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Assam HSLC Class 10 Elective Manipuri study materials
Assam HSLC Class 10 Elective Manipuri study resources

Assam HSLC Class 10 Elective Manipuri practice questions

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Question 1Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose piece 'Nongallamdaba', what does the narrator's description of the village fair mainly reveal about the community's life?

  1. It shows the villagers' shared labour, seasonal rhythm and collective joy Correct answer.
  2. It proves the villagers were wealthy traders dealing with distant markets
  3. It shows that the fair was held only for children's games
  4. It describes a government-sponsored agricultural exhibition

Explanation

The fair scenes in the piece work as a portrait of community life: people gather after harvest, share work and celebration, and the narrator's memory of the fair carries the village's seasonal rhythm. The emphasis falls on collective experience, not on commerce or official sponsorship.

Question 2Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which of these is a defining feature of the Manipuri prose form called 'wari' as used in Class 10 Elective Manipuri prose selections?

  1. A formal essay on political economy with statistics
  2. A one-act play with no narrator
  3. A lyric poem set to the Pena drum
  4. A narrative told to listeners, often with a moral or folk wisdom at the close Correct answer.

Explanation

'Wari' means a tale or narrative, traditionally told aloud and often closing with a lesson or folk wisdom. It is distinct from formal essays, lyric verse and scripted drama, though it may contain dialogue.

Question 3Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose excerpt about a mother's advice to her son, what is the main purpose of the mother's counsel?

  1. To teach him honesty, patience and respect for elders Correct answer.
  2. To persuade him to give up farming for trade
  3. To warn him against learning to read and write
  4. To urge him to leave home and seek work in a distant city

Explanation

The mother figure in such prose passages typically transmits moral instruction: truthfulness, endurance and respect for elders. Her words shape the child's character rather than directing his career or discouraging education.

Question 4Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

What does the term 'Meitei Lon' refer to in the context of Manipuri prose studies?

  1. A dialect spoken only in the hills
  2. A script used exclusively for religious texts
  3. The Manipuri language itself, literally 'the Meitei language' Correct answer.
  4. A genre of folk song

Explanation

'Meitei Lon' literally means the language of the Meitei people, i.e., Manipuri. It names the language, not a hill dialect, a script or a song genre.

Question 5Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the prose lesson describing a flood in a Manipuri village, what does the rising water most clearly bring out in the characters?

  1. Mutual help and quick practical cooperation Correct answer.
  2. A decision to abandon the village permanently
  3. Competition for relief materials
  4. Indifference to each other's safety

Explanation

Flood narratives in Manipuri prose typically highlight how disaster draws neighbours together: people share boats, move the elderly and protect grain. The crisis reveals solidarity and practical resourcefulness rather than selfishness.

Question 6Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which statement best describes the narrator's attitude in the Manipuri prose piece about his childhood school?

  1. Nostalgic affection mixed with mild regret Correct answer.
  2. Bitter resentment towards all his teachers
  3. Complete indifference to his school years
  4. Fear of ever returning to the village

Explanation

Childhood-school memoirs in the syllabus usually blend warm nostalgia for teachers and friends with small regrets about missed chances. The tone is affectionate, not resentful, indifferent or fearful.

Question 7Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, what is the usual function of a 'phunga' (hearth) in descriptions of an old home?

  1. A storage space for agricultural tools
  2. A symbol of family warmth, continuity and shared food Correct answer.
  3. A place reserved for formal religious debate
  4. A marker of the family's wealth and high status

Explanation

The hearth in Manipuri domestic prose is a centre of family life: cooking, storytelling and warmth around it symbolise continuity and belonging. It is not primarily a status marker, a debate hall or a tool shed.

Question 8Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

What does the narrator learn from the old fisherman in the Manipuri prose story set by the Loktak lake?

  1. That modern machines are always superior to old methods
  2. That fishing should be abandoned for government service
  3. That patience and knowledge of nature are forms of wisdom Correct answer.
  4. That the lake has no value for the village

Explanation

The old fisherman embodies traditional ecological knowledge: reading wind, water and fish behaviour. The narrator learns to respect patience and nature-based wisdom, not to dismiss old methods or the lake's value.

