Grammar Based Questions - 2 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis, with a large stone courtyard before it, and two stone sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the principal door. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone faces of men, and stone heads of lions, in all directions. As if the Gorgon's head had surveyed it, when it was finished, two centuries ago.
Up the broad flight of shallow steps, Monsieur the Marquis, flambeau preceded, went from his carriage, sufficiently disturbing the darkness to elicit loud remonstrance from an owl in the roof of the great pile of stable building away among the trees. All else was so quiet, that the flambeau carried up the steps, and the other flambeau held at the great door, burnt as if they were in a close room of state, instead of being in the open night-air.
Other sound than the owl's voice there was none, save the failing of a fountain into its stone basin; for, it was one of those dark nights that hold their breath by the hour together, and then heave a long low sigh, and hold their breath again. The great door clanged behind him, and Monsieur the Marquis crossed a hall grim with certain old boarspears, swords, and knives of the chase; grimmer with certain heavy ridingrods and riding-whips, of which many a peasant, gone to his benefactor Death, had felt the weight when his lord was angry.
Avoiding the larger rooms, which were dark and made fast for the night, Monsieur the Marquis, with his flambeau-bearer going on before, went up the staircase to a door in a corridor. This thrown open, admitted him to his own private apartment of three rooms: his bed-chamber and two others. High vaulted rooms with cool uncarpeted floors, great dogs upon the hearths for the burning of wood in winter time, and all luxuries befitting the state of a marquis in a luxurious age and country.
The fashion of the last Louis but one, of the line that was never to break the fourteenth Louis was conspicuous in their rich furniture; but, it was diversified by many objects that were illustrations of old pages in the history of France. A supper-table was laid for two, in the third of the rooms; a round room, in one of the chateau's four extinguisher-topped towers.
A small lofty room, with its window wide open, and the wooden jalousie-blinds closed, so that the dark night only showed in slight horizontal lines of black, alternating with their broad lines of stone colour. "My nephew," said the Marquis, glancing at the supper preparation; "they said he was not arrived." Nor was he; but, he had been expected with Monseigneur.
Q1: Identify the type of noun 'chateau' is in the sentence "It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis...":
(a) Proper Noun
(b) Common Noun
(c) Collective Noun
(d) Abstract Noun
Ans: (a)
Sol: 'Chateau' is used as a specific name for Monsieur the Marquis's residence, making it a proper noun. Proper nouns are always capitalized and signify specific names of people, places, institutions, etc.

Q2: Choose the option that best describes the use of 'their' in "dark nights that hold their breath...":
(a) Possessive Pronoun
(b) Reflexive Pronoun
(c) Demonstrative Pronoun
(d) Indefinite Pronoun
Ans: (a)
Sol: 'Their' is used as a possessive pronoun here, indicating that the 'breath' belongs to the 'dark nights'. Possessive pronouns show ownership or belonging.

Q3: What is the tense of the verb 'was laid' in "A supper-table was laid for two...":
(a) Simple Past
(b) Past Continuous
(c) Past Perfect
(d) Past Perfect Continuous
Ans: (a)
Sol: 'Was laid' is in the simple past tense, indicating an action completed in the past. It is the past tense form of the verb 'lay'.

Q4: In the phrase 'a small lofty room', what type of adjectives are 'small' and 'lofty'?
(a) Demonstrative and Qualitative
(b) Quantitative and Qualitative
(c) Qualitative and Qualitative
(d) Possessive and Demonstrative
Ans: (c)
Sol: Both 'small' and 'lofty' are qualitative adjectives as they describe the qualities (size and height) of the room.

Q5: Identify the type of preposition in 'with its window wide open':
(a) Time
(b) Place
(c) Manner
(d) Direction
Ans: (c)
Sol: The preposition 'with' in this context is used to describe the manner in which something is done, indicating the state or condition of the window being 'wide open'.