GATE 2024- Humanities and Social Sciences - English previous paper
General Aptitude (GA)
Q.1 – Q.5 Carry ONE mark Each
Q.1 If ‘→’ denotes increasing order of intensity, then the meaning of the words
[simmer → seethe → smolder] is analogous to [break → raze → ________ ].
Which one of the given options is appropriate to fill the blank?
(A) obfuscate
(B) obliterate
(C) fracture
(D) fissure
Answer: B
Q.2 In a locality, the houses are numbered in the following way:
The house-numbers on one side of a road are consecutive odd integers starting from 301, while the house-numbers on the other side of the road are consecutive even numbers starting from 302. The total number of houses is the same on both sides of the road.
If the difference of the sum of the house-numbers between the two sides of the road is 27, then the number of houses on each side of the road is
(A) 27
(B) 52
(C) 54
(D) 26
Answer: A
Q.3
(A) 𝑞𝑝=𝑝𝑞
(B) 𝑞𝑝=𝑝2𝑞
(C) √𝑞=√𝑝
(D) 𝑝√𝑞=𝑞√𝑝
Answer: A
Q.4 Which one of the given options is a possible value of x in the following sequence?
3, 7, 15, x, 63, 127, 255
(A) 35
(B) 40
(C) 45
(D) 31
Answer: D
Q.5 On a given day, how many times will the second-hand and the minute-hand of a clock cross each other during the clock time 12:05:00 hours to 12:55:00 hours?
(A) 51
(B) 49
(C) 50
(D) 55
Answer: C
Q.6 – Q.10 Carry TWO marks Each
Q.6 In the given text, the blanks are numbered (i)−(iv). Select the best match for all the blanks.
From the ancient Athenian arena to the modern Olympic stadiums, athletics ….. (i)….. the potential for a spectacle. The crowd ….. (ii) ….. with bated breath as the Olympian artist twists his body, stretching the javelin behind him. Twelve strides in, he begins to cross-step. Six cross-steps ….. (iii) ….. in an abrupt stop on his left foot. As his body ….. (iv) ….. like a door turning on a hinge, the javelin is launched skyward at a precise angle.
(A) (i) hold (ii) waits (iii) culminates (iv) pivot
(B) (i) holds (ii) wait (iii) culminates (iv) pivot
(C) (i) hold (ii) wait (iii) culminate (iv) pivots
(D) (i) holds (ii) waits (iii) culminate (iv) pivots
Answer: D
Q.7 Three distinct sets of indistinguishable twins are to be seated at a circular table that has 8 identical chairs. Unique seating arrangements are defined by the relative positions of the people.
How many unique seating arrangements are possible such that each person is sitting next to their twin?
(A) 12
(B) 14
(C) 10
(D) 28
Answer: A
Q.8 The chart given below compares the Installed Capacity (MW) of four power generation technologies, T1, T2, T3, and T4, and their Electricity Generation (MWh) in a time of 1000 hours (h).
Which one of the given technologies has the highest Capacity Factor?
(A) T1
(B) T2
(C) T3
(D) T4
Answer: A
Q.9 In the 4 × 4 array shown below, each cell of the first three columns has either a cross (X) or a number, as per the given rule.
Rule: The number in a cell represents the count of crosses around its immediate neighboring cells (left, right, top, bottom, diagonals).
As per this rule, the maximum number of crosses possible in the empty column is
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 3
Answer: C
Q.10 During a half-moon phase, the Earth-Moon-Sun form a right triangle. If the Moon-Earth-Sun angle at this half-moon phase is measured to be 89.85°, the ratio of the Earth-Sun and Earth-Moon distances is closest to
(A) 328
(B) 382
(C) 238
(D) 283
Answer: B
Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)
XH-B1: Q.11– Q.17 Carry ONE mark Each
Q.11 Amma’s tone in the context of the given passage is that of:
For Amma, the difference between men and women was a kind of discrimination and inequality; she felt strongly about women’s rights but was not familiar with concepts like gender and patriarchy. She would have dismissed Betty Friedan because she was predominantly dealing with the problems of white middle-class women in the United States. Amma, and women of her generation, could de-link the oppression of women from the wider struggle for the liberation of human beings from class exploitation and imperialism. So Amma continued to play her role as mother and wife, but would often complain: ‘I am a doormat on which everyone wipes their emotional dirt off’.
