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ASSEB HSLC Class 10 First Language Karbi study materials
ASSEB HSLC Class 10 First Language Karbi study resources

ASSEB HSLC Class 10 First Language Karbi practice questions

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Question 1Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen Karbi prose passage opens: 'The rain had stopped by dawn, but the path to the paddy field still held water in every footprint.' What does this opening sentence mainly establish about the setting?

  1. The final outcome of the story
  2. The main character's disagreement with a neighbour
  3. The narrator's age and family background
  4. The season and the physical condition of the surroundings Correct answer.

Explanation

An opening sentence that describes weather and the state of a path is doing scene-setting work: it tells the reader the time of year and the physical conditions the characters must move through. Details about family conflict or final outcomes are not present in the sentence itself.

Question 2Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen Karbi poem, the speaker says the river 'carries my mother's songs to a village I have never seen.' Which figure of speech is used in this line?

  1. Personification of the river as a messenger Correct answer.
  2. Direct simile using 'like' or 'as'
  3. Onomatopoeia imitating the sound of water
  4. Hyperbole exaggerating the size of the village

Explanation

The river is given the human action of carrying songs to a distant place, which treats it as a messenger and is personification. A simile would require an explicit comparison word such as 'like' or 'as', which is absent here.

Question 3Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A comprehension passage states: 'Though the market was crowded, Meera noticed that the old woman's stall alone had no customers.' What does the contrast in this sentence most likely hint at?

  1. The old woman sells the cheapest goods
  2. The market is about to close for the day
  3. Meera dislikes crowded places
  4. The old woman is isolated and perhaps struggling Correct answer.

Explanation

The word 'though' sets up a contrast between a busy market and one empty stall, and an author uses such contrast to draw attention to a character's isolation or hardship. Nothing in the sentence comments on Meera's preferences, closing time, or prices.

Question 4Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

Read this line of an unseen poem: 'The hills are old men with silver hair of cloud.' Which interpretation of the image is best supported?

  1. The poet dislikes the hills in winter
  2. The hills are younger than the speaker
  3. The hills are dangerous to climb in bad weather
  4. The hills appear ancient and dignified under cloud cover Correct answer.

Explanation

Comparing hills to old men with silver hair makes them seem aged and dignified, and the cloud becomes a visual detail of that age. The image carries no statement about danger, dislike, or relative youth.

Question 5Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen prose passage, a character says, 'I will not sell the land my father cleared.' Which character trait does this statement most directly reveal?

  1. Indifference to the past
  2. Greed for a higher price
  3. Loyalty to family and ancestral labour Correct answer.
  4. Fear of hard physical work

Explanation

Refusing to sell land because a father cleared it shows attachment to family history and respect for ancestral effort. The refusal is about principle, not about fear of work, profit, or disregard for the past.

Question 6Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen poem repeats the line 'the fire is not yet out' at the end of three stanzas. What is the most likely purpose of this repetition?

  1. To prove the poem is written in free verse
  2. To show that the speaker is forgetful
  3. To indicate that the poem has no theme
  4. To emphasise a persistent hope or unresolved struggle Correct answer.

Explanation

A refrain repeated at stanza ends is a deliberate device that stresses a central idea, here a lingering hope or struggle symbolised by fire. Repetition is a structural choice, not evidence of forgetfulness or absence of theme.

Question 7Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A passage describes a village council meeting where villagers take turns speaking and then vote. Which sentence best summarises the passage's main idea?

  1. Village councils always end in disagreement
  2. Voting is unknown in the village
  3. Village decisions are made through discussion and voting Correct answer.
  4. Only elders are permitted to speak at meetings

Explanation

A summary must capture the central point of the passage, which here is the collective process of discussion followed by a vote. Options that add disagreement, restrict speakers, or deny voting contradict or go beyond the text.

Question 8Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen poem, the speaker addresses a departed friend: 'You left your sandals by the door; I have not moved them.' What emotion does this detail most strongly convey?