Question 9Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose essay on the importance of the mother tongue, which argument is most likely to be central?

  1. Learning in one's mother tongue strengthens identity and early comprehension Correct answer.
  2. Written languages matter more than spoken ones
  3. Mother tongues are useful only for religious rituals
  4. Regional languages should be replaced by a single global language

Explanation

Mother-tongue essays in the syllabus argue that children understand concepts better and preserve cultural identity when taught in their first language. They do not call for replacing regional languages or limiting them to ritual.

Question 10Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose piece on village crafts, why is the potter's wheel described with such detail?

  1. To show that pottery is a mechanical, unskilled task
  2. To criticise villagers for not buying factory goods
  3. To explain how to build a potter's wheel at home
  4. To convey the skill, rhythm and dignity of handmade craft Correct answer.

Explanation

Detailed descriptions of the wheel and the potter's hands celebrate craftsmanship: the rhythm of the wheel conveys skill and the dignity of handmade work. The passage is not a manual, nor a criticism of villagers.

Question 11Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

What is the narrative point of view in the Manipuri prose excerpt where the writer recalls his grandmother's stories?

  1. Second-person address to the reader throughout
  2. First-person narrator looking back on childhood Correct answer.
  3. A dramatic monologue spoken by the grandmother only
  4. Third-person omniscient narrator describing strangers

Explanation

A memoir excerpt uses a first-person narrator recalling the past; the voice is the writer's own remembered self. Other characters, including the grandmother, speak within that frame but do not control the narration.

Question 12Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose lesson on the Lai Haraoba festival, what does the ritual mainly express about Meitei tradition?

  1. A purely commercial trade fair
  2. A protest against farming
  3. A rejection of pre-Hindu customs
  4. Harmony between deities, ancestors and the community Correct answer.

Explanation

Lai Haraoba honours local deities and ancestors through dance, music and offerings, expressing harmony between the divine, ancestral and human worlds. It is a living tradition, not a rejection of custom or a trade fair.

Question 13Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the prose text about a letter from a soldier son, what emotional effect does the letter have on the mother?

  1. It brings relief mingled with anxiety and pride Correct answer.
  2. It leaves her completely unmoved
  3. It convinces her that war is glorious
  4. It makes her decide to leave the village

Explanation

Letters from absent soldiers typically produce mixed feeling: relief that the son is alive, anxiety about danger, and pride in his service. The mother's response is complex, not indifferent or simplistically pro-war.

Question 14Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which Manipuri prose selection is best described as a satirical sketch of a village gossip?

  1. A humorous portrait mocking the gossip's exaggerated tales Correct answer.
  2. A solemn prayer for rain
  3. A technical account of weaving
  4. A travel diary of a foreign visitor

Explanation

Satirical sketches use exaggeration and irony to expose a character's folly; a village gossip's inflated stories are a classic target. Prayer, technical description and travel diary belong to different prose modes.

Question 15Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose passage about the bamboo grove behind the house, what does the bamboo most often symbolise?

  1. Fear of the forest
  2. Resilience, usefulness and rootedness Correct answer.
  3. Wealth and foreign trade
  4. Fragility and dependence on outside help

Explanation

Bamboo in Manipuri life supplies shelter, tools, food and craft, and its flexibility under wind makes it a natural symbol of resilience and rootedness. It stands for usefulness and endurance, not fragility or foreign wealth.

Question 16Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

What is the main contrast drawn in the Manipuri prose essay comparing town life and village life?

  1. Village isolation against town illiteracy
  2. Town poverty against village wealth
  3. Town anonymity and speed against village intimacy and slower rhythm Correct answer.
  4. Village trade against town farming

Explanation

Such essays contrast the town's anonymity, speed and competition with the village's close relationships and unhurried rhythm. The contrast is social and temperamental, not a simple wealth-versus-poverty claim.