(A) Compromise
(B) Protest
(C) Contentment
(D) Resignation
Answer: B
Q.12 Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct sequence for the following passage:
I am wearing for the first time some (i)________ that I have never been able to wear for long at a time, as they are horribly tight. I usually put them on just before giving a lecture. The painful pressure they exert on my feet goads my oratorical capacities to their utmost. This sharp and overwhelming pain makes me sing like a nightingale or like one of those Neapolitan singers who also wear (ii)____ that are too tight. The visceral physical longing, the overwhelming torture provoked by my (iii)_____, forces me to extract from words distilled and sublime truths, generalized by the supreme inquisition of the pain my (iv)____ suffer.
(A) (i) patent-leather belt (ii) belts (iii) patent-leather belt (iv) waist
(B) (i) patent-leather shoes (ii) bands (iii) patent-leather bands (iv) wrist
(C) (i) patent-leather shoes (ii) shoes (iii) patent-leather shoes (iv) feet
(D) (i) patent-leather jacket (ii) jacket (iii) patent-leather jacket (iv) body
Answer: C
Q.13 The appropriate synonym for the word ‘ignite’ in the following passage will be:
Spirituality must be integrated with education. Self-realization is the focus. Each one of us must become aware of our higher self. We are links of a great past to a grand future. We should ignite our dormant inner energy and let it guide our lives. The radiance of such minds embarked on constructive endeavor will bring peace, prosperity and bliss to this nation.
(A) Encourage
(B) Simulate
(C) Dissipate
(D) Engross
Answer: A
Q.14 Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
(A) One day, I’ll write a book, ‘I said’. Not just a thriller but a real book, about real people.
(B) ‘One day I’ll write a book’, I said, ‘not just a thriller, but a real book, about real people.’
(C) ‘One day I’ll write a book’, I said. ‘Not just a thriller but, a real book, about real people’.
(D) ‘One day I’ll write a book’, I said, not just a thriller, but a real book, about real people.’
Answer: B
Q.15 Fill in the blanks with the correct combination of tenses for the given sentence:
Darwin’s work (i)______ a related effect that (ii)______ influenced the development of environmental politics – a ‘decentering’ of the human being.
(A) (i) have (ii) had
(B) (i) had (ii) have
(C) (i) had (ii) has
(D) (i) has (ii) have
Answer: C
Q.16 Which of the following options holds similar relationship as the words, ‘Music: Notes’?
(A) Water: Cold drink
(B) Paper: Class Notes
(C) House: Bricks
(D) Graphite: Charcoal
Answer: C
Q.17 In a particular code, if “RAMAN” is written as 52 and “MAP” is written as 33, then how will you code “CLICK”?
(A) 37
(B) 43
(C) 51
(D) 38
Answer: B
XH-B1: Q.18 – Q26 Carry TWO marks Each
Q.18 On the basis of the statements given below, which valid assumption(s) can be made?
Statements:
• Life has suffering
• Desire is the cause of suffering
• The end of desire is the end of suffering
• Desire can be reduced by following the noble eightfold path
Assumptions:
1. Suffering is because of wants
2. Life is not always full of suffering
3. The eightfold path can reduce suffering
4. Suffering is caused by life
(A) Only 1, 3 and 4
(B) Only 1, 2 and 3
(C) Only 1 and 4
(D) Only 2 and 3
Answer: B
Q.19 If ‘KARAMCHAND’ is coded as ‘ICPCKEFCLF’ what should be the code of ‘CREATION’?