  1. Anger at the friend for leaving
  2. Indifference to the friend's absence
  3. Joy at receiving a gift
  4. Lingering grief and unwillingness to let go Correct answer.

Explanation

Keeping a departed person's belongings exactly where they were left is a detail that conveys grief and an inability to accept the loss. The line contains no anger, no gift, and no sign of indifference.

Question 9Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A prose passage contains the sentence: 'The teacher's words, sharp as a new hoe, cut through the boys' excuses.' Which device is used, and what is its effect?

  1. A metaphor calling the teacher a farmer, suggesting he owned land
  2. A simile comparing the words to a sharp tool, suggesting they were cutting and effective Correct answer.
  3. Alliteration on 's', suggesting the boys were sleepy
  4. Personification of the excuses, suggesting they could walk

Explanation

The phrase uses 'as' to compare words to a new hoe, which is a simile; the comparison makes the words seem sharp and effective in ending excuses. A metaphor would state the identification directly without 'as'.

Question 10Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

Read this stanza: 'We planted in April, / we waited through June, / and the rain came late, / but it came.' Which statement best describes the stanza's tone?

  1. Patient and quietly hopeful Correct answer.
  2. Playful and humorous
  3. Frantic and fearful
  4. Bitter and accusing

Explanation

The verbs 'planted' and 'waited' and the concessive 'but it came' convey endurance rewarded, giving a patient, hopeful tone. There is no accusation, joke, or panic in the diction.

Question 11Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen prose passage, the narrator says: 'My grandfather could name every tree on the ridge, but he could not read the letter the officer handed him.' What theme does this contrast develop?

  1. The narrator's ambition to become a soldier
  2. The tension between traditional knowledge and formal literacy Correct answer.
  3. The grandfather's dislike of trees
  4. The officer's kindness to the family

Explanation

Setting deep knowledge of the land against inability to read an official letter highlights the gap between oral, traditional knowledge and formal literacy. The passage does not develop dislike of trees, the officer's character, or the narrator's career.

Question 12Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen poem's speaker says: 'Do not tell me the road is long; I have measured it with my feet.' Which attitude does the speaker express?

  1. Reluctance to listen to advice
  2. Regret for having started late
  3. Determined confidence based on experience Correct answer.
  4. Fear of the journey ahead

Explanation

Claiming to have measured the road with his own feet shows that the speaker speaks from experience and is confident rather than afraid. The line rejects discouragement but does not express regret or mere stubbornness.

Question 13Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A passage says: 'When the bus failed to arrive, the villagers did what they had always done - they walked.' What does the dash contribute to the sentence?

  1. It introduces the outcome that the earlier clause has been leading towards Correct answer.
  2. It marks a list of items that follows
  3. It separates two unrelated ideas
  4. It shows that the sentence is a question

Explanation

A dash can introduce an explanation or a result that completes the previous clause. Here it leads into the villagers' response, which follows logically from the bus failing to arrive.

Question 14Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen prose passage, a boy hides his torn shirt from his mother and later feels 'the weight of the hidden cloth' all evening. What does this detail suggest?

  1. His mother already knows about the tear
  2. He has forgotten about the shirt entirely
  3. He plans to buy a new shirt
  4. His conscience troubles him more than the damage itself Correct answer.

Explanation

The image of a hidden cloth that feels heavy shows that guilt over concealing the truth weighs on the boy. The detail points to conscience, not forgetfulness, his mother's knowledge, or plans to buy clothing.

Question 15Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

Read the poem lines: 'The market hums, / the coins click, / the bargaining voices / rise and fall like birds.' Which sense is chiefly appealed to in these lines?

  1. Smell, through descriptions of spices
  2. Touch, through textures of cloth
  3. Taste, through food being sold
  4. Hearing, through sounds of humming, clicking and voices Correct answer.

Explanation

The words 'hums', 'click' and 'voices' all describe sound, so the appeal is chiefly auditory. No smells, textures, or tastes are described in the lines.

Question 16Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A prose passage ends: 'She closed the gate behind her and did not look back.' What is the most likely effect of ending the passage this way?