Question 17Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose story of the two brothers who divide their inheritance, what lesson does the resolution convey?

  1. Inheritance should always go to the elder son
  2. Greed is rewarded if pursued cleverly
  3. Legal courts always solve family disputes
  4. Fairness and forgiveness restore family harmony Correct answer.

Explanation

The resolution shows that fairness and willingness to forgive mend the rift created by greed. The story does not endorse clever greed, rely on courts, or endorse automatic elder-son inheritance.

Question 18Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the prose lesson on the Manipuri script, what is emphasised about the historical writing system?

  1. It has an indigenous origin and its own letter forms Correct answer.
  2. It was borrowed unchanged from Bengali
  3. It is identical to the Roman alphabet
  4. It was invented in the twentieth century

Explanation

The lesson stresses that the Meitei Mayek script has indigenous origins and distinctive letter forms, distinct from Bengali or Roman writing. It is presented as historically rooted, not a modern invention or a borrowed alphabet.

Question 19Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose text describing a night journey by boat, what does the darkness chiefly do for the narrative?

  1. It heightens suspense and the travellers' reliance on sound Correct answer.
  2. It turns the journey into a comedy
  3. It removes all danger from the journey
  4. It makes the boatman fall asleep

Explanation

Darkness in a boat-journey narrative intensifies suspense: sight is lost, so sounds and the boatman's knowledge become crucial. It increases rather than removes danger and does not turn the scene comic.

Question 20Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose piece about a village schoolmaster, how is the teacher's strictness finally understood by the narrator?

  1. As favouritism towards rich students
  2. As cruelty that deserves punishment
  3. As firmness rooted in care for pupils' futures Correct answer.
  4. As a sign of the teacher's ignorance

Explanation

The narrator comes to reinterpret the schoolmaster's strictness as disciplined care: the teacher pushes pupils because he wants them to succeed. The later understanding replaces childish resentment with respect.

Question 21Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose essay on the environment, which claim about the Loktak lake is most consistent with the text's argument?

  1. The lake is valuable only as a tourist photograph
  2. The lake is a living ecosystem supporting fisherfolk and biodiversity Correct answer.
  3. The lake should be drained for housing
  4. The lake's floating phumdis are useless

Explanation

Environmental prose in the syllabus treats Loktak as a living ecosystem: it sustains fishing communities and rare biodiversity, including the sangai's habitat. The argument is for protection, not drainage or mere scenery.

Question 22Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose excerpt where a character must choose between a city job and caring for aged parents, what does the dilemma chiefly test?

  1. His skill at bargaining for a salary
  2. His ability to write formal letters
  3. His knowledge of agricultural techniques
  4. The conflict between personal ambition and filial duty Correct answer.

Explanation

The dilemma is moral: personal ambition pulls one way, filial duty the other. The passage probes the tension between individual aspiration and responsibility to family, not technical or commercial skills.

Question 23Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose narrative about a wandering minstrel, what function does his song serve within the story?

  1. It carries folk memory and moves listeners to reflection Correct answer.
  2. It signals the end of the harvest
  3. It provides comic relief only
  4. It replaces the narrator's voice entirely

Explanation

The minstrel's song works as a vehicle of folk memory: it transmits collective history and stirs reflection among listeners. It complements the narration rather than replacing it, and its role is deeper than comedy or a harvest signal.

Question 24Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose piece describing a grandmother's death, how does the writer use small domestic details?

  1. To distract readers from the grief
  2. To make grief concrete and quietly powerful Correct answer.
  3. To criticise village funeral customs
  4. To prove the family was wealthy

Explanation

Domestic details, such as an unused cup or an empty mat, make grief concrete and restrained, producing quiet emotional force. They are not distractions, status proofs or attacks on custom.

Question 25Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose essay on language and identity, what does the writer mean by saying a language is 'a house one lives in'?

  1. Language shapes thought and belonging as a home does Correct answer.
  2. Language should be abandoned when one moves house
  3. Language is a physical building owned by the state
  4. Language is only for official documents

Explanation

The metaphor treats language as an environment that shapes thought and gives a sense of belonging, much as a home shelters and forms a person. It is figurative, not a claim about buildings or official use.

