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WBCHSE HS English (Second Language - ENGB) study materials
WBCHSE HS English (Second Language - ENGB) study resources

WBCHSE HS English (Second Language - ENGB) practice questions

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Question 1Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

An unseen prose passage opens: 'The letter lay unopened for three days.' What does this detail most strongly suggest about the character's state of mind?

  1. Reluctance to face the news it may contain Correct answer.
  2. Complete forgetfulness about the letter
  3. Confidence that the news will be pleasant
  4. Indifference to all correspondence

Explanation

In unseen prose comprehension, a concrete detail like an unopened letter is read as a signal of inner conflict. Delaying a simple action usually implies anxiety or avoidance, so the detail points to reluctance rather than forgetfulness or confidence.

Question 2Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a comprehension passage, the phrase 'a thin smile' is best understood as conveying what?

  1. Controlled or forced emotion Correct answer.
  2. Total indifference
  3. Warm friendliness
  4. Loud amusement

Explanation

Adjectives attached to expressions are read as emotional cues in unseen prose. 'Thin' suggests restraint or effort, so the smile signals controlled or forced feeling rather than genuine warmth.

Question 3Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage states: 'The village had changed, though the river had not.' Which reading of the sentence is most accurate?

  1. The river changed faster than the village
  2. Only the river is unchanged while people and places altered Correct answer.
  3. The village is exactly as it was
  4. The river has dried up

Explanation

The sentence sets up a contrast between the village and the river. The concessive 'though' marks the river as the exception, so the meaning is that human surroundings changed while nature stayed constant.

Question 4Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

While reading an unseen passage, you meet the unfamiliar word 'squalid' in the sentence 'They entered a squalid room, with damp walls and rotting floorboards.' Which meaning fits best?

  1. Recently painted
  2. Spacious and airy
  3. Elegantly furnished
  4. Filthy and neglected Correct answer.

Explanation

Context clues after the word describe damp walls and rotting floorboards, which point to dirt and neglect. Deducing meaning from surrounding description is a core unseen-comprehension skill.

Question 5Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A comprehension question asks for the 'main idea' of a prose passage. What should your answer do?

  1. Describe only the first paragraph
  2. List every example mentioned
  3. Restate the central point the whole passage develops Correct answer.
  4. Quote the longest sentence in the passage

Explanation

The main idea is the controlling point that the whole passage supports, not a single sentence or a list of details. Supporting examples serve the main idea rather than replacing it.

Question 6Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a passage, the writer uses the pronoun 'we' throughout while describing a childhood town. What effect does this choice most likely create?

  1. A sense of shared, collective memory Correct answer.
  2. A sense of distance from the town
  3. A shift to addressing the reader directly
  4. A strictly neutral, scientific tone

Explanation

First-person plural narration draws reader and writer into a common experience, producing intimacy and shared memory. In unseen prose, pronoun choice is a reliable clue to the writer's relationship with the subject.

Question 7Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Which of the following best describes a 'topic sentence' as it functions in an unseen prose passage?

  1. The sentence that states the controlling idea of a paragraph Correct answer.
  2. A sentence with no punctuation
  3. Any sentence containing a quotation
  4. The final sentence of a passage

Explanation

A topic sentence announces what a paragraph is about and is usually supported by the sentences that follow. Recognising it helps a reader locate the argument quickly in an unseen passage.

Question 8Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage says of a character: 'He spoke little, but when he spoke, the room fell quiet.' What does this reveal about him?

  1. He dislikes the people around him
  2. He is talkative and sociable
  3. He is ignored by others
  4. His words carry weight and authority Correct answer.

Explanation

The reaction of others is a common indirect method of characterisation. Silence falling when he speaks shows that his words command attention, implying authority rather than shyness or dislike.

Question 9Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Read this extract: 'The train was late. Arjun checked his watch for the fourth time, then walked to the far end of the platform and back.' Which inference is best supported?

  1. Arjun enjoys walking on platforms
  2. Arjun has lost his watch
  3. Arjun has missed his train
  4. Arjun is impatient about the delay Correct answer.

Explanation

Repeated checking of a watch combined with restless pacing are behavioural clues to impatience. Unseen-prose inference rests on such observable actions rather than on unstated facts.

Question 10Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage describes a city street as 'a river of umbrellas'. Which figure of speech is used, and what does it achieve?

  1. Hyperbole, exaggerating the number of umbrellas
  2. Personification, giving umbrellas human qualities
  3. Metaphor, presenting the crowd of umbrellas as a moving river Correct answer.
  4. Simile, comparing the street to a river explicitly

Explanation

The comparison is stated directly without 'like' or 'as', so it is a metaphor. Calling the umbrellas a river conveys continuous, flowing movement of a dense crowd.

