5th Class English Comprehension (Prose and Poetry) Exercise

        Practice Exercise

Read the following Passage carefully and answer the following questions.

One night a farmer was on his way back home on a boat. He traded far and wide. He was very rich and owned many acres of land. Shortly after the boat set sail, it capsized. He was distressed because he did not know how to swim. At that moment a boatman happened to sail by. The farmer on seeing the boatman begged for saving his life and promised all the land that he had, in reward. Seeing the earnestness, the boatman saved him and they sailed together. As they crossed the middle of the river, the farmer offered half of the land and the rest he said would be a bare necessity against his wife's rebukes. The boatman did not reply. As they reached near the shore, the farmer offered him one fourth of his total land saying that he would require a little for himself as well. As they reached the bank, the farmer reasoned out and said what could be the use of a land to a boatman who spends most of his time in the river and offered him only a coin worth rupees five. One must never cheat others' toil because the power to pay is a privilege given by God. One must be careful enough to overcome one's greed.  

  The rich farmer's boat _________.

(A) Capsized                                      

(B) Broke down

(C) Flew away                                  

(D) Disappeared

(E) None of these

Answer: (A)  

  The farmer requested the boatman:

(A) Painfully                                      

(B) Eagerly

(C) Earnestly                                                     

(D) Respectfully

(E) None of these

Answer: (C)  

  The farmer gave the boatman _______.

(A) Whole of his land                                     

(B) Half of his land

(C) One-fourth of his land                           

(D) Only a five rupee coin

(E) None of these

Answer: (D)  

  One must check one's ________.

(A) Greed                                           

(B) Fear

(C) Anger                                            

(D) Laziness

(E) None of these

Answer: (A)  

Read the following Passage carefully and answer the following questions.

Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar), "non-poetic" writing, perhaps. The term sometimes appears negatively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course take beautiful form, but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration/metre) rather by style, placement or inclusion of graphics. But one need not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. One area of overlap is "prose poetry", which attempts to convey using only prose, the aesthetic richness typical of poetry.  

  What is prose?

(A) A formal structure                                   

(B) An informal structure

(C) Poetic writing                                            

(D) All of these

(E) None of these

Answer: (B)  

  What does prosaic writing say?

(A) Artful contents                                         

(B) Beautifully written content

(C) Simple content                                         

(D) All of these

(E) None of these

Answer: (C)  

  What makes the prose writing beautiful?

(A) Style                                                              

(B) Placement

(C) Inclusion of graphics                               

(D) All of these

(E) None of these                                        

Answer: (D)  

  What does prose poetry convey?

(A) Only prose                                                  

(B) The aesthetic richness typical of poetry

(C) Prose and poetry                                     

(D) Poetry

(E) None of these

Answer: (B)