Question 26Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose lessons, the term 'Yenning' is commonly associated with which traditional practice?

  1. A ritual calendar of agricultural festivals
  2. A system of village council elections
  3. A form of ceremonial gift exchange between families Correct answer.
  4. A genre of folk song sung at harvest

Explanation

Yenning refers to a customary reciprocal relationship between families, expressed through gifts and mutual help, and it is often used in prose to show social cohesion and obligation. The other options describe unrelated practices, so only the gift-exchange definition fits the term.

Question 27Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose passage describes a family preparing 'chakouba' for a departing guest. What does this detail most likely reveal about the household?

  1. Their sense of hospitality and respect Correct answer.
  2. Their anxiety about the guest's social status
  3. Their indifference to the guest's journey
  4. Their desire to display wealth before neighbours

Explanation

Offering food to a departing guest is a conventional sign of hospitality and respect in Manipuri social life, and prose writers use such gestures to characterise a household. The detail signals warmth rather than status anxiety or display, so the hospitality reading is the defensible one.

Question 28Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose sketch, a character is described as 'marol' in speech. What does this characterisation most directly indicate?

  1. The speaker speaks only in proverbs
  2. The speaker mixes several dialects
  3. The speaker's speech is blunt and direct Correct answer.
  4. The speaker uses elaborate, indirect phrasing

Explanation

The Manipuri word 'marol' denotes straightforwardness or plainness, and in prose it usually marks a character who says exactly what he means. Indirect phrasing, dialect mixture and proverb-only speech describe quite different verbal habits.

Question 29Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, why do writers often place a 'lai haraoba' scene at the turning point of a story?

  1. Because such scenes are required in every Manipuri story
  2. Because the ritual marks the end of the agricultural year
  3. Because the ritual gathering allows characters from different households to meet Correct answer.
  4. Because writers avoid describing ordinary daily life

Explanation

A festival gathering plausibly brings together people who would otherwise stay apart, so it can serve as the point where a plot changes direction. The device works through social plausibility, not through any rule requiring the ritual, and it does not simply mark the farming calendar.

Question 30Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose essay argues that oral folk tales should be written down. Which reason would the writer most likely give?

  1. Written tales are always more entertaining than spoken ones
  2. Writing removes the need for storytellers altogether
  3. Written tales cannot be changed by later readers
  4. Writing preserves tales that might otherwise be lost as elders pass away Correct answer.

Explanation

The standard argument for transcription is preservation: oral transmission depends on living tellers, and a community loses its stories when those tellers die. The claim concerns survival of the material, not superior entertainment or the disappearance of storytellers.

Question 31Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose narrative, a narrator says 'I did not know then that this was the last time'. What effect does this remark chiefly create?

  1. It proves the narrator is unreliable about events
  2. It introduces a new character into the scene
  3. It creates retrospective sadness by joining present knowledge to past ignorance Correct answer.
  4. It shifts the story into the present tense

Explanation

The remark sets the narrating present against the unknowing past, producing the poignancy of hindsight. This is a technique of retrospective narration, not evidence of unreliability, tense shifting or new characters.

Question 32Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose lesson on the 'pham' (seat or place) given to elders in a household, what does the arrangement chiefly express?

  1. The equal status of every member
  2. The household's wealth in furniture
  3. The respect owed to age and seniority Correct answer.
  4. The separation of men from women

Explanation

Customary seating arrangements place elders in honoured positions, and prose writers use this detail to show a family's values. The arrangement encodes deference to age rather than wealth, equality or gender separation.

Question 33Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose passage describes a mother quietly mending clothes while her son announces he is leaving for the city. How does the writer most likely use her silence?

  1. To indicate that she approves of his plan
  2. To show that she has not heard him
  3. To suggest restrained grief beneath ordinary activity Correct answer.
  4. To create comic confusion in the scene

Explanation

In prose, a character's continued routine activity during an emotional moment often signals feelings that are held back rather than expressed. The silence and the mending point to restrained sorrow, not deafness, approval or comedy.

