MH SET 2025 Paper II - Solved Questions

This document provides the solutions and explanations for selected multiple-choice questions from the MH SET 2025 Paper II, English. Each question carries two marks, and all questions are to be attempted.

Questions and Answers

Question 1

What did Marlowe's protagonist of Dr. Faustus ask Mephistopheles to bring to amuse him during the final days of his life?

(A) Seven Deadly Sins
(B) Cleopatra of Egypt
(C) Paramour
(D) Helen of Troy

Correct Answer: (D) Helen of Troy ✅

Explanation: In Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Faustus, in his final days, asks Mephistopheles to conjure Helen of Troy to amuse him, specifically expressing a desire to "have Helen to my paramour."

Question 2

Which of the following poems was not written by W. B. Yeats?

(A) The Rose of the World
(B) Byzantium
(C) The Second Coming
(D) For A Dead Lady

Correct Answer: (D) For A Dead Lady ✅

Explanation: "The Rose of the World," "Byzantium," and "The Second Coming" are well-known poems by W. B. Yeats. "For A Dead Lady" is a poem by Edward Thomas.

Question 3

The novel which portrays the ebb and flow of the mind of the character is referred to as

(A) Stream-of-consciousness
(B) Realistic
(C) Existentialist
(D) Social

Correct Answer: (A) Stream-of-consciousness ✅

Explanation: Stream-of-consciousness is a narrative method in modernist fiction that attempts to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings that pass through the mind of a narrator. It aims to give the reader the impression of being inside the mind of the character, experiencing their thoughts as they occur.

Question 4

Ecriture Feminine is advocated by

(A) Kristeva, Julia
(B) Cixous, Helen
(C) Irigaray, Luce
(D) Lacan, Jacques

Correct Answer: (B) Cixous, Helen ✅

Explanation: Hélène Cixous is most closely associated with advocating for "écriture féminine" (feminine writing), a concept that promotes a form of writing rooted in the female body and experience, challenging patriarchal language and structures.

Question 5

A key figure of the so-called Frankfurt School that relocated under threat from the Nazis, who explored culture through combining Marxist and psychoanalytic theories and argued that commodity culture is a form of mass deception, is:

(A) Friedrich Nietzsche
(B) Theodor Adorno
(C) Pierre Bourdieu
(D) Michel Foucault

Correct Answer: (B) Theodor Adorno ✅

Explanation: Theodor Adorno was a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, which combined Marxist and psychoanalytic theories to critique culture. He, along with Max Horkheimer, developed the concept of the "culture industry" to describe how mass-produced culture functions as a form of deception and social control.

Question 6

The human organ that makes the phonatory system is

(A) Larynx
(B) Lung
(C) Tongue
(D) Hard palate

Correct Answer: (A) Larynx ✅

Explanation: The larynx, commonly known as the voice box, is the primary organ of the phonatory system responsible for producing sound (voice) through the vibration of the vocal cords.

Question 7

Who, among the following women novelists, portrays daughter and young wife in her novels?

(A) Nayantara Sahgal
(B) Kamala Markandaya
(C) Anita Desai
(D) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Correct Answer: (C) Anita Desai ✅

Explanation: Anita Desai's novels frequently delve into the inner lives and psychological states of her female characters, often portraying the complexities of relationships, including those of daughters and young wives, within the Indian context.

Question 8

Raymond Williams refers to William Cobbett, in Culture and Society, 1780-1950, who believed that the working people must be in charge of their own educational movements. Which English novel is mentioned by Williams, in this context, as having a similar position?

(A) Charles Dickens, Hard Times
(B) Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
(C) George Gissing, The Unclassed
(D) D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

Correct Answer: (A) Charles Dickens, Hard Times ✅

Explanation: Raymond Williams, in Culture and Society, 1780-1950, discusses the theme of education for working people and draws parallels between William Cobbett's views and the social critique found in Charles Dickens's Hard Times.

Question 9

The book The Myth of Sisyphus was authored by

(A) Albert Camus
(B) Jean-Paul-Sartre
(C) Friedrich Nietzsche
(D) Soren Kierkegaard

Correct Answer: (A) Albert Camus ✅

Explanation: The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay written by Albert Camus, where he introduces his philosophy of the absurd.

Question 10

Who coined the concept of 'heteroglossia'?

(A) Mikhail Bakhtin
(B) S.T. Coleridge
(C) William Hazlitt
(D) John Crowe Ransom

Correct Answer: (A) Mikhail Bakhtin ✅

Explanation: Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian philosopher and literary critic, coined the term 'heteroglossia' to describe the coexistence of different voices, dialects, and social languages within a single text or speech act.

Question 11

The normative social ordering of identities and subjectivities along the heterosexual/homosexual binary; the privileging of one as natural and the other as deviant is not a primary concern for challenge in

(A) Foucault, The History of Sexuality
(B) Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet
(C) Butler, Gender Trouble
(D) Eagleton, Sweet Violence

Correct Answer: (D) Eagleton, Sweet Violence ✅

Explanation: Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet, and Judith Butler's Gender Trouble all directly engage with and challenge the heterosexual/homosexual binary and its associated power structures. Terry Eagleton's Sweet Violence, while a work of literary criticism, does not have this binary as its primary focus of challenge in the same way the other listed works do.