  1. It proves she has forgotten her keys
  2. It indicates that the story has no conclusion
  3. It shows the gate was broken
  4. It suggests a firm decision to move on Correct answer.

Explanation

An ending in which a character closes a gate without looking back is a conventional signal of resolve and departure. The gesture conveys finality, not forgetfulness or a broken gate, and it does function as a conclusion.

Question 17Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen poem, the speaker compares memory to 'a lamp left burning in an empty house.' What does this comparison most likely suggest about memory?

  1. It is expensive to maintain
  2. It always goes out quickly
  3. It is dangerous and should be extinguished
  4. It keeps something alive even when no one is present Correct answer.

Explanation

A lamp still burning in an empty house suggests something that continues to give light and presence even in absence, which fits memory keeping the past alive. Cost, quick extinction, and danger are not part of the image.

Question 18Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen passage describes a festival: 'For three days no one worked in the fields; drums sounded from the community hall, and even the oldest men danced.' Which sentence best states the passage's central idea?

  1. The fields are left unplanted for the year
  2. The oldest men are too weak to dance
  3. The festival suspends ordinary work and unites the whole community in celebration Correct answer.
  4. Drumming is forbidden during the harvest

Explanation

The passage stresses the pause in field work, the drums, and the participation of even the oldest men, all of which show a community-wide celebration. The other options contradict details in the sentence.

Question 19Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A passage states: 'The river, once generous, now ran thin between stones, and the women walked further each year.' Which change does the passage describe?

  1. The arrival of women from another village
  2. A gradual decline in water that increases the villagers' labour Correct answer.
  3. The building of a new bridge
  4. A sudden flood that destroys the village

Explanation

The contrast between 'once generous' and 'now ran thin' shows decline over time, and the women walking further shows the extra labour this causes. No flood, bridge, or migration is mentioned.

Question 20Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen poem, the speaker says: 'My father's hands were maps of fields he never owned.' Which interpretation is best supported by the line?

  1. The father was a travelling mapmaker
  2. The father was a wealthy landowner
  3. The father had never worked in his life
  4. The father worked land belonging to others, and his labour is inscribed on his body Correct answer.

Explanation

Calling the hands maps of fields the father never owned suggests that his working life was spent on other people's land, with the marks of that labour visible on his hands. The line denies ownership, not work itself.

Question 21Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A prose passage reports: 'He spoke softly, but the room grew quiet.' What does the contrast between soft speech and the room's reaction suggest about the speaker?

  1. The room is empty
  2. He is too shy to be heard
  3. He commands respect without needing to raise his voice Correct answer.
  4. He is telling a joke

Explanation

The contrast shows that the man's quiet words are powerful enough to silence a room, which indicates authority and respect. Shyness, an empty room, or humour would not explain the sudden quiet.

Question 22Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

Two unseen poems describe the same hill. Poem A calls it 'a sleeping giant'; Poem B calls it 'a heap of old bones.' Which statement best compares their attitudes?

  1. Poem A conveys awe and strength, while Poem B conveys weariness and decline Correct answer.
  2. Poem A presents the hill as weak, while Poem B presents it as powerful
  3. Both poems present the hill as newly formed
  4. Both poems present the hill as dangerous

Explanation

A sleeping giant suggests power at rest and inspires awe, whereas a heap of old bones suggests age, exhaustion and decay. The two images therefore point to contrasting attitudes towards the same landscape.

Question 23Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen prose passage shifts from past tense to present tense in its final paragraph as the narrator returns to the village. What is the most likely effect of this shift?

  1. It shows that the narrator has forgotten the past
  2. It brings the return into immediate, lived experience for the reader Correct answer.
  3. It indicates the passage is a letter
  4. It proves the earlier events were imaginary

Explanation

A shift into the present tense at a moment of return makes that moment feel immediate and vivid, as though happening now. Tense shift is a stylistic device for immediacy, not evidence of forgetfulness, invention, or epistolary form.

