CLAT 2026 English Language: Questions, Syllabus, Preparation Tips & Tricks

The 120 questions in CLAT Question paper will be divided into five subjects as under:

Sections	MCQs per section
English Language	28-32  questions
Current Affairs including General Knowledge	35-39 questions
Logical Reasoning	28-32 questions
Legal Reasoning	35-39 question
Quantitative Techniques	13-17 questions

CLAT 2026 Syllabus for English Language

The main topics of Section A of the CLAT question paper as per CLAT syllabus will be around the topics as under:

• Correcting Incorrect Grammar Sentences
• Reading comprehension
• Sentence completion and correction
• Spelling and Grammatical errors
• Proverbs and adverbs
• Synonyms and antonyms
• Idioms and phrases
• Vocabulary and word meanings
• Synonyms & Antonyms
• Tenses
• Fill in the Blanks
• Spotting Active & Passive Voice

Also Read: Important Topics to study from CLAT Syllabus 2025

CLAT English Questions

The questions from previous years' CLAT papers for the English section are as under:

Passage 1

 I grew up in a small town not far from Kalimpong. In pre-liberalization India, everything arrived late: not just material things but also ideas. Magazines — old copies of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic — arrived late too, after the news had become stale by months or, often, years. This temporal gap turned journalism into literature, news into legend, and historical events into something akin to plotless stories. But like those
who knew no other life, we accepted this as the norm. The dearth of reading material in towns and villages in socialist India is hard to imagine, and it produced two categories of people: those who stopped reading after school or college, and those — including children — who read anything they could find. I read road signs with the enthusiasm that attaches to reading thrillers. When the iterant kabadiwala, collector of papers,
magazines, and rejected things, visited our neighbourhood, I rushed to the house where he was doing business. He bought things at unimaginably low prices from those who’d stopped having any use for them, and I rummaged through his sacks of old magazines. Sometimes, on days when business was good, he allowed me a couple of copies of Sportsworld magazine for free. I’d run home and, ignoring my mother’s scolding, plunge
right in — consuming news about India’s victory in the Benson and Hedges Cup. Two takeaways from these experiences have marked my understanding of the provincial reader’s life: the sense of belatedness, of everything coming late, and the desire for pleasure in language. Speaking of belatedness, the awareness of having been born at the wrong time in history, of inventing things that had already been discovered
elsewhere, far away, without our knowledge or cooperation, is a moment of epiphany and deep sadness. I remember a professor’s choked voice, narrating to me how all the arguments he’d made in his doctoral dissertation, written over many, many years of hard work (for there indeed was a time when PhDs were written over decades), had suddenly come to naught after he’d discovered the work of C.W.E. Bigsby. This,
I realised as I grew older, was one of the characteristics of provincial life: that they (usually males) were saying trite things with the confidence of someone declaring them for the first time. I, therefore, grew up surrounded by would-be Newtons who claimed to have discovered gravity (again). There’s a deep sense of tragedy attending this sort of thing — the sad embarrassment of always arriving after the party is over. And there’s a
harsh word for that sense of belatedness: “dated.” What rescues it is the unpredictability of these anachronistic “discoveries” — the randomness and haphazardness involved in mapping connections among thoughts and ideas, in a way that hasn’t yet been professionalised.  [Extracted, with edits and revisions, from “The Provincial Reader”, by Sumana Roy, Los Angeles Review of Books]
1. What use was the kabadiwala (wastepicker) to the author?
(A) The kabadiwala bought up all her magazines.

(B) The kabadiwala’s stock of books and magazines were of interest to the
author.

(C) The kabadiwala was about to steal the author’s magazines.

(D) The author ordered books online which the kabadiwala delivered.
2. What according to the author is essential about the experience of being a ‘provincial reader’?
(A) Belatedness in the sense of coming late for everything.

(B) Over-eagerness.

(C) Accepting a temporal gap between what was current in the wider world and
the time at which these arrived in the provincial location.

(D) None of the above
3. Why did the author feel a sense of epiphany and deep sadness?
(A) Because the things that felt special and unique to the author, were already
established and accepted thought in the wider world.

(B) Because the author was less well-read than others.

(C) Because the author missed being in a big city.

(D) All the above
4. What does the word ‘anachronistic’ as used in the passage, mean?
(A) Rooted in a non-urban setting

(B) Related to a mofussil area

(C) Connected with another time

(D) Opposed to prevailing sensibilities
5. Which of the following options captures the meaning of the last sentence best?
(A) Though the author feels provincial, she pretends to be from the metropolis.

(B) Though the author feels dated in her access to intellectual ideas, her lack
of metropolitan sophistication lets her engage with the ideas with some
originality.

(C) Though the author is aware of the limitedness of her knowledge, she is
confident and can hold her own in a crowd. She also proud of her roots in the
small town.

