One day, I was sitting at my mess table in the hostel sipping tea when a senior guy came and sat on the chair adjacent to me. He was a convent educated guy with fairly sophisticated English – at least spoken or colloquial English. He was a bit arrogant and wanted to pull my leg. He tried to engage in some conversation with me and started pointing out errors in just about every sentence or everything that I said. After about 5 minutes he walked away after insulting me.
I felt extremely humiliated and upset. As it is, I was feeling quite depressed and diffident and this incident was the last straw. I was almost broken. I felt out of place there and literally wanted to run away to Solapur that very moment. However, it was only my self-esteem which stopped me. Suddenly, a feeling of determination and strength came over me and gripped me.
Choose and rewrite the two correct statements from the following:
Show Hint
- The writer had his entire education in English
- The writer wished to run away from IIT and even Mumbai
- The senior guy was co-operative and he encouraged the writer.
- The writer could overcome his feeling of depression with his own efforts.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
In the passage, the writer describes how he struggled with English and felt out of place in IIT and Mumbai. The incident with the senior guy further aggravated his sense of humiliation and depression. However, in the end, the writer's self-esteem and a feeling of determination helped him overcome his depression.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
(1) The writer had his entire education in English: This is incorrect. The writer mentions that his education was in Marathi, not English.
(2) The writer wished to run away from IIT and even Mumbai: Correct — The writer felt out of place and wanted to run away from IIT and Mumbai, as stated in the passage.
(3) The senior guy was co-operative and he encouraged the writer: This is incorrect. The senior was arrogant and insulted the writer, which contributed to his humiliation.
(4) The writer could overcome his feeling of depression with his own efforts: Correct — Despite feeling depressed, the writer’s self-esteem and determination helped him overcome his feelings of depression.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answers are (2) The writer wished to run away from IIT and even Mumbai and (4) The writer could overcome his feeling of depression with his own efforts, as these are explicitly supported by the passage.
The writer developed an inferiority complex during his stay in Mumbai. Enlist the causes:
Show Hint
Solution and Explanation
In the passage, the writer describes how he felt out of place in Mumbai and IIT due to his struggles with English. The following are the causes of his inferiority complex:
The writer's English was poor, as he had his education in Marathi and struggled with vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence construction.
Most students and professors at IIT conversed in English, which made the writer feel even more isolated and insecure.
The writer felt lonely and terrified in Mumbai and IIT, leading to feelings of inadequacy.
A senior student insulted the writer by pointing out his errors in English, making him feel humiliated and further exacerbating his inferiority complex.
Point out the qualities of the writer that you have come across while reading the extract.
Show Hint
Solution and Explanation
Based on the passage, we can identify both negative and positive qualities in the writer: % Negative qualities Negative qualities:
The writer feels inferior and insecure due to his poor command of English and the social situation in IIT and Mumbai.
The writer lacks confidence, which is evident from his desire to run away from IIT and Mumbai.
% Positive qualities Positive qualities:
The writer has strong self-esteem that helps him overcome feelings of depression and humiliation.
The writer is resilient and eventually finds strength and determination to cope with his challenges.
Give any four suggestions to improve English communication skills.
Show Hint
Solution and Explanation
Here are four practical suggestions that can help improve English communication skills: 1. Practice speaking regularly: The more you speak, the more confident and fluent you will become. Engage in conversations with friends or peers in English to improve speaking skills.
2. Listen to English media: Listening to English songs, podcasts, news, or movies will help you improve pronunciation, vocabulary, and understanding of sentence structure.
3. Expand your vocabulary: Learning new words daily and using them in your conversations will increase your vocabulary and improve communication.
4. Read English texts: Reading newspapers, books, and articles in English will improve your grammar and sentence construction, enhancing your overall communication skills.
Language study:
(i) ‘I was quite happy getting into IIT, but my joy was short-lived’....
(Choose the correct alternative showing proper use of ‘though’)
Show Hint
- Though I was quite happy getting into IIT, but my joy was short-lived.
- I was quite happy getting into IIT, though my joy is short-lived.
- Though I was quite happy getting into IIT, my joy was short-lived.
