CUET papers include short poems and passages written as a dialogue, both counted as literary and narrative reading. A poem is read for its central idea, its mood and its figures of speech; a conversation for who means what, and why each speaker says what they say. This lesson covers both, with the figures of speech that are actually asked and worked examples.
A poem says a lot in few words, so every word is doing work. A conversation leaves a lot unsaid, so every reply means more than it states. In both, the questions ask you to read what lies under the surface: the idea a poem builds towards, the feeling it carries, and what each speaker in a dialogue really means.
Read it through once, then read the last line or two again. Poems usually build towards their point, and the ending states or turns it. Then check that the idea you have explains the earlier lines too. If every line describes one thing, as in a poem where each line begins "Where…", the ending names what that thing is.
Look at the words chosen for sound and feeling: "dreary", "dead", "clear", "tireless". A mood question asks what the poem feels like to read (hopeful, sad, calm, angry), and the answer is supported by these word choices across the whole poem, not by one line.
Exam shortcut
Read the poem once for what it says and once aloud in your head, for how it sounds. Repeated sounds and repeated words are almost always there on purpose, and a question often asks about them.
The ones that come up again and again are simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, repetition, hyperbole, irony and the rhetorical question. You do not need a long list; you need to recognise these eight quickly and tell the look-alikes apart.
Example 1 · Metaphor or personification
"Tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection."
Which figure of speech is used? Options: simile; personification; alliteration; rhetorical question.
There is no "like" or "as", so it is not a simile, and it is a statement, not a question.
Striving (effort) is not a person, but here it "stretches its arms". Giving a human action to something non-human is personification.
Personification.
Alliteration is the trap if you notice the repeated "st" sounds, but the question is about what the line does as a whole, and it gives a human action to effort.
Watch out
A single line can use more than one figure of speech. When two options both seem to fit, choose the one the whole line depends on, and read the question again: "the figure of speech in the line" usually means the main one.
When a question asks what a picture in a poem stands for, translate the picture into a plain idea. "The desert sand of dead habit" is not a place; it is a picture of customs followed without thought, into which clear thinking disappears like a stream into sand. The right answer is the plain idea; the wrong answers read the picture literally.
Keep track of who is speaking and what each of them wants. In a conversation, people rarely say everything directly: they joke, they avoid, they hint. The questions ask what a reply shows, why someone mentions something, and how a speaker feels about the other.
Look at what the remark is answering. "I've decided that I hate deciding" answers "Have you decided?", and so it means "No, and I find this hard", said as a joke. The meaning of a reply is always tied to the line before it.
Example 2 · What a reply is answering
Father: Did you finish the assignment?
Son: I've finished thinking about it.
What does the son's reply suggest? Options: he has completed the assignment; he has not actually started writing it; he did not understand the question; he wants help from his father.
The father asks if the work is finished; the son answers about thinking, not doing.
The swap from "finished the assignment" to "finished thinking about it" is a playful way of admitting the work is not done.
He has not actually started writing it.
"He wants help" adds something he never asks for.
Poems
Figures of speech
Conversations
The same close reading of tone and meaning is at work in literary passages, and following what people want is the heart of narrative passages.
150 questions on 30 passages, each passage printed once above its questions, easier passages first. Pick an answer and check it; the worked solution opens only when you ask for it.
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She like a flower in the wind of our song;
She like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a on the of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold (1905)
Who is speaking in the poem?
AnswerC · The men who carry the palanquin
The speakers say "we bear her along" and "we glide and we sing". They are the bearers carrying her.
The title, "Palanquin Bearers", names them.
Worth noting
The woman is spoken about ("she sways", "she floats"), not the one speaking.
"She sways like a flower in the wind of our song" uses
AnswerB · a simile
It compares the woman to a flower using the word "like".
A comparison with "like" or "as" is a simile.
Worth noting
Nearly every line of the poem is built the same way, with "like": a bird, a laugh, a pearl, a star, a tear.
Why do the bearers carry her "lightly" and "softly"?
AnswerD · They carry her with great care, as something precious
Every picture of her is of something delicate or precious: a flower, a laugh, a pearl on a string, a tear.
Carrying her lightly and softly shows their care for her.
Worth noting
Nothing in the poem suggests hurry or tiredness; the rhythm itself is gentle and swaying.
"She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream." Here "skims" means
AnswerB · moves lightly over the surface
A bird skimming over a stream just touches the surface as it moves quickly and lightly.
The picture shows how smoothly the palanquin is carried.
Worth noting
Everything in the poem is light and graceful, so a word meaning sinking or diving would not fit.
The mood of the poem is best described as
AnswerA · gentle, joyful and musical
The bearers sing "gaily", and their repeated lines ("Lightly, O lightly") have the swing of a song.
The images are soft and happy: flowers, a laugh, a pearl, a star.
Worth noting
One line compares her to "a tear from the eyes of a bride", but a bride's tear is tender, not hopeless. One image does not change the whole poem's mood.
What is this life if, ,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s ,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
W. H. Davies, Songs of Joy and Others, "Leisure" (1911)
What is the poet's main point?
AnswerA · Life is poor if we are too busy to stop and enjoy the world around us
The poem begins and ends with the same idea: life is poor if "We have no time to stand and stare".
Each line in between names something beautiful we miss because we are always busy.
Worth noting
The poem mentions sheep and cows only to show how long they stand and stare, not to call them lazy.
"Streams full of stars, like skies at night" is an example of
AnswerB · a simile
The line compares shining streams to the night sky using "like".
Worth noting
A comparison with "like" or "as" is a simile, not a metaphor.
"No time to turn at Beauty's glance, / And watch her feet, how they can dance." Here Beauty is
AnswerA · given the form of a person who glances and dances
Beauty is written with a capital letter and given a glance, feet, a mouth and a smile, as if she were a person.
Giving human qualities to an idea is personification.
Worth noting
No real girl is named anywhere in the poem. "Beauty" is the beauty of the world, pictured as a person.
What is the effect of repeating "No time to" at the start of many lines?
AnswerC · It shows how much we miss because we are always busy
Each repetition adds another beautiful thing we fail to see, one after another.
The pile-up makes the loss feel large, which is the poem's point.
Worth noting
The lines list things we miss, not jobs to be done.
In "What is this life if, full of care", the phrase "full of care" means
AnswerD · full of worries
The poem is about a life too busy and troubled to enjoy the world.
"Care" here means worry or trouble, so "full of care" means full of worries.
Worth noting
"Careful" means paying attention to avoid mistakes. It is a different word, and it does not fit the poem.
Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.
In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.
I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.
I load my little boats with flowers from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.
I my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting their white sails.
I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!
When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.
The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the is their baskets full of dreams.
Rabindranath Tagore, The Crescent Moon, "Paper Boats" (1913)
Who is the speaker in the poem?
AnswerD · A child
The speaker floats paper boats, writes his name and village on them, and dreams of fairies of sleep.
These are the thoughts and games of a child.
Worth noting
The fairies appear in the child's dream at the end; they are not the speaker.
Why does the child write his name and village on the boats?
AnswerB · He hopes someone in a faraway land will find them and know who he is
He says "I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am."
Worth noting
The poem never mentions a teacher or selling. The reason is his hope of reaching someone far away.
"The little clouds setting their white bulging sails" pictures the clouds as
AnswerB · boats sailing in the sky
Sails belong to boats. The child sees the clouds as boats with white sails, like his own paper boats.
Speaking of clouds as boats, without "like" or "as", is a metaphor.
Worth noting
The next line imagines a playmate in the sky sending the cloud-boats "to race with my boats", which confirms the picture.
"I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!" This shows that the child
AnswerC · imagines someone in the sky playing a game with him
He pictures an unknown "playmate" sending cloud-boats to race his paper boats.
It shows his imagination turning the sky into a game partner.
Worth noting
"I know not" means "I do not know", so he does not know who sends them. The playmate is imagined.
The mood of the poem is best described as
AnswerD · dreamy and imaginative
The child imagines his boats reaching strange lands, clouds as sailing boats, and fairies of sleep carrying baskets of dreams.
The mood is gentle, hopeful and full of imagination.
Worth noting
The child is alone with his boats, but the poem is hopeful rather than lonely: he imagines being found and known.
Sana: So? Don't keep me waiting. What did you get?
Kavya: Ninety-one. You?
Sana: Eighty-four. Which is . It's fine. My mother will say it's fine.