Question 24Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen poem ends: 'And the seed, / which knew nothing of the harvest, / broke the earth anyway.' Which reading of the final image is best supported?

  1. The harvest is certain to fail
  2. Growth occurs through instinctive effort before its outcome is known Correct answer.
  3. The seed is described as lazy and unwilling
  4. The earth is stronger than the seed

Explanation

The seed that knows nothing of the harvest yet breaks the earth embodies effort and growth that precede any guarantee of reward. The image celebrates the act of breaking through, not failure, laziness, or the earth's strength.

Question 25Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

A passage describes a character who 'laughed loudest at the funeral feast and wept alone at the wedding.' What does this inversion most likely reveal?

  1. He conceals genuine feeling behind behaviour that contradicts social expectation Correct answer.
  2. He dislikes both weddings and funerals equally
  3. He is confused about which event he is attending
  4. He is known for telling jokes at ceremonies

Explanation

Laughing where grief is expected and weeping where joy is expected inverts social norms, which suggests hidden or displaced emotion rather than confusion. The pattern points to concealment of true feeling.

Question 26Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen prose passage opens with the line: 'The first rain of June arrived without thunder, without wind, almost without permission.' Which feature of the opening is most responsible for creating a sense of quiet surprise?

  1. The repeated use of a negative construction to describe how the rain came Correct answer.
  2. The mention of a specific month to fix the season of the action
  3. The use of a direct quotation from a character in the passage
  4. The choice of a long sentence with several subordinate clauses

Explanation

The opening builds its effect through repetition of 'without', which strips away the expected accompaniments of a storm and makes the rain seem sudden and unannounced. This negative patterning, not the naming of June, produces the quiet surprise.

Question 27Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

In an unseen poem, the speaker describes a village well as 'the eye that never closed.' Which figure of speech is used, and what does it suggest about the well?

  1. A metaphor implying the well watched over the village constantly Correct answer.
  2. Hyperbole claiming the well was larger than the village
  3. Personification suggesting the well was afraid of the dark
  4. A simile comparing the well to a sleeping animal

Explanation

The well is called an 'eye that never closed', which is a metaphor (no 'like' or 'as') presenting the well as a watching presence. The phrase 'never closed' implies unceasing vigilance over the community.

Question 28Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

Read these lines from an unseen poem: 'The potter's wheel turns / long after the hands are still; / the clay remembers / what the fingers forgot.' Which statement best explains the contrast the poet draws between the hands and the clay?

  1. The clay is given a lasting memory while the human hands are shown as forgetful and temporary Correct answer.
  2. The potter has stopped working because the clay has hardened beyond use
  3. The fingers are said to be more skilled than the clay they shape
  4. The wheel is described as broken, so the potter can no longer shape anything

Explanation

The closing contrast assigns memory to the clay and forgetfulness to the fingers, so the shaped object outlasts and 'remembers' more than its maker. The wheel still turning after the hands are still reinforces this idea of the craft surviving the craftsman.

Question 29Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen passage says of a character: 'He kept his promises the way a farmer keeps seed - carefully, and only for the planting season.' What does the comparison most strongly imply about the character?

  1. He is a farmer who stores grain for the whole year
  2. He makes promises more often than other people
  3. He honours promises only when it suits his own timing Correct answer.
  4. He is generous with seed and with words alike

Explanation

The simile limits the keeping of promises to a season, suggesting the character is careful but self-interested about when he fulfils them. The comparison turns on timing rather than on generosity or frequency.

Question 30Reading Comprehension (Unseen Prose and Poetry)

An unseen prose passage is written throughout in the first person, but midway the narrator states: 'I have told this story many times, and each time the river runs a little wider.' Which conclusion about the narration is best supported by this sentence?

  1. The narrator has switched from first person to third person for the final section
  2. The narrator is quoting another villager who has also told the story
  3. The narrator is unreliable because the river has physically changed over the years
  4. The narrator admits the account is shaped by repeated retelling and may have altered in detail Correct answer.

