Indian Institute of Technology Madras
BS Degree Programme · Examination & Study Paper
BSHS1001 · English I
Quiz 2 · 3 Aug 2025 (Afternoon)
Examination Instructions & Guidelines
- Solve on notebook/paper first before checking solutions.
- MCQ: Exactly 1 option is correct. Negative marking applies.
- Scientific calculator allowed for all calculations.
- Official answer key is sealed at the end of this sheet.
Read the passage below, then answer Q1–Q10
Read the following passage and answer the given subquestions
My father and mother should have stayed in New York where they met and married and where I was born. Instead, they returned to Ireland when I was four, my brother, Malachy, three, the twins, Oliver and Eugene, barely one, and my sister, Margaret, dead and gone. When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.
People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years. Above all—we were wet. Out in the Atlantic Ocean great sheets of rain gathered to drift slowly up the River Shannon and settle forever in Limerick.The rain dampened the city from the Feast of the Circumcision to New Year’s Eve. It created a cacophony of hacking coughs, bronchial rattles, asthmatic wheezes, consumptive croaks. It turned noses into fountains, lungs into bacterial sponges. It provoked cures galore; to ease the catarrh you boiled onions in milk blackened with pepper; for the congested passages you made a paste of boiled flour and nettles, wrapped it in a rag, and slapped it, sizzling, on the chest.
From October to April the walls of Limerick glistened with the damp. Clothes never dried: tweed and woolen coats housed living things, sometimes sprouted mysterious vegetations. In pubs, steam rose from damp bodies and garments to be inhaled with cigarette and pipe smoke laced with the stale fumes of spilled stout and whiskey and tinged with the odor of piss wafting in from the outdoor jakes where many a man puked up his week’s wages.
The rain drove us into the church—our refuge, our strength, our only dry place. At Mass, Benediction, novenas, we huddled in great damp clumps, dozing through priest-drone, while steam rose again from our clothes to mingle with the sweetness of incense, flowers and candles. Limerick gained a reputation for piety, but we knew it was only the rain.
Excerpted from: McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir. E-book ed., Scribner, 1996, pp.11-12.
Q1MCQ2 Marks·Choose one optionWhere did the narrator’s mother and father meet?
- AEngland
- BNew York
- CThe River Shannon
- DIreland
- Q2MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
Woes refer to _____.
- ASorrows
- BJoys
- CRetributions
- DDilemmas
- Q3MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
Which of the following is NOT a part of the cacophony created by the rain?
- AHacking coughs
- BConsumptive croaks
- CPompous priests
- DBronchial rattles
- Q4MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
During the months of rain, mysterious vegetations sometimes sprouted from _____.
- ALiving things
- BTweed and woolen coats
- CHouses
- DPubs
- Q5MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
The rain drove the residents of Limerick into _____, which acted as their only dry place.
- AThe pub
- BThe outdoor jakes
- CThe Atlantic Ocean
- DThe church
- Q6MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
State true or false. The narrator’s sister Margaret was four years old when his parents moved back to Ireland.
- ATRUE
- BFALSE
- Q7MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
On the basis of your reading of the passage, which of the following is NOT true? i. To prepare a home remedy for clearing congested passages, a paste is made out of boiled flour and nettles. ii. The paste is wrapped in a rag while still hot. iii. The rag with the paste is slapped on the chest after it has cooled down.
- Ai only
- Bii only
- Ciii only
- DBoth i and ii
- Q8MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
What, according to the narrator, figuratively settles forever in Limerick?
- AGreat sheets of rain
- BThe twins, Oliver and Eugene
- CThe sweetness of incense
- DCigarette and pipe smoke
- Q9MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. What does it mean for an activity to be worth someone’s while?
- AThe activity tarnishes the image of the doer or the experiencer
- BThe activity is tiring or draining for the doer or the experiencer
- CThe activity is morally or legally questionable
- DThe activity is good or rewarding for the doer or the experiencer
- Q10MCQ2 Marks·Choose one option
In the phrase the stale fumes of spilled stout, the word stout is used as:
- AAn adjective
- BA noun
- CA verb
- DAn adverb
Read the passage below, then answer Q11–Q15
Read the excerpt given below and fill in the blanks with those forms of the verbs which best fit the passage from the options provided. Your chosen answer should maintain the tense consistency of the excerpt.
Wasobiowe [i] _____ in the neighbourhood of Nagasaki. He loved nothing better than to spend his days far out at sea, fishing from a little boat. Once, when the eighth full moon [ii] _____—which in Japan is called the “bean moon” and is the most beautiful of all—Wasobiowe started on a long voyage. Leisurely he [iii] _____ the coast, and rejoiced in the bold outlines of the rocks seen by the light of the moon. But, without warning, black clouds gathered overhead. The storm [iv] _____, the rain poured down, and darkness fell. The waves were lashed into fury, and the little boat was driven swift as an arrow before the wind. For three days and nights the hurricane raged. As dawn [v] _____ on the fourth morning, the wind was stilled, and the sea grew calm.