(D) All the above

  Passage 2

 Until the Keeladi site was discovered, archaeologists by and large believed that the Gangetic plains in the north urbanised significantly earlier than Tamil Nadu. Historians have often claimed that large scale town life in India first developed in the Greater Magadha region of the Gangetic basin. This was during the ‘second urbanisation’ phase. The ‘first urbanisation phase’ refers to the rise of the Harappan or Indus Valley
Civilisation. Tamil Nadu was thought to have urbanised at this scale only by the third century BCE. The findings at Keeladi push that date back significantly. Based on linguistics and continuity in cultural legacies, connections between the Indus Valley Civilisation, or IVC, and old Tamil traditions have long been suggested, but concrete archaeological evidence remained absent. Evidence indicated similarities between
graffiti found in Keeladi and symbols associated with the IVC. It bolstered the arguments of dissidents from the dominant North Indian imagination, who have argued for years that their ancestors existed contemporaneously with the IVC. All the archaeologists I spoke to said it was too soon to make definitive links between the Keeladi site and the IVC. There is no doubt, however, that the discovery at Keeladi has changed the paradigm. In recent years, the results of any new research on early India have invited keen political interest, because proponents of Hindu nationalism support the notion of Vedic culture as fundamental to the origins of Indian civilisation. The Keeladi excavations further challenge the idea of a single fountainhead of Indian life. They indicate the possibility that the earliest identity that can recognisably be considered ‘Indian’ might not have originated in North India. That wasn’t all. In subsequent seasons of the Keeladi dig, archaeologists discovered that Tamili, a variant of the Brahmi script used for writing inscriptions in the early iterations of the Tamil language, could be dated back to the sixth century BCE, likely a hundred years before previously thought. So not only had urban life thrived in the Tamil lands, but people who lived there had developed their
own script. “The evolution of writing is attributed to Ashoka’s edicts, but 2600 years ago writing was prevalent in Keeladi,” Mathan Karuppiah, a proud Madurai local, told me. “A farmer could write his own name on a pot he owned. The fight going on here is ‘You are not the one to teach me to write, I have learnt it myself.’ ” [Excerpted from “The Dig”, by Sowmiya Ashok, Fifty-Two]
1. What was the assumption about the origin of urban life in India before the Keeladi dig?
(A) The origins lay in the northern Gangetic plains, which urbanised earlier than
the south.

(B) The Indus Valley Civilization was the first urban civilization of India.

(C) The second urbanization was known to be in the Magadha empire.

(D) Both (A) and (B)
2 “The Keeladi excavations further challenge the idea of a single fountainhead of Indian life.” — in elaboration of this sentence, which of these options follows?
(A) Dominant theories of how urban and modern life came about in ancient India were proved wrong by the Keeladi archaeological dig.

(B) Neither the Indus Valley Civilization, nor the ancient urban civilization of Magadha are clear explanations of how urban life emerged in the Keeladi region of southern India in the third century BCE.

(C) The Keeladi archaeological dig proved that Indian urban and modern life emerged independently in several historical periods and geographies, and no one theory is enough to explain it.

(D) None of the above
3. Language, including a script similar to the Brahmi script, emerged in Keeladi in the sixth century BCE. Which of the following is the most convincing conclusion from this statement?
(A) Keeladi is a centre of culture and learning far superior to any others in ancient India.

(B) People of Keeladi were illiterate and could not use language to inscribe on their pots and pans.

(C) Ancient urban history of India, as we know it today, could significantly be altered by the findings of the advances achieved by the Keeladi civilization.

(D) All the above
4. BCE is the acronym for:

(A) Before the Common Era

(B) Before Colloquial Era

(C) Before Chapel Eternal

(D) Behind Christ Era

5. “A farmer could write his own name on a pot he owned. The fight going on here is ‘You are not the one to teach me to write, I have learnt it myself.’ ” — These sentences imply:
(A) That the Keeladi civilization was an inegalitarian one.

(B) That the Keeladi civilization did not conserve the access to education and literacy only for the elite.

(C) That the farmers of the Keeladi civilization were also potters.

(D) All the above

Passage 3

Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse impact on the environment, human health, food security, economic activity, natural resources and physical infrastructure. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the effects of climate change have already been observed, and scientific findings indicate that precautionary and prompt action is necessary. Vulnerability to climate change is not just a function of geography or dependence on natural resources; it also has social, economic and political dimensions which influence how climate change affects different groups. Poor people rarely have insurance to cover loss of property due to natural calamines i.e. drought, floods, super cyclones etc. The poor communities are already struggling to cope with the existing challenges of poverty and climate variability and climate change could push many beyond their ability to cope or even survive. It is vital that these communities are helped to adapt to the changing dynamics of nature. Adaptation is a process through which societies make themselves better able to cope with an uncertain future. Adapting to climate change entails taking the right measures to reduce the negative effect of climate change (or exploit the positive ones) by making the appropriate adjustments and changes. These range from technological options such as increased sea defences or flood proof houses on stilts to behavioural change at the individual level, such as reducing water use in times of drought. Other strategies include early warning systems for extreme events, better water management, improved risk management, various insurance options and biodiversity conservation. Because of the speed at which climate change is happening due to global temperature rise, it is urgent that the vulnerability of developing countries to climate change is reduced and their capacity to adapt is increased and national adaptation plans are implemented. Communities must build their resilience, including adopting appropriate technologies while making the most of traditional knowledge, and diversifying their livelihoods to cope with current and future climate stress. Local coping strategies and knowledge need to be used in synergy with government and local interventions. The need of adaptation interventions depends on national circumstances. There is a large body of knowledge and experience within local communities on coping with climatic variability and extreme weather events. Local communities have always aimed to adapt to variations in their climate. Local coping strategies are an important element of planning for adaptation. Traditional knowledge can help to provide efficient, appropriate and time tested ways of advising and enabling adaptation to climate change in communities who are feeling the effects of climate changes due to global warming.

Q. To address the challenge of Climate Change, Developing countries urgently require:

(a) Implementation of National Adaptation Plans

(b) Adoption of short term plans

(c) Adoption of technological solutions

(d) Imposition of Climate Change tax

Q. Given below are the factors of vulnerability of poor people to climate changes. Select the option that contains the correct answer.