- I was quite happy though getting into IIT, my joy was short-lived.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The sentence provided has a contrast between the writer's happiness at getting into IIT and the fact that his joy was short-lived. The word “though” is used to introduce a contrast, but it should not be followed by “but” in the same sentence.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
(1) Though I was quite happy getting into IIT, but my joy was short-lived: Incorrect — The conjunction "though" already introduces the contrast, so the word "but" is redundant.
(2) I was quite happy getting into IIT, though my joy is short-lived: Incorrect — The tense of "is" is not consistent with the past tense of "was."
(3) Though I was quite happy getting into IIT, my joy was short-lived: Correct — This option properly uses "though" to introduce the contrast and maintains consistent tense.
(4) I was quite happy though getting into IIT, my joy was short-lived: Incorrect — The word "though" is incorrectly placed, as it should follow the entire phrase of happiness, not be in the middle.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (3) Though I was quite happy getting into IIT, my joy was short-lived, as it maintains proper sentence structure and tense agreement.
‘I felt extremely humiliated and upset.’
(Identify the correct exclamatory form of the above sentence.)
Show Hint
- What humiliated and upset I felt!
- How humiliated and upset I felt!
- How extremely humiliated do I feel!
- What a humiliated and upset I felt!
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
To change a statement into an exclamatory sentence, we need to express the strong emotion or feeling conveyed in the original sentence. In the case of "I felt extremely humiliated and upset," the exclamatory form should express the intensity of these feelings.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
(1) What humiliated and upset I felt! This is incorrect. The structure "What + adjective + I felt" does not form a grammatically correct exclamatory sentence.
(2) How humiliated and upset I felt! Correct — This is the proper exclamatory form, as it effectively emphasizes the intensity of the feelings. The structure "How + adjective + I felt" is correct.
(3) How extremely humiliated do I feel! This is incorrect. The use of "do I feel" is not appropriate for the exclamatory form here.
(4) What a humiliated and upset I felt! This is incorrect. The phrase "What a + adjective + I felt" is grammatically wrong in exclamatory sentences.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (2) How humiliated and upset I felt!, as it maintains the proper structure for exclamatory sentences.
Match the following words in column 'A' with their antonyms in column 'B'.
Column 'A' Column 'B' (a) diffident (i) humble (b) humiliated (ii) superiority (c) arrogant (iii) confident (d) inferiority (iv) exhilarated
Match the following words in column 'A' with their antonyms in column 'B'.
| Column 'A' | Column 'B' |
|---|---|
| (a) diffident | (i) humble |
| (b) humiliated | (ii) superiority |
| (c) arrogant | (iii) confident |
| (d) inferiority | (iv) exhilarated |
Show Hint
Solution and Explanation
- Diffident means lacking confidence, so its opposite is humble, which means modest or not arrogant.
- Humiliated refers to feeling embarrassed or ashamed, so the opposite is exhilarated, which means feeling very happy or excited.
- Arrogant means having an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance, so its opposite is confident, which refers to a sense of self-assurance without being boastful.
- Inferiority refers to feeling of being less than others, so the opposite is superiority, which refers to the state of being better than others.
Step 2: Conclusion.
Thus, the correct matching is as follows:
(a) diffident - (i) humble
(b) humiliated - (iv) exhilarated
(c) arrogant - (iii) confident
(d) inferiority - (ii) superiority
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
Read the extract and complete the activities given below :
I spent 32 years in Information Technology out of which I was a Chief Executive Officer or MDorthe software head for 23 years for large global multinational software companies with thousands of software professionals worldwide and 6 offices in the US, 3 in Europe, 1 in Japan and 1 in Australia. I had to travel all over the globe around 150 times for business. During this period, I had also written 4 books with 500-700 pages each on Information Technology published by Tata McGraw-Hill and then translated into Chinese for global distribution.
I learnt a lot of things when I was running these large companies. The first one was the importance of team work. In today’s world, nothing is possible without team work. You cannot be successful if you are a loner and an egoistic person. Secondly, you need to lead from the front by setting a good example in front of your staff. Third was that you need to treat your subordinates and your colleagues as friends. In my career, I made a few mistakes, but learnt a lot about motivation, being a good listener, target setting and the art of delegation which forms such an important part of today’s management.