(A) ATCCRKMP
(B) ETGCVKQP
(C) APCCRJMP
(D) ETCGKRPM
Answer: A
Q.20 Given an input line of numbers and words, a machine rearranges them following a particular rule in each step. Here is an illustration of an input and rearrangement sequence (Step 1 to Step 5):
Input: 61 wb ob 48 45 29 34 sb pb lb
Step 1: lb wb ob 48 45 29 34 sb pb 61
Step 2: lb ob wb 45 29 34 sb pb 61 48
Step 3: lb ob pb wb 29 34 sb 61 48 45
Step 4: lb ob pb sb wb 29 61 48 45 34
Step 5: lb ob pb sb wb 61 48 45 34 29
Step 5 is the last step of the above arrangement.
Based on the rules followed in the above steps, answer the following question:
Input: cb kb eb 58 49 23 38 jb nb gb 69 82
Which of the following represents the position of 58 in the fourth step? (Step-5 is the last step of the arrangement.)
(A) Second from the left
(B) Fourth from the right
(C) Third from the right
(D) Seventh from the left
Answer: C
Q.21 In a certain type of code, ‘they play cricket together’ is written as ‘mv kb lb iv’; ‘they score maximum points’ is written as ‘gb lb mb kv’; ‘cricket score earned points’ is written as ‘mb gv kb kv’ and ‘points are earned together’ is written as ‘kv mv ob gv.’
What is the code for ‘earned maximum points’?
(A) gv gb kv
(B) mv kb mb
(C) lb iv ob
(D) ob mb iv
Answer: A
Q.22 Which of the statement(s) about the passage weaken(s) the argument presented?
Scientists associate large brains with greater intelligence. However, in the evolutionary context it has also been identified that beyond a point, the size of the brain has not increased and yet after a particular period, in spite of no significant change in brain size humans have made significant progress. Certain researchers propose that this is because, while the overall brain size may not have changed, marked structural changes can be noticed in specific structures that run parallel to increase in human intelligence.
(A) Recent studies refute the hypothesis that region-specific brain development is necessarily associated with rapid human progress
(B) Neanderthal people’s extinction was probably because of their brain size
(C) Homo Sapiens and its destruction in the future may happen because of its rapid brain development
(D) Recent studies show that Neanderthal people, with relatively smaller brains, were capable of complex language and social activities
Answer: A
Q. 23 The narrator’s use of ‘I’ in the given passage is/are:
I have never been any good at the more lurid sort of writing. Psychopathic killers, impotent war-heroes, self-tortured film stars, and seedy espionage agents must exist in the world, but strangely enough I do not come across them, and I prefer to write about the people and places I have known and the lives of those whose paths I have crossed. This crossing of paths makes for stories rather than novels, and although I have worked in both mediums, I am happier being a short-story writer than a novelist.
(A) Self-conscious
(B) Apologetic and regretful
(C) Confessional and communicating
(D) Egotistical and vain
Answer: A,C
Q.24 Which of the following recommended action(s) seem to be appropriate with the stated problem?
Stated problem : Many students at educational institutes do not attend classes in the post-pandemic scenario.
(A) Disciplinary action against all students should be taken as a warning.
(B) Counselling sessions should be organized to address the issues such students face.
(C) Surveys should be conducted to identify the reasons for their absence.
(D) Course content should immediately be changed.
Answer: B,C
Q.25 Read the passage and identify the statement(s) which follow(s) from it:
The purpose of this work is to inform educators about the brain science related to emotion and learning, and, more important, to offer strategies to apply these understandings to their own teaching. Although many of the approaches I describe will be familiar, integrating the lens of emotion and the brain may be a new concept. As an educator I had been trained in how to deliver content and organize my lessons, but I had not been taught how to design learning experiences that support emotions for learning.
(A) The author wishes, through his work, to inform us about brain science and learning.
(B) The author, through his work, wishes to offer strategies to apply our learnings to our teaching.
(C) The author feels that the newness of his approach lies in linking emotion oriented approach to brain.
(D) The author wants to use emotions as a strategy for learning.
Answer: A,C,D
Q.26 If A says that his mother is the daughter of B’s mother, then how is B related to A?
(A) Uncle
(B) Aunt
(C) Father
(D) Brother
Answer: A,B
English (XH-C2)
XH-C2: Q.27– Q.44 Carry ONE mark Each
Q.27 “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a/an ________ .
