1.On which errand does Portia send Lucius?

(a) To see if Calpurnia is there with Caesar.

(b) To see how his master Brutus is.
(c) To observe what suitors are pressing about Caesar.
(d) Both (b) and (c).

Answer: (d) Both (b) and (c).

2.Who says, “I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might”?

(a) Brutus
(b) Portia
(c) Caesar
(d) Lucius

3. What does the Soothsayer want to tell Caesar by saying “befriend himself”?

(a) Be true to himself

(b) Be his own friend
(c) Take care of himself
(d) Behave friendly with all

Answer: (c) Take care of himself.

4.How does Decius Brutus say he would persuade Caesar to come to the Senate?

(a) By flattery
(b) By deceit
(c) By persuasion
(d) By showing fear

Answer: (a) By flattery.

5.What happens to the ‘small things’ when great trees fall?

A. They die due to shock

B. They look up to large things for shelter
C. They curl up in silence
D. None of the above

6. What positive happens when great men die?

A. Our senses are benumbed.
B. Our memory is suddenly sharpened.
C. We feel sorry for ourselves.
D. We feel pity for great men.

7.How did the mite taste or smell the ink?

A. with loathing
B. with relish
C. hesitatingly
D. with a shudder
Answer: A. with loathing

8.Why was there only one police car?

A. There was a shortage of cars for the police

B. The crime rate was low and there was no need for the police
C. There were no men available to operate these cars
D. None of the above

9.What was the strange thing that made the speaker think about the speck?

A. The speck was a living mite

B. The speck was clearly visible to him
C. The speck was a figment of his imagination
D. The speck was a fluff of dust

10.Which figure of speech is used in the phrase ‘with cunning crept’?

A. Assonance
B. Simile
C. Metonymy
D. Alliteration

11. hat happens to our souls on hearing the news of a great man who has impacted our lives greatly?
A. We begin to cry.
B. We become mad.
C. We become silent.
D. Our souls shrivel.

12. What does Leonard Mead love to do?

A. Remaining outdoors on a misty evening

B. Walking by night or day
C. Writing an article everyday
D. Enjoying watching Television programmes

13. dentify the figure of speech in the line given below:

‘….he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar.’

A. Metaphor
B. Personification
C. Simile
D. Anaphor

14. When do animals seek safety?

A. When the earth shakes
B. When wolves howl
C. When great trees fall
D. When hunters appear

15. How does Decius interpret the meaning of Calpurnia’s dream?

(a) Caesar shall give life to all Rome
(b) Caesar will end all the evils from Rome
(c) Caesar will become the king despite the portents
(d) Caesar will put to an end all conspiracies against him.

16 What is meant by “throng that follows Caesar at the heels”?

(a) His robe

(b) The crowd
(c) The conspirators
(d) The Senators

Brutus
Tis good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.
[Exit Lucius]
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,
I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection..

(i) To what does Brutus reply, “Tis good.” Who is knocking at the gate? Why has he come?
(ii) What is the impact of Cassius earlier discussion on Brutus?
(iii) In what type of mental frame is Brutus? Why does he compare his mental condition to a nightmare or a
horrid dream?
(iv) Give the meaning of:
(a) “All the interim is like a phantasma”
(b)“The genius and the mortal instruments/ Are then in council”
(v) In the last Lines of the extract, the mental condition of Brutus is compared to a civil war. Explain how
the comparison is made.

Context Questions

1. Portia
I prithee, boy, run to the Senate House;
Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone:
Why dost thou stay?
Lucius
To know my errand, madam.

(i) Where does this scene take place? Give two examples to show that Portia agitated.
(ii) What is the errand on which Portia is sending Lucius? What has Motivated her to send Lucius urgently
on the errand?
(iii) Whom does she meet a little later, which increases her tension? What does that person indicate that
there is a possibility of an impending danger?
 (iv) Give two arguments put forward earlier to Brutus by Portia to indicate why she should know his secrets.
(v) What noise does Portia said to have heard a little later? Does Lucius heard the noise? What can you
conclude about this situation?

Extract 1

When great trees fall

rocks on distant hills shudder
lions hunker down
in tall grasses
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
(i) What impact do great trees falling have on nature?
(ii) What does the imagery of lions and elephants suggest about the impact?
(iii) Why is the shuddering of distant hills significant?
(iv) How does this extract reflect the theme of the poem?
(v) What tone is conveyed through the use of “hunker down” and “lumber”?
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had
written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink

(i) What is a speck? What did it turn out to be?

(ii) What had the poet been doing? What does the last line here tell you in this context?
(iii) What do you mean by ‘idly poised my pen’?
(iv) What did the poet observe about the mite later in the context?
(v) Why did the poet spare the mite?

Extract 1

As far as I could see, there was only one problem. And it had nothing to do with what I knew Nana
considered as ‘problems’, or what Maami thinks of as ‘the problem’. Maami is my mother. Nana is my
mother’s mother. And they say I am seven years old. And my problem is that at this seven years of age,
there are things I can think in my head, but which, maybe, I do not have the proper language to speak
them out with. And that, I think is a very serious problem. Because it is always difficult to decide whether
to keep quiet and not say any of the things that come into my head, or say them and get laughed at.

(i) Who is referred to as ‘I’ in the extract? According to her, what was grandmother’s problem?
(ii) What is her problem at the age of seven? Why is it a serious problem?
(iii) As described after this extract, how would Nana react when she would say something?
(iv) How would Nana involve other people in her reaction?
(v) Explain briefly the significance of the girl-child being the narrator of the story.

Extract 5

Ever since a year ago, 2052, the election year, the force had been cut down from three cars to one. Crime
was ebbing; there was no need now for the police, save for this one lone car wandering and wandering
the empty streets.
“Your name?” said the police car in a metallic whisper. He couldn’t see the men in it for the bright light
in his eyes.
“Leonard Mead,” he said.
“Speak up!”
“Leonard Mead!”
“Business or profession?”
“I guess you’d call me a writer.”
“No Profession,” said the police car, as if talking to itself. The light held him fixed, like a museum
specimen, needle thrust through chest.
“You might say that,” said Mr. Mead. He hadn’t written in years.

(i) Why did the voice from the police car speak in a metallic whisper? Why could not Mead see the men in
the car?
(ii) Why was there only one car? What did it suggest about the people of the city?
(iii) What was Mead’s profession? Why did the police car describe it as ‘No profession’?
(iv) Explain briefly the simile in this extract.
(v) Why had Mead not written anything for years? Which characteristic trait of Mead is revealed in this
extract?