Question 11Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In an unseen passage, a writer describes a factory in loving detail and then says, 'And this is what we call progress.' What is the tone of that final remark?

  1. Neutral and factual
  2. Nostalgic and sad
  3. Ironic or sceptical Correct answer.
  4. Sincere admiration

Explanation

When an approving phrase follows an unappealing description, the mismatch signals irony. The writer's apparent praise is actually a sceptical comment on what is called progress.

Question 12Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A comprehension passage begins: 'Not everyone agreed.' What is the most likely function of this opening sentence?

  1. To close the argument of the passage
  2. To describe the setting in detail
  3. To define an unfamiliar term
  4. To introduce a contrast with a position just implied Correct answer.

Explanation

Such an opening presupposes an earlier position and immediately signals dissent from it. Recognising this helps a reader anticipate that the passage will present conflicting views.

Question 13Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

The word 'notwithstanding' appears in the sentence 'Notwithstanding the warnings, they set out at dawn.' What does it mean here?

  1. Because of
  2. In spite of Correct answer.
  3. Instead of
  4. As soon as

Explanation

'Notwithstanding' is a formal preposition meaning 'despite' or 'in spite of'. The sentence says they set out even though warnings existed.

Question 14Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage contains: 'The old man, who had never left his district, spoke of Paris as though he had walked its streets.' What is the effect of this sentence?

  1. It contrasts his limited experience with his vivid imagination Correct answer.
  2. It shows he has secretly travelled abroad
  3. It proves he dislikes his own district
  4. It suggests he is confused about geography

Explanation

The relative clause establishes his narrow experience, while 'as though' shows imaginative familiarity. The sentence works through this contrast between fact and imagination.

Question 15Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Which question type asks you to judge how far a writer's evidence supports a stated claim in an unseen passage?

  1. Summarising question
  2. Evaluating an argument question Correct answer.
  3. Scanning-for-detail question
  4. Vocabulary-in-context question

Explanation

Evaluating an argument requires weighing the writer's evidence against the claim it is meant to support. This differs from finding word meanings, condensing content, or locating facts.

Question 16Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage states: 'The scheme promised much; the results, however, told a different story.' What does the second clause imply about the scheme?

  1. It was never implemented
  2. It succeeded beyond expectation
  3. It failed to deliver what was promised Correct answer.
  4. It was praised by everyone

Explanation

The contrastive 'however' signals that the outcome differed from the promise. 'Told a different story' is an idiom meaning the results contradicted expectations, so the scheme underperformed.

Question 17Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a passage, the writer shifts from past tense to present tense in the final paragraph. What is the most likely purpose of this shift?

  1. To show that the events happened in the present day
  2. To move from narrative to reflection or general truth Correct answer.
  3. To indicate an error in grammar
  4. To introduce a new character

Explanation

Tense shifts in prose often mark a change of mode, such as moving from telling a story to drawing a conclusion. The present tense gives the closing reflection a lasting, general quality.

Question 18Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Which of these is the best evidence that a passage is written in the third-person omniscient point of view?

  1. The narrator addresses the reader as 'you'
  2. The narrator reports the thoughts of several different characters Correct answer.
  3. The narrator uses 'I' and describes only personal feelings
  4. The narrator quotes a single character throughout

Explanation

Omniscient narration is defined by access to more than one character's inner life. Use of 'I' marks first person, while 'you' marks direct address.

Question 19Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage says: 'Her laughter was a door slamming shut.' What does the metaphor most suggest about the laughter?

  1. It was warm and inviting
  2. It was musical and pleasant
  3. It was abrupt and unwelcoming Correct answer.
  4. It was quiet and shy

Explanation

A slamming door carries connotations of suddenness and rejection. Metaphors transfer the associations of the vehicle (the door) to the subject (the laughter), so the laughter feels abrupt and forbidding.

Question 20Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Read the extract: 'The committee met for two hours. Afterwards, no one could say exactly what had been decided.' Which conclusion is best supported?

  1. The discussion was long but inconclusive Correct answer.
  2. The members disagreed about the time
  3. The meeting was efficient and decisive
  4. The committee cancelled its meeting

Explanation

The two facts together, a long meeting and no clear decision, imply lengthy discussion without resolution. Comprehension answers should account for both sentences rather than only one.

Question 21Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage reads: 'He was, by his own account, a modest man, and he said so often.' What is the writer implying?

  1. The man's repeated claim undercuts his modesty Correct answer.
  2. The man was genuinely modest
  3. The man was too shy to speak
  4. The writer fully endorses the man's view

Explanation

The phrase 'by his own account' distances the writer from the claim, and 'said so often' hints at self-advertisement. The irony implies that the man's modesty is doubtful.