Question 34Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, which feature most clearly distinguishes a 'sketch' (short character piece) from a full short story?

  1. The setting in a village
  2. The use of a first-person narrator
  3. The presence of dialogue
  4. The focus on character and atmosphere rather than a developed plot Correct answer.

Explanation

A sketch concentrates on portraying a person or mood and may have little plot development, whereas a short story builds a sequence of events towards a resolution. Dialogue, first-person narration and village settings can occur in both forms.

Question 35Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose writer describes the sound of a 'pung' drum drifting across a valley at dusk. What is this description most likely intended to do?

  1. To introduce a conflict between two villages
  2. To establish mood and a sense of place Correct answer.
  3. To criticise the noise of village festivals
  4. To supply precise information about musical technique

Explanation

Sensory description of a familiar sound at dusk is a standard means of creating atmosphere and locating the reader in a specific cultural landscape. The passage aims at mood rather than technical instruction, criticism or conflict.

Question 36Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose essay, the writer says that a borrowed word is 'a guest that may become a kinsman'. What does the metaphor suggest about language change?

  1. Borrowed words can be absorbed and become native over time Correct answer.
  2. Loanwords remain permanently foreign
  3. Loanwords should always be rejected
  4. Languages cannot survive without borrowing

Explanation

The metaphor of a guest turning into a kinsman describes a borrowed word that is gradually naturalised in the receiving language. It allows for absorption over time rather than insisting on rejection or permanent foreignness.

Question 37Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In the Manipuri prose piece about a village market, why does the writer describe the arrival of goods before describing the people?

  1. To avoid describing any human character
  2. To show that the market's life begins with what it offers Correct answer.
  3. To prove that traders are unimportant
  4. To indicate that the market is failing

Explanation

Beginning with goods establishes the market as a place defined by exchange, after which the human activity can be shown. The order is a descriptive strategy, not a judgement on traders or a sign of decline.

Question 38Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which Manipuri prose term refers to a traditional loincloth worn by men and often mentioned in descriptions of village life?

  1. Khamen
  2. Phanek
  3. Pheijom Correct answer.
  4. Dhoti

Explanation

Pheijom is the Manipuri term for the traditional men's loincloth, and prose writers often use it as a marker of customary dress. Phanek is a women's garment, while the other options do not name this item.

Question 39Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose story, a father and son quarrel over whether to sell ancestral land. Which resolution would best convey the theme of continuity?

  1. The father sells the land without telling the son
  2. Both agree to leave the land unused forever
  3. The son keeps the land and learns its history from the father Correct answer.
  4. The son sells the land and forgets the village

Explanation

Continuity is expressed when the land stays in the family and its meaning is transmitted between generations. Selling the land or leaving it wholly unused would break that link rather than sustain it.

Question 40Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose passage praises a craftsman's hands rather than his finished product. What does this emphasis most likely convey?

  1. That the craftsman works only for money
  2. That machines produce better goods
  3. That the value lies in skill and labour, not only in the object Correct answer.
  4. That the object is badly made

Explanation

Focusing on the hands directs attention to the maker's skill and effort, so the passage values the process behind the object. It does not imply poor workmanship, mere commercial motive or the superiority of machines.

Question 41Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, what is the usual effect of ending a story with a character looking at an empty courtyard?

  1. It explains the plot's earlier events in detail
  2. It confirms that the story will continue in a sequel
  3. It conveys loss or change through a concrete image Correct answer.
  4. It introduces a new narrator

Explanation

An empty courtyard is a concrete image that carries the sense of absence, so the ending works by suggestion rather than explanation. Such endings do not normally promise sequels, summarise the plot or change narrators.

Question 42Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which statement about the use of proverbs in Manipuri prose is most accurate?

