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BCS Written Political Science study materials
BCS Written Political Science study resources

BCS Written Political Science practice questions

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Question 1Bangla Language and Literature

Who is regarded as the first poet of Bengali literature, credited with the Charyapada?

  1. Chandidas
  2. Vidyapati
  3. Luipa Correct answer.
  4. Krittibas

Explanation

The Charyapada, the earliest known Bengali texts, are songs attributed to Buddhist siddhacharyas, and Luipa is traditionally named as the earliest of these composers. These cryptic devotional songs date to roughly the eighth to twelfth centuries.

Question 2Bangla Language and Literature

The Bengali Ramayana translation ascribed to Krittibas is best described as which kind of work?

  1. A Sanskrit commentary on the original epic
  2. A free retelling in verse shaped for Bengali audiences Correct answer.
  3. A dramatic play based on the Ramayana
  4. A literal prose translation of Valmiki

Explanation

Krittibas rendered the Ramayana into Bengali verse with considerable freedom, adapting episodes and language to local taste, so scholars call it a translation-adaptation rather than a strict rendering. It became a foundational text of medieval Bengali literature.

Question 3Bangla Language and Literature

Mangalkavya poetry in medieval Bengal was primarily composed to do what?

  1. Record genealogies of Brahmin families
  2. Narrate the exploits of Mughal emperors
  3. Explain Sanskrit grammar to common people
  4. Praise and propitiate folk deities such as Manasa and Chandi Correct answer.

Explanation

Mangalkavya is a genre of narrative verse devoted to deities like Manasa, Chandi, and Dharma, aiming to win their favour and spread their worship. The stories typically dramatize a devotee's trials and eventual vindication.

Question 4Bangla Language and Literature

Who wrote the celebrated Vaishnava lyric collection known as Srikrishnakirtan?

  1. Chandidas Correct answer.
  2. Lochan Das
  3. Bidyapati
  4. Gyanadas

Explanation

Srikrishnakirtan is the famous padavali collection attributed to Chandidas, a major medieval Bengali Vaishnava poet. Its lyrics dramatize the love of Radha and Krishna with intense emotional detail.

Question 5Bangla Language and Literature

The Mangalkavya poet Mukundaram Chakraborty is best known for which work?

  1. Chandimangal Correct answer.
  2. Annada Mangal
  3. Manasamangal
  4. Dharma Mangal

Explanation

Mukundaram Chakraborty composed the Chandimangal, one of the finest Mangalkavya texts, celebrated for its vivid picture of rural Bengali life. Its episodes include the hunter Kalaketu and the merchant Dhanapati.

Question 6Bangla Language and Literature

Which nineteenth-century Bengali writer is credited with writing the first modern Bengali novel, Durgeshnandini?

  1. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee Correct answer.
  2. Saratchandra Chatterjee
  3. Rabindranath Tagore
  4. Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Explanation

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee published Durgeshnandini in 1865, widely regarded as the first significant modern Bengali novel. He later wrote Anandamath and Kapalkundala, shaping Bengali prose fiction.

Question 7Bangla Language and Literature

Michael Madhusudan Dutt's Meghnad Badh Kavya is notable chiefly because it does what?

  1. Retells the Ramayana entirely in prose
  2. Treats Meghnad as a tragic hero in blank verse Correct answer.
  3. Collects folk songs of Bengal
  4. Translates Kalidasa's Meghaduta

Explanation

Meghnad Badh Kavya is an epic poem in blank verse that recasts Ravana's son Meghnad as a heroic, tragic figure, reversing conventional sympathies. It is a landmark of nineteenth-century Bengali poetry.

Question 8Bangla Language and Literature

Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali, which brought him the Nobel Prize, is best described as what?

  1. A historical novel
  2. A verse drama in several acts
  3. A collection of devotional songs and poems Correct answer.
  4. A collection of political essays

Explanation

Gitanjali is a collection of devotional poems expressing longing for the divine, and Tagore's own English rendering won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. It is lyric poetry rather than fiction or drama.

Question 9Bangla Language and Literature

In Bengali grammar, how many cases (karak) are traditionally recognized in the standard classification?

  1. Eight
  2. Ten
  3. Six Correct answer.
  4. Four

Explanation

Traditional Bengali grammar recognizes six karak, corresponding to the nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, and genitive relations. This scheme follows the Sanskrit model adapted for Bengali.

Question 10Bangla Language and Literature

Which Bengali vowel sign is written before the consonant it follows phonetically, as in the word for 'mango'?