Question 12

The name of the Novelist and the novel that won the John Llewellyn-Rhys memorial prize is:

(A) Nirad C Choudari-Passage to England
(B) Kushwant Singh Train to Pakistan
(C) Ruskin Bond - Room on the Roof
(D) Arun Joshi The Apprentice

Correct Answer: (C) Ruskin Bond - Room on the Roof ✅

Explanation: Ruskin Bond's debut novel, The Room on the Roof, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957.

Question 13

Duality in human language refers to

(A) Structure at the level of sounds and words
(B) Structure at the level of words and sentences
(C) Structure at the level of sounds and sentence
(D) Structure at the level of sentence and paragraphs

Correct Answer: (A) Structure at the level of sounds and words ✅

Explanation: Duality of patterning (or double articulation) is a key feature of human language, meaning that language is organized into two levels: the level of sounds (phonemes) which are meaningless on their own, and the level of meaningful units (morphemes/words) formed by combining these sounds.

Question 14

Which of the following plays ends with the famous saying, "The strongest man is he who stands most alone"

(A) Richard II
(B) An Enemy of the People
(C) Pygmalion
(D) Macbeth

Correct Answer: (B) An Enemy of the People ✅

Explanation: The famous line, "The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone," is spoken by Dr. Stockmann at the end of Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People.

Question 15

The Indian Phrases "Datta, Dayadhwam; Damayata" appear in one of the following poems:

(A) The Waste Land
(B) Ash Wednesday
(C) Little Gidding
(D) Gerontion

Correct Answer: (A) The Waste Land ✅

Explanation: The Sanskrit phrases "Datta" (Give), "Dayadhwam" (Sympathize), and "Damayata" (Control) appear in the final section, "What the Thunder Said," of T.S. Eliot's seminal poem The Waste Land.

Question 16

The novel written in the form of letters is called

(A) Epistolary
(B) Elegiac
(C) Picaresque
(D) Historical

Correct Answer: (A) Epistolary ✅

Explanation: An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings, and other documents are sometimes used.

Question 17

The term dialectical materialism is associated with

(A) Karl Marx
(B) Richard Hoggart
(C) Raymond Williams
(D) Colin McCabe

Correct Answer: (A) Karl Marx ✅

Explanation: Dialectical materialism is a philosophical approach to reality derived from the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It is the philosophical basis of Marxism.

Question 18

The relation between a word and its meaning is

(A) Consistent
(B) Logical
(C) Arbitrary
(D) Coherent

Correct Answer: (C) Arbitrary ✅

Explanation: In linguistics, particularly as articulated by Ferdinand de Saussure, the relationship between a word (signifier) and its meaning (signified) is generally considered arbitrary. There is no inherent or natural connection between the sound of a word and the concept it represents.

Question 19

Edward Said studies Orientalism as:

(A) Marking a distinction between pure and political knowledge
(B) Producing knowledge in the human sciences that transcends its author's own circumstances
(C) A dynamic intellectual, aesthetic, scholarly, and cultural exchange between the colonizers and the colonized
(D) A dynamic exchange between individual authors and the large political concerns shaped by the three great empires-British, French, American

Correct Answer: (D) A dynamic exchange between individual authors and the large political concerns shaped by the three great empires-British, French, American ✅

Explanation: Edward Said, in his influential work Orientalism, critiques it as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient. He argues it is a discourse shaped by political and imperial concerns, particularly those of the British, French, and American empires, rather than a neutral scholarly endeavor.

Question 20

'Train to Pakistan' was published in the United States under the title 'Mano Majra'. On the banks of which river is this fictional village situated?

(A) Saraswathi
(B) Yamuna
(C) Ganga
(D) Sutlej

Correct Answer: (D) Sutlej ✅

Explanation: In Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan, the fictional village of Mano Majra is situated on the banks of the Sutlej River.

Question 21

Who lived beyond his salary?

(A) sahib
(B) shirastedar
(C) sahib's peon
(D) officers

Correct Answer: (B) shirastedar ✅

Explanation: The passage states, "The shirastedar's will was law and his income was always reputed to be more than the sahib's. This may have been an exaggeration, but he certainly lived beyond his salary."

Question 22

The meaning of 'sycophant' is

(A) a mentor
(B) a strong opponent
(C) a servile flatterer
(D) a guide and philosopher

Correct Answer: (C) a servile flatterer ✅

Explanation: A sycophant is a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage, often by flattering them. The passage mentions, "Princes were always at the mercy of others and ready to lend their ears to sycophants."

Question 23

Who were ready to lend their ears to sycophants?

(A) Princes
(B) Sahibs
(C) Shirastedars
(D) Officers

Correct Answer: (A) Princes ✅

Explanation: The passage states, "Princes were always at the mercy of others and ready to lend their ears to sycophants."

Question 24

What had intoxicated him?

(A) Wealth
(B) Physical strength
(C) Money and property
(D) Power

Correct Answer: (D) Power ✅

Explanation: The passage explicitly states, "He could have politely asked me to go, but power had intoxicated him to an inordinate extent."