Kavya: Sana, eighty-four is good.
Sana: I know it's good. I said it's fine, didn't I? I'm very happy for you, by the way. Ninety-one. You worked for it.
Kavya: You worked too. I saw you in the library every evening.
Sana: Yes, well. The library was nice and cool, at least.
Kavya: Do you want to get some chai?
Sana: I should probably go home and show my mother.
Kavya: She'll still be there in half an hour.
Sana: (after a ) Half an hour. And you're paying, Miss Ninety-One.
Kavya: That's .
Written for EduFarming
Why does Sana keep repeating that her marks are "fine"?
AnswerB · She is disappointed, and trying to convince herself it doesn't matter
Saying the same word three times, and adding "My mother will say it's fine", sounds like someone talking herself into it.
Her joke about the library being "cool, at least" also hides disappointment behind humour.
Worth noting
She congratulates Kavya warmly ("You worked for it"), so she is not trying to make her feel bad.
What does "The library was nice and cool, at least" suggest?
AnswerC · Sana is joking to hide the feeling that her hard work did not pay off as she hoped
Kavya reminds her that she worked hard. Sana answers that at least the library was cool, as if that were the only reward she got.
The joke covers her disappointment.
Worth noting
"At least" is the key: it suggests that nothing else good came of it, which is how she feels, not what is true.
What marks did Kavya get?
AnswerD · Ninety-one
Kavya says "Ninety-one", and Sana later calls her "Miss Ninety-One".
Worth noting
Eighty-four is Sana's mark. The two are close together in the dialogue and easy to swap.
Why does Kavya say "She'll still be there in half an hour"?
AnswerA · She gently persuades Sana not to rush home alone with her disappointment
Sana is about to go home straight away. Kavya points out that there is no need to rush, so they can spend time together first.
It is a kind, gentle way of keeping her friend company.
Worth noting
Nothing suggests Sana's mother is away or that Kavya is hurrying. The line is about giving Sana time.
How does the conversation end?
AnswerD · With Sana accepting the invitation in a lighter, joking mood
After a pause, Sana agrees to half an hour and jokes that "Miss Ninety-One" must pay. Kavya replies "That's fair."
The joke shows that Sana's mood has lifted.
Worth noting
Calling Kavya "Miss Ninety-One" is teasing, not bitterness; Kavya takes it well.
Aman: I'm taking the window seat.
Riya: You had it last time.
Aman: Last time was a different train.
Riya: Last time was the same train, going the other way. That's the only .
Aman: Then I'll take it for half the .
Riya: Which half?
Aman: The first half.
Riya: The first half is the station and the . The second half is the river and the hills. You know that.
Aman: Fine. The second half.
Riya: The second half starts at night, you'll be asleep, and I'll be looking at nothing.
Aman: So what do you want?
Riya: I want it from here to the river. Then you can have it.
Aman: That's the good part!
Riya: I know. I had the good part of nothing last time.
Aman: (laughs) All right. But I'm keeping the chips.
Riya: You were always keeping the chips.
Written for EduFarming
What do Aman and Riya disagree about?
AnswerA · Who should sit by the window
Aman begins with "I'm taking the window seat", and the rest of the talk is about how to share it.
Worth noting
The chips come up only at the end, as a joke. They are not what the two disagree about.
Why does Riya reject Aman's offer of "the first half"?
AnswerB · The first half has nothing interesting to see
She says "The first half is the station and the factories. The second half is the river and the hills."
Taking the first half would mean the boring view, so the offer is not really fair.
Worth noting
She does not ask for the whole journey; she asks for the part with the view.
What does Riya mean by "I had the good part of nothing last time"?
AnswerC · Last time, she got the window only when there was nothing worth seeing
She is answering Aman's protest that "the good part" is from here to the river.
She reminds him that last time she had the window only during a stretch with nothing to see, so it is her turn for the view.
Worth noting
The phrase is a joke on Aman's own words, "the good part".
How do they settle the argument?
AnswerD · Riya has the window seat until the river, then Aman takes it
Riya asks for the seat "from here to the river. Then you can have it", and Aman agrees: "All right."
Worth noting
Aman keeps the chips, but that is his part of the deal, not the seating plan itself.
The conversation is best described as
AnswerB · a playful argument between two people who know each other well
They tease each other, remember past journeys on the same train and end laughing, with a joke about the chips.
It is the friendly bargaining of two people who know each other well.
Worth noting
The passage never says how they are related, so the answer does not claim it. The shared memories and easy teasing are enough to rule out strangers and colleagues.
Farhan: Did you see that? What a shot!
Jay: Hmm.
Farhan: Hmm? That was a six over the longest in the ground!
Jay: Lucky edge.
Farhan: It went over the stand, Jay. There's no such thing as a lucky edge over the stand.
Jay: The wind helped.
Farhan: There's no wind! The flags aren't moving.
Jay: There's a little wind.
Farhan: () You were very quiet when our team was winning. Now they're losing, you seem much happier.
Jay: I'm just enjoying the cricket.
Farhan: Jay. Why are you wearing a blue cap?
Jay: It's my favourite colour.
Farhan: Our team plays in red.
Jay: () I never said I supported your team.
Written for EduFarming
Why does Jay keep giving excuses for the great shot?
AnswerC · He supports the other team and does not want to praise Farhan's team
He calls a six "a lucky edge" and blames the wind, even when there is none.
At the end he admits he never said he supported Farhan's team. His excuses were his way of not praising the rival side.
Worth noting
He clearly saw the shot, since he gives excuses for it.
How does Farhan show there is no wind?
AnswerA · He points out that the flags aren't moving
He says "There's no wind! The flags aren't moving."
Worth noting
The other answers describe ways of checking the wind that nobody in the conversation uses.
What makes Farhan suspicious of Jay?
AnswerD · Jay was quiet when Farhan's team was winning, and happier when it was losing
Farhan says "You were very quiet when our team was winning. Now they're losing, you seem much happier."
A supporter would behave the other way round, so Farhan starts to suspect.
Worth noting
Jay is quiet, not cheering loudly, which is exactly what makes Farhan suspicious.
Why is Jay's blue cap important?
AnswerC · It is the colour of the other team
Farhan points out that their team plays in red. The blue cap suggests Jay supports the other side.
Jay's grin and his last line confirm it.
Worth noting
Jay claims blue is just his favourite colour, but his final remark gives the game away.
The mood of the conversation is best described as
AnswerA · light-hearted teasing between friends
Jay gives silly excuses, Farhan grows suspicious, and the ending is a grin and a playful confession.
The two are clearly friends having fun at each other's expense.
Worth noting
Farhan is surprised, but the conversation ends with a grin, not anger.
Customer: Good morning. I bought this phone charger here on Saturday. It doesn't work.
Shopkeeper: Doesn't work? It's a good brand. Did you plug it in properly?
Customer: I plugged it in at home, at my office and at my sister's house. Three different . The phone shows nothing.
Shopkeeper: Maybe the problem is your phone.
Customer: I thought of that. So I tried my phone with my sister's charger. It charged in an hour. Then I tried her phone with this charger. Nothing.
Shopkeeper: (looking at the charger) Hmm. Do you have the ?
Customer: Here. Saturday, the fourteenth. Four hundred and fifty rupees.
Shopkeeper: The box?
Customer: Here. I kept it, just in case.
Shopkeeper: (smiling) You came . All right. I'll test it myself. (He plugs it in.) You're right, it's dead. I can give you a new one of the same kind, or you can choose another and pay the .
Customer: The same kind is fine. But could you test the new one before I go?
Shopkeeper: Of course. After what you've told me, I'd test it twice.
Written for EduFarming
What problem does the customer have?
AnswerC · The charger she bought on Saturday does not work
"I bought this phone charger here on Saturday. It doesn't work."
Worth noting
Her tests show the phone itself works with another charger.
How does the customer prove that the fault is in the charger, not her phone?
AnswerA · Her phone charged with her sister's charger, but her sister's phone did not charge with this one
Swapping chargers and phones showed that only this charger fails, whichever phone it is used with.
Worth noting
Trying three sockets also rules out the sockets as the problem.
What does the customer bring with her besides the charger?
AnswerB · The bill and the box
She hands over the bill ("Saturday, the fourteenth") and the box, which she kept "just in case".
Worth noting
Her sister is mentioned only as the owner of the other charger.
