essays in narrowing economic and technological disparities have not succeeded because the policies of aid were made to sub-serve the equations of power. We hope that the renewed emphasis on self- reliance, brought about by the change in the climate for aid, will also promote a search for new criteria of human satisfaction. In the meantime, the ecological crisis should not add to the burdens of the weaker nations by introducing new considerations in the political and trade policies of rich nations. It would be ironic if the fight against pollution were to be converted into another business, out of which a few companies, corporations, or nations would make profits at the cost of the many. Here is a branch of experimentation and discovery in which scientists of all nations should take interest. They should ensure that their findings are available to all nations unrestricted by parents.
The policies of aid
(A) slighted the power dimension
(B) over looked the power dimension
(C) cajoled the power dimension
(D) were indifferent to the power dimension
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
The renewed emphasis on self-reliance will promote a search for
(A) causes of monotony in human life
(B) elements of enthusiasm and self-confidence
(C) future success leading to human satisfaction
(D) merging criteria of human safety
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
Ecological crisis will affect
(A) weaker nations
(B) richer nations
(C) both (A) and (B)
(D) political framework
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
If fight against pollution, turns into a business
(A) All the nations will be equally benefitted
(B) Richer nations will prosper more
(C) Poor nations will be impoverished
(D) Only few nations will make profit at others’ expense
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
Read the following passages carefully and answer questions that follow:
Scare diamonds are more valuable than the clusters of smaller crystals known as bort and carbona do. These diamonds are large single crystals of genuine crystalline carbon.
Diamonds are found in diamondiferous earth that is located in both open-air pits and underground mines. To retrieve the diamonds, the earth is crushed and concentrated. The concentrated material is then sorted by passing it over streams of water on greased tables since diamonds are water repellent they will stick to the grease, while the other minerals will absorb water and pass over the grease. The diamonds are then removed from the grease and cleaned, examined, sorted and graded. The best diamonds are noted for their cleavage, their translucence and their colour.
All diamonds have a natural line of cleavage along which they may be split, and it is essential to split them before they are cut and polished. Before they are cut and polished, they look like tiny blue-grey stones; they do not twinkle or shine. A perfectly cut and polished diamond has 58 faces arranged regularly over itssurface. It will be translucent and colourless, blue, white, green or yellow. The value of a jewel diamond depends largely on its colour or ‘water’, as it is called professionally. A stone of the finest water is blue- white.
Which one of the following statements is best supported by this passage?
(A) The value of a diamond is in large part dependent on the way it «s prepared.
(B) The natural cleavage will determine the value of a diamond.
(C) Translucent and transparent diamonds are considered the most valuable.
(D) It is easy to retrieve diamonds from underground mines.
(E) None of these
Answer
C
Which one of the following most probably was the subject of the paragraph preceding the passage?
(A) A discussion of scarce diamonds
(B) A discussion of bort and carbona do
(C) A discussion of various colour of diamonds
(D) A discussion of means of mining diamonds
(E) None of these
Answer
C
The relationship between the cleavage and translucence of a diamond resembles the relationship between the style of a car and its:
(A) Colour
(B) Size
(C) Price
(D) Speed
(E) None of these
Answer
A
The word ‘ genuine’ could best be replaced by which of the following?
(A) Palpable
(B) Spurious
(C) Real
(D) Accurate
(E) None of these
Answer
C
Read the following passages carefully and answer questions that follow:
The shoemaker, for ages suffered from a bad heart condition and five years ago, after an attack, it had appeared as though he would have either to sacrifice his business upon the auction block and live on a pittance thereafter or put himself at the mercy of unscrupulous employees who would in the end probably ruin him. But just at moment of his darkest despair, this Polish refugee, Sobel appeared one night from the street and begged for work. He was a stocky man, poorly dressed, with a bald head, a severely pained face and soft blue eyes prone to tears over the sad books he read. Though he confessed he knew nothing of shoe- making, he said he was apt and would work for very little if Feld taught him the trade. Feld took him on and within six weeks the refugee rebuilt as good a shoe as he, and not long thereafter expertly ran the business for the shoemaker.
Feld could trust him with anything, and did frequently, going home after an hour or two at the store, leaving all the money in the till knowing Sobel would guard every cent of it. The amazing thing was that he demanded so little. His wants were few; in money he was not interested —in nothing but books, it seemed —which he one by one lent to Feld’s daughter Miriam together with his profuse queer written comments, manufactured during his lonely evenings, which his daughter, from her fourteenth year, read page by sanctified page.
Feld’s conscience bothered him for not insisting that his assistant accept a better wage than he was getting, though Feld had honestly told him he could earn a handsome salary if he worked elsewhere, or may be opened a place of his own. But the assistance answered, somewhat ungraciously, that he was not interested in going elsewhere. Feld frequently asked himself what kept him there, why did he stay? He finally told himself that the man no doubt because of his terrible experiences as refugee, was afraid of the world.
After his heart attack Feld feared that he would have to
(A) take in several employees to help him in the work.