Explanation

The sentence openly acknowledges that the story has been retold and that details such as the river's width shift with each telling, which signals a self-aware, possibly embellished narration. It is an admission about the telling, not a claim that the landscape itself changed.

Question 31Prescribed Prose Texts

In the Karbi prose texts prescribed for the HSLC First Language Karbi course, the term 'Kacharpo' most often refers to which kind of composition?

  1. A long narrative folk tale about a clan ancestor
  2. A translation of a Sanskrit hymn
  3. A short reflective essay on nature or social life Correct answer.
  4. A ritual chant performed only at funerals

Explanation

Kacharpo is the Karbi term for a short prose essay, typically reflective or descriptive, on themes such as nature, culture or social life. It is a modern prose form rather than a ritual chant or a clan narrative. The prescribed prose lessons include several such essays.

Question 32Prescribed Prose Texts

Which statement best describes the characteristic style of the Karbi prose essays prescribed for Class 10?

  1. They follow the strict metre of classical Sanskrit kavya
  2. They use a plain, direct first-person voice to reflect on everyday experience Correct answer.
  3. They are written entirely in rhymed couplets
  4. They consist mainly of dialogue between mythical deities

Explanation

The prescribed Karbi essays are modern prose pieces that typically adopt a plain, direct and often first-person voice to reflect on everyday life and culture. They are not rhymed, not dominated by divine dialogue, and do not follow Sanskrit metrical rules. Recognising this plain reflective style helps students identify the genre.

Question 33Prescribed Prose Texts

In Karbi prose writing, the word 'Karbi' as used in the prescribed texts refers to which people?

  1. An indigenous community of the Karbi Anglong region of Assam Correct answer.
  2. A pastoral group of the Himalayan foothills
  3. A trading community of the Bengal delta
  4. A coastal fishing community of Odisha

Explanation

The Karbi are an indigenous community whose homeland is the Karbi Anglong region of Assam, and the prescribed prose reflects their language, customs and landscape. The other options describe communities in regions unrelated to Karbi culture. Knowing the community's homeland is basic background for these texts.

Question 34Prescribed Prose Texts

A Karbi prose lesson describes the writer's childhood in a hill village and the customs of the community. Which element of the prescribed prose syllabus does this lesson most clearly illustrate?

  1. The satirical political pamphlet
  2. The autobiographical and cultural-memory essay Correct answer.
  3. The one-act dramatic monologue
  4. The scientific travel report

Explanation

Lessons that recall the writer's own childhood and community customs belong to the autobiographical and cultural-memory type of essay common in the prescribed prose. Such essays preserve customs and landscape through personal recollection. They are not satires, scientific reports or dramatic monologues.

Question 35Prescribed Prose Texts

When a prescribed Karbi essay uses the phrase 'our forefathers' repeatedly, what rhetorical purpose does the repetition most likely serve?

  1. To suggest the writer has forgotten the names of ancestors
  2. To introduce a comic tone into a serious essay
  3. To indicate that the essay is a translation from another language
  4. To emphasise continuity between past generations and the present community Correct answer.

Explanation

Repeated reference to forefathers is a rhetorical device that stresses continuity, linking the present community to its inherited traditions. It is not a sign of forgetfulness or comic intent. Such repetition reinforces cultural belonging in the essay.

Question 36Prescribed Prose Texts

In the prescribed Karbi prose, a description of the community's agricultural cycle in the hills would most naturally belong to which theme?

  1. Relationship between the people and their natural environment Correct answer.
  2. Foreign diplomatic relations
  3. Urban industrial development
  4. Maritime trade routes

Explanation

Agricultural cycles in hill villages express the close relationship between the Karbi people and their natural environment, a recurring theme in the prose lessons. Urban industry, maritime trade and diplomacy lie outside this rural ecological focus. The theme therefore centres on land, seasons and livelihood.

Question 37Prescribed Prose Texts

Which of the following is the most appropriate way to describe the narrative voice in a prescribed Karbi prose essay written as personal recollection?

