UGC NTA NET/JRF Exam. December 2020/June 2021 ENGLISH-II (Shift-I)

Total Questions: 100

41. Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R

Assertion A : Postmodern narratives focus on the indeterminate and unstable nature of textuality and subjectivity.
Reason R: Postmodern narrative acts regard narratives and characters as tentative representations of writing and identity.
In light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below

Correct Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
Solution:

In the given question both the given statements are absolutely correct and second statement is the correct explanation of first statement.
Postmodern narratives focus on the indeterminate and unstable nature of textuality and subjectivity because postmodern narratives acts regard narrative and characters as tentative representations of writing and identity. Thus, the appropriate answer is option (a).

42. Given below are two statements

Statement I: In Waiting for Godot, it is Vladimir who questions the Boy who comes from Godot towards the end of the two Acts.
Statement II: In Waiting for Godot, it is Estragon who says, "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful."
In light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below

Correct Answer: (a) Both Statement I and Statement II are true
Solution:

In the question, both the given statements are absolutely correct.
In Waiting for Godot, it is Vladimir who questions the Boy who comes from Godot towards the end of the two Acts.
In Waiting for Godot, it is Estragon who says, "Nothing happens, no body comes, nobody goes, it's awful".
Waiting for Godot, tragicomedy in two acts by Irish writer Samuel Beckett, published in 1952 in French as "En attendant Godot" and first produced in 1953. The play consists of conversations between Vladimir and Estragon, who are waiting for the arrival of the mysterious Godot, who continually sends word that he will appear but who never does.

43. Given below are two statements

Statement I: New Historicism stipulates that teleological connotations of history have to be eschewed.
Statement II: New Historicism neither denies nor accepts totalizing explanations of historical events.
In light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below

Correct Answer: (c) Statement I is true but Statement II is false
Solution:

From the given statements in the question, first statement (I) is true but second statement (II) is not true.
■"New Historicism stipulates that teleological connotations of history have to be eschewed" is absolutely correct statement regarding New historicism while "New Historicism neither denies nor accepts totalizing explanations of historical events". Is not correct statement regards of New Historicism.

Stephen Greenblatt, who was credited with establishing New Historicism, an approach to literacy criticism which treats texts as historical artifacts that emerges among particular social, intellectual and economic circumstances. New historicist looks at literature in a wider historical context, examining both how the writer's times affected the work and how the work reflects the writer's time, in turn recognizing that current cultural contexts color that critic's conclusions.

44. What was poor Yorick in Hamlet?

Correct Answer: (a) Jester
Solution:

Poor Yorick in the play Hamlet was a Jester. In Act 5, Scene I of Hamlet, Hamlet is talking to a grave digger. The Grave Digger picks up a skull and says it has been there for 23 years and it belonged to Yorick, the courtjester and childhood friend of Hamlet's. The phrase alas poor Yorick refers to the brevity of human life.

45. Which of the following words refers to a sound that is associated with a particular meaning?

Correct Answer: (c) phonestheme
Solution:

Phonestheme refers to a sound that is associated with a particular meaning. A phonestheme is a particular sound or sound sequence that (at least in a general way) suggest a certain meaning. The Adjective form is phonesthemic.
For example: In words like glimmer, glitter and glisten, the initial phonestheme is associated with vision or light. gl Words related in this fashion are called phonestheme groups or phonestheme clusters.
Note-The concept (Phonestheme) was proposed in 1930 by British Linguist J. R. Firth.

46. Who among the following Dickens characters appears as a ghost?

Correct Answer: (d) Jacob Marley
Solution:

Jacob Marley, fictional character, the deceased business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol' (1843) by Charles Dickens, appears as a ghost.
Thus, the appropriate answer is option (d).

47. Virginia Woolf's Orlando opens in 1588 and Orlando, a sixteen-year-old boy, writes a poem called:

Correct Answer: (c) "The Oak Tree"
Solution:

Virginia Woolfs Orlando opens in 1588 and Orlando, a sixteen-years-old boy, writes a poem called "The Oak Tree". Orlando, novel by Virgina Woolf, published in 1928. The fanciful biographical novel pays homage to the family of Woolfs friend Vita Sackville-West from the time of her ancestor Thomas Sackville (1536-1608) to the family's country estate at Knole.

48. What function of English is exemplified by the use of English in India as a "link language" along with a first language by stable bilinguals in well-defined social contexts?

Correct Answer: (a) complementary
Solution:

'Complementary' use of English in India as a "Link language" along with a first language by stable bilinguals in well-defined social contexts.
English has become a link language in the real sense of the term. In India it's slowly becoming the language of communication for the classes and the masses in various corporate offices, MNCS, colleges, schools etc. slowly but surely people have started to get the hang of it.
There are four distinct function of English in India on the basis of the social needs of people.
1. Complementary
2. Supplementary
3. Auxiliary
4. Equative
Hence, option (a) is appropriate answer.

49. Who among the following is said to have believed that the Persian Gulf War (1990 - 91) never happened?

Correct Answer: (b) Jean Baudrillard
Solution:

Jean Baudrillard argued the Gulf War was not really a war, but rather an atrocity which masqueraded as a war. Jean Baudrillard published three essays in the French daily liberation before, during and after the Gulf War between January and March in 1991 which he sequentially titled.
1. 'The Gulf War will not take place'
2. 'The Gulf War : Is it really taking place?
3. 'The Gulf War did not take place."
Thus, the appropriate answer is option (b).

50. What 19th-century philosophical term of Russian origin did Friedrich Nietzsche use to describe the disintegration of traditional morality in western society?

Correct Answer: (c) nihilism
Solution:

Nihilism was the philosophical term of Russian origin which Fried rich Nietzsche use to describe the disintegration of traditional morality in western society. Nihilism mean the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless. According to Nietzsche, this state of nihilism-the idea that life has no meaning or value cannot be avoided, we must go through it, frightening and lonely as that will be. Nihilism most often associated with fried rich who argued that its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious and metaphysical convictions and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history.
Hence, the correct answer is option (c).