"You came prepared," the shopkeeper says. He means that she
AnswerD · had everything needed to make her case
She had tested the charger carefully and brought the bill and the box.
Worth noting
The remark is made while "smiling", as a compliment.
How does the shopkeeper's attitude change during the conversation?
AnswerC · He starts doubtful but ends helpful and friendly
At first he suggests she did not plug it in properly or that her phone is the problem. Later he smiles, tests the charger, replaces it and agrees to test the new one "twice".
Worth noting
His last line is a friendly joke, which shows the change.
Dadi: Aarav, come here. The vegetable man says I can pay him with my phone. Show me how.
Aarav: Okay, Dadi. First open this app. The one with the blue circle.
Dadi: This one?
Aarav: No, that's the calculator. This one. Good. Now press "".
Dadi: It's showing my face.
Aarav: That's the wrong camera. Turn the phone round. Now point it at the black and white square on the card he gave you.
Dadi: It made a sound! Did I pay?
Aarav: Not yet. Now type the . How much is it?
Dadi: Sixty-five rupees. Six... five. Now?
Aarav: Now your . The four numbers. Don't tell me what they are.
Dadi: Why not? You're my grandson.
Aarav: Because a PIN is secret, Dadi. You never tell anyone. Not even me.
Dadi: (typing slowly) There. It says "Paid". A green tick!
Aarav: Well done. Now show him the screen.
Dadi: Wait. Can I see where the sixty-five rupees went?
Aarav: Yes, press "History".
Dadi: (reading carefully) Sixty-five rupees, to Ramesh Vegetables. Good. Now teach me how to check my , because next week I am going to buy a sari.
Written for EduFarming
Why does Dadi want to learn to pay with her phone?
AnswerB · The vegetable man said she could pay him that way
"The vegetable man says I can pay him with my phone. Show me how."
Worth noting
The idea comes from the vegetable man, not from Aarav or the bank.
What mistake does Dadi make when she presses "Scan"?
AnswerD · The phone shows her face because she is using the front camera
"It's showing my face." Aarav says, "That's the wrong camera. Turn the phone round."
Worth noting
Opening the calculator was her earlier mistake, before pressing "Scan".
Why will Aarav not let Dadi tell him her PIN?
AnswerA · A PIN must be kept secret from everyone, even family
"Because a PIN is secret, Dadi. You never tell anyone. Not even me."
Worth noting
Dadi thinks family can be trusted; Aarav teaches the rule that a PIN is never shared.
Why does Dadi ask to see "where the sixty-five rupees went"?
AnswerB · She wants to check for herself that the payment went to the right person
She reads the history "carefully" and says "Good" when she sees the payment went "to Ramesh Vegetables".
Worth noting
She is careful, not suspicious of Aarav.
What does Dadi's last line suggest about her?
AnswerA · She is confident and eager to keep learning
She asks to learn the next step at once, because "next week I am going to buy a sari", by herself.
Worth noting
Her plan shows growing confidence, not confusion.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A of golden daffodils:
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in :—
A poet could not but be gay
In such a company;
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of ;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth, Poems, "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" (1815)
"I wandered lonely as a cloud." This line contains
AnswerC · a simile
The poet compares himself to a cloud using "as": "lonely as a cloud".
Worth noting
A metaphor would say "I was a cloud"; with "as", it is a simile.
The daffodils are "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" and "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance". Which device is used?
AnswerB · Personification
Dancing and tossing heads are human actions, given here to flowers.
Worth noting
There is no comparison with "like" or "as" in these lines, so they are not similes.
How many daffodils does the poet say he saw "at a glance"?
AnswerD · Ten thousand
"Ten thousand saw I at a glance."
Worth noting
"A host" means a great number, but the number the poem gives is ten thousand.
"I gazed—and gazed—but little thought / What wealth the show to me had brought." What "wealth" does he mean?
AnswerB · The lasting joy that the memory of the flowers would give him
The last stanza explains it: when he lies alone, the daffodils "flash upon that inward eye" and "my heart with pleasure fills".
Worth noting
The wealth is not money; it is the memory that keeps giving him happiness.
"That inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude" refers to
AnswerC · his memory or imagination, which brings back the scene when he is alone
He sees the flowers again when he is lying "in vacant or in pensive mood", not with his real eyes.
An "inward eye" is the mind's eye: memory and imagination.
Worth noting
He is lying on his couch, not sleeping, so it is not a dream.
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ;
And along like troops in a battle
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering ;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And here is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill, and there is a river:
Each a and gone forever!
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses, "From a Railway Carriage" (1885)
What does the poem describe?
AnswerA · The quick view of the countryside from a fast-moving train
The title and every line describe scenes rushing past: "Each a glimpse and gone forever!"
Worth noting
Stations are mentioned only as things that "whistle by", not as a place where the poet stays.
"Faster than fairies, faster than witches." The repeated "f" sounds are an example of
AnswerC · alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of the same first sound in words close together: "Faster ... fairies ... faster".
Worth noting
The lines do rhyme ("witches" and "ditches"), but the repeated first sounds are alliteration.
"And charging along like troops in a battle / All through the meadows the horses and cattle." This comparison is
AnswerD · a simile
The animals are compared to "troops in a battle" using "like".
Worth noting
Seen from the train, the animals seem to rush past; it is the comparison with "like" that makes it a simile.
Why does the poem's rhythm feel quick and regular?
AnswerB · The short, rhyming lines with a steady beat copy the sound and speed of the train
Lines like "Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches" have a quick beat that sounds like wheels on rails.
The rhyming pairs come one after another, as fast as the sights outside.
Worth noting
The lines are short, not long; their speed matches the subject.
"Each a glimpse and gone forever!" What does the last line suggest?
AnswerC · Every sight is seen for only a moment before the train carries him past
A glimpse is a very quick look. From a fast train, each scene is seen once and left behind.
Worth noting
"Gone forever" is about the train moving on, not about the places being destroyed.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into by narrow walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country .
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, poem 35 (1912)
What is the poet's central wish in the poem?
AnswerC · That his country should wake into a state where minds are truly free
Each line beginning "Where" describes a place: no fear, free knowledge, truthful words, clear reason.
The last line calls this place "that heaven of freedom" and asks that the poet's country "awake" into it. The freedom he means is freedom of the mind.
Worth noting
Wealth and power are never mentioned. The poem is about the state of people's minds, not the strength of a nation.
In "the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit", the "desert sand of dead habit" stands for
AnswerA · customs followed without thought, in which clear thinking dries up and is lost
Reason is pictured as a clear stream, and old, unthinking habit as desert sand. A stream that runs into sand disappears.
So the poet fears that clear thinking can be swallowed up by customs people follow only because they always have.
Worth noting
The poem is not about places or weather. The stream and the desert are pictures for ways of thinking.
"Narrow domestic walls" refers to
AnswerD · the divisions that separate people within a society
The walls break the world "into fragments". What breaks a society into pieces is the division of people into groups that keep apart.
"Narrow" suggests narrow-mindedness, and "domestic" places the walls inside a society rather than between nations.
Worth noting
Borders between countries would be the opposite of "domestic", which here means inside one country or society.
The poem is written in the form of
AnswerB · a prayer
The poet speaks to "thee" and "my Father", and ends by asking, "let my country awake".
Speaking to God and asking for something for others is what a prayer does.
Worth noting
No one answers and nothing happens in order, so it is not an argument or a story.
By "where knowledge is free", the poet most likely means a place where
AnswerB · everyone can learn and think without being stopped
Every line of the poem is about the mind being free: without fear, led by reason, open to "ever-widening thought".
So "free" knowledge is knowledge open to everyone, that no one is kept from, not knowledge without a price.
Worth noting
Books without payment and schools without fees read "free" as "costing nothing". The poem is about freedom, not about money.
Meera: You've been staring at that college list for an hour. Have you decided?
Arjun: I've decided that I hate deciding. The one near home has the course I want. The one in Delhi has the name everyone .
Meera: And which one do you want?
Arjun: That's the trouble. When I say the Delhi one out loud, I sound . When I think about actually living there, I feel tired.
Meera: So you want the Delhi college for the sound of it.
Arjun: That's a way to put it.
Meera: I didn't say it was wrong. Plenty of people choose for the name, and a name opens doors. I only asked which one you want.
Arjun: Papa says a big name matters for jobs.
Meera: He might be right. He also said the scooter would last ten more years, and it has been in the repair shop twice this month.