Question 25

The essay Is There a Text in This Class? was authored by

(A) Harold Bloom
(B) Edward Said
(C) Elaine Showalter
(D) Stanley Fish

Correct Answer: (D) Stanley Fish ✅

Explanation: "Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities" is a well-known work by literary theorist Stanley Fish, published in 1980.

Question 26

A key argument in Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) in the context of gender is that

(A) In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female
(B) The split between spectacle and narrative supports the women's role as the active one of forwarding the story
(C) The woman controls the film fantasy and also emerges as the representative of power
(D) The female protagonist is free to command the stage, a stage of spatial illusion

Correct Answer: (A) In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female ✅

Explanation: Laura Mulvey's seminal essay introduces the concept of the "male gaze," arguing that traditional narrative cinema is structured around a male voyeuristic gaze, where men are active bearers of the look and women are passive objects of display, thus reflecting and reinforcing societal sexual imbalance.

Question 27

Who wrote Mricchakatika, The Little Clay Cart?

(A) Bhasa
(B) Bhavbhuti
(C) Kalidasa
(D) Shudraka

Correct Answer: (D) Shudraka ✅

Explanation: Mricchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) is an ancient Sanskrit drama attributed to Shudraka.

Question 28

"What we call the beginning is often is the end And to make an end is to make a beginning." In which of the poems, do the above lines appear?

(A) Little Gidding
(B) Burnt Norton
(C) Gerontion
(D) The Hollow Men

Correct Answer: (A) Little Gidding ✅

Explanation: These lines are from "Little Gidding," the fourth and final poem of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets.

Question 29

Walter Scott is associated with

(A) existentialist novel
(B) historical novel< (C) epistolary novel
(D) diasporic novel

Correct Answer: (B) historical novel ✅

Explanation: Sir Walter Scott is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the historical novel, with works like Waverley and Ivanhoe establishing the genre's popularity.

Question 30

The words Langue and Parole a employed by

(A) Jacques Derrida
(B) Gareth Griffiths
(C) Ferdinand de Saussure
(D) Stuart Hall

Correct Answer: (C) Ferdinand de Saussure ✅

Explanation: Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist, introduced the fundamental concepts of 'langue' (the abstract language system) and 'parole' (actual speech acts) in his theory of semiotics.

Question 31

The character Rajam in the novel Swami and Friends is the son of

(A) A Businesman
(B) A Police Officer
(C) A Farmer
(D) A Contractor

Correct Answer: (B) A Police Officer ✅

Explanation: In R.K. Narayan's *Swami and Friends*, Rajam is Swami's best friend and the son of the police superintendent.

Question 32

One of the distinctive features of human language is

(A) Cultural transmission
(B) Genetic transmission
(C) Effective transmission
(D) Non-effective transmission

Correct Answer: (A) Cultural transmission ✅

Explanation: Cultural transmission, also known as learnability, is a key distinctive feature of human language, meaning that language is learned and passed down through social interaction rather than being genetically inherited.

Question 33

Critical theory of New Historicism was founded by

(A) Walter Scott
(B) Leo Tolstoy
(C) Stephen Greenblatt
(D) Patrick O'Brian

Correct Answer: (C) Stephen Greenblatt ✅

Explanation: Stephen Greenblatt is widely credited as the founder of New Historicism, a critical approach that emphasizes the interconnectedness of literary texts and their historical contexts.

Question 34

In which kind would you place Philip Massinger and John Fletcher's collaborative work A New Way to Pay Old Debts?

(A) tragicomedy
(B) farce
(C) tragedy
(D) comedy

Correct Answer: (A) tragicomedy ✅

Explanation: While A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger (notably, predominantly Massinger's work rather than a direct collaboration with Fletcher, though they were contemporaries) has strong satirical and comedic elements, it also features serious themes and dramatic tension, characteristic of a tragicomedy.

Question 35

When was Wordsworth appointed as the Poet Laureate?

(A) 1668
(B) 1850
(C) 1843
(D) 1802

Correct Answer: (C) 1843 ✅

Explanation: William Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate in 1843, following the death of Robert Southey.

Question 36

The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude is fine exemplar for

(A) magic realism
(B) social realism
(C) stream of consciousness
(D) intertextuality

Correct Answer: (A) magic realism ✅

Explanation: Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude is a seminal work of magic realism, a literary genre in which magical or supernatural elements are presented in an otherwise realistic setting.

Question 37

Vladimir Prop's "The Morphology of a Folktale" was written in the year

(A) 1925
(B) 1928
(C) 1930
(D) 1932

Correct Answer: (B) 1928 ✅

Explanation: Vladimir Propp's influential work, Morphology of the Folktale, was first published in Russian in 1928.

Question 38

The difference between British English and American English can be observed

(A) Only in vocabulary
(B) Only in grammar
(C) Only in pronunciation
(D) In vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and spelling system

Correct Answer: (D) In vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and spelling system ✅

Explanation: British English and American English differ in various aspects, including vocabulary (e.g., "lift" vs. "elevator"), grammar (e.g., use of past simple vs. present perfect), pronunciation (e.g., "schedule"), and spelling (e.g., "colour" vs. "color").

Question 39

Which of the following novels is a pre-partition novel that relocates the world within and around the Delhi based Nihal house-hold?