(A) ode
(B) dramatic monologue
(C) haiku
(D) Villanelle
Answer: B
Explanation: A dramatic monologue is a poem in which a single speaker addresses a silent or absent listener, revealing their thoughts, feelings, and motivations. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is narrated by the protagonist, Prufrock, who is expressing his innermost thoughts and insecurities to an imagined listener.
Q.28 Match the following pairs of fictional characters with the author who created them:
a Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout i William Shakespeare
b Don Quixote and Sancho Panza ii Jules Verne
d Dogberry and Verges iv Voltaire
(A) a-iv, b-iii, c-i, d-ii
(B) a-i, b-iii, c-iv, d-ii
(C) a-iii, b-i, c-ii, d-iv
(D) a-ii, b-iii, c-iv, d-i
Answer: D
Explanation:
Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout – These characters are from Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Phileas Fogg, a precise and methodical English gentleman, wagers that he can travel around the world in just eighty days. He is accompanied by his devoted valet, Jean Passepartout, whose quick thinking and adaptability prove invaluable throughout their journey. Their adventures take them across continents, overcoming numerous obstacles in a thrilling tale of determination and ingenuity.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza – Created by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, are the central figures in Don Quixote. The novel follows Don Quixote, a nobleman who, inspired by tales of chivalry, sets out on a series of misguided adventures as a self-styled knight-errant. His down-to-earth squire, Sancho Panza, provides a humorous and practical contrast to Quixote’s idealism. Their interactions create a rich blend of comedy, adventure, and philosophical reflection on reality and illusion.
Candide and Pangloss – The protagonists of Voltaire’s satirical novella Candide, these characters explore themes of optimism and disillusionment. Candide, an innocent and idealistic young man, follows the teachings of his mentor Pangloss, who insists that they live in "the best of all possible worlds" despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Their misadventures serve as Voltaire’s biting critique of blind optimism and the harsh realities of human suffering, war, and hypocrisy.
Dogberry and Verges – These two comic characters appear in William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. Dogberry, the self-important and bumbling constable, and his equally incompetent deputy, Verges, provide comic relief through their absurd misuse of language and exaggerated sense of authority. Their humorous antics, filled with malapropisms and misunderstandings, serve as a lighthearted contrast to the play’s more serious themes of love and deception.
Q.29 Which one of the following is a famous detective character created by Edgar Allan Poe?
(A) Maigret
(B) Miss Marple
(C) Auguste Dupin
(D) Arsene Lupin
Answer: C
Explanation: C. Auguste Dupin is the detective created by Edgar Allan Poe, first appearing in The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), widely regarded as the first modern detective story. Dupin, known for his sharp analytical mind and deductive reasoning, also appears in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt and The Purloined Letter. His investigative techniques heavily influenced later fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes.
Q.30 “The horror! The horror!” - these are the last words of ______ .
(A) Lady Macbeth in Macbeth
(B) Captain Ahab in Moby Dick
(C) Jonathan Harker in Dracula
(D) Kurtz in Heart of Darkness
Answer: D
Explanation: These famous last words are spoken by Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious and charismatic ivory trader in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness (1899). As Kurtz lies dying, he utters, "The horror! The horror!"—a cryptic yet powerful expression of his realization about the darkness within human nature and the atrocities he has witnessed and committed in the African Congo. This moment serves as a haunting critique of European imperialism and moral corruption.
Q.31 Eric Arthur Blair was born in Motihari, Bihar. He went on to become famous as an author of a dystopian work which introduced the terms ‘Newspeak’, ‘Thoughtcrime’, and ‘Doublespeak’. He wrote under the pseudonym _______ .
(A) Ruskin Bond
(B) George Orwell
(C) Rudyard Kipling
(D) E. M. Forster
Answer: B
Explanation: Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English writer famous for his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). The novel introduced concepts like Newspeak (a controlled language designed to limit free thought), Thoughtcrime (the act of thinking against the regime), and Doublespeak (deliberately misleading language used for manipulation). Orwell’s work remains highly relevant, offering sharp political and social critiques of totalitarianism, surveillance, and propaganda.