Excerpted from: Old-World Japan: Legends of the Land of the Gods. Retold by Frank Rinder, The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, 2014, p. 77.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Q11MCQ1 Mark·Choose one optionFind the appropriate verb form to fill in blank [i].
- ADwells
- BHas dwelt
- CHas been dwelling
- DDwelt
- Q12MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Find the appropriate verb form to fill in blank [ii].
- ARisen
- BRises
- CRose
- DRised
- Q13MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Find the appropriate verb form to fill in blank [iii].
- ASkirts
- BSkirted
- CSkirting
- DHas skirted
- Q14MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Find the appropriate verb form to fill in blank [iv].
- ABurst
- BBursted
- CWill burst
- DIs bursting
- Q15MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Find the appropriate verb form to fill in blank [v].
- ABroken
- BBreaks
- CBreaked
- DBroke
- Q16MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Choose the correct option. Avilash ___________ the strike really well.
- ARotate
- BRotates
- CRotating
- DRotation
- Q17MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Choose the correct option. A majority of the city ___________ unaware of the events.
- AIs
- BWill
- CWere not
- DWere
- Q18MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Fill in the blank with future perfect progressive tense form. At the end of this term, I _________ French for about 10 years. In another 10 years, I might be fluent!
- AHave study
- BHad been studied
- CWill have studied
- DWill have been studying
- Q19MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Choose the future perfect continuous tense sentence from the following options:
- AYou will win the exam
- BYour mother will love you forever
- CShe will have been learning to drive a car for three hours
- DWill she do it again?
- Q20MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Choose the correct option. There ___________ a hundred people gathered here today.
- AWill not
- BWas not
- CAre
- DIs
- Q21MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
How many syllables are there in the word Implementation?
- A3
- B4
- C6
- D5
- Q22MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
How many syllables are there in the word Repentance?
- A1
- B2
- C3
- D4
- Q23MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The word limitation is stressed as ______.
- A‘Limitation
- BLi’mitation
- CLimi’tation
- DLimita’tion
- Q24MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The word constraint is stressed as ______ .
- ACon’straint
- B‘Constraint
- CCons’traint
- DCo’nstraint
- Q25MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
‘Since last month, there has been a decrease in the amount of cereals sold for the same price.’ Choose the appropriate stress for the usage of the word ‘decrease’ in the sentence.
- ADEcrease
- BdeCREASE
- Q26MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
In the plural noun dishes, the plural marker sounds as ________.
- A[s]
- B[z]
- C[iz]
- Q27MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
In the plural noun landscapes, the plural marker sounds as ________.
- A[s]
- B[z]
- C[iz]
- Q28MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
In the plural noun factories, the plural marker sounds as ________.
- A[s]
- B[z]
- C[iz]
- Q29MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
‘The site of the protest looked bloody and chaotic.’ Choose the appropriate stress for the usage of the word ‘protest’ in the sentence.
- APROtest
- BproTEST
- Q30MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The plural markers for the words ‘meetings’, ‘discussions’, and ‘presentations’ are _________.
- A/z/, /z/, and /z/ respectively
- B/s/, /s/, and /s/ respectively
- C/z/, /z/, and /s/ respectively
- Q31MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Which of the following has an aspirated stop?
- AScar
- BPinch
- CInculcate
- DBoth Pinch and Inculcate
- Q32MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Which of the following has an aspirated stop ?
- ASpelling
- BPassive
- CIntend
- DBoth Passive and Intend
- Q33MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Identify whether the sound /t/ (in bold) in the following word are aspirated or not. Passionate
- AAspirated
- BNon-aspirated
- Q34MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The consonant cluster in the word jump is an instance of _________.
- AInitial CC
- BFinal CC
- CInitial CCC
- DFinal CCC
- Q35MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The word validity stressed as ___________ (stress is indicated in bold)
- AValidity
- BValidity
- CValidity
Read the passage below, then answer Q36–Q40
Fill in the blanks in List A with the most appropriate options in List B. There is only one fitting answer for each blank.

Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Q36MCQ1 Mark·Choose one optionThe sheep in their farm _____ of a breed called Barbados Black Belly; they love to graze.
- AGets
- BAre
- CGet
- DWas
- EIs
- Q37MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The deer _____ a herbivore.
- AGets
- BAre
- CGet
- DWas
- EIs
- Q38MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Unless they talk, and very loudly at that, no one _____ any attention in this world.
- AGets
- BAre
- CGet
- DWas
- EIs
- Q39MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
Do these scissors _____ rusty?
- AGets
- BAre
- CGet
- DWas
- EIs
- Q40MCQ1 Mark·Choose one option
The officer said that the most disturbing fact about the murder last week _____ the dismembering of the victim’s body.
- AGets
- BAre
- CGet
- DWas
- EIs