Arjun: Don't let him hear you say that.
Meera: I'm serious, though. Write down what you would do on an ordinary Tuesday at each place. Not the version. A Tuesday.
Arjun: An ordinary Tuesday. At home I'd be in the lab by nine. In Delhi I'd be on the metro by eight, trying to remember why I came.
Meera: Well. You just answered it.
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What does Arjun's reply "I've decided that I hate deciding" show?
AnswerC · He is joking about how hard he finds the choice
Meera asks whether he has decided. He answers with a play on her word: the only thing he has decided is that deciding is hard.
It is a light, joking way of admitting that he has not made up his mind.
Worth noting
He goes on to describe both colleges, so he has clearly not chosen one yet.
Why does Meera mention the scooter?
AnswerA · To suggest, lightly, that Papa is not always right
She first grants that Papa "might be right" about big names, then reminds Arjun that he was confident about the scooter too, and it has been in the repair shop twice this month.
The example gently shows that his confident predictions can be wrong, so his view should not settle the question alone.
Worth noting
Arjun's reply, "Don't let him hear you say that", shows he understood it as a joke at Papa's expense, not a request about the scooter.
Which best describes Meera's attitude to choosing a college for its name?
AnswerD · She accepts it can be a fair reason, but wants Arjun to be honest about what he wants
She says "I didn't say it was wrong" and that "a name opens doors", so she does not condemn it.
What she keeps coming back to is "which one do you want", so her concern is that Arjun should be honest with himself.
Worth noting
Her "harsh" summary sounds like disapproval, but she corrects that impression straight away.
What does Meera ask Arjun to write down?
AnswerA · What an ordinary day would be like at each college
She tells him to "write down what you would do on an ordinary Tuesday at each place".
She adds "Not the brochure version", so she wants his honest picture of a normal day.
Worth noting
The brochure is mentioned only as what she does not want.
What does Arjun realise by the end of the conversation?
AnswerD · That the college near home suits the life he actually wants
Picturing an ordinary Tuesday, he sees himself happily at work in the lab at home, and in Delhi "trying to remember why I came".
Meera's last line, "You just answered it", tells us he has seen which choice fits the life he wants.
Worth noting
The metro is a detail of his picture of Delhi, not what he realises.
Weavers, weaving at break of day,
Why do you weave a so ? . . .
Blue as the wing of a wild,
We weave the robes of a new-born child.
Weavers, weaving at fall of night,
Why do you weave a garment so bright? . . .
Like the of a peacock, purple and green,
We weave the marriage-veils of a queen.
Weavers, weaving and still,
What do you weave in the moonlight chill? . . .
White as a feather and white as a cloud,
We weave a dead man's funeral .
Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold (1905)
What do the three garments in the poem stand for?
AnswerC · Three stages of life: birth, marriage and death
The weavers make robes for "a new-born child", "marriage-veils of a queen", and "a dead man's funeral shroud".
Together they trace a life from birth, through marriage, to death.
Worth noting
The times of day (break of day, fall of night, moonlight) mirror these stages, but they are not the subject.
What do the weavers weave "in the moonlight chill"?
AnswerC · A dead man's funeral shroud
The third stanza says: "We weave a dead man's funeral shroud."
Worth noting
The robes are woven at break of day and the veils at fall of night. Each stanza has its own time and its own garment.
How does the mood change across the poem?
AnswerD · From bright and joyful to solemn and sad
The first two stanzas are full of bright colour: blue, purple and green, a "gay" and "bright" garment.
The last is "solemn and still", in "moonlight chill", and the colour is only white. The mood darkens as life nears its end.
Worth noting
The poem keeps the same pattern of question and answer throughout, but its feeling changes.
"Why do you weave a garment so gay?" In this line, "gay" means
AnswerA · bright and cheerful
The answer describes the garment as "Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild", a bright, happy colour for a baby's robe.
In older English, "gay" means bright and cheerful.
Worth noting
The poem was published in 1905. A word's older meaning is often the one an old text uses.
How is the poem built?
AnswerB · As a series of questions and answers
Each stanza begins with a question to the weavers ("Why do you weave…?", "What do you weave…?") and ends with their answer.
Worth noting
Colours appear in the answers, but they are part of the pattern, not the whole of it.
Rise, brothers, rise, the wakening skies pray to the morning light,
The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night.
Come, let us gather our nets from the shore, and set our free,
To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the sons of the sea.
No longer delay, let us away in the track of the sea-gull's call,
The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother, the waves are our all.
What though we toss at the fall of the sun where the hand of the sea-god drives?
He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives.
Sweet is the shade of the cocoanut glade, and the scent of the mango grove,
And sweet are the sands at the full o' the moon with the sound of the voices we love.
But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the and the dance of the wild foam's glee:
Row, brothers, row to the blue of the , where the low sky mates with the sea.
Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold (1905)
Who is speaking in the poem, and to whom?
AnswerB · A fisherman, calling his fellow fishermen to go out to sea at dawn
The speaker says "Rise, brothers, rise" and "let us gather our nets", and calls them all "the sons of the sea".
He is a fisherman urging the others to set out at daybreak.
Worth noting
The sea is spoken about ("The sea is our mother"), not the one speaking.
In "The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night", the wind is compared to
AnswerC · a child who has cried itself to sleep
The line says the wind lies asleep "like a child that has cried all night".
After a stormy night, the wind has gone quiet, like a tired child finally asleep.
Worth noting
The dawn holds the wind "in its arms" like a mother, but the question asks what the wind itself is compared to.
"To capture the leaping wealth of the tide" refers to
AnswerA · the fish they hope to catch
The fishermen are gathering their nets to go to sea. What leaps in the tide and gives them their living is fish.
Calling the fish "wealth" shows how much their catch means to them.
Worth noting
Nothing in the poem mentions gold or treasure. The "wealth" is their catch.
What do the lines "The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother" show about the fishermen?
AnswerD · They feel close to nature, like members of one family
They call the sea their mother, the cloud their brother and the waves their comrades.
Speaking of nature as family shows how at home they feel with it.
Worth noting
They are going out to sea eagerly, which rules out fear of it.
What does the last stanza suggest?
AnswerB · The land is sweet, but the fishermen love the sea even more
The stanza lists the sweet things of the land, the coconut glade, the mango grove, loved voices on the sands.
Then it says "But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray". The sea is loved even more than all of these.
Worth noting
"Sweet… But sweeter" is a comparison. The trap is to stop reading at "sweet" and choose the land.
Two roads in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the ;_
_Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,_
_And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back._
_I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages :
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost, Mountain Interval, "The Road Not Taken" (1916)
What is the poem mainly about?
AnswerC · A choice between two paths, and how a choice shapes the rest of a life
The speaker stands where two roads divide, can take only one, chooses, and imagines looking back on the choice "ages and ages hence".
The roads stand for choices, and the poem is about what choosing means.
Worth noting
The yellow wood and the leaves set the scene; they are not the subject.
According to the second and third stanzas, how different were the two roads really?
AnswerB · They were worn and covered with leaves about the same
The speaker admits that "the passing there / Had worn them really about the same", and that both "equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black".
So there was little real difference between them.
Worth noting
The last stanza calls one "less traveled by", but the middle of the poem has already said they were about the same. That gap is part of what the poem is saying about memory.
Why did the speaker doubt that he "should ever come back"?
AnswerD · One choice leads on to others, so he would probably never return to try the other road
The line before says "knowing how way leads on to way".
Once he has taken one road, it will lead to further roads and choices, so the chance to come back is unlikely.
Worth noting
He says "I kept the first for another day", but the next lines admit that day may never come.
"I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence" suggests that the speaker
AnswerC · imagines looking back one day with mixed feelings, perhaps some regret
A sigh can mean regret, relief or longing. The speaker does not say which.
Imagining himself telling the story "with a sigh" shows he expects to feel something complicated about the choice, not simple pride.
Worth noting
The last line, "that has made all the difference", is often read as pure triumph, but the sigh before it makes that reading too simple.
In the poem, the two roads stand for
AnswerB · choices a person must make in life
The speaker can take only one, cannot easily come back, and says the choice "has made all the difference".
That is true of choices in life, which is what the roads stand for.
Worth noting
A poem can describe a real scene and still use it as a symbol. The question asks what the roads stand for.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in ,
It asked a of me.