(1) Their dependence on natural resources

(2) Geographical attributes

(3) Lack of financial resources

(4) Lack of Traditional knowledge

Codes:

(a) (2), (3) and (4)

(b) (1), (2), (3) and (4)

(c) (3) only

(d) (1), (2) and (3)

Q. Which of the following is against the idea portrayed in the passage?

(a) Co-ordination between regional and national efforts is necessary.

(b) The process of Adaptation to climate change does not take into account the factor of prevailing national circumstances.

(c) Social dimensions of climate change also need to be appreciated.

(d) Combining Traditional Knowledge with appropriate technology is the need of the hour. 

Q. The Traditional Knowledge should be used through

(a) Improvement in national circumstances

(b) Synergy between Government and local interventions

(c) Imposition of Climate Change Tax.

(d) Its dissemination

Q. What is the meaning of the word ‗Resilience‘ occurring in the passage?

a) Toughness

b) Fragility

c) Flexibility

d) Vulnerability

Passage 4

The uncovering of a private Instagram group styling itself Bois Locker Room‘ featuring students from some prominent South Delhi schools discussing their female classmates in disturbingly violent ways including plans of sexual assault is a wakeup call for parents and authorities. The group formed last month or so kicked up a social media storm when screenshots surfaced. Police have questioned a 15 year old boy to identify other members. Similar incidents involving minors discussing rape/ gang rape of classmates have been reported on other digital platforms like WhatsApp too, across cities. The exchanges in the now deleted group require precise responses from police, parents and school authorities around whom the fates of the juveniles involved now revolve. It is important to recognise where a teenager spouting objectification of his female counterparts is coming from. People of all ages, not just children, are retreating deeper into the recesses of their online avatars during this lockdown. But the heavy technological investment in children‘s education, including flooding them with personal smartphones, has not been matched by serious conversations centred on responsible internet usage and equality. Young, impressionable minds absorb the normalisation of rape from the adults around them. When what they see, read and hear is toxic masculinity, that is what they perform. That‘s what peer pressure becomes about. But if this youthful role play of macho dominance receives timely counselling, it can prevent far graver adult offences. Schools and parents have a critical role to play in educating children on gender equality. Digital platforms which claim to have zero tolerance towards content that violates community standards must also explain why such abuses go undetected, despite boasts about Artificial Intelligence-driven technologies to stop them. They should play a more proactive role in stopping the sexual harassment of real
people in the guise of virtual sport. [Editorial Published in Times of India, dated 6 May, 2020]

Q. What is the Central Idea being conveyed by the Author in the passage above?

a) Modern Social Networking platforms must take the lead in regulating young people from using these platforms for sexual abuse.

b) It is significant to educate children and youngsters about gender equality.

c) Digital Platforms need to have a zero tolerance policy towards content leading to sexual abuse.

d) None of the above.

Q. As per author, why is this incident a wake-up call for parents?

a) Because even the parents are indulged heavily in social networking platforms.

b) Because parents have failed to stop their children from committing such blunders.

c) Because it is the primary responsibility of parents to control their children.

d) Because the parents have failed in educating their children regarding fair internet usage and have simply invested in the technology driven education of their children. 

Q. According to the author, in order to understand the root cause of such insensitive incidents, it is important to:

a) Understand and examine the kind of socialisation process these children are exposed to.

b) Adopt Artificial Intelligence driven technologies.

c) Strengthen the environment of discipline in schools and colleges.

d) All of the above.

Q. On the basis of your reading of the passage, which of the following statements can be inferred?

a) Sexual Offenses can be reduced by timely counselling from parental and quasi-parental authorities i.e., parents and teachers respectively.

b) If digital platforms implement a Zero Tolerance Policy towards such a menace, sexual offenses can be completely stopped.

c) Investment in education of children is enough to curb the menace.

d) All of the above.

Q. Which of the following words are synonymous with the word Spouting‘?

a) Pouring

b) Streaming

c) Erupting

d) All of the Above

Passage 5

The snow was falling, and the Cat's fur was stiffly pointed with it, but he was imperturbable. He sat crouched, ready for the death-spring, as he had sat for hours. It was night but that made no difference, all times were as one to the Cat when he was in wait for prey. Then, too, he was under no constraint of human will, for he was living alone that winter. Nowhere in the world was any voice calling him; on no hearth was there a waiting dish. He was quite free except for his own desires, which tyrannized over him when unsatisfied as now. The Cat was very hungry. almost famished, in fact. For days the weather had been very bitter...and the Cat's long hunt had availed him nothing. But he waited with the inconceivable patience and persistency of his race; besides, he was certain. The Cat was a creature of absolute convictions, and his faith in his deductions never wavered. The rabbit had gone in there between those low-hung pine boughs. The Cat had seen her enter...so he sat down and waited, and he waited still in the white night, listening angrily to the north wind starting in the upper heights of the mountains with distant screams, then swelling into an awful crescendo of rage, and swooping down with furious white wings of snow like a flock of fierce eagles into the valleys and ravines. The Cat was on the side of a mountain, on a wooded terrace. Above him, a few feet away towered the rock ascent as steep as the wall of a cathedral. He had often looked with wonder at the rock, and miauled bitterly and resentfully as man does in the face of a forbidding Providence. At his left was the sheer precipice. Behind him...was the frozen perpendicular wall of a mountain stream. Before him was the way to his home. When the rabbit came out she was trapped; her little cloven feet could not scale such unbroken steeps. So the Cat waited. The tangle of trees and bushes clinging to the mountain-side with a stern clutch of roots, the prostrate trunks and branches, the vines embracing everything with strong knots and coils of growth, had a curious effect, as of things which had whirled for ages in a current of raging water, only it was not water, but wind, which had disposed everything in circling lines of yielding to its fiercest points of onset. It was as if ice needles pricked his skin through his beautiful thick fur, but he never faltered and never once cried. He had nothing to gain from crying, and everything to lose; the rabbit would hear him cry and know he was waiting. [Excerpts from a Short story, "The Cat‟ by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman]