(A) Twilight in Delhi
(B) Ocean of Night
(C) All about H Hatter
(D) The Serpent and The Rope

Correct Answer: (A) Twilight in Delhi ✅

Explanation: Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi (1940) is a significant pre-partition novel that vividly portrays the decline of Muslim culture in Delhi through the lens of the Mir Nihal household.

Question 40

The book Dominance Without Hegemony is authored by ..............

(A) Gyanendra Pandey
(B) Dipesh Chakrabarty
(C) Ranajit Guha
(D) Sumit Sarkar

Correct Answer: (C) Ranajit Guha ✅

Explanation: Dominance Without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India is a prominent work by the historian and Subaltern Studies scholar Ranajit Guha.

Question 41

Which is not the play written in collaboration by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley?

(A) The Mayor of Quinsborough
(B) The White Devil
(C) A Fair Quarrel
(D) The Spanish Gipsy

Correct Answer: (B) The White Devil ✅

Explanation: The White Devil is a revenge tragedy written solely by John Webster. The Mayor of Quinborough, A Fair Quarrel, and The Spanish Gipsy are known collaborations between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley.

Question 42

In whose memory, did Alfred, Lord Tennyson compose 'In Memoriam'?

(A) John Keats
(B) Arthur Henry Hallam
(C) Lord Byron
(D) Hugh Clough

Correct Answer: (B) Arthur Henry Hallam ✅

Explanation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson composed his long elegy In Memoriam A.H.H. in memory of his beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly in 1833.

Question 43

Which of the following novels is written by Susan Edmonstone Ferrier?

(A) Northanger Abbey
(B) Malmoth the Wanderer
(C) The Inheritance
(D) The Surgeon's Daughter

Correct Answer: (C) The Inheritance ✅

Explanation: Susan Edmonstone Ferrier was a Scottish novelist, and The Inheritance is one of her notable works. Northanger Abbey is by Jane Austen, Malmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin, and The Surgeon's Daughter by Sir Walter Scott.

Question 44

Lionel Trilling's essay "Freud and Literature" was written in the year

(A) 1940
(B) 1942
(C) 1945
(D) 1948

Correct Answer: (D) 1948 ✅

Explanation: Lionel Trilling's influential essay "Freud and Literature" was published in 1948.

Question 45

In Code Mixing

(A) Base Language gets mixed with Supra Language
(B) Supra Language gets mixed with Base Language
(C) Only one language is used for mixing
(D) Incorrect sentence is mixed with a correct sentence

Correct Answer: (A) Base Language gets mixed with Supra Language ✅

Explanation: Code-mixing involves the mixing of linguistic units from two or more languages within a single utterance or stretch of discourse, often between a "base" or matrix language and an "embedded" or supra language.

Question 46

All India Progressive Writers Association was launched on 10th April, 1936 at

(A) Mumbai
(B) Lucknow
(C) Delhi
(D) Bangalore

Correct Answer: (B) Lucknow ✅

Explanation: The All-India Progressive Writers' Association was inaugurated in Lucknow on April 10, 1936, with Munshi Premchand presiding over the first session.

Question 47

A central focus of cultural studies is the social processes by which knowledge and skills are acquired that enable us to be members of a culture. This is known as

(A) Agency
(B) Acculturation
(C) Authenticity
(D) Urbanization

Correct Answer: (B) Acculturation ✅

Explanation: Acculturation refers to the process by which individuals or groups adopt the cultural traits, patterns, and behaviors of another group. This aligns with cultural studies' focus on how knowledge and skills are acquired to become members of a culture.

Question 48

Who, among the following, considered as the father of multiculturalism?

(A) Paul Yuzyk
(B) David Hardiman
(C) Gayatri Spivak
(D) David Arnold

Correct Answer: (A) Paul Yuzyk ✅

Explanation: Paul Yuzyk, a Canadian senator, is often referred to as the "father of multiculturalism" in Canada due to his significant advocacy for policies promoting multiculturalism in the country.

Question 49

Which is not the characteristic of good hypothesis among following?

(A) conceptual clarity
(B) simplicity
(C) brevity
(D) ambiguity

Correct Answer: (D) ambiguity ✅

Explanation: A good hypothesis should be clear, concise, and testable, not ambiguous. Ambiguity would hinder its ability to be properly investigated or confirmed.

Question 50

Checking Theory is a linguistic principle that occurs in

(A) Structural Linguistics
(B) Generative Linguistics
(C) Traditional Grammar
(D) Systemic Linguistics

Correct Answer: (B) Generative Linguistics ✅

Explanation: Checking theory is a concept developed within generative linguistics, particularly in the Minimalist Program, to account for how features of lexical items are "checked" in the syntactic derivation.

Question 51

The Citizen of the World is written by

(A) Samuel Johnson
(B) Thomas Nashe
(C) Edward Gibbon
(D) Oliver Goldsmith

Correct Answer: (D) Oliver Goldsmith ✅

Explanation: The Citizen of the World is a series of fictional letters by Oliver Goldsmith, published in 1762.

Question 52

The terms 'Mosaic' and 'Melting Pot' are parts of

(A) Historicism
(B) Psychoanalysis
(C) Queer Studies
(D) Multiculturalism

Correct Answer: (D) Multiculturalism ✅

Explanation: "Melting Pot" and "Mosaic" are two common metaphors used to describe different approaches to multiculturalism. The "melting pot" suggests assimilation, while the "mosaic" implies cultural preservation and diversity within a society.