Emily Dickinson, Poems, Second Series, "Hope" (1891)
In the poem, hope is pictured as
AnswerA · a little bird
Hope is "the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul, / And sings".
Feathers, perching and singing all picture a small bird.
Worth noting
The storm and the sea are what the bird faces, not what hope is.
What does "And never stops at all" suggest about hope?
AnswerD · It keeps going, even through hard times
The bird sings "the tune without the words" and "never stops at all".
The next stanza says it is "sweetest in the gale", so hope carries on even when things are hardest.
Worth noting
"Sweetest in the gale" rules out a bird that sings only in good weather.
"And sore must be the storm / That could abash the little bird" means that
AnswerC · only a terrible hardship could silence hope
"Sore must be the storm" means the storm would have to be very severe.
Only such a storm could "abash", or silence, the little bird. So hope is silenced only by the very worst troubles.
Worth noting
The lines say how rare it is for hope to be silenced, not that it happens often.
According to the last stanza, what has hope asked of the poet?
AnswerA · Nothing, not even a crumb
The last lines say: "Yet, never, in extremity, / It asked a crumb of me."
Even in the worst times, hope asked for nothing in return.
Worth noting
A bird might be expected to need food, which is why the poem mentions a crumb. The point is that hope gives without taking.
The poet's attitude towards hope is best described as
AnswerC · admiring and grateful
She calls its song "sweetest", says it "kept so many warm", and notes that it asked nothing of her.
The poem praises hope with warmth and thanks.
Worth noting
Nothing in the poem questions hope; every line speaks of it with admiration.
Customer: How much for the mangoes?
: For you, sister, a hundred and twenty a kilo.
Customer: A hundred and twenty! Are they grown in gold?
Vendor: In the finest in Ratnagiri. Smell one. Go on.
Customer: I can smell it from here. The shop at the corner sells them for ninety.
Vendor: Then the shop at the corner must be selling very small, very sad mangoes. Look at the colour on these.
Customer: The colour is very nice. The price is less nice. A hundred.
Vendor: A hundred and ten, and I'll give you the best ones myself.
Customer: A hundred, and I'll come back every Sunday.
Vendor: (sighs) Every Sunday?
Customer: Every Sunday until the ends.
Vendor: My children will go hungry, but all right. A hundred. For a customer who keeps her promises.
Customer: You haven't seen me keep it yet.
Vendor: I have seen your face. That is enough.
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"Are they grown in gold?" is the customer's way of saying that
AnswerB · she thinks the price is far too high
She reacts to the price of a hundred and twenty with this question.
It is a joking exaggeration: only mangoes grown in gold would cost so much.
Worth noting
The question is not meant to be answered. It is a way of complaining about the price.
Why does the vendor describe the corner shop's mangoes as "very small, very sad"?
AnswerC · He is playfully running down his rival to justify his own price
The customer says the corner shop sells for ninety. The vendor replies that cheaper mangoes must be worse.
It is a playful sales trick to defend his higher price.
Worth noting
He has not said he has seen them. "Must be" shows he is guessing, or pretending to.
At what price do they finally agree?
AnswerA · A hundred rupees a kilo
The vendor finally says "All right. A hundred."
Worth noting
A hundred and ten was his counter-offer, which the customer did not accept.
What does the customer offer in return for the lower price?
AnswerB · To come back and buy every Sunday until the season ends
She says "A hundred, and I'll come back every Sunday", and then "Every Sunday until the season ends."
She offers to be a regular customer in exchange for a lower price.
Worth noting
She makes no offer to pay in advance or to bring friends.
The tone of the conversation is best described as
AnswerA · playful and good-humoured
Both speakers exaggerate for fun: mangoes "grown in gold", "very sad mangoes", "My children will go hungry".
They bargain hard but warmly, and end on a friendly note.
Worth noting
"My children will go hungry" is not a real complaint. It is part of the good-humoured bargaining.
Ms Dsouza: Rahul, your assignment was on Monday.
Rahul: Yes, ma'am. I know, ma'am. I was going to talk to you about that.
Ms Dsouza: It's Thursday.
Rahul: The thing is, ma'am, our internet was down. And then my cousin's wedding. And then the printer ran out of ink.
Ms Dsouza: That's three reasons.
Rahul: They all happened, ma'am.
Ms Dsouza: I don't it. I've been teaching for eighteen years, Rahul. In that time I have heard of more broken printers than there are printers in this city. Let me ask you something else. Have you started it?
Rahul: (pause) Not exactly started, ma'am.
Ms Dsouza: Thank you. That's the first thing you've told me that helps. If you'd said that on Monday, we could have worked something out.
Rahul: Can we still work something out?
Ms Dsouza: We can. Bring me one page by tomorrow, any page, and the rest by Tuesday. And Rahul? Next time, the true part.
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What does Ms Dsouza mean by "That's three reasons"?
AnswerC · She is dryly pointing out that he has piled up a lot of excuses
Rahul lists the internet, a wedding and a printer, one after another.
By simply counting them, she hints that so many excuses sound less convincing than one honest answer.
Worth noting
She later says "I don't doubt it", so she is not calling him a liar, only pointing out that the excuses are not the real issue.
What is Ms Dsouza suggesting when she mentions "more broken printers than there are printers in this city"?
AnswerD · Students very often blame printers, and she has heard it too many times to be impressed
She has taught for eighteen years and heard of so many broken printers that there could not possibly be that many.
It is a humorous way of saying the excuse is a common one.
Worth noting
She does not doubt Rahul's printer ran out of ink. Her point is that excuses are not what matters.
What does Rahul finally admit?
AnswerD · That he has not really started it
Asked if he has started, he says, after a pause, "Not exactly started, ma'am."
Worth noting
He does not say the wedding did not happen; he only admits the work was not begun.
Why does Ms Dsouza say "That's the first thing you've told me that helps"?
AnswerA · His honesty gives them something real to work with
His excuses could not be fixed, but knowing the truth, that he has not started, lets her make a plan.
She immediately offers one: one page by tomorrow, the rest by Tuesday.
Worth noting
She does not punish him; she gives him a way forward. So her words are not sarcastic.
What does "Next time, lead with the true part" advise Rahul to do?
AnswerC · Tell the truth first, rather than starting with excuses
Rahul began with excuses and only admitted the truth at the end.
She advises him to begin with the honest answer, which is what helped.
Worth noting
"Lead with" means "start with". It has nothing to do with leading other people.
Manager: So you'd like to work here on weekends. Have you worked in a bookshop before?
Neha: No. I've worked in my uncle's during the holidays, though.
Manager: That's different.
Neha: It is. But the customers are the same people. They come in looking for one thing, they don't quite know its name, and they're a little to ask.
Manager: (smiles) That's true of both. What's your favourite book?
Neha: Can I give you an honest answer or a good one?
Manager: Try the honest one.
Neha: I haven't read many books this year. I've been preparing for exams. But I read the backs of hundreds of them in the library, trying to decide which one I'd read first when the exams are over.
Manager: That's an answer.
Neha: It's the true one. I thought you'd rather have that than me pretending I'd read something clever.
Manager: I would. And knowing what's on the back of a hundred books is most of this job, . Can you start on Saturday?
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Why does Neha compare pharmacy customers with bookshop customers?
AnswerC · To show that her experience with people will be useful even in a new kind of shop
The manager says a pharmacy is different. Neha agrees, but says the customers behave the same way: they are unsure of a name and shy to ask.
She is showing that she knows how to help such customers, which matters in a bookshop too.
Worth noting
She agrees the shops are different. Her point is about the people, not the products.
What does "Can I give you an honest answer or a good one?" suggest?
AnswerD · The honest answer may not sound as impressive as an interviewer might hope
She hints that the true answer is less impressive than one she could invent.
She then explains that she has not read many books this year because of exams.
Worth noting
She chooses honesty when the manager asks for it, so she clearly values it.
Why has Neha not read many books this year?
AnswerA · She has been preparing for exams
She says "I haven't read many books this year. I've been preparing for exams."
Worth noting
She still went to the library, where she read the backs of hundreds of books.
"Knowing what's on the back of a hundred books is most of this job, as it happens." Here "as it happens" suggests that this fact is
AnswerC · a pleasant surprise that works in Neha's favour
The phrase introduces something true that fits the situation, often a little surprisingly.
What Neha thought was an odd confession turns out to be exactly the skill the job needs.