Q. Which of the following suggests a synonymous meaning to the words Providence‘ and Crescendo‘ respectively?

a) Nemesis, Apex

b) Zenith, Nadir

c) Laxity, Prudence

d) Short-sightedness, Upsurge

Q. The passage has been adorned with numerous figure of speeches. Which of the following combinations is correct?

a) Irony and Sarcasm

b) Alliteration and Pun

c) Simile and Personification

d) Metaphor and Onomatopoeia

Q. The passage best demonstrates which one of the following motifs of Cat‘s Life?

a) To satisfy the pangs of hunger

b) To survive the harsh winters

c) A never ending wait

d) To hunt for Rabbit 

Q. The Author‘s description of ..he was under no constraint of human will, for he was living alone...implies:

a) Cat‘s absolute freedom from everything

b) Cat‘s no association with human beings

c) Cat‘s loneliness

d) Cat‘s tyrannical demeanour 

Q. The lines, ―...but he never faltered and never once cried. He had nothing to gain from crying, and everything to lose...‖, suggest that the Cat is:

a) Reflective

b) Apologetic

c) Resilient

d) Frustrated 

Passage 6

I am losing my interest in human beings; in the significance of their lives and their actions. Someone has said it is better to study one man than ten books. I want neither books nor men; they make me suffer. Can one of them talk to me like the night the Summer night? Like the stars or the caressing wind?

The night came slowly, softly, as I lay out there under the maple tree. It came creeping, creeping stealthily out of the valley, thinking I did not notice. And the outlines of trees and foliage nearby blended in one black mass and the night came stealing out from them, too, and from the east and west, until the only light was in the sky, filtering through the maple leaves and a star looking down through every cranny.

The night is solemn and it means mystery.

Human shapes flitted by like intangible things. Some stole up like little mice to peep at me. I did not mind. My whole being was abandoned to the soothing and penetrating charm of the night. The katydids began their slumber song: they are at it yet. How wise they are. They do not chatter like people. They tell me only: sleep, sleep, sleep.‖ The wind rippled the maple leaves like little warm love thrills. Why do fools cumber the Earth! It was a man‘s voice that broke the necromancer‘s spell. A man came today with his Bible Class.‖ He is detestable with his red cheeks and bold eyes and coarse manner and speech. What does he know of Christ? Shall I ask a young fool who was born yesterday and will die tomorrow to tell me things of Christ? I would rather ask the stars: they have seen him. [Short Story by Kate Chopin]

Q. Why has the author lost interest in human beings?

a) Because they make the author suffer.

b) Because the human beings do not bring with them the warmth and the comfort which comes naturally with the night, starts and the wind.

c) Because human beings are not mysterious.

d) All of the above. 

Q. The author has compared the night with:

a) The Katydids

b) The Necromancer‘s spell

c) Stars

d) All of the above

Q. Why has the author called the 'katydids‘ wise?

a) Because they sing a slumber song.

b) Because they tell the author to only 'sleep‘.

c) Because they do not indulge in unnecessary and unimportant talks.

d) Because they are not fools. 

Q. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

a) Being close to nature can bring one closer to God.

b) Nature is just a mystery.

c) Books and Man are both detestable.

d) None of these. 

Q. Which of the following words from the passage mean 'rough‘?

a) Solemn

b) Caressing

c) Coarse

d) Slumber

Passage 7

It was the strangest murder trial I ever attended, where the old woman was found battered to death. He was a heavy stout man with bulging bloodshot eyes. All his muscles seemed to be in his thighs. The clock had just struck two in the morning. Mrs Salmon in 15 Northwood Street had been unable to sleep: she heard a door click shut and thought it was her own gate. So she went to the window and saw Adams (that was his name) on the steps of Mrs Parker's house. He had just come out and he was wearing gloves. He had a hammer in his hand and she saw him drop it into the laurel bushes by the front gate. But before he moved away, he had looked up at her window. The fatal instinct that tells a man when he is watched exposed him in the light of a streetlamp to her gaze-his eyes suffused with horrifying and brutal fear, like an animal's when you raise a whip.

Mrs Salmon was called in the Court.

`And do you see the man here in court?'

[She looked straight at the big man in the dock, who stared hard at her with his Pekingese eyes without emotion.]

`Yes,' she said, `there he is.'

`You are quite certain?'

She said simply, `I couldn't be mistaken, sir.'

`Thank you, Mrs Salmon.' [Counsel for the defence rose to cross-examine.]

`Now, Mrs Salmon, you must remember that a man's life may depend on your evidence.'

`I do remember it, sir.'

`Is your eyesight good?'

`I have never had to wear spectacles, sir.'

`You are a woman of fifty-five?'

`Fifty-six, sir.'

`And the man you saw was on the other side of the road?'

`Yes, sir.'

`And it was two o'clock in the morning. You must have remarkable eyes, Mrs Salmon?'

`No, sir. There was moonlight, and when the man looked up, he had the lamplight on his face.'

`And you have no doubt whatever that the man you saw is the prisoner?'