(B) teach his daughter, Miriam, the trade of shoe-making
(C) give up the business immediately and rest in a hospital
(D) sell his business for very little and live as a poor man.
(E) None of these
Answer
D
Sobel begged for work for a pittance
(A) Because he confessed that he knew nothing of shoe-making.
(B) Because he admitted that he was a poor man.
(C) Because he clearly said that he belonged to Poland.
(D) Because he declared that he was man of honesty. (E) None of these
Answer
A
Feld trusted Sobel and
(A) He left the money to the later’s care
(B) He sent him out on business errands
(C) He found that Sobal never told a lie
(D) He felt that people of Poland were honest
(E) None of these
Answer
A
Feld was a man of conscience
(A) Because he had love for the poor
(B) Because he wanted to sell his shoes at a low price
(C) Because he felt that Sobel could get a better salary elsewhere
(D) Because he had given employment to Sobel
(E) None of these
Answer
C
Read the following passages carefully and answer questions that follow:
Today perhaps your only association with the word ‘polio’ is the Sabin Oral Vaccine that protects children from the disease. Fifty-five years ago, this was not so. The dreaded disease, which mainly affects the brain and the spinal cord, causes stiffening and weakening of the muscles, crippling and paralysis – which is why I am in a wheelchair today. If somebody had predicted, when I was born, that it would happen to me, no one would have believed it. I was the seventh child in a family of four pairs of brothers and sisters, with a huge gap of23 year between the first and last. I was told that, unlike the others, I was so fair and brown-haired that I looked more like a foreigner than a Dawood Bohri. I was also considered to be the healthiest of the brood.
In this passage, the word ‘brood’ refers to
(A) Polio victims
(B) Foreign children
(C) Children in the family
(D) Indian children
(E) None of these
Answer
C
In his childhood, the narrator said “more like a foreigner than a Dawood Bohri”. This was because he was
(A) A foreign child
(B) Avery healthy boy
(C) Tall and smart
(D) Fair and brown-haired
(E) None of these
Answer
D
The narrator was the seventh child in a family of
(A) 8 children
(B) 16children
(C) 23children
(D) children
(E) None of these
Answer
A
In this passage, the narrator is a patient of
(A) Heart disease
(B) Polio
(C) Paralysis
(D) Nervous weakness
(E) None of these
Answer:
B
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:
I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of red silk, but was a good deal discolored. There was no maker’s name; but, the initials A.W. were scrawled on one side. It was pierced in the brim for a hat securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the discolored patches by smearing them with ink.
“I can see nothing’ said I, handing it back to my friend.
“On the contrary Watson you can see everything. You fail however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.”
The initials scrawled upon one side of the hat indicated the name of
(A) Holmes
(B) The author
(C) Watson
(D) Some other person
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
Taking the tattered object in his hands, the author turned it
(A) Gleefully
(B) Mournfully
(C) Painfully
(D) Hatefully
(E) None of these
Answer:
B
The part missing in the hat was the
(A) Brim
(B) Top
(C) Bottom
(D) Elastic
(E) None of these
Answer:
D
Watson fails to
(A) Scrutinise
(B) Comprehend
(C) Conclude
(D) Recall
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
At certain places, the hat was smeared with
(A) Red hue
(B) Dust
(C) Ink
(D) Discoloured patterns
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
Read the following poem carefully and answer the question 1 to 4:
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, l’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like l’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still l’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
What does this poem suggest about the poet?
(A) The poet is determined and courageous
(B) The poet is a struggler
(C) The poet is bent and bowed
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
What is the meaning of the word sassiness?
(A) liveliness
(B) Impudence
(C) Impertinence
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
Which one of the following is a simile?
(A) Bowed head
(B) Lowered eyes
(C) Like air
(D) All of these
(E) None of these
Answer:
C
What is the central idea of the poem?
(A) Determination, courage and hard work overcome all the obstacles
(B) Determination, courage and haughtiness overcome all the obstacles
(C) Determination, tentativeness and hard work overcome all the obstacles
(D) Determination, certainty and hard work overcome all the obstacles
(E) None of these
Answer:
A
Which one of the following is the antonym of the word ‘haughtiness’?
(A) Disdainful
(B) Contemptuous
(C) Lordly
(D) Humble,
(E) All of these
Answer:
D
Explanation for selected Questions
1. The initials scrawled upon one side of the hat was A. Therefore,
Answer:
option (D) is correct and rest of the option is incorrect.
2. Taking the tattered object in his hands, the author turned it rueful Synonym of the word ruefully is both mournfully. Therefore
Answer:
option (B) is correct.
5. At certain places the hat was smeared with in Therefore
Answer:
option (C) is correct.
6. In the last line of the poem, the poet declares that come what may, he will still rise like air. It indicates that the poet is courageous and determin Therefore
Answer:
option (A) is correct.
7. The central idea of the poem is that the determination, courage and hard work overcome all the obstacle Therefore .
Answer:
option (A) is correct