Q. 32 “I started writing in Gikuyu language in 1977 after seventeen years of involvement in Afro-European literature, in my case Afro-English literature … wherever I have gone, particularly in Europe, I have been confronted with the question: why are you now writing in Gikuyu? Why do you now write in an African language?”
Identify the author of this passage.
(A) Nadine Gordimer
(B) Wole Soyinka
(C) Ngugi wa Thiong’o
(D) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Answer: C
Explanation: Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is known for his advocacy of African languages in literature. After initially writing in English, he switched to Gikuyu in 1977 to reclaim indigenous linguistic and cultural identity from colonial influence. His works, including Decolonising the Mind (1986), emphasize the importance of African languages in resisting cultural imperialism.
Q. 33 On the basis of genre, which of the following does NOT belong in this group?
(A) Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan
(B) Tara by Mahesh Dattani
(C) Sakharam Binder by Vijay Tendulkar
(D) Ravan and Eddie by Kiran Nagarkar
Answer: D
Explanation: The other three works—Harvest (Manjula Padmanabhan), Tara (Mahesh Dattani), and Sakharam Binder (Vijay Tendulkar)—are plays, whereas Ravan and Eddie (Kiran Nagarkar) is a novel, making it the odd one out in terms of genre.
Q. 34 The Madwoman in the Attic, the title of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s iconic feminist examination of Victorian literature, alludes to which classic novel?
(A) Jane Eyre
(B) Middlemarch
(C) Diary of a Madman
(D) Wuthering Heights
Answer: A
Explanation: The title refers to Bertha Mason, the wife of Mr. Rochester in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, who is locked away in the attic due to her perceived madness. Gilbert and Gubar use her as a metaphor for the suppression of women’s voices in literature and society, analyzing how female writers of the Victorian era navigated patriarchal constraints.
Q. 35 Agatha Christie broke a fundamental rule of detective fiction in _______ .
(A) Murder on the Orient Express
(B) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
(C) Death on the Nile
(D) Three Act Tragedy
Answer: B
Explanation: In this novel, the narrator himself is revealed to be the murderer, which was an unprecedented twist at the time and challenged traditional detective fiction conventions. This unexpected revelation redefined the genre and demonstrated Christie’s mastery of psychological manipulation in storytelling.
Q. 36 Dorothea Brooke, Edward Casaubon, Hetty Sorel, Stephen Guest are all characters created by _____ .
(A) George Eliot
(B) Charlotte Bronte
(C) Jane Austen
(D) Walter Scott
Answer: A
Explanation: These characters appear in George Eliot’s novels. Dorothea Brooke and Edward Casaubon are from Middlemarch, while Hetty Sorel and Stephen Guest feature in Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss, respectively. Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) is known for her deep psychological insight and social realism in Victorian literature.
Q. 37 Charulata is an adaptation of which work by Rabindranath Tagore?
(A) Gora
(B) The Broken Nest
(C) Four Chapters
(D) The Home and the World
Answer: B
Explanation: Charulata (1964), directed by Satyajit Ray, is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novella Nastanirh (The Broken Nest). The story explores themes of loneliness, unfulfilled love, and intellectual companionship within a restrictive social setting.
Q. 38 Which of the following is NOT part of the Theban trilogy?
(A) Oedipus Rex
(B) Oedipus at Colonus
(C) Medea
(D) Antigone
Answer: C
Explanation: The Theban trilogy by Sophocles consists of:
- Oedipus Rex
- Oedipus at Colonus
- Antigone
Medea, written by Euripides, is a tragedy based on the myth of Jason and Medea, unrelated to the Theban play
Q. 39 The literary term ‘apostrophe’ denotes:
(A) A comparison of an abstract idea with its opposite.
(B) An address to a person, or a personified idea or power.
(C) A break within an iambic pentameter.
(D) The possession of a character by a spirit.
Answer: B
Explanation: In literature, apostrophe is a rhetorical device in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object. A famous example is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?”
Here, Macbeth speaks to an imaginary dagger, personifying it.