  1. Proverbs condense communal wisdom and often voice a character's outlook Correct answer.
  2. Proverbs are used only in poetry
  3. Proverbs always appear in the narrator's own voice
  4. Proverbs are avoided in modern prose

Explanation

Proverbs carry shared cultural wisdom in compressed form, and prose writers put them in characters' mouths to reveal attitude and background. They are not confined to poetry, are still used in modern prose, and are not restricted to the narrator.

Question 43Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose essay contrasts a written constitution with an unwritten village custom. What point is the writer most likely making?

  1. That villages have no rules at all
  2. That written law is always superior to custom
  3. That constitutions should be abolished
  4. That unwritten custom can bind people as strongly as formal rules Correct answer.

Explanation

The contrast is usually drawn to show that custom, though unwritten, regulates behaviour with real force. The essay does not rank written law above custom, deny that villages have rules, or call for abolishing constitutions.

Question 44Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose narrative, a character repeatedly delays opening a letter. What does this behaviour most often reveal?

  1. That the character has forgotten the sender
  2. That the character fears the news it may contain Correct answer.
  3. That the letter is unimportant
  4. That the character cannot read

Explanation

Prolonged delay before reading a letter is a conventional signal of dread about its contents. The behaviour points to fear rather than illiteracy, indifference or forgetfulness.

Question 45Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose writer describes a river as 'carrying the village's gossip to the next bend'. Which device is being used?

  1. Direct quotation
  2. Hyperbole without imagery
  3. Personification Correct answer.
  4. Onomatopoeia

Explanation

The river is given the human activity of carrying gossip, which is personification. The line is figurative but not mere exaggeration, and it involves neither quotation nor sound-imitation.

Question 46Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, which detail would best establish that a character belongs to a fishing community by the Loktak lake?

  1. Knowing the names of phumdis and the habits of fish Correct answer.
  2. Selling cloth in a town market
  3. Owning a large herd of cattle
  4. Working as a clerk in an office

Explanation

Knowledge of phumdis, the floating islands of Loktak, and of fish habits is specific to life on the lake and marks a fishing community. Cattle herding, cloth trading and office work belong to other occupations.

Question 47Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

A Manipuri prose essay on education argues that a child should first learn in the mother tongue. Which claim would best support this argument?

  1. Children learn best when new ideas are connected to familiar speech Correct answer.
  2. Mother-tongue teaching removes the need for any other language
  3. Examinations are simpler in the mother tongue
  4. Regional languages are easier to write than English

Explanation

The strongest support is cognitive: unfamiliar concepts are grasped more easily when expressed in the language a child already knows. Claims about ease of writing, the sufficiency of one language or simpler examinations do not support the pedagogical argument.

Question 48Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In a Manipuri prose story, a young man returns from the city and finds village customs strange. What theme does this most directly develop?

  1. The tension between acquired habits and inherited belonging Correct answer.
  2. The superiority of city manners
  3. The disappearance of all village customs
  4. The impossibility of travel between places

Explanation

The returning character embodies a conflict between habits formed elsewhere and the claims of home, a common theme in prose about migration. The story does not necessarily endorse city manners, deny that customs survive, or suggest travel is impossible.

Question 49Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

In Manipuri prose, what does a writer usually achieve by naming a character only as 'the elder brother' rather than giving a personal name?

  1. A sense that the figure stands for a familiar social role Correct answer.
  2. A proof that the story is autobiographical
  3. A comic effect based on mistaken identity
  4. A signal that the character will soon die

Explanation

A role-based designation makes the figure typical, so readers recognise a familiar position within the family rather than a unique individual. It does not by itself create comedy, imply autobiography or foreshadow death.

Question 50Prose (non-fiction and fiction excerpts)

Which Manipuri prose passage type would most likely use the phrase 'in those days' to open?

  1. A set of instructions for weaving
  2. A scientific report on soil
  3. A formal notice about a meeting
  4. A personal recollection of village life Correct answer.

Explanation

The phrase 'in those days' marks a remembered past and belongs naturally to memoir or reminiscence about earlier village life. It does not fit instructional, administrative or scientific writing.