  1. The sign for o (ও-কার)
  2. The sign for u (উ-কার)
  3. The sign for i (হ্রস্ব ই-কার) Correct answer.
  4. The sign for e (এ-কার)

Explanation

The short i sign (ই-কার) is placed to the left of the consonant even though it is pronounced after it, as in আম. This leftward placement is a distinctive feature of the Bengali script.

Question 11Bangla Language and Literature

Which of these Bengali words contains a conjunct consonant (juktakkhor)?

  1. কলম
  2. আমার
  3. বাড়ি
  4. বিশ্ব Correct answer.

Explanation

বিশ্ব contains the conjunct শ্ব, formed by combining two consonants into a single written unit. The other words are written with simple, unjoined letters.

Question 12Bangla Language and Literature

What is the standard Bengali term for a noun?

  1. ক্রিয়া
  2. বিশেষ্য Correct answer.
  3. বিশেষণ
  4. অব্যয়

Explanation

বিশেষ্য denotes a noun, the word class naming persons, places, things, or ideas. The other terms name adjectives, verbs, and indeclinables respectively.

Question 13Bangla Language and Literature

In Bengali, the sentence 'আমি ভাত খাই' illustrates which tense?

  1. Past habitual
  2. Future continuous
  3. Present habitual Correct answer.
  4. Past perfect

Explanation

The simple present form খাই expresses a habitual or general present action, as in 'I eat rice.' Bengali marks habitual present without an auxiliary here.

Question 14Bangla Language and Literature

Which poet is known as 'Kabi Guru' in Bengali literary tradition?

  1. Jibanananda Das
  2. Kazi Nazrul Islam
  3. Rabindranath Tagore Correct answer.
  4. Sukanta Bhattacharya

Explanation

Rabindranath Tagore is popularly called Kabi Guru, the teacher-poet, reflecting his towering status in Bengali literature. The title distinguishes him from other honoured poets.

Question 15Bangla Language and Literature

Kazi Nazrul Islam's poem 'Bidrohi' is celebrated primarily for what quality?

  1. Its serene devotional tone
  2. Its fierce declaration of rebellion Correct answer.
  3. Its description of rural harvest
  4. Its comic dialogue

Explanation

'Bidrohi', published in 1922, is a thunderous declaration of revolt against oppression and convention, which earned Nazrul the title of rebel poet. Its rhetoric is assertive and defiant rather than calm.

Question 16Bangla Language and Literature

Which novelist wrote Pather Panchali, the source of Satyajit Ray's film?

  1. Premendra Mitra
  2. Manik Bandyopadhyay
  3. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Correct answer.
  4. Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay

Explanation

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay wrote Pather Panchali, a novel of rural childhood and family hardship that became the basis of Ray's celebrated film. The author also wrote Aranyak.

Question 17Bangla Language and Literature

The Bengali novel Padma Nadir Majhi, about fisherfolk on the Padma, was written by whom?

  1. Manik Bandyopadhyay Correct answer.
  2. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
  3. Saratchandra Chatterjee
  4. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Explanation

Manik Bandyopadhyay wrote Padma Nadir Majhi, a realistic novel portraying the struggles of a fishing community. Manik is known for his unsentimental depictions of ordinary lives.

Question 18Bangla Language and Literature

Which of these is a well-known verse form used in medieval Bengali narrative poetry?

  1. Sonnet
  2. Haiku
  3. Payar Correct answer.
  4. Ghazal

Explanation

Payar is a traditional Bengali couplet metre widely used in Mangalkavya and other narrative verse. Its rhythmic pairs suit long recitation.

Question 19Bangla Language and Literature

In Bengali morphology, adding '-রা' to 'ছাত্র' produces which meaning?

  1. A place of study
  2. Multiple students Correct answer.
  3. The act of studying
  4. A single student

Explanation

The plural suffix '-রা' marks plurality for animate nouns, so ছাত্ররা means 'the students.' Bengali uses different plural markers depending on the noun class.

Question 20Bangla Language and Literature

Which poet wrote the collection Rupasi Bangla, celebrated for its sonnets on Bengal's beauty?

  1. Sudhindranath Datta
  2. Jibanananda Das Correct answer.
  3. Kazi Nazrul Islam
  4. Amia Chakrabarti

Explanation

Jibanananda Das wrote Rupasi Bangla, a set of sonnets evoking the landscapes and moods of Bengal. The collection is often praised for its painterly imagery.

Question 21Bangla Language and Literature

The Bengali word 'নদী' belongs to which grammatical gender category in traditional Bengali grammar?

  1. Neuter
  2. Masculine
  3. Feminine Correct answer.
  4. Common

Explanation

Traditional Bengali grammar assigns নদী to the feminine gender, following conventions inherited from Sanskrit and reflected in related forms. Gender in Bengali is largely lexical rather than marked by articles.