Q. 40 In the line, “What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?” “he” refers to _______ .
(A) Virgil, the author of the Aeneid
(B) An actor performing a scene from the Trojan War in Hamlet
(C) Helen’s husband Priam who left her for Hecuba
(D) A fairy king who abandoned his daughter Hecuba at birth
Answer: B
Explanation:
This line comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2). Hamlet watches an actor passionately perform a scene about Queen Hecuba’s grief over the fall of Troy. He marvels at how an actor can express such deep emotions for a fictional character, while he himself struggles to take action in avenging his father’s murder. This soliloquy highlights Hamlet’s internal conflict, inaction and self-doubt.
Q. 41 Which of the following is/are NOT based on a play by William Shakespeare?
(A) George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion
(B) Ian McEwan’s Nutshell
(C) Girish Karnad’s The Fire and the Rain
(D) Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood
Answer: A, C
Explanation:
Q. 42 Which of the following is/are NOT composed by Kalidasa?
(A) Mrcchakatika
(B) Abhijnanashakuntalam
(C) Meghaduta
(D) Natyashastra
Answer: A,D
Explanation:
Q. 43 Which of these writers is/are associated with the Progressive Writers Association?
(A) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
(B) Ismat Chughtai
(C) Premchand
(D) Rajinder Singh Bedi
Answer: B,C,D
Q. 44 Which of the following novels is/are written by African-American women?
(A) The Color Purple
(B) The Ink Black Heart
(C) My Name is Red
(D) The Bluest Eye
Answer: A,D
XH-C2: Q.45 – Q.65 Carry TWO marks Each
Q.45 Which of the following options is NOT the title of a play?
(A) The Spanish Tragedy
(B) A Doll’s House
(C) Mother Courage and her Children
(D) Scenes from Clerical Life
Answer: D
Q.46 Match each fictional character with the author who created him:
a Uriah Heep i James Joyce
b Stephen Dedalus ii Ivan Turgenev
c Bazarov iii Fyodor Dostoevsky
d Raskolnikov iv Charles Dickens
(A) a-iii, b-i, c-ii, d-iv
(B) a-iv, b-i, c-ii, d-iii
(C) a-i, b-iv, c-ii, d-iii
(D) a-iv, b-ii, c-i, d-iii
Answer: B
Explanation:
Q. 47 What do the following works have in common?
Andha Yug, The Second Turn, Parva, Sarpa Satra
(A) All of them are plays.
(B) All are based on the Mahabharata.
(C) All have women as primary protagonists.
(D) All are 19th century works.
Answer: B
Q. 48 Match the texts with the language they were originally written in:
a Waiting for a Visa i Hindi
b The Prisons we Broke ii English
c The Revenue Stamp: An Autobiography iii Marathi
D Joothan: A Dalit’s Life iv Punjabi
(A) a-ii, b-iii, c-i, d-iv
(B) a-i, b-ii, c-iv, d-iii
(C) a-ii, b-iii, c-iv, d-i
(D) a-iii, b-iv, c-ii, d-i
Answer: C
Q. 49 Match the excerpts with the texts they have been taken from:
a) “A son who will never be older than his motherland – neither older nor younger. There shall be two heads – but you will only see one – there will be knees and a nose, a nose and knees.”
b) “That it really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.”
c) “She had dispersed. She was the garden at Prem Niwas (soon to be entered into the annual Flower Show), she was Veena’s love of music, Pran’s asthma, Maan’s generosity, […] the temperament of Bhaskar’s great- grandchildren. Indeed, for all the Minister of Revenue’s impatience with her, she was his regret.”
d) “Two or three years after the 1947 Partition, it occurred to the governments of India and Pakistan to exchange their lunatics in the same manner as they had exchanged their criminals. The Muslim lunatics in India were to be sent over to Pakistan and the Hindu and Sikh lunatics in Pakistan asylums were to be handed over to India.”
i A Suitable Boy
ii Midnight’s Children
iii The God of Small Things
iv “Toba Tek Singh”
(A) a-ii, b-iii, c-i, d-iv
(B) a-i, b-ii, c-iv, d-iii
(C) a-ii, b-i, c-iii, d-iv
(D) a-i, b-iv, c-iii, d-ii
Answer: A
Q. 50 A widely used narrative technique, it allows narrators to temporarily inhabit the consciousness of any of their characters. It is called _______ .
