Mock Questions for English - 2 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Tellson's Bank by Temple Bar was an old-fashioned place, even in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty. It was very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious. It was an old-fashioned place, moreover, in the moral attribute that the partners in the House were proud of its smallness, proud of its darkness, proud of its ugliness, proud of its incommodiousness. They were even boastful of its eminence in those particulars, and were fired by an express conviction that, if it were less objectionable, it would be less respectable.
This was no passive belief, but an active weapon which they flashed at more convenient places of business. Tellson's (they said) wanted no elbow-room, Tellson's wanted no light, Tellson's wanted no embellishment. Noakes and Co.'s might, or Snooks Brothers' might; but Tellson's, thank Heaven! Any one of these partners would have disinherited his son on the question of rebuilding Tellson's. In this respect the House was much on a par with the Country; which did very often disinherit its sons for suggesting improvements in laws and customs that had long been highly objectionable, but were only the more respectable.
Thus it had come to pass, that Tellson's was the triumphant perfection of inconvenience. After bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy with a weak rattle in its throat, you fell into Tellson's down two steps, and came to your senses in a miserable little shop, with two little counters, where the oldest of men made your cheque shake as if the wind rustled it, while they examined the signature by the dingiest of windows, which were always under a shower-bath of mud from Fleet-street, and which were made the dingier by their own iron bars proper, and the heavy shadow of Temple Bar.
If your business necessitated your seeing "the House," you were put into a species of Condemned Hold at the back, where you meditated on a misspent life, until the House came with its bands in its pockets, and you could hardly blink at it in the dismal twilight. Your money came out of, or went into, wormy old wooden drawers, particles of which flew up your nose and down your throat when they were opened and shut.Your bank-notes had a musty odour, as if they were fast decomposing into rags again.
Your plate was stowed away among the neighbouring cesspools, and evil communications corrupted its good polish in a day or two. Your deeds got into extemporised strong-rooms made of kitchens and sculleries, and fretted all the fat out of their parchments into the banking-house air. Your lighter boxes of family papers went up-stairs into a Barmecide room, that always had a great dining-table in it and never had a dinner, and where, even in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty, the first letters written to you by your old love, or by your little children, were but newly released from the horror of being ogled through the windows, by the heads exposed on Temple Bar with an insensate brutality and ferocity worthy of Abyssinia or Ashantee.
[Extract from A tale of two cities from Charles Dickens]
Q1: What is the primary characteristic of Tellson's Bank as described in the passage?
(a) Modern and spacious
(b) Old-fashioned and proud of its inconveniences
(c) Large and well-lit
(d) Technologically advanced
Ans: (b)
Sol: The passage vividly describes Tellson's Bank as "an old-fashioned place" that prided itself on its "smallness, darkness, ugliness, and incommodiousness." This indicates that the bank's primary characteristic was its old-fashioned nature and its pride in its inconvenient aspects.

Q2: What can be inferred about the partners of Tellson's Bank?
(a) They were innovative and forward-thinking.
(b) They were indifferent to the bank’s physical appearance.
(c) They valued tradition over convenience.
(d) They were focused on expanding the business.
Ans: (c)
Sol: The passage mentions that the partners were proud of the bank's smallness and other inconvenient attributes. They even believed that being less objectionable would make the bank less respectable. This suggests they valued tradition and the bank's longstanding ways over modern conveniences.

Q3: How does one enter Tellson's Bank according to the passage?
(a) Through a large, welcoming door
(b) By descending two steps after opening a difficult door
(c) Via a brightly lit corridor
(d) Through an automated entry system
Ans: (b)
Sol: The passage describes entering the bank as "bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy with a weak rattle in its throat" and then "falling into Tellson's down two steps." This indicates that entry involved opening a challenging door and descending steps.

Q4: Identify the figure of speech used in "bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy."
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Personification
(d) Hyperbole
Ans: (c)
Sol: Personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are attributed to inanimate objects. In this case, the door is described as having "idiotic obstinacy," attributing human-like stubbornness to an inanimate door.

Q5: What does the phrase "with its bands in its pockets" suggest about 'the House' in the context of the passage?
(a) It was ready to invest money.
(b) It was casually indifferent or uninvolved.
(c) It was prepared for physical work.
(d) It was showing off its wealth.
Ans: (b)
Sol: The phrase "with its bands in its pockets" is an idiom that suggests a casual, perhaps indifferent attitude. In the context of the passage, it implies that 'the House' or the bank's management exhibited a nonchalant or uninvolved demeanor when dealing with clients or visitors.