`None whatever, sir. It isn't a face one forgets.'

Then he said, `Do you mind, Mrs Salmon, examining again the people in court?

No, not the prisoner. Stand up, please, Mr Adams!

And there at the back of the court with thick stout body and muscular legs and a pair of bulging eyes, was the exact image of the man in the dock.

`Now think very carefully, Mrs Salmon. Can you still swear that the man you saw drop the hammer in Mrs Parker's garden was the prisoner and not this man, who is his twin brother?'

Of course she couldn't.

[Excerpts from „The Case for the Defence‟ by Graham Greene]

Q. Why do you think, has the Author called the trial, 'strangest‘ murder trial he ever attended?

a) Because the accused had a very strange personality.

b) Because, despite having a potential witness and evidence against the accused, his wrong could not be proved.

c) Because, Mrs. Salmon‘s evidence could not be proved before the Court.

d) None of these. 

Q. …his eyes suffused with horrifying and brutal fear, like an animal's when you raise a whip can be called as:

a) Personification

b) Simile

c) Onomatopoeia

d) None of the above

Q. The expression "Pekingese eyes‟ used in the passage refers to which of the following?

a) Bulging eyes

b) Red eyes

c) Small eyes

d) None of them

Q. Why was Mrs. Salmon convinced that the man she saw had committed the crime?

a) Because she saw the man on the steps of Mrs. Parker‘s House and he was wearing gloves.

b) Because he had a hammer in his hand and she saw him drop it into the laurel bushes by the front gate.

c) Because when he looked up at her window, his eyes were suffused with horrifying and brutal fear.

d) Because she had seen him clearly in the light of street lamp. 

Q. Who was murdered in the scene described in the passage?

a) Mrs. Wheeler

b) Mrs. Parker

c) Mrs. Salmon

d) It cannot be inferred. 

Passage 8

The world has very few devices left to fight COVID-19 with, but technology remains one of them. Whether it is employing the state-of-the-art technology in the discovery of cures or vaccines, or traditional technology services to enhance health care and consultations, or even tools that keep people at home occupied/productive, it is clear that technology will serve humanity at one of its darkest moments. The pandemic has contributed, in no small measure, to the understanding of the myriad ways in which available technologies have not been put to better use, and presented people with multiple opportunities to harness these devices, techniques and methods to get on with life in the time of lockdown. Among the primary uses is telemedicine, rendered inexorable now, by the temporary paralysis brought on by a freeze on movement. The Centre‘s recent guidelines allowing for widespread use of telemedicineservices came as a shot in the arm for telehealth crusaders in the country, among them the Telemedicine Society of India that has long been battling to use the technology in its complete arc to reach remote areas in India. This move finds consonance with the rest of the world where several nations, also deeply impacted by the pandemic, have deployed telemedicine to reach people who have been unable to come to hospital, to reduce footfalls in hospitals, and to even provide medical and mental health counselling to countless people. It was way back in 2000 that telemedicine was first employed in India, but the progress has been excruciatingly slow, until the pandemic. However, it does seem as if the medical community was only held back by the lack of legislation to enable tele consultations. For no sooner was the policy announced, than hospitals and clinicians hurried to jump onto the bandwagon, advertising contact information for patients. The advantages are peculiar in the current context, when putting distance between people is paramount, as tele consultations are not barred even when health care professionals and patients may have to be quarantined. The advancement of telecommunication capabilities over the years has made the transmission of images and sound files (heart and lung sounds, coughs) faster and simpler. Pilot telemedicine experiments in ophthalmology and psychiatry have proven to be of immense benefit to the communities. Telemedicine‘s time is here, finally. While unleashing the full potential of telemedicine to help people, experts and government agencies must be mindful of the possible inadequacies of the medium, and securing sensitive medical information; such cognisance should guide the use of the technology. [From an Editorial published in „The Hindu‟ on April 17, 2020]

Q. Which one of the following words from the passage means 'unavoidable‘?

a) Inexorable

b) Myriad

c) Excruciatingly

d) Bandwagon

Q. Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

a) It is time to unleash the full potential of Telemedicine.

b) It is time to unleash the full potential of Telemedicine with cognisance of its possible flaws.

c) Technology has not been utilised to its fullest to suit the current needs.

d) People should not be skeptical about the advantages of telemedicine. 

Q. Which of the following is a significant factor contributing in slow employment of Telemedicine in India?

a) Telemedicine was never employed in India.

b) There was an absence of regulations regarding the use of telemedicine consultations and medication systems.

c) Telemedicinal Society of India failed in its efforts to promote the importance of such a system in the country.

d) All of the above. 

Q. Telecommunication based medication has the potential for an easy outreach because:

a) Pilot experiments in telemedicine have been proved to be successful.

b) It helps in easier communication of medical images from one place to another.

c) It helps in securing sensitive medical information.

d) All of the above.

Q. What is the meaning of the expression 'Shot in the arm‘ used in the passage?

a) Hitting the nail on its head.

b) Bull‘s Eye

c) Positive Impact on something

d) All of the above. 

Passage 9

Read an extract from A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle: 

“I rang the door-bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own.

With hardly a word spoken, Sherlock Holmes waved me to an armchair. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.

“Watson, you did not tell me that you intended to go into harness.”

“Then, how do you know?”

“I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?”

“My dear Holmes,” said I, “this is too much. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I have changed my clothes, Ican’t imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out.”

“It is simplicity itself,” said he; “my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously, they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scared round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.”