Question 22Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

An unseen passage argues: 'Cities should ban cars because one study found that pedestrians in a single street felt safer after a trial ban.' Which criticism of this reasoning is most valid?

  1. It fails to define the word 'pedestrian'
  2. It uses too many statistics
  3. It relies on a single limited study to support a broad policy claim Correct answer.
  4. It contradicts itself in the second clause

Explanation

The evidence is one study of one street, which cannot by itself justify a city-wide ban. Evaluating an argument means checking whether the evidence is sufficient and representative.

Question 23Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage describes a character's room as containing 'an unwashed cup, a stopped clock, and a calendar still turned to March.' Which reading best captures the function of these details?

  1. They indicate the character is wealthy
  2. They show the character is a collector of antiques
  3. They prove the character is about to move house
  4. They cumulatively suggest neglect and arrested time Correct answer.

Explanation

Each detail points to neglect, and the stopped clock and outdated calendar add the idea of time standing still. In prose, such clustered details build a single impression rather than separate facts.

Question 24Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a passage, the writer alternates between describing a family's daily life and describing a distant war. What is the most likely purpose of this alternation?

  1. To confuse the reader about the setting
  2. To prove the family supports the war
  3. To show that the war is irrelevant to the family
  4. To create contrast between ordinary domesticity and distant violence Correct answer.

Explanation

Structural juxtaposition is a deliberate device that invites comparison. Placing peaceful domestic scenes beside distant conflict highlights the contrast and often the characters' insulation or unease.

Question 25Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage ends: 'Perhaps, after all, the map was more honest than the travellers.' Which interpretation is most defensible?

  1. The map was drawn by the travellers themselves
  2. The travellers were dishonest people who lied constantly
  3. The travellers had lost the map on the journey
  4. The map recorded the truth that the travellers preferred to ignore Correct answer.

Explanation

The comparative 'more honest' sets the map against the travellers on a scale of truthfulness. The hedge 'perhaps' keeps it tentative, but the contrast implies the travellers avoided a reality the map showed.

Question 26Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

An unseen prose passage opens: 'The bus was late. Rina counted the coins in her palm twice, then a third time.' Which inference about Rina's state of mind is best supported by these details alone?

  1. She is angry with the bus conductor.
  2. She is wealthy and impatient with public transport.
  3. She is anxious and short of money. Correct answer.
  4. She is bored and indifferent to the delay.

Explanation

The repeated counting of coins suggests both limited money and nervous restlessness, and the delay adds to the tension. The passage gives no detail about the conductor, and nothing suggests wealth or indifference. Inference must rest on the words actually supplied.

Question 27Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A comprehension passage contains the sentence: 'The village, once a byword for hospitality, now greeted strangers with bolted doors.' Which word in the passage carries the strongest contrast with the present situation?

  1. hospitality Correct answer.
  2. greeted
  3. strangers
  4. bolted

Explanation

'Hospitality' names the village's former reputation and therefore sets up the contrast with its present suspicion of outsiders. The word 'bolted' describes the present state but does not itself carry the earlier reputation. Contrast requires both halves to be present, and 'hospitality' supplies the earlier half.

Question 28Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Read this extract: 'The inspector noted the broken window, the missing ledger, and the clerk who had left at noon and never returned.' What is the function of the list in this sentence?

  1. It summarises the plot of an earlier chapter.
  2. It reveals the inspector's childhood memories.
  3. It slows the narrative to describe the weather.
  4. It presents clues in an order that builds suspicion. Correct answer.

Explanation

The list arranges three suspicious details, ending on the most suggestive one, the clerk who vanished. Such cumulative listing is a common device for building a case or a mood of suspicion. The items are all evidence, not weather, memory, or summary.

Question 29Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In an unseen passage a writer says: 'My father's tools still hang in the shed, each one polished by his hand.' Which reading of the underlined idea is most defensible?

  1. The tools were sold after the father left.
  2. The tools were recently bought and never used.
  3. The tools carry the memory of the father's daily labour. Correct answer.
  4. The tools belong to a neighbour who polishes them.

Explanation

Polishing through long use implies repeated daily work and leaves a trace of the father's presence, so the tools become objects of memory. Nothing suggests recent purchase, sale, or a neighbour. The detail works by turning worn objects into evidence of a life.

Question 30Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage states: 'The council approved the plan unanimously, though three members had earlier called it reckless.' What does the sentence most strongly suggest about the decision?

