Grammar Based Questions - 4 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
In one of the aristocratic mansions built by Puget in the Rue du Grand Cours opposite the Medusa fountain, a second marriage feast was being celebrated, almost at the same hour with the nuptial repast given by Dantes. In this case, however, although the occasion of the entertainment was similar, the company was strikingly dissimilar.
Instead of a rude mixture of sailors, soldiers, and those belonging to the humblest grade of life, the present assembly was composed of the very flower of Marseilles society,--magistrates who had resigned their office during the usurper's reign; officers who had deserted from the imperial army and joined forces with Conde; and younger members of families, brought up to hate and execrate the man whom five years of exile would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate to the rank of a god.
The guests were still at table, and the heated and energetic conversation that prevailed betrayed the violent and vindictive passions that then agitated each dweller of the South, where unhappily, for five centuries religious strife had long given increased bitterness to the violence of party feeling. The emperor, now king of the petty Island of Elba, after having held sovereign sway over one-half of the world, counting as his subjects a small population of five or six thousand souls,--after having been accustomed to hear the "Vive Napoleons" of a hundred and twenty millions of human beings, uttered in ten different languages,--was looked upon here as a ruined man, separated forever from any fresh connection with France or claim to her throne.
The magistrates freely discussed their political views; the military part of the company talked unreservedly of Moscow and Leipsic, while the women commented on the divorce of Josephine. It was not over the downfall of the man, but over the defeat of the Napoleonic idea, that they rejoiced, and in this they foresaw for themselves the bright and cheering prospect of a revivified political existence. An old man, decorated with the cross of Saint Louis, now rose and proposed the health of King Louis XVIII. It was the Marquis de Saint-Meran.
This toast, recalling at once the patient exile of Hartwell and the peace-loving King of France, excited universal enthusiasm; glasses were elevated in the air a l'Anglais, and the ladies, snatching their bouquets from their fair bosoms, strewed the table with their floral treasures. In a word, an almost poetical fervor prevailed.
"Ah," said the Marquise de Saint-Meran, a woman with a stern, forbidding eye, though still noble and distinguished in appearance, despite her fifty years--"ah, these revolutionists, who have driven us from those very possessions they afterwards purchased for a mere trifle during the Reign of Terror, would be compelled to own, were they here, that all true devotion was on our side, since we were content to follow the fortunes of a falling monarch, while they, on the contrary, made their fortune by worshipping the rising sun; yes, yes, they could not help admitting that the king, for whom we sacrificed rank, wealth, and station was truly our 'Louis the wellbeloved,' while their wretched usurper his been, and ever will be, to them their evil genius, their 'Napoleon the accursed.' Am I not right, Villefort?"
[Extracted from The Count Of Monte Cristo By  Alexandre Dumas, Pere]
Q1: Identify the type of noun 'Medusa fountain' is in the context of the passage.
(a) Proper Noun
(b) Common Noun
(c) Collective Noun
(d) Abstract Noun
Ans: (a)
Sol: 'Medusa fountain' is a specific name given to a particular fountain, making it a proper noun. Proper nouns are always capitalized and denote specific names of people, places, or things.

Q2: In the phrase 'an almost poetical fervor,' what is the role of 'almost'?
(a) Adjective
(b) Adverb
(c) Preposition
(d) Conjunction
Ans: (b)
Sol: 'Almost' is an adverb modifying the adjective 'poetical.' Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, often indicating manner, degree, duration, frequency, etc.

Q3: Choose the sentence where the tense is the same as in 'The emperor, now king of the petty Island of Elba, after having held sovereign sway...'.
(a) She walks to the store.
(b) He had been working all night.
(c) They will be going to the concert.
(d) She is singing a song.
Ans: (b)
Sol: The phrase from the passage uses the past perfect continuous tense ('after having held'), indicating an action that was ongoing in the past. Option B also uses the past perfect continuous tense ('had been working'), reflecting a similar time frame and continuity of action.

Q4: What is the function of 'despite' in the sentence '...despite her fifty years'?
(a) Conjunction
(b) Preposition
(c) Adverb
(d) Adjective
Ans: (b)
Sol: 'Despite' is a preposition used to introduce a phrase indicating contrast. In this sentence, it introduces the contrasting element 'her fifty years' to the preceding idea.

Q5: Identify the sentence that correctly uses direct speech, similar to 'Am I not right, Villefort?'
(a) He asked if he was right.
(b) She wondered whether she should go.
(c) "Is this the right way?" he inquired.
(d) They were not sure if it was correct.
Ans: (c)
Sol: The sentence in the passage is in direct speech, where the speaker's exact words are quoted and usually enclosed in quotation marks. Option C is also in direct speech, directly quoting the speaker's words.