After working for all these software companies for so many years, I wanted to retire from my line of work and write on various subjects concerning human life and existence. Therefore, I gave up two offers of around 3 crore rupees per annum to become a writer. This is how my second innings as a writer in Marathi began.
After this, I have written about 34 books in Marathi. Most of them have become bestsellers with tens of thousands of copies sold for each. However it is not sales or the money that is important to me as much as the fact that these books have brought about very good changes in the lives of thousands of readers.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Change is the only constant and disruptive technologies are only quickening its pace. “I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life. Never has the pace of change been as high as it is today. Today, we are facing a large number of disruptive forces, especially those caused by technology,” Nilekani said. He shared the example of the iPhone, which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. “What we have seen in the past 10 years is a complete change in the balance of technology from serving the enterprise to serving the consumer. Today, when you look at the leading companies in the world by Market Capitalisation, they are all companies that service consumers like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and so on. This is because the balance of power has shifted to consumer technology,” He said. The constant change will require constant learning and relearning. The core message from Nilekani therefore was: Lifetime learning. “The good news is that you have got degree from IIT Madras. The not so good news is that you can’t stop learning. You will have to keep learning for the rest of your life because we are now entering an era of lifelong learning,” he said. And by life-long learning, he didn’t mean “going to a campus and have fun for five years.” It will be learning in short bursts, any time learning, anywhere learning. It’s going to be just in time learning. A lot of it will even be online learning.
This need for constant learning and relearning will come because of our collective inability to predict the kind of jobs that will be done in future or the kind of organisations that people will be working for in future. The high rate of automation in the jobs will have an impact on the way jobs are done. We have seen in the past that technology has made repetitive jobs go away as computers became more and more powerful. In the past 10-15 years, you are seeing the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning. And increasingly, in the last 5-6 years, you are seeing the rise of deep learning, which allows you to use a new kind of technology called neural networks that can make computers smarter and smarter.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Early rising leads to health and happiness. The man who rises late, can have little rest in the course of the day. Anyone who lies in bed late is compelled to work till a late hour in the evening. He has to do without the evening exercise which is so necessary for his health. In spite of all his efforts his work will not produce as good results as that of the early riser. The reason for this is that he cannot take advantage of the refreshing hours of the morning. Some people say that the quiet hour of midnight is the best time for working. Several great thinkers say that they can write best only when they burn the midnight oil. Yet it is true to say that few men have a clear brain at midnight when the body needs rest and sleep. Those who work at that time, soon ruin their health. Bad health must, in the long run, have a bad effect on the quality of their work.
What is the effect of health on one's work?- UP Board XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Early rising leads to health and happiness. The man who rises late, can have little rest in the course of the day. Anyone who lies in bed late is compelled to work till a late hour in the evening. He has to do without the evening exercise which is so necessary for his health. In spite of all his efforts his work will not produce as good results as that of the early riser. The reason for this is that he cannot take advantage of the refreshing hours of the morning. Some people say that the quiet hour of midnight is the best time for working. Several great thinkers say that they can write best only when they burn the midnight oil. Yet it is true to say that few men have a clear brain at midnight when the body needs rest and sleep. Those who work at that time, soon ruin their health. Bad health must, in the long run, have a bad effect on the quality of their work.
Why do some thinkers burn the midnight oil?- UP Board XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in Maharashtra Class XII exam
- Write short notes: British East India Company:
- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- European Imperialism
- State the formula for magnetic induction produced by a current in a circular arc of a wire. Hence find the magnetic induction at the centre of a current carrying circular loop.
- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- Magnetic Field due to a Current Element
- Prepare an ‘Appeal’ on the topic ‘Women’s Security and Safety’ with the help of the following points: (100/150 words)
— Respect women’s rights
— Safety measures and support systems
— Collective responsibility
— Government initiatives
- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- Writing Skills
- Answer the following questions: % Question (i) Write the negation of the statement: \( \exists n \in \mathbb{N} \) such that \( n + 8 > 11 \).
- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- Quantifiers and Negation
- Derive the relation between half life and rate constant for a first order reaction.
- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- Chemical Kinetics