In fiction, detectives like Holmes are usually portrayed as people with exceptionally brilliant minds. They possess the rare skill to see and analyze what ordinary people can’t. They have incredible abilities to infer, deduce, induce and conclude. Then, there is G.K. Chesterton’s fictional catholic priest, Father Brown who relies on his extraordinary power of sympathy and empathy that enable him to imagine and feel as criminals do. He explains, “I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was.”

Sherlock finds the criminal by starting from the outside. He relies on science, expe rimental methods and deduction. On the contrary, Father Brown uses varied psychological experiences learned from those who make confessions of crime to him. He relies on introspection, intuition and empathy. There is yet another set of detectives like those created by writers like Agatha Christie. Her Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot is a story-teller who draws information from the stories that others tell. He patiently listens to numerous accounts of what happened, where it happened and how it happened. He listens for credibility and ambiguity; he identifies why and how the pieces of the jig-saws don’t fit together. Ultimately, he uncovers the truth.

Q. From the passage, it can be inferred that

(A) Watson is Holmes’ mentor.

(B) Earlier, Watson used to live with Holmes.

(C) Watson is a detective.

(D) Watson shares all his personal matters with Holmes.

Q. It is evident that for solving cases, Father Brown relies largely on

(A) His own sympathetic and empathic thought process about criminals.

(B) A sympathetic approach towards various people’s opinion on the case to be solved.

(C) A deductive analysis of the crime and his ability to sympathize.

(D) All the above.

Q. For the three detectives mentioned in the passage, which one of these would be nonessential for solving criminal cases?

(A) Forgiving nature

(B) Sensitivity

(C) Critical thinking

(D) Patience

Q. In order to solve cases, Poirot uses the art of ______ the narratives that he has been told.

(A) Building a fantasy based on

(B) Empathizing with all the characters in

(C) Creating new plots for

(D) Detecting and analyzing the missing links in 

Q. The word incorrigible is the antonym of

(A) Habitual

(B) Unperformable

(C) Repentant

(D) Incurable

Passage 10

Since long, we have witnessed unimaginable levels of success and failure of various projects, businesses, scientific missions and even wars. From such triumphs and defeats emerges the much debatable thought: Is planning and strategy more important than execution? Some project leaders and their teams are of the view that planning leads to clarity of objectives; it helps to set the timeline and the budget. Consequently, when the planning is haphazard and unstructured, the very aims of the projects become hazy. This further leads to unprecedented budget collapses and poor time-management. In some cases, teams have worked relentlessly to complete assignments, but poor planning has invariably led to customer dissatisfaction and at times a complete collapse of the entire project. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Numerous entrepreneurs have the faith that strategies help to enhance not only speed and quality of production, but also consumer satisfaction. If there are no strategies to tackle unplanned events or unexpected interruptions, there is a possibility of entire projects coming to a grinding halt.

Some of the world’s best airports, bridges and astronomical missions are the result of careful planning and excellent strategies. However, there are some architects, artists and entrepreneurs who prefer to dive straight from the board of ideas into the pool of execution. They believe that suitable strategies are best shaped during the process of execution; great plans and strategies can fail while encountering unexpected situations. Steve Jobs says, “To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”

According to Bill Gates, unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning. Fickle-minded consumers and wavering market trends can mar projects that stand on fixed plans. It is the need-based, flexible and innovative strategies that help to withstand the impact of these vacillating desires and trends. After rigorous planning and testing a new recipe on two lakh consumers, in 1985, the company Coke brought out the New Coke. Much to the company’s dismay, the product did not take off as expected and the financial loss was enormous. The company realized that during the process of data collection, it had not considered the product-loyalty and old-fashioned habits of the consumers.

Hence, a balance of pragmatic planning, effective strategies and efficient execution is likely to ensure the accomplishment of tasks at each stage of a project. Successful execution is not an easy journey. The road is winding and bumpy. It may require tweaking or at times abandoning the original plan and re-designing it. Often, we turn to nature for inspiration. Think plans and strategies are the seed; execution is the nourishment; consumer is the capricious weather.

Q. The passage can be best termed as

(A) Expository

(B) Descriptive

(C) Abstract

(D) Narrative

Q. The author’s main purpose is to

(A) Suggest that people succeed only when they have great strategies.

(B) Highlight the fact that execution is as indispensable as planning and strategy.

(C) Illustrate the impact of poor planning and weak strategy.

(D) Highlight the hurdles that come in the way of execution.

Q. From the failure of New Coke, the company learnt that

(A) Tested and tried strategies are essential for success.

(B) Surveys and data calibration are a sheer waste of time.

(C) Consumers change brand preferences too frequently.

(D) Changes in consumers’ habits should not be taken for granted.

Q. For the accomplishment of a project, Steve Jobs

(A) Propagates an approach that is similar to Benjamin Franklin’s.

(B) Suggests an approach that is different from Benjamin Franklin’s.

(C) Believes that the main control is in the hands of consumers.

(D) None of the above.