Question 53

Which of the following awards was given to Anita Desai's novel, Fire on the Mountain?

(A) Booker Prize
(B) Nobel Prize
(C) Sahitya Academy Award
(D) National Academy of Letters Award

Correct Answer: (C) Sahitya Academy Award ✅

Explanation: Anita Desai's novel Fire on the Mountain won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978.

Question 54

Which of the following poems was not written by Matthew Arnold?

(A) The Scholar Gipsy
(B) The Moon Now Rises
(C) Palladium
(D) Dover Beach

Correct Answer: (B) The Moon Now Rises ✅

Explanation: "The Scholar Gipsy," "Palladium," and "Dover Beach" are all well-known poems by Matthew Arnold. "The Moon Now Rises" is not a poem by Matthew Arnold.

Question 55

Who among the following was not the University Wits?

(A) Christopher Marlowe
(B) William Shakespeare
(C) Robert Greene
(D) Thomas Lodge

Correct Answer: (B) William Shakespeare ✅

Explanation: The University Wits were a group of late 16th-century English playwrights and pamphleteers who were educated at Oxford or Cambridge. Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Lodge were members of this group. William Shakespeare, while a contemporary, was not formally associated with the University Wits as he did not attend university.

Question 56

Which of the following poems does have the Carpe Diem as the main theme?

(A) The Garden
(B) To His Coy Mistress
(C) Bermudas
(D) The Definition of Love

Correct Answer: (B) To His Coy Mistress ✅

Explanation: Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is a classic example of a "carpe diem" poem, urging the mistress to seize the day and embrace love before time runs out.

Question 57

Which of the following is not a novel that belongs to the trend of magic realism?

(A) One Hundred Years of Solitude
(B) Ulysses
(C) Tin Drum
(D) Shame

Correct Answer: (B) Ulysses ✅

Explanation: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez), The Tin Drum (Günter Grass), and Shame (Salman Rushdie) are all considered significant works of magic realism. James Joyce's Ulysses, while highly experimental and modernist, is primarily known for its stream-of-consciousness technique and allusions, not magic realism.

Question 58

Who among these is associated with Campus Novels?

(A) Joseph Conrad
(B) D.H. Lawrence
(C) James Joyce
(D) David Lodge

Correct Answer: (D) David Lodge ✅

Explanation: David Lodge is a well-known British author particularly associated with the "campus novel" genre, with works like Changing Places and Small Worldsatirizing academic life.

Question 59

M. Anantanarayanan's work, The Silver Pilgrimage deals with...

(A) the caste system in India
(B) the adventures of Jayasurya
(C) the political issues in South India
(D) the Hindu religious practices

Correct Answer: (B) the adventures of Jayasurya ✅

Explanation: M. Anantanarayanan's The Silver Pilgrimage is a satirical novel that narrates the humorous adventures of the medieval Ceylonese prince Jayasurya.

Question 60

Which of the following plays by Sir George Etherege mirrors degraded moral life in the Restoration period?

(A) The Way of the World
(B) The Provoked Wife
(C) Love in a Tub
(D) The Breux Strategy

Correct Answer: (C) Love in a Tub ✅

Explanation: Sir George Etherege's The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub (1664) is considered one of the earliest and most influential Restoration comedies, known for depicting the sophisticated and often morally lax society of the time. The Way of the World is by Congreve, The Provoked Wife by Vanbrugh, and The Beaux' Stratagem by Farquhar.

Question 61

Which of the following plays is written by Thomas Shadwell?

(A) The Sullen Lovers
(B) The Recruiting Officer
(C) The Double Dealer
(D) The Plain Dealer

Correct Answer: (A) The Sullen Lovers ✅

Explanation: The Sullen Lovers (1668) is one of Thomas Shadwell's best-known comedies. The Recruiting Officer is by George Farquhar, The Double Dealer by William Congreve, and The Plain Dealer by William Wycherley.

Question 62

In the sentence I wanna go home, wanna is a contracted form of ......

(A) Want to
(B) Want him to
(C) Do not want to
(D) Want him not to

Correct Answer: (A) Want to ✅

Explanation: "Wanna" is a common informal contraction of "want to."

Question 63

Raja Rao's novel Kanthapura opens with the invocation of goddess

(A) Durga
(B) Chamundi
(C) Tulaja Bhawani
(D) Kenchaamma

Correct Answer: (D) Kenchaamma ✅

Explanation: Raja Rao's Kanthapura begins with a traditional invocation to the village goddess Kenchaamma, who protects the villagers.

Question 64

Who wrote the book entitled Musical Elaborations?

(A) Parth Chatterjee
(B) Antonio Gramsci
(C) Ranajit Guha
(D) Edward Said

Correct Answer: (D) Edward Said ✅

Explanation: Musical Elaborations is a collection of essays on music and culture by Edward Said, published in 1991.

Question 65

Empirical research deals with

(A) some thoughts
(B) some abstract ideas and theories
(C) some units
(D) some problems

Correct Answer: (D) some problems ✅

Explanation: Empirical research is a research methodology that involves collecting data through observation or experimentation to solve specific problems or answer questions. It is based on verifiable evidence.