(A) Localized Speech
(B) Free Indirect Speech
(C) Mimicked Speech
(D) Empathetic Speech
Answer: B
- Direct Speech: He thought, “I must leave.”
- Indirect Speech: He thought that he must leave.
- Free Indirect Speech: He must leave, he told himself.
Q. 51 Which of the following statements is true of Magic Realism?
(A) It has its origins in the speech of the Oracle of Delphi.
(B) It was created by J R R Tolkien.
(C) It reveals the extraordinary in the heart of the ordinary.
(D) It is a subset of Socialist Realism.
Answer: C
Q. 52 _______ wrote ‘Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of _______ .’
Fill in the blanks with the correct pair:
(A) William Wordsworth; Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(B) William Blake; Lord Byron
(C) Percy Bysshe Shelley; John Keats
(D) John Keats; Percy Bysshe Shelley
Answer: C
Q. 53 Which of the following statements about The Scarlet Letter is/are correct?
(A) It was written by Nadine Gordimer.
(B) The “scarlet letter” of the title refers to the letter ‘A’.
(C) It is an epistolary romance.
(D) It was written in the 19th century.
Answer: B,D
Q. 54 “[…] I mean negative capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason […].”
Based on this statement, which of the following options is/are correct?
Negative capability is the ability to _______ .
(A) be receptive to ambiguities
(B) be focused on precise resolutions
(C) not get irritated by people’s incompetence
(D) find value in partial knowledge
Answer: A,D
Q. 55 Virginia Woolf wrote in “Professions for Women”:
“You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men. You are able, though not without great labour and effort, to pay the rent. You are earning your five hundred pounds a year. But this freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared. How are you going to furnish it, how are you going to decorate it? With whom are you going to share it, and upon what terms?”
Based on this passage, which of the following inferences is/are correct?
(A) Women may have attained rooms of their own but they still have a long way to go.
(B) The ‘room’ women now own is a sign of minimal economic independence.
(C) Woolf insists that women live only with other women in order to maintain their independence.
(D) The freedom that women now enjoy was attained after centuries of struggle.
Answer: A,B.D
Q. 56 Which of the following statements is/are correct?
(A) Rasa is a form of categorizing a text by its genre.
(B) According to Abhinavagupta, Rasa is best experienced collectively and in unison with others.
(C) Rasa is purely an aesthetic emotion, not to be confused with real-life emotions.
(D) Rasa is evoked only by performances like drama and dance.
Answer: B,C
Q. 57 “Lear cries out ‘you are men of stones’
as Cordelia hangs from a broken wall.
I step out into Chandni Chowk, a street once
strewn with jasmine flowers
for the Empress and the royal women
who bought perfumes from Isfahan,
fabrics from Dacca, essence from Kabul,
glass bangles from Agra.
Beggars now live here in tombs
of unknown nobles and forgotten saints
while hawkers sell combs and mirrors
outside a Sikh temple. Across the street,
a theater is showing a Bombay spectacular.
I think of Zafar, poet and Emperor,
being led through this street
by British soldiers, his feet in chains,
to watch his sons hanged.
In exile he wrote:
‘Unfortunate Zafar
spent half his life in hope,
the other half waiting.
He begs for two yards of Delhi for burial.’
He was exiled to Burma, buried in Rangoon.”
Which of the following ideas is/are conveyed by this poem?
(A) Delhi is a modern and progressive city despite its imperial past.
(B) Even Kings may be punished when they commit crimes against their children.
(C) An exile’s sense of loss, and longing for their homeland.
(D) History is a constant presence all around us.
Answer: C,D
Q. 58 Which of the following statements is/are true of these novels:
Anna Karenina, Dead Souls, Crime and Punishment, Fathers and Sons.
(A) They are all written by Russian authors.
(B) They all have women as central protagonists.