  1. A detached third-person observer with no personal involvement
  2. A chorus commenting in unison
  3. An omniscient narrator describing many characters' thoughts
  4. A first-person narrator recalling past experience Correct answer.

Explanation

An essay of personal recollection is narrated in the first person, with the writer recalling and reflecting on past experience. An omniscient narrator or a chorus belongs to fiction or drama, and a wholly detached observer would not be recalling personal memory. The first-person voice is therefore the defining feature.

Question 38Prescribed Prose Texts

In Karbi cultural usage reflected in the prescribed prose, the term 'Rongker' refers to which kind of observance?

  1. A style of folk song sung only by children
  2. A community festival seeking prosperity and protection for the village Correct answer.
  3. A formal written examination
  4. A type of woven cloth

Explanation

Rongker is a traditional Karbi community festival observed for the well-being and prosperity of the village. It is a communal observance, not an examination, a textile or a children's song genre. The prescribed prose often mentions such festivals when describing community life.

Question 39Prescribed Prose Texts

A student claims that a prescribed Karbi prose lesson is a folk tale because it mentions a village elder. Which reasoning best corrects the student?

  1. Any text with a village setting is automatically a folk tale
  2. The presence of an elder proves the text is a ritual chant
  3. Mentioning an elder does not make a text a folk tale; the essay's reflective first-person form decides its genre Correct answer.
  4. Genre depends only on the length of the text

Explanation

Genre is determined by form and mode of narration rather than by the mere appearance of a character such as a village elder. A reflective first-person essay remains an essay even when it describes community figures. Setting and length alone do not classify a text as a folk tale.

Question 40Prescribed Prose Texts

In the context of the prescribed Karbi prose, the word 'Longri' most commonly denotes which of the following?

  1. A traditional Karbi folk song genre Correct answer.
  2. A type of hill terrace
  3. A metal ornament worn by men
  4. A written legal document

Explanation

Longri is a traditional Karbi folk song form, often associated with communal singing and courtship themes. It is a musical genre, not a landform, a legal document or an ornament. The prose lessons sometimes mention such song traditions when portraying community life.

Question 41Prescribed Prose Texts

A prose lesson describes how villagers cooperate during harvesting, sharing labour and food. Which value does the lesson most clearly highlight?

  1. Indifference to neighbours
  2. Strict hierarchy between families
  3. Individual competition for profit
  4. Communal solidarity and mutual help Correct answer.

Explanation

Descriptions of shared harvesting labour and food express communal solidarity and mutual help, values central to Karbi village life as portrayed in the prose. Competition for profit, indifference and rigid hierarchy contradict the cooperative spirit shown. The lesson thus celebrates collective well-being.

Question 42Prescribed Prose Texts

When a prescribed Karbi essay contrasts village life with city life, what is the most likely purpose of that contrast?

  1. To weigh the simplicity and closeness of village life against urban alienation Correct answer.
  2. To prove that cities have no schools
  3. To describe the architecture of modern buildings
  4. To argue that villages should be abandoned

Explanation

Contrasting village and city life is a common reflective strategy used to weigh the simplicity and human closeness of village life against the anonymity and haste of urban living. The purpose is evaluation, not factual claims about schools or a call to abandon villages. Architectural description would be incidental to this theme.

Question 43Prescribed Prose Texts

In a prescribed Karbi prose text, the writer describes a river that sustains the fields and is also sung about in folk songs. This detail chiefly shows that:

  1. Folk songs are unrelated to daily life
  2. Nature and culture are intertwined in the community's imagination Correct answer.
  3. The river is merely a geographical boundary
  4. The writer is documenting a flood disaster

Explanation

A river that both sustains agriculture and appears in folk songs shows how nature and culture are intertwined in the community's imagination. It is more than a boundary and is not presented as a disaster record. The detail links livelihood with cultural expression.

Question 44Prescribed Prose Texts

Which feature most reliably distinguishes a Karbi 'Kacharpo' essay from a Karbi folk narrative in the prescribed syllabus?