Question 66

Roland Barthes Mythologies (1957) is admittedly an ideological critique of..

(A) The sacred traditions of Europe
(B) The predominance of literary theory
(C) The ancient Greek and Roman heritage of French Culture
(D) The language of so-called mass culture

Correct Answer: (D) The language of so-called mass culture ✅

Explanation: Roland Barthes' Mythologies is a collection of essays that critically analyze various aspects of French popular culture, demonstrating how everyday phenomena (like wrestling, advertising, or toys) operate as modern myths, naturalizing bourgeois ideology through signs and symbols. It's an ideological critique of the semiotics of mass culture.

Question 67

Which character in Shakespeare's play speaks the following lines? "Cowards die many times before their death the valiant never taste of death but once".

(A) Antony
(B) Macbeth
(C) Richard II
(D) Julius Caesar

Correct Answer: (D) Julius Caesar ✅

Explanation: These famous lines are spoken by Julius Caesar himself in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, expressing his disdain for fear and his belief in facing destiny bravely.

Question 68

A periodical The Rambler, as imitation of The Spectator, was started by

(A) Alexander Pope
(B) Joseph Addison
(C) Sir Richard Steele
(D) Samuel Johnson

Correct Answer: (D) Samuel Johnson ✅

Explanation: The Rambler was a periodical essay series written almost entirely by Samuel Johnson, published between 1750 and 1752, and it indeed followed the tradition set by earlier periodicals like The Spectator by Addison and Steele.

Question 69

The critic associated with Postcolonialism is ...

(A) Terry Eagleton
(B) Jean Lyotard
(C) Jean Baudrillard
(D) Helen Tiffin

Correct Answer: (D) Helen Tiffin ✅

Explanation: Helen Tiffin is a prominent scholar in the field of postcolonial studies, known for her work on postcolonial theory, particularly in relation to Australian and Caribbean literature. Terry Eagleton is associated with Marxist literary criticism, Jean-François Lyotard with postmodernism, and Jean Baudrillard with postmodern theory and simulacra.

Question 70

William Somerset Maugham's first published work is known as ......

(A) Liza of Lambeth
(B) Lady Frederick
(C) A Man of Honour
(D) Of Human Bondage

Correct Answer: (A) Liza of Lambeth ✅

Explanation: W. Somerset Maugham's first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published in 1897.

Question 71

"O Lady! We receive but what we give And in our life alone does nature live". In which of the following poems, do the above lines appear?

(A) Christabel
(B) Kubla Khan
(C) Frost at Midnight
(D) Dejection, An Ode

Correct Answer: (D) Dejection, An Ode ✅

Explanation: These lines are from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Dejection: An Ode," where he explores the relationship between the poet's inner state and the perception of nature.

Question 72

Who claimed English as Sarswati's Gift to India?

(A) Jawaharlal Nehru
(B) Mahatma Gandhi
(C) C. Rajagopalachari
(D) Vijayalaxmi Pandit

Correct Answer: (C) C. Rajagopalachari ✅

Explanation: Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, often referred to as "Rajaji," was a prominent Indian politician and independence activist who famously called English "Saraswati's gift to India," emphasizing its importance for India's intellectual and international engagement.

Question 73

The autobiographical experiences of growing up as Dalit in the newly independent India of 1950s, whose title signifies scraps of food left on a plate, is the story of

(A) Omprakash Valmiki
(B) Kancha Ilaiah
(C) Namdeo Dhasal
(D) Manoranjan Byapari

Correct Answer: (A) Omprakash Valmiki ✅

Explanation: The description accurately fits Omprakash Valmiki's autobiography, Joothan, which translates to "leftover food" or "scraps," vividly detailing his experiences as a Dalit growing up in post-independence India.

Question 74

The term 'Cultural Materialism' was coined by

(A) T. S. Eliot
(B) F. R. Leavis
(C) C. S. Lewis
(D) Raymond Williams

Correct Answer: (D) Raymond Williams ✅

Explanation: The term "Cultural Materialism" was coined by Raymond Williams, a key figure in the development of cultural studies, to describe a theoretical approach that analyzes culture in relation to its material and historical conditions.

Question 75

Francois Lyotard is associated with

(A) Postcolonialism
(B) Postmodernism
(C) Historicism
(D) Culture studies

Correct Answer: (B) Postmodernism ✅

Explanation: Jean-François Lyotard is a central figure in postmodern philosophy, most notably for his work  The Post Modern Condition: A Report om Knowledge, which critiques grand narratives and emphasizes the fragmented nature of knowledge in the postmodern era.

Question 76

Which of the following is not a short story by Edgar Allen Poe that was published in Graham's Magazine?

(A) Murders in the Rue Morgue
(B) The Masque of the Red Death
(C) The Imp of the Perverse
(D) The Philosophy of Composition

Correct Answer: (D) The Philosophy of Composition ✅

Explanation: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Imp of the Perverse" are indeed short stories by Edgar Allan Poe that appeared in Graham's Magazine. "The Philosophy of Composition" is an essay by Poe, not a short story, in which he explains his method for writing "The Raven".

Question 77

Which of the following poems was not written by Nissim Ezekiel?

