Mock Questions for English - 4 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight oclock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather’s and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excruciating-ly1 apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum2 of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s.
I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. It was propped against the collar box and I lay listening to it. Hearing it, that is. I dont suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You dont have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn’t hear.
Like Father said down the long and lonely light-rays you might see Jesus walking, like. And the good Saint Francis that said Little Sister Death, that never had a sister. Through the wall I heard Shreve’s bed-springs and then his slippers on the floor hishing. I got up and went to the dresser and slid my hand along it and touched the watch and turned it face-down and went back to bed. But the shadow of the sash was still there and I had learned to tell almost to the minute, so I’d have to turn my back to it, feeling the eyes animals used to have in the back of their heads when it was on top, itching. It’s always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret.
Father said that. That Christ was not crucified: he was worn away by a minute clicking of little wheels. That had no sister. And so as soon as I knew I couldn’t see it, I began to wonder what time it was. Father said that constant speculation regarding the position of mechanical hands on an arbitrary dial which is a symptom of mindfunction. Excrement Father said like sweating. And I saying All right. Wonder. Go on and wonder. If it had been cloudy I could have looked at the window, thinking what he said about idle habits.
Thinking it would be nice for them down at New London4 if the weather held up like this. Why shouldn’t it? The month of brides, the voice that breathed. She ran right out of the mirror, out of the banked scent
[Extracted from The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner]
Q1: What is the central theme of the provided text?
(a) The value of timekeeping devices.
(b) The legacy and burden of family heirlooms.
(c) The philosophical contemplation of time.
(d) The technical aspects of watches and clocks.
Ans: (c)
Sol: The text revolves around the protagonist's reflections on time, prompted by a watch inherited from his father. The narrative delves into philosophical musings about time, its elusive nature, and human attempts to understand or conquer it. This theme is evident in the father's advice about forgetting time and the protagonist's thoughts about time's passing.

Q2: What can be inferred about the protagonist's relationship with time?
(a) They are obsessed with punctuality.
(b) They view time with indifference.
(c) They have a contemplative and somewhat troubled relationship with time.
(d) They are indifferent to the concept of time.
Ans: (c)
Sol: The protagonist's actions, such as listening to the watch and the way they reflect on their father's words about time, suggest a deep, contemplative, and somewhat troubled relationship with the concept of time. This is further implied by their thoughts on the "mausoleum of all hope and desire" related to the watch.

Q3: What item did the protagonist's father give them?
(a) A clock.
(b) A calendar.
(c) A watch.
(d) A diary.
Ans: (c)
Sol: The text explicitly states that the protagonist's father gave them a watch, which was previously owned by the grandfather. This fact is central to the narrative as the watch triggers the protagonist's reflections.

Q4: Identify the figure of speech in "mausoleum of all hope and desire."
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Simile.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Personification.
Ans: (a)
Sol: The phrase "mausoleum of all hope and desire" is a metaphor. It compares the watch, without using "like" or "as," to a mausoleum, suggesting that it symbolizes the end or burial of hope and desire, underlining its significance and the weight of history and time it carries.

Q5: The phrase "reducto absurdum" in the text is best interpreted as:
(a) An absurd reduction.
(b) A logical argument technique.
(c) A mathematical formula.
(d) A literary device.
Ans: (b)
Sol: "Reducto absurdum" is a Latin phrase used in logical arguments where a proposition is disproven by following its implications to an absurd conclusion. In the context of the text, it might imply reducing the complexities of human experience to something overly simplistic or absurd through the lens of time.