Q. The ______ in ‘consumer is the capricious weather’ refers to the ______ demands of the customers.

(A) Onomatopoeia ……….. stagnant

(B) Simile …………. unpredictable

(C) Metaphor……….. wavering

(D) Anaphora………oscillating 

Passage 11

Since the worldwide inoculation process is going strong, vaccine diplomacy has become a hot topic. In their quest for ensuring vaccine security, a report by The New York Times, based on the data on vaccine contracts compiled by Duke University, shows that the advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times: the European Union, two times, the United States and the United Kingdom, four times, and Canada, six times. The expectation that an early vaccination will bring back normalcy and a required push to economic growth fuelled many advanced countries to engage in vaccine battles. The arguments of public good and global cooperation have gone out of the window now. While advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines, India has displayed empathy to their needs. India has taken a position that a significant percentage of the approved doses will be permitted for exports. While its exports to neighbouring countries will be under grant mode, initial shipment of vaccines to least developed countries will be free of cost. And, shipments of vaccines from India have already started reaching different parts of the developing world. While India is in its first phase of vaccination to cover health-care workers, exports from India are helping other countries also in initiating phase one of their vaccination programme, a gesture well appreciated globally. In a democracy, one can expect the backlash of sending vaccines abroad without vaccinating its population. Nevertheless, India’s approach only reinforces the need of having coordinated global efforts in bringing COVID-19 under control. This response manifests India’s unstinted commitment to global development and has consolidated its name as the world’s pharmacy. The attitude of India towards vaccinating the populations in the poorer countries has generated discussion in the richer countries about the necessity for more proactive measures to roll out vaccines to the developing nations.

Q. Which of the following best describes the purpose of this passage?

(A) To encourage vaccine nationalism, and discourage global cooperation.

(B) To discourage vaccine nationalism, and encourage global cooperation.

(C) To encourage poor countries and discourage advanced countries.

(D) To encourage India to provide vaccines to poor nations. 

Q. The term ‘inoculation process’ as used in the passage means

(A) Production and distribution of vaccines.

(B) Global struggle for vaccines.

(C) Pharmaceutical production of vaccines.

(D) Artificially inducing immunity.

Q. Advanced purchase contracts of vaccines by developed countries are premised on hopes that

(A) Vaccination will restore normalcy and thrust economic recovery.

(B) Vaccination will bring back powers to nations.

(C) Vaccination will promote global well-being and growth.

(D) Vaccination will protect the health of the world population

Q. The author cautions that India’s approach in vaccine distribution may have negative repercussions among

(A) People from advanced countries.

(B) People from poor countries.

(C) People from developing countries.

(D) People from India.

Q. Among Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the third goal reads, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Which of the following sentences from the passage reflects the reversal of this SDG?

(A) The arguments of public good and global cooperation have gone out of the window now.

(B) Advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines.

(C) The advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times.

(D) All the above

Passage 12

Following the transition to democracy, with the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president in I994, South Africa was faced with the task of dealing with its past, as well as undertaking some action to deal with structural social injustice. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), heralded as the most ambitious and organised attempt to deal with crimes of a past regime through a concept of truth, came into force on 19th July I995 in South Africa. Emerging as a political strategy to acknowledge past suffering whilst promoting a future based on the concerns of social justice, the rule of law and reconciliation, the Commission has struggled to fulfil its objectives. Although the TRC incorporated these broader concerns into the mandate of its three sub-committees, they were disregarded in practice. These sub-committees, which reflected concerns for ‘human rights violations’, ‘amnesty’ and ‘reparation and rehabilitation’, were not ‘coupled with some form of social transformation’. The public transition from apartheid, established through a negotiated settlement rather than a revolutionary process, framed the Commission’s powers. Shaped by the historical context of this particular transition, the TRC was careful not to ‘rock the structural boat’. Rather than pursuing truth and justice, as an integrated feature of social transformation, the Commissioners and, to a greater extent, the government of South Africa, maintained an agenda that avoided a challenge to the status quo. A focus on restorative justice was taken by the Commission with an emphasis placed on mechanisms to restore victims and survivors, through reparations policy, state-led acknowledgement of suffering, and a condemnation, together with the transformation, of the system that implemented such widespread forms of abuse. The priority of changing the apartheid conditions of gross inequality and oppression provided a backdrop to the approval of the TRC by those who had suffered. More difficult to accept was the provision of amnesty to those who had undertaken violations of human rights. The process placed amnesty of violations as a carrot to perpetrators in exchange for a full story, with the stick of prosecutions for those who did not come forward.

Q. ‘The status quo’ as used in the passage means

(A) Previously popular opinions.

(B) Already existing conditions.

(C) Strategies of government.

(D) Following a set agenda.

Q. Which of the following best describes the tone of the author?

(A) Optimistic

(B) Threatening

(C) Compassionate

(D) Critical

Q. Which of the following is not the broader concern of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)?

(A) To deal with crimes of a past regime through a concept of truth.

(B) To acknowledge past suffering.

(C) To emerge as a political strategy for reconciliation of rule of law.

(D) To promote a future based on the concerns of social justice. 

Q. Which of the following statements is least likely to be inferred from the passage?

(A) The TRC ignored some of the broad concerns.

(B) The sub-committees of TRC lacked an agenda of social transformation.

(C) The TRC made earnest efforts to protect human rights.

(D) The TRC lacked the desire and strength to challenge the prevailing conditions.

