List of top English Questions

“The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
Is Lushkoff a willing worker? Why, then, does he agree to chop wood for Sergei?
What reasons does he give to Sergei for his telling lies?
Has Lushkoff become a beggar by circumstance or by choice?
What is the meaning of “My cat was back and so was I”? Had the author gone anywhere? Why does he say that he is also back?
The cat and the author are very fond of each other. How has this been shown in the story? Where was the cat after the fire? Who brings it back and how?
Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? Do you think all young birds are afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first steps?
What are the things the child sees on his way to the fair? Why does he lag behind?
What is the 'sadness' that the poet refers to in the poem?
Read the play carefully and find the words and expressions Gerrard uses in an ironic way. Then say what these expressions really mean. Two examples have been given below. Write down three more such expressions along with what they really mean.
What the author says What he means
Why, this is a surprise, Mr —er— He pretends that the intruder is a social visitor whom he is welcoming. In this way he hides his fear.
At last a sympathetic audience!
He pretends that the intruder wants to listen to him, whereas actually the intruder wants to find out information for his own use.
What does the title of the poem suggest to you? What do you think the poem is about?
“This is your big surprise.”
(i)Where has this been said in the play?
(ii) What is the surprise?
“You’ll soon stop being smart.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does the speaker say it?
(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?
“I said it with bullets.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) What does it mean?
(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?
What does Mandela mean when he says he is “simply the sum of all those African patriots” who had gone before him?
Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children 'spilling out of their homes'?
Look at the words the poet uses to describe what he sees and hears at Innisfree
(i) bee-loud glade
(ii) evenings full of the linnet’s wings
(iii) lake water lapping with low sounds What pictures do these words create in your mind?
What do you understand about the author’s literary inclinations from the account?
How does the author describe the incongruity of an English poet addressing the audience at Gemini Studios ?
Science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus moustache. (interested, challenged, worried)
Five years later, the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had American physicists in an uproar. (in a state of commotion, full of criticism, in a desperate state)
Einstein got ever more involved in politics, agitating for an end to the arms buildup. (campaigning, fighting, supporting)
Notice the sentences in the text which are in ‘direct speech’. Why does the author use quotations in his narration?
The newspapers proclaimed his work as “a scientific revolution.” (declared, praised, showed)
Einstein was constantly at odds with people at the university. (on bad terms, in disagreement, unhappy)