Question 22Bangla Language and Literature

Which author's novel Srikanta is a loosely structured account of a wandering narrator's life?

  1. Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay
  2. Saratchandra Chatterjee Correct answer.
  3. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
  4. Rabindranath Tagore

Explanation

Srikanta by Saratchandra Chatterjee follows its narrator through encounters and journeys in an episodic structure. It is one of the most widely read Bengali novels of the early twentieth century.

Question 23Bangla Language and Literature

In Bengali, which sentence correctly uses the honorific form for addressing an elder?

  1. তুমি কোথায় যাও?
  2. তুই কোথায় যাস?
  3. তোমরা কোথায় যাও?
  4. আপনি কোথায় যান? Correct answer.

Explanation

আপনি is the honorific second-person pronoun, and যান is its matching verb form, appropriate for elders or formal address. The other options use intimate or familiar forms.

Question 24Bangla Language and Literature

Which feature most clearly distinguishes the Charyapada from later Vaishnava padavali?

  1. Its composition in modern standard prose
  2. Its reliance on Persian loanwords
  3. Its exclusive focus on Radha and Krishna
  4. Its use of Buddhist mystical imagery and coded language Correct answer.

Explanation

The Charyapada uses Buddhist tantric symbolism and deliberately enigmatic language, whereas Vaishnava padavali centres on Radha-Krishna love lyrics. The two belong to different religious and historical contexts.

Question 25Bangla Language and Literature

A student writes 'আমি কাল স্কুলে যাব' to express a past visit. What is the error?

  1. The verb form যাব is future, so it contradicts the intended past meaning Correct answer.
  2. The pronoun আমি is wrong for past tense
  3. কাল can only mean tomorrow
  4. স্কুলে requires a different case marker

Explanation

যাব is the future form 'will go,' so the sentence means 'I will go to school tomorrow.' To express a past visit the verb would need a past form such as গিয়েছিলাম.

Question 26Bangla Language and Literature

Which Bengali writer is best known for the novel Bishabriksha (The Poison Tree), a tale of widow remarriage and social convention in nineteenth-century Bengal?

  1. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Correct answer.
  2. Mir Mosharraf Hossain
  3. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
  4. Rabindranath Tagore

Explanation

Bishabriksha was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and published in the early 1870s, and it explores widow remarriage and the moral pressures of contemporary Bengali society. Bankim is also the author of Durgeshnandini and Kapalkundala, which places this novel firmly in his body of work.

Question 27Bangla Language and Literature

A student writes 'আমি গতকাল স্কুলে যাব' to describe a visit that already happened yesterday. Which correction expresses the intended past action?

  1. আমি গতকাল স্কুলে যাচ্ছিল
  2. আমি গতকাল স্কুলে যাচ্ছি
  3. আমি গতকাল স্কুলে গিয়েছিলাম Correct answer.
  4. আমি গতকাল স্কুলে যেতে পারি

Explanation

Bengali marks completed past action with the past perfective ending, as in গিয়েছিলাম from the root যাওয়া. The time word গতকাল fixes the event in the past, so the verb must agree in tense as well as in person.

Question 28Bangla Language and Literature

Which medieval Bengali text is a collection of esoteric songs attributed to Buddhist siddhacharyas and is regarded as the earliest surviving specimen of Bengali literature?

  1. Sri Krishna Kirtan
  2. Charyapada Correct answer.
  3. Padavali
  4. Mangal Kavya

Explanation

The Charyapada, also called Charyagitika, is a set of mystical songs composed by Buddhist siddhas and recovered in a Nepalese manuscript in 1907. Its archaic language is treated as the earliest recorded stage of Bengali, which is why it is placed at the beginning of the literary tradition.

Question 29Bangla Language and Literature

Which sentence uses the correct honorific second-person form when a young speaker politely addresses an elderly neighbour?

  1. তুমি কেমন আছ?
  2. তুই কেমন আছিস?
  3. আপনি কেমন আছেন? Correct answer.
  4. সে কেমন আছে?

Explanation

Bengali distinguishes three second-person registers: আপনি for respect, তুমি for intimacy, and তুই for extreme informality or intimacy. Addressing an elder politely requires আপনি with the matching verb form আছেন.

Question 30Bangla Language and Literature

Read the line 'শুধু প্রেম নয়, কবিতার কাজ মানুষের বেদনাকে শব্দ দেওয়া' and judge which statement best captures the view of poetry it expresses.