(A) Night of the Scorpion
(B) The Professor
(C) After Midnight
(D) A Time to Change

Correct Answer: (C) After Midnight ✅

Explanation: "Night of the Scorpion," "The Professor," and "A Time to Change" are well-known poems by Nissim Ezekiel. "After Midnight" is not one of his poems.

Question 78

Whose comic farce Englishman in Paris contested the field with Sentimental comedy?

(A) Henry Carey
(B) George Lillo
(C) Samuel Foote
(D) George Colman

Correct Answer: (C) Samuel Foote ✅

Explanation: Samuel Foote's play The Englishman in Paris (1753) is a satirical farce that critiqued the fashionable trends of the time, including elements of sentimental comedy, providing a contrast to its moralizing tone.

Question 79

In the sentence The truth is that he did not attend the classes, the underlined linguistic unit functions as ........

(A) Subject
(B) Direct object
(C) Indirect object
(D) Complement

Correct Answer: (D) Complement ✅

Explanation: In the sentence "The truth is that he did not attend the classes," the underlined phrase "that he did not attend the classes" is a noun clause functioning as a subject complement. It renames or describes the subject "The truth" after the linking verb "is."

Question 80

Case study method believes that..

(A) all men share common problem
(B) all men share common nature
(C) all men share common fate
(D) all men share common interest

Correct Answer: (B) all men share common nature ✅

Explanation: The case study method, while focusing on individual or specific cases, often implicitly or explicitly operates on the belief that by deeply understanding a particular instance, one can gain insights into broader human nature or general principles, which might be shared across individuals or groups.

Question 81

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a book entitled .

(A) Joining the resistance
(B) In Praise of Women's Bodies
(C) Fetishism and Curiosity
(D) The Yellow Wallpaper

Correct Answer: (D) The Yellow Wallpaper ✅

Explanation: Charlotte Perkins Gilman is widely known for her influential short story (often published as a novella) The Yellow Wallpaper, a feminist work that critiques the rest cure and patriarchal control over women's lives.

Question 82

Why computer plays an important role in doing research?

(A) because of its variability
(B) because of its sophistication
(C) because of its easy availability
(D) because of its easy handling

Correct Answer: (B) because of its sophistication ✅

Explanation: Computers play an important role in research due to their sophistication, which allows for complex data processing, statistical analysis, simulation, and efficient management of large datasets, far beyond manual capabilities. While availability and ease of handling are beneficial, sophistication is the primary driver of their importance in advanced research.

Question 83

Post-coloniality for Homi Bhabha, in The Location of Culture (1994), is a salutary reminder of

(A) The authentication of the unambiguous histories of decolonial movements
(B) The persistent neo-colonial relations within the 'new' world order and the multinational division of labour
(C) The need to be monologic rather than an endless celebration of hybridity
(D) The constitution of a field of stabilization that is knowledge outside of representation

Correct Answer: (B) The persistent neo-colonial relations within the 'new' world order and the multinational division of labour ✅

Explanation: In The Location of Culture, Homi Bhabha emphasizes that postcoloniality is not merely a historical aftermath but a continuous process that highlights the ongoing presence of neo-colonial power dynamics, particularly within the globalized economic and political landscape and the international division of labor.

Question 84

That there are differences in language has been propounded by

(A) Chomsky
(B) Ferdinand de Saussure
(C) Halliday
(D) Van Valin

Correct Answer: (B) Ferdinand de Saussure ✅

Explanation: Ferdinand de Saussure's structuralist linguistics emphasized the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign and the differential nature of language, meaning that meaning arises from the differences between signs within a system, implying variations across languages.

Question 85

Rahoul, the Hero of Bhabani Bhattacharya's Novel So Many Hungers, begins his conversation on Gandism and regrets about his non-participation in ..

(A) World War I
(B) World War II
(C) French Revolution
(D) Spanish Civil War

Correct Answer: (B) World War II ✅

Explanation: In Bhabani Bhattacharya's So Many Hungers!, Rahoul, an intellectual, reflects on his conversations about Gandhism and expresses regret over his non-participation in the freedom struggle during World War II, a period marked by significant nationalist movements in India.

Question 86

Who leads the conspirators in hatching the plot of murdering Julius Caesar?

(A) Brutus
(B) Casca
(C) Cassius
(D) Cinna

Correct Answer: (C) Cassius ✅

Explanation: In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Cassius is the primary instigator and organizer of the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar. He manipulates Brutus into joining the plot.

Question 87

Whose essays are called infinite riches in a little room'?

(A) Christopher Marlowe
(B) Thomas Nashe
(C) Francis Bacon
(D) Charles Lamb

Correct Answer: (C) Francis Bacon ✅

Explanation: The phrase "infinite riches in a little room" is often associated with the concise, aphoristic, and insightful nature of Francis Bacon's essays, implying that a great deal of wisdom and knowledge is contained within their brief form. The original quote is from Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta but is famously applied to Bacon's essays.

Question 88

Gynocriticism is a term related to

(A) Modernism
(B) Postmodernism
(C) Structuralism
(D) Feminism

Correct Answer: (D) Feminism ✅

Explanation: Gynocriticism is a term coined by Elaine Showalter to describe a critical approach within feminist literary criticism that focuses on women as writers, examining their history, styles, themes, genres, and structures of their work.