Q. What does ‘amnesty’ mean in the context of the passage?

(A) Severe punishment

(B) Bring legal action

(C) Arrest warrants

(D) Official pardon

Passage 13

In the domain of education, the current pandemic has made three things clear. It has proved beyond any doubt that we need schools. Irrespective of which country one talks about, students and parents want schools to open and function in full glory, with appropriate precautions. Secondly, it has shown that technology may prove to be useful in education if it is employed thoughtfully. Random surfing of the Internet may lead to a collection of pieces of information that do not add up to any meaning. As Noam Chomsky says, “You cannot pursue any kind of inquiry without a relatively clear framework that is directing your search and helping you choose what is significant and what is not.” Moreover, there cannot be any hegemonic technomanagerial solutions to the linguistic and cultural heterogeneity of students; technology must help us to respect individual, peer group and community needs and aspirations. Thirdly, a convergence of the efforts of the public, civil society and private enterprise will have to take place if we wish technology to meaningfully mediate between school and home, particularly among underprivileged groups. The concept, structure and functioning of a school/college should not be trivialised in any way. This institution has survived since ancient times in spite of proposals for “de -schooling” of various kinds. It is true that schools to a great extent perpetuate the status quo and, as Ivan Illich observed, encourage “consumerism” and “obedience to authority”; but it is also true that those who produced some of the most revolutionary moments in history, including quantum jumps in knowledge, also went to school. The kind of web of learners Illich imagines may in fact have its roots in schools. There are also people who trivialise schools for the kind of investments they demand in terms of space, buildings, teachers, libraries and labs and other infrastructure. One thing you never forget is the school you went to, friends you made there and the kind of teachers who taught you; the kind of teachers you loved, the kind you mocked at with friends. You recollect nostalgically the sports and other co-curricular activities you took part in. Some of you may still have preserved your school blazer, trophies and photographs with a sense of joy. It is important to see school holistically; it is not a set of atomic items of rooms, library, assembly halls, canteen and playgrounds; it is all of these but in symbiotic relationship with each other, the contours of which are often far too obvious and often simply mysterious. 

Q. Which one of the following is the author trying to suggest by quoting Noam Chomsky?

(A) Technology shall be used in purposively structured manner in education.

(B) A relatively clear framework pursues any kind of inquiry.

(C) Technology helps to choose what is significant and reject what is not significant.

(D) Technology must help us to respect individual, peer group and community needs and aspirations.

Q. Which of the following is not a premise of author’s argument in favour of need for schools and colleges?

(A) Schools and colleges provide opportunities for socialization.

(B) The institution of schools and colleges has shown perseverance.

(C) The current pandemic has proved that students and parents want schools and colleges.

(D) Random surfing of the internet may lead to a collection of meaningless information.

Q. The expression ‘linguistic and cultural heterogeneity’ as used in the passage means

(A) Linguistic and cultural unity.

(B) Linguistic and cultural unity in diversity.

(C) Linguistic and cultural diversity.

(D) Linguistic and cultural identity. 

Q. Which of the following is not the learning outcome from pandemic?

(A) Parents and students from around the world need schools.

(B) Technology is undoubtedly and absolutely useful in education.

(C) Technology may be used meaningfully to mediate between schools and home among underprivileged groups.

(D) None of the above.

Q. The expression ‘symbiotic relationship’ as used in the passage means

(A) Mutually inclusive relationship.

(B) Mutually exclusive relationship.

(C) Mutually beneficial relationship.

(D) Both (B) and (C).

Passage 14

A new report forecasting that India can create millions more jobs over the coming years in the gig economy underscores a fundamental shift in the nature of work. While automation swept through factory floors and BPOs reduced manpower requirements, e-commerce, ride hailing and food delivery apps, streaming media and fintech have created lakhs of temporary jobs in the services sector. Although the jury is still out on the quality of life accorded by such gigs and the social security benefits they accord, recall that informalisation of jobs started much earlier. The report by Boston Consulting Group and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation predicts 90 million flexi and gig jobs in a decade from 8 million now, contributing transactions valued at more than $250 billion and an additional 1.25% to India’s GDP. Obviously, technological evolutions are hard to predict. A decade ago, few, if any, had divined these new jobs. Accepting change as the sole constant, it is equally critical to create the socio-economic framework that can support such jobs. Expecting startups fuelled by venture capital and presently unprofitable to treat gig workers as regular employees isn’t practical. Such moves could impede innovation and investment. But if central and state governments could deliver in areas like public health, education, insurance and food security, anxieties generated by unsteady, irregular unemployment can be managed better. Last year’s nationwide lockdown when the suddenly unemployed migrant workers panicked and bolted, untrusting the promises of governments to care for them, served out this lesson in poignant detail. The gig economy does promise flexibility and improved choices for many women and part time workers. Every technological revolution till date has effaced some jobs and created plentiful others. There is room for optimism in the rapidly emerging techmediated world, but only upon strengthening the support of educational and health infrastructure. 

Q. The report by Boston Consulting Group and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation ______

(A) Predicts massive rise in gig jobs in a decade.

(B) Predicts fundamental shift in nature of work.

(C) Predicts massive rise in World’s GDP.

(D) All the above.

Q. Which of the following can be inferred as a caution by the author?

(A) Central and state governments must ensure management of public health, education, insurance and food security, anxieties of gig workers.

(B) Expecting treatment of gig workers as regular employees could impede innovation and investment.

(C) If educational and health infrastructure support is not strengthened, gig economy will fail.

(D) It is critical to create the socio-political framework that can support gig jobs.

Q. In the context of the passage, which of the following best describes gig economy?

(A) Informally structured economy with skill based short-term or freelance labour market.

(B) A fundamental shift in the nature of work in an economy.

(C) Economy characterized by startups fuelled by venture capital.

(D) All the above.

Q. The tone of the passage is

(A) Cynical

(B) Critical

(C) Scornful

(D) Sanguine

Q. According to the passage, which of the following comes as a concern related to gig economy?

(A) Lack of educational and health infrastructure.

(B) Temporary nature of work.

(C) The quality of life and the social security.

(D) None of the above.

CLAT 2024 question paper will also be based on similar pattern i.e. carrying passage based question for English section, and candidates will be required to attempt the series of questions. 

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• CLAT exam analysis 
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