  1. The essay always contains a moral in the last line
  2. The essay reflects the author's own thought, while the folk narrative is transmitted anonymously Correct answer.
  3. The essay is always shorter than one page
  4. The folk narrative is always written in English

Explanation

The key distinction is authorship and mode: a Kacharpo essay expresses an identified author's reflection, whereas a folk narrative is transmitted anonymously through tradition. Length, language and a closing moral are not reliable criteria. Recognising this distinction prevents misclassification of prose texts.

Question 45Prescribed Prose Texts

A prose lesson on traditional Karbi weaving describes the loom, the patterns and the songs sung while weaving. What does this combination best illustrate?

  1. A purely industrial manufacturing process
  2. The decline of all handicrafts
  3. The irrelevance of oral culture to craft
  4. Craft knowledge transmitted alongside oral tradition Correct answer.

Explanation

Describing the loom, patterns and weaving songs together shows craft knowledge being transmitted alongside oral tradition. It does not suggest decline or industrial manufacture, nor does it separate oral culture from craft. The lesson thus portrays weaving as an integrated cultural practice.

Question 46Prescribed Prose Texts

When a Karbi prose writer uses a proverb from the community to close an argument, what is the effect of that choice?

  1. It signals that the essay is incomplete
  2. It lends the argument the authority of shared traditional wisdom Correct answer.
  3. It changes the essay into a folk tale
  4. It proves the writer has no personal opinion

Explanation

Closing an argument with a community proverb draws on shared traditional wisdom, giving the conclusion authority and cultural resonance. It does not erase the writer's opinion or change the genre. Nor does it imply the essay is unfinished.

Question 47Prescribed Prose Texts

In the prescribed Karbi prose, references to the 'jhum' field most directly evoke which aspect of hill life?

  1. Railway construction
  2. Urban market trading
  3. Deep-sea fishing
  4. Shifting cultivation and its seasonal labour Correct answer.

Explanation

The jhum field refers to shifting cultivation, a form of hill agriculture with its own seasonal cycle of clearing, sowing and harvesting. It does not evoke fishing, urban markets or railways. References to jhum therefore anchor the prose in hill farming life.

Question 48Prescribed Prose Texts

A student must explain why a prescribed Karbi essay uses short, simple sentences when describing village routines. Which explanation is most defensible?

  1. The simple syntax mirrors the unhurried, repetitive rhythm of village routine Correct answer.
  2. Short sentences indicate the text is a translation
  3. Short sentences prove the writer's vocabulary is limited
  4. Short sentences are required by Karbi grammar in all contexts

Explanation

Short, simple sentences can mirror the unhurried, repetitive rhythm of daily village routine, making style echo subject. This is a deliberate stylistic effect rather than evidence of limited vocabulary or translation. Karbi grammar does not require short sentences in every context.

Question 49Prescribed Prose Texts

Which of these would be the strongest textual evidence that a prescribed Karbi prose lesson is autobiographical rather than purely descriptive?

  1. The lesson lists the months of the agricultural year
  2. The lesson describes a festival in general terms
  3. The narrator recalls a specific personal incident from childhood Correct answer.
  4. The lesson names several hills and rivers

Explanation

A specific recalled personal incident is the clearest evidence of autobiographical writing, because it ties the narration to the writer's own life. Naming hills and rivers, describing a festival generally, or listing months could appear in purely descriptive prose. Personal memory is therefore the decisive evidence.

Question 50Prescribed Prose Texts

In Karbi tradition as reflected in the prescribed prose, the 'Bathou' faith is best described as:

  1. An indigenous Karbi religious tradition centred on a supreme deity Correct answer.
  2. A form of modern banking
  3. A style of hill architecture
  4. A colonial administrative system

Explanation

Bathou is the indigenous religious tradition of the Karbi, centred on the worship of a supreme deity. It is a faith system, not an administrative, financial or architectural category. The prose lessons sometimes refer to it when describing community belief.