Question 89

Who has written the collection of short stories entitled, The Cow of the Barricades?

(A) Raja Rao
(B) R.K. Narayan
(C) Anita Desai
(D) Kiran Nagarkar

Correct Answer: (A) Raja Rao ✅

Explanation: The Cow of the Barricades is a collection of short stories by Raja Rao, first published in 1947.

Question 90

In which of the following poems, does the poetic line, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind" appear?

(A) Ode to a Nightingale
(B) Ode to the West Wind
(C) Ode On Melancholy
(D) Dejection, An Ode

Correct Answer: (B) Ode to the West Wind ✅

Explanation: This iconic line is the concluding line of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind," expressing a hopeful anticipation of renewal after hardship.

Question 91

Who published one of the most influential works On moral philosophy entitled The Sovereignty of Good and Other Concepts?

(A) James Joyce
(B) Samuel Beckett
(C) Iris Murdoch
(D) Henrik Ibsen

Correct Answer: (C) Iris Murdoch ✅

Explanation: The Sovereignty of Good is a collection of philosophical essays by Iris Murdoch, first published in 1970, and is considered a highly influential work in moral philosophy.

Question 92

The concepts Feminine, Feminist, and Female were introduced by:

(A) Toril Moi
(B) Helene Cixous
(C) Elaine Showalter
(D) Virginia Woolf

Correct Answer: (C) Elaine Showalter ✅

Explanation: Elaine Showalter, a prominent feminist literary critic, introduced the distinction between "female" (biological sex), "feminine" (socially constructed gender roles), and "feminist" (political position) in her work on gynocriticism.

Question 93

Which of the following poems was written by Ezra Pound?

(A) Gerontion
(B) The Return
(C) The Eye
(D) Antique Harvester

Correct Answer: (B) The Return ✅

Explanation: "The Return" is a well-known poem by Ezra Pound. "Gerontion" is by T.S. Eliot, and "The Eye" and "Antique Harvester" are not prominent poems by Pound.

Question 94

The decline of spirit of the Elizabethan drama begins with the works of:

(A) William Strode
(B) Ben Jonson
(C) Thomas Heywood
(D) John Dryden

Correct Answer: (D) John Dryden ✅

Explanation: While the Elizabethan era saw its peak with Shakespeare, the "decline of spirit" often refers to the shift towards Restoration drama and the influence of figures like John Dryden, whose works marked a departure from the earlier Elizabethan and Jacobean styles, ushering in a new era of English drama.

Question 95

In the sentence Ten thousand saw I at a glance, the phrase Ten thousand has been

(A) Foregrounded
(B) Reduplicated
(C) Blended
(D) Clipped

Correct Answer: (A) Foregrounded ✅

Explanation: "Foregrounded" refers to the stylistic technique of making certain elements of a text stand out or become more prominent. In the given sentence, "Ten thousand" is placed at the beginning, drawing immediate attention to the large number, thus foregrounding it for emphasis.

Question 96

Arrange the following books in the order in which they appeared. Use the code given below

(i) Politics
(ii) The State and Revolution
(iii) The Republic
(iv) The Leviathan

Code :
(A) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)
(B) (i) (iii) (iv) (ii)
(C) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)
(D) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)

Correct Answer: (C) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii) ✅

Explanation: The correct chronological order of publication is: 1. The Republic by Plato (c. 375 BCE) 2. Politics by Aristotle (4th century BCE) 3. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651) 4. The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin (1917)

Question 97

Which type of research is Exit poll survey?

(A) an exploratory research
(B) a descriptive research
(C) a historical research
(D) a social research

Correct Answer: (B) a descriptive research ✅

Explanation: An exit poll survey is a form of descriptive research because it aims to describe the characteristics of a population (voters' choices) at a specific point in time (after voting), without manipulating variables or establishing cause-and-effect relationships.

Question 98

Associated with Julia Kristeva's attempts to combine Saussurean and Bakhtinian theories of language and literature, the conceptual term argues that "any text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another"

(A) Ecriture
(B) Discourse
(C) Heteroglossia
(D) Intertextual

Correct Answer: (D) Intertextual ✅

Explanation: The description precisely defines "intertextuality," a term coined by Julia Kristeva, which posits that every text is a mosaic of other texts, a dialogue between texts, and a transformation of prior texts. It draws on Saussure's linguistic theories and Bakhtin's concept of dialogism.

Question 99

Which of the following novels has theme of Gandhiji's village based economy?

(A) Murugan, the Tiller
(B) Kandan
(C) Atlavar House
(D) Conflict

Correct Answer: (A) Murugan, the Tiller ✅

Explanation: K.S. Venkataramani's Murugan, the Tiller (1927) is a notable early Indian English novel that reflects Gandhian ideals, including the emphasis on rural life, self-sufficiency, and a village-based economy.

Question 100

Who is the author of Arcadia?

(A) Thomas Nashe
(B) Sir Philip Sidney
(C) Daniel Defoe
(D) William Webb

Correct Answer: (B) Sir Philip Sidney ✅

Explanation: The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, commonly known as Arcadia, is a prose romance by Sir Philip Sidney, one of the most significant works of English Renaissance literature.