Worth noting
"As it happens" does not mean "sometimes happens". It means "as it turns out".
Why does the manager offer Neha the job?
AnswerD · Her honesty, and her knowledge of what is in many books, suit the job
The manager prefers the honest answer, and says knowing what is on the back of a hundred books "is most of this job".
Her truthful answer turns out to show the very thing the job needs.
Worth noting
She has never worked in a bookshop, so experience is not the reason.
Dadaji: What are you looking at?
Vivek: Nothing. Just a video.
Dadaji: Of what?
Vivek: A man in Norway catching a fish through a hole in the ice.
Dadaji: Is he catching it now?
Vivek: No, this was filmed last year.
Dadaji: I see. And before this, what did you watch?
Vivek: A dog that plays the piano. Well, sort of plays.
Dadaji: And before that?
Vivek: I don't remember, Dadaji.
Dadaji: (nodding) When I was your age, I spent a whole afternoon watching a man a fishing net by the river. I remember his name. I remember he the same song all the time, and that he gave me a piece of when he finished.
Vivek: That sounds boring.
Dadaji: It was very boring. I remember every minute of it.
Vivek: (puts the phone down) What was the song?
Dadaji: Walk with me to the market, and I'll sing it for you.
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Why does Dadaji keep asking "And before that?"
AnswerB · He is showing Vivek, without saying it directly, how little of the videos he remembers
Each question pushes Vivek further back, until he says "I don't remember".
Dadaji makes his point without lecturing: the videos pass through the mind and are forgotten.
Worth noting
Dadaji never raises his voice or scolds. He lets the questions do the work.
"It was very boring. I remember every minute of it." What is Dadaji suggesting?
AnswerA · Slow, real experiences can stay with us far longer than quick entertainment
Vivek remembers nothing of the videos he watched minutes ago, while Dadaji remembers a slow afternoon from his childhood in detail.
The contrast suggests that time spent really paying attention stays with us.
Worth noting
He does not say boring things are always better. He admits it was boring, and points out that he remembers it.
What did the man by the river give young Dadaji?
AnswerA · A piece of jaggery
Dadaji says the man "gave me a piece of jaggery when he finished".
Worth noting
The man was mending a net, but he did not give it away.
What does Vivek's putting down the phone show?
AnswerD · He has become curious about his grandfather's memory
He puts the phone down and asks "What was the song?"
His question shows that Dadaji's story has caught his interest more than the videos.
Worth noting
Nothing mentions the battery. The action comes straight after the story, and shows its effect.
How does Dadaji persuade Vivek?
AnswerC · By gently telling a story instead of giving orders
He asks simple questions and then tells a memory from his own childhood, never telling Vivek what to do.
He ends with an invitation, "Walk with me to the market", rather than a command.
Worth noting
The phone is put down by Vivek himself, not taken away.
Ishaan: So it's . Manali, the second week of June. All five of us.
Tanvi: Sounds lovely.
Ishaan: You'll come, won't you? We need five to share the car.
Tanvi: Of course. Well, probably. It a few things.
Ishaan: Like what?
Tanvi: My cousin might be visiting that week. And the coaching classes might start early. And you know how my mother is about mountains.
Ishaan: Your cousin visits every June. You've never let her stop you before.
Tanvi: This time she might stay longer.
Ishaan: Tanvi. Is it the money?
Tanvi: (after a long ) It's a bit more than I thought.
Ishaan: Why didn't you just say so?
Tanvi: Because it sounds so small. Everyone else said yes straight away.
Ishaan: It's not small. We'll take the bus instead of the car, and stay in the hostel, not the hotel. It'll cost half as much.
Tanvi: You'd do that?
Ishaan: The hills look exactly the same from a bus.
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What do Tanvi's many reasons for maybe not coming suggest?
AnswerD · They are excuses hiding a different, real reason
Her reasons keep changing: a cousin, coaching classes, her mother. Ishaan points out that her cousin never stopped her before.
When he asks about money, she admits after a long silence that it costs more than she expected. The earlier reasons were covering this.
Worth noting
Her cousin does visit, but Ishaan's reply shows that it has never been a real obstacle before.
Why does Ishaan need Tanvi to come?
AnswerB · They need five people to share the car
He says "We need five to share the car."
Worth noting
Later they change the plan to a bus, but at the start, the car is the reason.
Why was Tanvi afraid to mention the money?
AnswerA · She thought it would sound small and embarrassing, since the others had agreed at once
She says "Because it sounds so small. Everyone else said yes straight away."
She felt embarrassed to be the only one worried about the cost.
Worth noting
She never asks anyone to pay for her; she only admits it costs more than she thought.
How does Ishaan solve the problem?
AnswerC · He changes the plan to a cheaper bus and hostel so the trip costs less
He says "We'll take the bus instead of the car, and stay in the hostel, not the hotel. It'll cost half as much."
Worth noting
He does not cancel the trip or leave Tanvi out. He changes it so that she can come.
"The hills look exactly the same from a bus." Ishaan says this to
AnswerB · reassure Tanvi that the cheaper plan loses nothing that matters
Tanvi asks, surprised, "You'd do that?" His reply makes the change sound unimportant.
The point of the trip, the hills, stays the same, so she need not feel she has spoiled it.
Worth noting
The line is kind and light, not mocking. It answers her worry that she has cost everyone something.
Papa: Your results are good, Riya. Ninety per cent in science. So, science for Class 11?
Riya: Everyone keeps asking me that. Sharma uncle asked me at the wedding. The auto driver asked me this morning.
Papa: The auto driver?
Riya: He has a daughter in Class 10 too. He wanted to know what I was choosing so he could tell her.
Papa: (laughing) And what did you tell him?
Riya: I told him I don't know yet. Papa, I got ninety in science, but I enjoyed more. I liked working out why prices go up. Science I just studied.
Papa: Economics is in commerce.
Riya: I know. That's why I'm asking you, not the auto driver.
Papa: (after a ) When I was your age, my father chose for me. Engineering. I was good at it, and I have a good job. But I still remember sitting in the drawing class, wishing I were in the history room next door.
Riya: So you think I should take commerce?
Papa: I think you should take what you want to keep studying when nobody is making you. Then tell the auto driver, so his daughter knows it's allowed.
Written for EduFarming
Why did the auto driver ask Riya about her choice of stream?
AnswerB · He has a daughter in Class 10 and wanted to tell her what Riya chose
"He has a daughter in Class 10 too. He wanted to know what I was choosing so he could tell her."
Worth noting
Riya explains this herself when her father is surprised.
What does Riya mean by "Science I just studied"?
AnswerB · She did well in science but did not enjoy it the way she enjoyed economics
She contrasts it with economics: "I enjoyed economics more. I liked working out why prices go up."
Worth noting
She got ninety per cent, so she did study it; the point is that she did not love it.
Why does Papa tell Riya about his own father choosing engineering for him?
AnswerA · To show that doing well at something you did not choose can still leave regret
He says he was good at it and has a good job, "But I still remember ... wishing I were in the history room next door."
He does not want his daughter to have the same regret.
Worth noting
He admits his job is good, so he is not complaining; the story is about choice.
What advice does Papa finally give?
AnswerD · Choose the subject she would want to keep studying even if nobody made her
"I think you should take what you want to keep studying when nobody is making you."
Worth noting
He does not tell her which stream to take; he gives her a way to decide.
"Then tell the auto driver, so his daughter knows it's allowed." What does Papa suggest by this?
AnswerC · Riya's choice could encourage other girls to choose what they really want
"So his daughter knows it's allowed" suggests the girl might otherwise feel she has to follow what others expect.
Worth noting
The remark is warm and hopeful, not a criticism of the driver.
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of ! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.
Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, poem 11 (1912)
Where, according to the poem, is God to be found?
AnswerA · Among working people, the tiller and the pathmaker, in their toil
"He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones."
Worth noting
The poem begins by telling the worshipper to leave the closed temple: "thy God is not before thee!"
Why does the poet tell the worshipper to put off "thy holy mantle"?
AnswerD · To come down among ordinary working people, as God does
The full line is "Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!"
God's own "garment is covered with dust", so the worshipper should not stay apart in holy clothes.
Worth noting
The mantle is a sign of religious separateness, not simply clothing that is dirty or hot.
"Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation." What does this suggest?
AnswerA · God has chosen to be bound up with the world and its work, so people should not seek to escape it
The line answers the question "Where is this deliverance to be found?"