  1. Poetry is valuable only when it avoids painful subjects
  2. Poetry should confine itself to romantic love alone
  3. Poetry must give voice to human suffering as well as love Correct answer.
  4. Poetry's purpose is chiefly devotional praise

Explanation

The line explicitly rejects a narrow definition of poetry as mere romance and adds that its task is to give words to human pain. The construction 'শুধু ... নয়' negates one limited purpose and then broadens it, so the claim is inclusive rather than exclusive.

Question 31English Language and Literature

In English poetry, what name is given to a line of five metrical feet in which each foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable?

  1. Trochaic tetrameter
  2. Iambic pentameter Correct answer.
  3. Dactylic hexameter
  4. Anapestic trimeter

Explanation

Meter is described by counting feet and naming the dominant foot. An iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, so five such feet make iambic pentameter, the staple line of much English blank verse and sonnet writing.

Question 32English Language and Literature

Which term describes the recurrence of initial consonant sounds in nearby words, as in "the sun sank slowly"?

  1. Assonance
  2. Alliteration Correct answer.
  3. Onomatopoeia
  4. Consonance

Explanation

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound at the start of neighbouring words. It is a sound-patterning device distinct from rhyme, and it works on the opening sounds of words rather than on their endings.

Question 33English Language and Literature

A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter and ending with a couplet is most likely which form?

  1. Ode
  2. Elegy
  3. Sonnet Correct answer.
  4. Ballad

Explanation

The sonnet is defined by its fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter, and by a fixed rhyme scheme. The English or Shakespearean sonnet in particular closes with a rhyming couplet that often delivers a turn or summary.

Question 34English Language and Literature

Which literary period in England is most closely associated with writers such as John Donne and George Herbert?

  1. The Augustan period
  2. The Victorian period
  3. The Romantic period
  4. The Metaphysical period Correct answer.

Explanation

Donne and Herbert are the central figures of the Metaphysical poets, a seventeenth-century group known for intellectual wit and extended conceits. Their work is characterised by startling comparisons and argumentative, conversational verse.

Question 35English Language and Literature

In a play, a long speech delivered by a character who is alone on stage and reveals private thoughts is called what?

  1. A soliloquy Correct answer.
  2. An aside
  3. A prologue
  4. A monologue

Explanation

A soliloquy is spoken by a character who believes no one else is present, so it exposes inner thought directly to the audience. The defining condition is solitude on stage, which distinguishes it from speeches made in company.

Question 36English Language and Literature

Which of the following is a characteristic feature of the eighteenth-century English novel as developed by writers such as Defoe and Richardson?

  1. Detailed realistic depiction of individual experience Correct answer.
  2. Allegorical beast fable
  3. Strict adherence to classical unities
  4. Verse narrative in heroic couplets

Explanation

The early English novel distinguished itself by focusing on individual lives in recognisable social settings, with circumstantial detail that invited readers to treat the story as credible. This emphasis on particularised experience is what separates it from earlier romance and allegory.

Question 37English Language and Literature

A writer describes a character as having "a heart of stone." Which figure of speech is being used?

  1. Metonymy
  2. Simile
  3. Metaphor Correct answer.
  4. Litotes

Explanation

A metaphor states an identity between two unlike things without using a comparative word such as like or as. Calling a heart stone-like asserts a direct equivalence, which is the defining mark of metaphor.

Question 38English Language and Literature

What is the principal function of stage directions in a printed play text?

  1. To instruct actors and readers about setting, movement and tone Correct answer.
  2. To record the author's revisions to the dialogue
  3. To summarise the plot for the audience
  4. To provide the actor's biography

Explanation

Stage directions supply the non-spoken information a performance needs, such as entrances, exits, setting and manner of delivery. They guide both performers and readers in imagining how the dialogue is to be realised on stage.

Question 39English Language and Literature

Which statement best describes the function of the chorus in classical Greek drama?

  1. It delivers the playwright's private opinions directly
  2. It comments on the action and represents communal response Correct answer.
  3. It performs the violent actions that decorum forbids showing
  4. It replaces the protagonist in the closing scene

Explanation

The chorus in Greek tragedy sings and speaks in response to the action, offering commentary, lament and collective judgement. It functions as a communal voice that frames the audience's understanding of the protagonists' choices.

Question 40English Language and Literature

In literary study, the term "canon" refers to which of the following?

  1. The rules governing poetic metre
  2. The body of works widely regarded as culturally central and worth studying Correct answer.
  3. A list of banned books compiled by censors
  4. The complete manuscript history of a single author

Explanation

The canon is the informal but influential set of texts treated as central to a literary tradition and taught accordingly. Debates about the canon concern which voices are included or excluded, and why those choices carry cultural authority.

