Reading Comprehension with solutions 9

 SECTION-A

(READING)

(Marks:30)

1 Read the passage given below :

1. No student of a foreign language needs to be told that grammar is complex. By

changing word sequences and by adding a range of auxiliary verbs and suffixes, we are able

to communicate tiny variations in meaning. We can turn a statement into a question, state

whether an action has taken place or is soon to take place, and perform many other word

tricks to convey subtle differences in meaning. Nor is this complexity inherent to the

English language. All languages, even those of so-called 'primitive' tribes have clever

grammatical components. The Cherokee pronoun system, for example, can distinguish

between 'you and I', 'several other people and I' and 'you, another person and I'. In English,

all these meanings are summed up in the one, the crude pronoun 'we'. Grammar is universal and

plays a part in every language, no matter how widespread it is. So the question which has

baffled many linguists is - who created grammar?

2. At first, it would appear that this question is impossible to answer. To find out how

grammar is created, someone needs to be present at the time of a language's creation,

documenting its emergence. Many historical linguists are able to trace modern complex

languages back to earlier languages, but in order to answer the question of how complex

languages are actually formed, the researcher needs to observe how languages are started

from scratch. Amazingly, however, this is possible.

3. Some of the most recent languages evolved due to the Atlantic slave trade. At that

time, slaves from a number of different ethnicities were forced to work together under

colonizer's rule. Since they had no opportunity to learn each others languages, they

developed a make-shift language called a pidgin. Pidgins are strings of words copied from

the language of the landowner. They have little in the way of grammar, and in many cases it

is difficult for a listener to deduce when an event happened, and who did what to whom.

Speakers need to use circumlocution in order to make their meaning understood.

Interestingly, however, all it takes for a pidgin to become a complex language is for a group

of children to be exposed to it at the time when they learn their mother tongue. Slave

children did not simply copy the strings of words uttered by their elders, they adapted their

words to create a new, expressive language. Complex grammar systems which emerge from

pidgins are termed creoles, and they are invented by children.

4. Further evidence of this can be seen in studying sign languages for the deaf. Sign

languages are not simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery

that is found in spoken languages. Moreover, there are many different languages used

worldwide. The creation of one such language was documented quite recently in Nicaragua. 

Previously, all deaf people were isolated from each other, but in 1979 a new government

introduced schools for the deaf. Although children were taught speech and lip reading in the

classroom, in the playgrounds they began to invent their own sign system, using the gestures

that they used at home. It was basically a pidgin. Each child used the signs differently, and

there was no consistent grammar. However, children who joined the school later, when this

inventive sign system was already around, developed a quite different sign language.

Although it was based on the signs of the older children, the younger children's language

was more fluid and compact, and it utilised a large range of grammatical devices to clarify

meaning. What is more, all the children used the signs in the same way. A new creole was

born.

5. Some linguists believe that many of the world's most established languages were

creoles at first. The English past tense –ed ending may have evolved from the verb 'do'. 'It

ended' may once have been 'It end-did'. Therefore it would appear that even the most

widespread languages were partly created by children. Children appear to have innate

grammatical machinery in their brains, which springs to life when they are first trying to

make sense of the world around them. Their minds can serve to create logical, complex

structures, even when there is no grammar present for them to copy.

(711 words)

1.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer each of the

questions given below by choosing the most appropriate option:

(a) In paragraph 1, why does the writer include information about the Cherokee language?

i. To show how simple, traditional cultures can have complicated grammar structures.

ii. To show how English grammar differs from Cherokee grammar.

iii. To prove that complex grammar structures were invented by the Cherokees.

iv. To demonstrate how difficult it is to learn the Cherokee language.

(b) What can be inferred about the slaves' pidgin language?

i. It contained complex grammar.

ii. It was based on many different languages.

iii. It was difficult to understand, even among slaves.

iv. It was created by the land-owners.

(c) All the following sentences about Nicaraguan sign language are true EXCEPT:

i. The language has been created since 1979.

ii. The language is based on speech and lip reading.

iii. The language incorporates signs which children used at home.

iv. The language was perfected by younger children.

(d) Which idea is presented in the final paragraph?

i. English was probably once a creole.

ii. The English past tense system is inaccurate.

iii. Linguists have proven that English was created by children.

iv. Children say English past tenses differently from adults.

1.2 Answer the following questions briefly:

(a) What is common to all languages?

(b) How can we find out who created grammar?

(c) According to the passage what can be attributed as a consequence of the Atlantic slave

1x4=4

trade?

(d) What is pidgin?

(e) What are creoles?

(f) Why does the author say that even the most widespread languages were partly created by

children?

1.3 Pick out the words/phrases from the passage which are similar in meaning to the

following:

i) simple and temporary (Para 3)

ii) uniform (Para 4) 

SOLUTION

1.1

a) i

b) iii

c) ii

d) i

1.2

e) All languages have clever grammatical components

f) someone needs to be present at the time of a language's creation, documenting its

emergence.

g) Some of the most recent languages evolved / developed a make shift language

called pidgin

h) strings of words copied from the language of the landowner/ make-shift language

i)Complex grammar systems which emerge from pidgins/ invented by children

j) linguists believe that many of the world's most established languages were creoles

at first /children's minds can serve to create logical, complex structures, even when

there is no grammar present for them to copy.

1.3

i) make-shift

ii) consistent

 

2.2

a. it is no longer a sight/women too are visible at the tail end

b. sons of educated men/ men/ our brothers who have been educated at public schools

and universities

c. to make a survey/ to consider facts/look at the procession

d. while they stirred the pot, rocked the cradle/doing household chores/ from hand to

mouth/ men have had the privilege to study under green lamps at study tables in the

cloisters of secluded colleges

e. how pervasive the need for critical reflection is

f. opportunity

2.3

a. pageant

b. mouthpieces