If God himself is "bound with us all for ever", running from the world into meditation is no way to reach him.
Worth noting
"Joyfully" shows God is not a prisoner; he takes on the bonds willingly.
What is the tone of the poem?
AnswerB · Urgent and challenging, calling the worshipper to action
It is full of commands and questions: "Leave this chanting", "Open thine eyes", "Come out of thy meditations!"
Worth noting
The poem is not hopeless; it points clearly to where God can be found.
"What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?" "Tattered" means
AnswerC · old and torn
Clothes worn while working in "toil and in sweat" get torn and stained; the poet says this does no harm.
Worth noting
The question expects an answer of "no harm", so "tattered" must describe damage from work, not newness.
Tell me not, in numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is !
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is ,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives ,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Voices of the Night, "A Psalm of Life" (1839)
What is the poem's main message?
AnswerB · Life is real and serious, so we should act bravely now and do our best
"Life is real! Life is earnest!", "Act,—act in the living Present!" and "Let us, then, be up and doing".
Worth noting
The first lines reject the idea that "Life is but an empty dream".
"Be not like dumb, driven cattle! / Be a hero in the strife!" What contrast does the poet draw?
AnswerA · Between people who are pushed along without thought and people who face life bravely
Cattle are driven by others and do not choose; a hero acts with courage. The poet wants us to be the hero.
Worth noting
Cattle and soldiers both appear, but the contrast is between two ways of living, not between animals and soldiers.
"Lives of great men all remind us / We can make our lives sublime." What do the "Footprints on the sands of time" stand for?
AnswerD · The example a good life leaves behind, which can give others courage
The next stanza says such footprints may help "a forlorn and shipwrecked brother" to "take heart again".
A footprint is something left behind for others to follow: a life's example.
Worth noting
The sands are "of time", which shows the footprints are not on a real beach.
"Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! / Let the dead Past bury its dead!" What does the poet advise?
AnswerB · Do not rely on the future or dwell on the past, but act in the present
The next line completes the advice: "Act,—act in the living Present!"
Worth noting
"Let the dead Past bury its dead" is a figure of speech meaning leave the past behind, not forget people.
"Art is long, and Time is fleeting." "Fleeting" means
AnswerD · passing quickly
The line contrasts long art with short time: there is much to do and little time to do it.
Worth noting
"Long" is used for art, so its opposite, passing quickly, describes time.
Like a huge Python, winding round and round
The trunk, indented deep with scars
Up to its very near the stars,
A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound
No other tree could live. But
The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung
In clusters all the boughs among,
Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee;
And oft at nights the garden overflows
With one sweet song that seems to have no close,
Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose.
When first my is wide open thrown
At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest;
Sometimes, and most in winter,—on its crest
A grey baboon sits statue-like alone
Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs
His puny leap about and play;
And far and near kokilas hail the day;
And to their pastures wend our sleepy cows;
And in the shadow, on the broad tank cast
By that hoar tree, so beautiful and vast,
The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.
But not because of its
Dear is the Casuarina to my soul:
Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,
O sweet companions, loved with love intense,
For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear!
Blent with your images, it shall arise
In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes!
What is that -like murmur that I hear
Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach?
It is the tree's , an speech,
That haply to the unknown land may reach.
Toru Dutt, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, "Our Casuarina Tree" (1882), abridged · shortened to fit
"Like a huge Python, winding round and round / The rugged trunk" describes
AnswerD · a creeper climbing round the trunk
The sentence goes on: "A creeper climbs". The creeper wraps round the trunk the way a python winds round its prey.
The python is a simile for the creeper.
Worth noting
No real python is in the poem. "Like" tells you the snake is a comparison.
What does the poet often see on the tree at dawn, especially in winter?
AnswerA · A grey baboon sitting alone, watching the sunrise
The second stanza says that "on its crest / A grey baboon sits statue-like alone / Watching the sunrise".
Worth noting
The cows are going to their pastures, not sitting on the tree.
According to the third stanza, why is the tree dear to the poet?
AnswerC · Because of the memories of the loved companions she played with beneath it
The stanza begins "But not because of its magnificence / Dear is the Casuarina to my soul", and then says "Beneath it we have played".
The tree is dear for the people she remembers with it: "O sweet companions, loved with love intense".
Worth noting
The first two stanzas praise the tree's beauty, but the third stanza says plainly that beauty is not the reason it is dear.
"What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear" suggests a sound that is
AnswerA · sad and mournful, like a funeral song
A dirge is a slow, sad song for the dead. The sound is "like" one.
The next lines call it "the tree's lament, an eerie speech", which confirms the sad, mournful sound.
Worth noting
The poet has just remembered companions who are gone, so a sad sound fits the moment; a cheerful one would not.
The mood of the third stanza is best described as
AnswerD · nostalgic and sorrowful
The poet remembers playing under the tree with "sweet companions", and says the memory will rise "till the hot tears blind mine eyes".
Remembering the past with love and grief is nostalgia mixed with sorrow.
Worth noting
The first two stanzas are delighted and descriptive. The mood changes in the third, which is why the question names that stanza.
I met a traveller from an land
Who said: Two vast and legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that wreck, and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias (1818)
What remains of the statue, according to the traveller?
AnswerA · Two legs of stone, and a broken face half buried in the sand
The traveller says "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Stand in the desert", and near them "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies".
Worth noting
The words on the pedestal remain too, but they are not all that is left.
Why are the words "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" ironic?
AnswerD · Because nothing of his works remains; only sand stretches around the broken statue
The king meant other rulers to despair at how great his works were.
The very next line is "Nothing beside remains". The boast now points at empty desert, so it means the opposite of what he intended.
Worth noting
Irony is when words turn out to mean something different from what was meant. Here, time has turned the boast into a warning.
The "sneer of cold command" on the statue's face suggests a ruler who was
AnswerC · proud and scornful, expecting to be obeyed
A sneer is a scornful smile, and "cold command" suggests someone used to giving orders without feeling.
Together they paint a proud, harsh king.
Worth noting
The face also has a "frown" and a "wrinkled lip". Nothing about it is gentle.
What is the main idea of the poem?
AnswerB · Human power and pride do not last; time wears everything away
A king who called himself "king of kings" has left behind only a broken statue in empty sand.
The poem shows that even the greatest power and pride are destroyed by time.
Worth noting
The sculptor's skill is admired in passing, but the poem is about the fall of power, not a contest between artists and kings.
"Its sculptor well those passions read" means that the sculptor
AnswerB · understood the king's proud nature and showed it in the stone
The passions are the king's feelings, shown in his frown and sneer, and they "yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things".
The sculptor "read" them well: he saw the king's character and carved it truthfully.
Worth noting
"Read" here means understood, not read from a book.
If you can when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your ,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling, Rewards and Fairies, "If—" (1910)
What is the poem mainly about?
AnswerA · The qualities of character that make a person mature and strong
Each "If you can…" names a quality: staying calm, patience, honesty, courage after failure, humility.
The last lines say that a person with all of these will "be a Man", meaning fully grown in character.
Worth noting
Winnings and kings are mentioned, but only as tests of character, not as goals.
"If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs" means
AnswerA · staying calm when everyone around you panics
"Keep your head" is an idiom meaning stay calm. Those around you are "losing theirs", that is, losing their calm and panicking.
Worth noting
The phrase is not about physical safety. It describes staying in control of your mind.
Why does the poet call Triumph and Disaster "those two impostors"?
AnswerD · Because success and failure are both false guides that should not change you
An impostor pretends to be what it is not. Success can pretend to be permanent, and failure can pretend to be the end.
The poet advises treating them "just the same", not letting either change who you are. Calling them people is personification.
Worth noting
The capital letters show that Triumph and Disaster are ideas pictured as people, not real individuals.
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute / With sixty seconds' worth of distance run" means
AnswerB · using every moment fully, because time does not wait
The minute is "unforgiving" because it passes whether or not you use it.
Filling all sixty seconds with "distance run" means making full use of every moment.
Worth noting
Running is a picture here. The line is about how you use your time, not about sport.
To whom is the poem spoken?
AnswerC · The speaker's son
The last line ends with "you'll be a Man, my son!"
Worth noting
Kings and crowds appear in the poem as people the listener may meet, not as the listener.
Doctor: So, Mr Iyer. What brings you here?
Mr Iyer: Nothing, really. My daughter made the . She worries.