(C) They were all written in the 19th century.
(D) They all highlight socially transgressive romantic relationships.
Answer: A,C
Q. 59 “[…] in so far as the academic discourse of history – that is, ‘history’ as a discourse produced at the institutional site of the university – is concerned, ‘Europe’ remains the sovereign, theoretical subject of all histories, including the ones we call ‘Indian,’‘Chinese,’‘Kenyan,’ and so on. There is a peculiar way in which all these other histories tend to become variations on a master narrative that could be called ‘the history of Europe.’ In this sense, ‘Indian’ history itself is in a position of subalternity; one can only articulate subaltern subject positions in the name of this history.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by the passage above?
(A) People in postcolonial societies are condemned to endlessly repeat their own histories.
(B) The histories of India, China, and Kenya are not fundamentally different from one another.
(C) Within the protocols of history writing, it is impossible to write the history of postcolonial societies without reference to Europe.
(D) Instead of Europe, India should be the sovereign subject of all histories.
Answer: C
Q. 60 “What if, in order to save some humans lost in their language, in order to deliver the humans themselves, at the expense of their language, it was better to renounce the language, at least to renounce the best conditions for survival ‘at all costs’ for the idiom? And what if some humans were more worth saving than their language, under circumstances where, alas, one needed to choose between them? For we are living in a period in which the question at times arises. Today, on this earth of humans, certain people must yield to the homo-hegemony of dominant languages. They must learn the language of the masters, of capital and machines; they must lose their idiom in order to survive or live better.”
On the basis of this passage, which of the following options is/are correct?
The writer of this passage is:
(A) Advocating that all colonized people should renounce their native languages to succeed in a globalized world.
(B) Lamenting that in our contemporary world, some groups of people are forced to choose between immersion in their own language and economic survival.
(C) Implicitly expressing despair about the hegemony of dominant languages.
(D) Suggesting that there should be only one language in the world.
Answer: B,C
Q.61 Politics
--by William Butler Yeats
‘In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms.’
--Thomas Mann
“How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics,
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there’s a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war’s alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by this poem?
(A) Politics is the most absorbing concern of human existence.
(B) Desire has never distracted the speaker from politics.
(C) Sensual desire can be in conflict with cerebral concerns.
(D) Physical desire does not die with age.
Answer: C,D
Q. 62 “Although feminist philosophers have traditionally sought to show how the body is figured as feminine, or how women have been associated with materiality (whether inert – always already dead – or fecund – ever-living and procreative) where men have been associated with the principle of rational mastery, Irigaray wants to argue that in fact the feminine is precisely what is excluded in and by such a binary opposition. In this sense, when and where women are represented within this economy is precisely the site of their erasure.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by this passage?
(A) Irigaray’s work does not replicate the stance of traditional feminist philosophy.
(B) Irigaray radically questions the mind/body distinction from a feminist perspective.
(C) For Irigaray, the place assigned to women, even by some feminist philosophers, may in fact serve to erase them.
(D) Irigaray is not crucially concerned about the feminine.
Answer: A,B,C
Q. 63 “I like a look of Agony,
Because I know it’s true –
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe –
The eyes glaze once – and that is Death –
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by this poem?
(A) Agony is not easily disguised.
(B) The speaker likes to watch people suffer because it reminds her of her own well-being.
(C) Strong people never suffer a painful death.
(D) Anguish can produce physical effects.
Answer: A,D
Q. 64 “We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet’s difference from his predecessors, especially his immediate predecessors; […]. Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his works may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by this excerpt?
(A) Being different from one’s predecessors need not be the defining characteristic of a good poet.
(B) What we consider original in a poem, may be deeply rooted in tradition.
(C) There is no difference between old and new poems.
(D) The past is often a living presence in good contemporary poetry.
Answer: A,B,D
Q. 65 Which factor(s) led to the rise and popularity of the novel in England?
(A) The rise of literacy.
(B) The spread of printing presses throughout England.
(C) The migration of large numbers of writers and intellectuals from Italy.
(D) The rise of the bourgeoisie.
Answer: A,B,D
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