Question 41English Language and Literature

A novel is narrated by a voice that knows the thoughts of every character and comments freely on events. What is this narrative mode called?

  1. First-person limited narration
  2. Third-person omniscient narration Correct answer.
  3. Stream of consciousness
  4. Free indirect discourse

Explanation

Third-person omniscient narration uses a narrator outside the story who nevertheless has access to characters' inner lives and may editorialise. The key marker is unrestricted knowledge combined with a third-person pronoun.

Question 42English Language and Literature

Which pair correctly matches an author with a work?

  1. George Eliot - Jane Eyre
  2. Charlotte Bronte - Middlemarch
  3. Jane Austen - North and South
  4. Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights Correct answer.

Explanation

Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights, her only novel, published in 1847. Matching author to text accurately is basic literary-historical knowledge, and the other pairings swap authors of roughly the same period.

Question 43English Language and Literature

In Shakespeare's tragedies, what is the typical function of the tragic hero's "hamartia"?

  1. A flaw or error that contributes to the hero's downfall Correct answer.
  2. A speech in which the hero explains the plot
  3. A comic interlude that relieves tension
  4. A prophecy that guarantees the hero's success

Explanation

Hamartia is usually rendered as a flaw or error of judgement that sets the tragic action in motion. It does not make the hero simply wicked; rather, it makes the downfall intelligible as arising from character and choice.

Question 44English Language and Literature

Which sentence uses the semicolon correctly?

  1. She finished the essay; and submitted it late.
  2. She finished the essay; because she had time.
  3. She finished the essay; she submitted it late. Correct answer.
  4. She finished; the essay, and submitted it.

Explanation

A semicolon joins two independent clauses that are closely related and not already joined by a coordinating conjunction. Both halves of "She finished the essay; she submitted it late" can stand alone as sentences.

Question 45English Language and Literature

What is the effect of using the passive voice in the sentence "The report was written by an unknown clerk"?

  1. It emphasises the agent who performed the action
  2. It creates an imperative command
  3. It turns the sentence into a question
  4. It foregrounds the action while backgrounding the agent Correct answer.

Explanation

The passive construction promotes the patient or action to subject position and demotes the agent, often to an optional by-phrase. Here the writer keeps the clerk deliberately vague while making the act of writing the topic of the sentence.

Question 46English Language and Literature

Which of the following is a defining convention of the Gothic novel?

  1. Atmosphere of mystery, decay and supernatural suggestion Correct answer.
  2. Satirical couplets on political corruption
  3. Domestic comedy of manners in drawing rooms
  4. Documentary realism about industrial labour

Explanation

Gothic fiction builds atmosphere through ruined settings, secrecy, dread and hints of the supernatural, often exploring forbidden desire and transgression. Its conventions aim at emotional intensity rather than at social comedy or documentary accuracy.

Question 47English Language and Literature

In the study of poetry, what is an "enjambment"?

  1. The repetition of a line's final word at the start of the next
  2. The omission of a stressed beat from a metrical line
  3. The rhyming of the first and last lines of a stanza
  4. The running on of a sentence past the end of a line without a pause Correct answer.

Explanation

Enjambment occurs when the syntax continues beyond the line break so that the reader does not pause at the end of the line. Poets use it to create momentum or to set syntax against the metrical frame.

Question 48English Language and Literature

Which critical approach treats a literary text primarily as a site where meanings are unstable and defer their final significance?

  1. Historicism
  2. New Criticism
  3. Deconstruction Correct answer.
  4. Formalism

Explanation

Deconstruction, associated with Derrida, argues that meaning is produced through differences that never settle into a stable presence. It reads texts for internal tensions that undermine any single determinate meaning.

Question 49English Language and Literature

A poem addresses an urn and asks what legend is depicted on it, while the speaker reflects on the relation between art and transience. Which poem does this describe?

  1. Ode on a Grecian Urn Correct answer.
  2. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
  3. Tintern Abbey
  4. Ode to a Nightingale

Explanation

Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" directly apostrophises the urn and meditates on the permanence of art against human mutability. Its closing assertion about beauty and truth is the most quoted expression of that theme.

Question 50English Language and Literature

In Jane Austen's novels, what is the most characteristic use of free indirect discourse?

  1. To present dialogue in dialect spelling
  2. To shift the novel into verse at moments of crisis
  3. To report a character's thoughts in the narrator's voice without quotation marks Correct answer.
  4. To interrupt the narrative with authorial footnotes

Explanation

Austen blends a character's idiom and judgements into the third-person narration, so that the reader hears the character's mind without a formal quotation. The effect is ironic distance combined with intimate access to consciousness.