Doctor: What does she worry about?
Mr Iyer: A little cough. It's nothing. Everybody has a cough in winter.
Doctor: How long have you had it?
Mr Iyer: A few weeks.
Daughter: Since August, Appa.
Mr Iyer: Since August, then. She keeps the calendar in this family.
Doctor: Does it keep you awake at night?
Mr Iyer: Not much. Sometimes.
Daughter: He sleeps in the chair in the drawing room now, so he doesn't wake my mother.
Doctor: I see. Mr Iyer, your daughter was right to bring you. A cough that lasts more than two months a proper look, whatever the season. We'll do a simple test today, and then we'll talk.
Mr Iyer: It really is only a little cough.
Doctor: Then the test will tell us so, and your daughter can stop worrying. , somebody in this room gets good news.
Written for EduFarming
What does Mr Iyer's attitude to his cough seem to be?
AnswerB · He plays it down and does not want a fuss
He says "Nothing, really", "It's nothing" and "only a little cough", and says his daughter made the appointment.
He is trying to make the problem sound smaller than it is.
Worth noting
His daughter's facts, that the cough began in August and he now sleeps in a chair, show it is more serious than he admits.
According to the daughter, how long has Mr Iyer had the cough?
AnswerA · Since August
When he says "A few weeks", his daughter corrects him: "Since August, Appa."
Worth noting
"A few weeks" is his own, smaller figure. The question asks what the daughter says.
Why does the daughter mention that her father sleeps in the chair in the drawing room?
AnswerD · To show that the cough is bad enough to disturb his nights
He says the cough keeps him awake "Not much. Sometimes." His daughter's detail shows the truth: he moves out of the bedroom so as not to wake his wife.
That reveals the cough is disturbing his nights far more than he admits.
Worth noting
The detail is about the cough, not about the mother's health or the chair.
"A cough that lasts more than two months deserves a proper look" means that such a cough
AnswerB · should be properly examined
To deserve something is to need or have earned it. A long cough needs a proper examination.
The doctor then orders a test, which is that proper look.
Worth noting
"Deserves" is not about reward or punishment here; it means "needs" or "calls for".
"Either way, somebody in this room gets good news." The doctor says this to
AnswerC · reassure both father and daughter, whatever the test shows
If the test is clear, Mr Iyer is proved right; if it finds something, it can be treated, and his daughter's worry is answered.
The doctor frames the test so that both of them can accept it.
Worth noting
The doctor has just said the daughter "was right to bring you", so she is not saying the daughter was wrong.
Mrs Menon: Good evening. I'm from the flat below, 3B. We haven't met properly.
Kunal: Oh, hello. Kunal. Is everything all right?
Mrs Menon: Perfectly. I only wanted to say what good in music you have.
Kunal: Thank you! You can hear it?
Mrs Menon: Every word. Especially after eleven. My husband is quite a fan of the song with the drums. He has come to know it very well, since he's often awake at two.
Kunal: Oh. Oh, no. I'm so sorry. I had no idea it that far.
Mrs Menon: Old buildings. The floors are thin, and the drums are not.
Kunal: I'll after ten. I promise. Or I'll use headphones.
Mrs Menon: That would be very kind. Although my husband may miss the drums.
Kunal: Tell him he can come up and listen any evening before ten.
Mrs Menon: I'll tell him. He'll pretend to be annoyed, and then he'll come. Goodnight, Kunal.
Written for EduFarming
Why does Mrs Menon praise Kunal's "good taste in music"?
AnswerB · She is complaining politely, using praise to raise the problem of the noise
Her next remarks show the real reason: they hear every word, "especially after eleven", and her husband is "often awake at two".
The praise is a polite, indirect way to complain.
Worth noting
She says her husband knows the song well only because he cannot sleep. It is a hint, not real praise.
What is she really telling Kunal when she says her husband "has come to know it very well, since he's often awake at two"?
AnswerD · The music keeps her husband awake late at night
He knows the song "very well" only because he is awake at two, when the music is playing.
She is telling Kunal, gently, that the music keeps him from sleeping.
Worth noting
Kunal's reply, "Oh, no. I'm so sorry", shows he understood the real meaning.
"I had no idea it carried that far." Here "carried" means
AnswerA · travelled as a sound
Kunal means that he did not know the sound of his music travelled down to the flat below.
Of a sound, "carry" means to travel a distance.
Worth noting
The everyday meaning, to lift and move something, does not fit a sound.
What does Kunal promise to do?
AnswerB · Keep the music down after ten, or use headphones
He says "I'll keep it down after ten. I promise. Or I'll use headphones."
Worth noting
He also invites her husband to listen before ten, so he is not giving up music.
How would you describe the way Mrs Menon deals with the problem?
AnswerC · Polite and good-humoured, making her point indirectly
She never says "your music is too loud". She uses praise, gentle jokes ("the floors are thin, and the drums are not") and hints.
Kunal understands at once and apologises, and they part on friendly terms.
Worth noting
She does mention the problem clearly enough to be understood, so she is not unwilling to raise it.
Mother: Your father's cousin says science is the only choice.
Aditi: He says that about everything he chose himself.
Mother: That's not fair. He's a successful man.
Aditi: He is. And he tells us every Diwali how much he hates his job.
Mother: (laughs ) He does, doesn't he.
Aditi: Amma, I'm not saying science is wrong. I'm saying it isn't mine. When I read about the Mughal for my project, I forgot to eat lunch. When I do chemistry, I watch the clock.
Mother: You can't build a life on forgetting lunch.
Aditi: Why not? People who forget lunch over their work usually end up good at it.
Mother: And what if history doesn't give you a job?
Aditi: Then I'll have tried the thing I love and learnt something. If I choose science and fail, I'll have neither.
Mother: (after a long pause) Write down three jobs you could do with history. Real ones. We'll look at them together, and then we'll talk to your father.
Aditi: That's not a yes.
Mother: It isn't a no, either.
Written for EduFarming
What does Aditi mean by "He says that about everything he chose himself"?
AnswerA · He praises his own choices, so his advice is not neutral
She suggests that he calls science "the only sensible choice" because it was his choice, not because it is right for her.
She then adds that he complains every Diwali about his job, which weakens his advice further.
Worth noting
Her mother calls this "not fair", which shows it is a criticism of his advice, not agreement.
Why does Aditi mention forgetting lunch while reading about the Mughal court?
AnswerD · To show how deeply history holds her interest, unlike chemistry
She contrasts forgetting lunch over history with watching the clock during chemistry.
The contrast shows which subject absorbs her and which bores her.
Worth noting
She is not describing her eating habits; forgetting lunch is a picture of total interest.
Why does Aditi's mother laugh "despite herself"?
AnswerC · She agrees that the cousin complains about his job every Diwali
Aditi says the cousin "tells us every Diwali how much he hates his job", and her mother laughs and says "He does, doesn't he."
"Despite herself" shows she did not mean to agree, but did.
Worth noting
She had just defended him as "a successful man", which is why the laugh is "despite herself".
What is Aditi's argument in "If I choose science and fail, I'll have neither"?
AnswerD · Choosing history risks only the job, while choosing science risks both the job and her happiness
She says that if history fails her, she will still have "tried the thing I love and learnt something".
If science fails her, she will have neither the job nor the joy. Her argument weighs the two risks.
Worth noting
She is not saying science is too hard in general; she is comparing what each choice would leave her with if it went wrong.
How does the conversation end?
AnswerB · The mother leaves the question open, willing to consider it seriously
The mother asks for three real jobs in history to look at together, and says her answer "isn't a no, either".
She has not agreed, but she has moved from doubt to a serious conversation.
Worth noting
Aditi herself says "That's not a yes", and her mother does not contradict her, so the mother has not agreed at once.
NTA's English syllabus is one page. It names two skill areas: Reading Comprehension, with three kinds of passage of at most 300 words each (factual, narrative and literary), and Verbal Ability, with four item types (rearranging the parts, match the following, choosing the correct word, synonyms and antonyms). It says the questions are not limited to these, and prints no chapters and no split of the 50 questions. So the chapters here are ours. Reading is split by the kind of passage, because a poem is not read the way a report is. Verbal Ability is split into three areas of our own: Vocabulary, Sentence & paragraph order, and Grammar & usage. Where a chapter covers something past NTA's short list, it says so, and it is there because the papers since 2022 have asked it.