  1. The plan was rejected by a narrow margin.
  2. The earlier objections were set aside or overcome. Correct answer.
  3. The council never discussed the plan at all.
  4. The three members were absent when the vote was taken.

Explanation

A unanimous vote following earlier objections implies that those objections were abandoned, overruled, or resolved. The sentence does not say the members were absent, and 'unanimously' rules out rejection. The contrast between earlier criticism and final agreement is the point being made.

Question 31Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A writer describes a market scene in long, flowing sentences and then describes a courtroom in short, clipped ones. What is the most likely purpose of this shift in sentence length?

  1. To prove that the narrator is unreliable.
  2. To show that the writer prefers the courtroom.
  3. To reflect the different pace and atmosphere of each setting. Correct answer.
  4. To indicate that the market is more important to the plot.

Explanation

Sentence rhythm is a stylistic resource: flowing syntax suits the bustle of a market while clipped syntax suits the controlled, formal atmosphere of a court. The change is about texture and mood, not about which scene matters more. It does not by itself make the narrator unreliable.

Question 32Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a passage the narrator remarks: 'She had read every book in the house except the ones that mattered.' Which interpretation of 'the ones that mattered' is best supported?

  1. The house contained very few books of any value.
  2. The books that mattered had been borrowed from a library.
  3. She had read only the books that mattered and ignored the rest.
  4. The books she avoided were the ones most relevant to her own life. Correct answer.

Explanation

The clause creates a deliberate gap between wide reading and personal avoidance: the books she skipped are exactly the significant ones. The phrase 'except' tells us those books were not read. The sentence is about evasion, not about the size of the library.

Question 33Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage contains the sentence: 'His apology, if it could be called that, consisted of a shrug and a half-turned back.' What does the writer imply about the apology?

  1. It was offered too late to be accepted.
  2. It was generous and warmly received.
  3. It was sincere but poorly worded.
  4. It was not really an apology at all. Correct answer.

Explanation

The qualifier 'if it could be called that' signals the writer's doubt, and the shrug and turned back are gestures of dismissal rather than remorse. Together they undercut any claim of genuine apology. Sincerity, timing, and generosity are all contradicted by the details.

Question 34Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

Read the extract: 'The letter lay on the table for three days. On the fourth, she moved it to the drawer, and on the fifth she moved it back.' Which aspect of the character do these actions most clearly reveal?

  1. Indecision about whether to deal with the letter. Correct answer.
  2. Indifference to everything in the house.
  3. Decisiveness about practical household matters.
  4. Anger at the person who wrote the letter.

Explanation

Repeatedly shifting the letter without opening or answering it shows hesitation and avoidance. The pattern of movement, back and forth, is the outward sign of an unresolved decision. Indifference would produce no movement at all, and anger is not shown.

Question 35Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A passage includes: 'The scheme was a success, according to the report commissioned by the scheme's own sponsors.' What is the writer's attitude towards the report?

  1. Sceptical of its independence. Correct answer.
  2. Neutral and wholly factual.
  3. Puzzled by its conclusions.
  4. Admiring of its thoroughness.

Explanation

By naming who commissioned the report, the writer quietly signals that its verdict may be self-serving rather than objective. The detail is placed to raise doubt, not to praise the report. A neutral report would not need its sponsor identified.

Question 36Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In an unseen passage, a writer says of a village festival: 'For one week the square belonged to everyone; for the other fifty-one it belonged to those who could pay for it.' Which technique is chiefly used here?

  1. A digression describing the weather.
  2. A rhetorical question inviting agreement.
  3. Direct quotation of a villager's speech.
  4. A balanced contrast that exposes inequality. Correct answer.

Explanation

The two halves of the sentence are deliberately balanced in structure, and the balance carries a social point about who owns public space. Contrasting parallel clauses are a common way of making a quiet argument. There is no quotation, no weather, and no question.

Question 37Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A comprehension passage ends with a single short sentence after several long ones: 'The door was open.' What is the most likely effect of placing this sentence at the end?

  1. It supplies statistical evidence for the passage's argument.
  2. It leaves the reader with an unresolved suggestion. Correct answer.
  3. It introduces a completely new character.
  4. It explains the meaning of an earlier metaphor.

Explanation

A terse final sentence after longer ones gains emphasis and often withholds explanation, leaving the reader to interpret. The brevity creates a pause and an open possibility. It does not present evidence, introduce anyone, or gloss an earlier image.

Question 38Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

An unseen passage argues: 'Homework should be abolished because one survey of thirty pupils in a single school found that most disliked it.' Which criticism of the reasoning is most accurate?

  1. The passage relies on the opinion of a named expert.
  2. The survey sample is too small and narrow to support a general claim. Correct answer.
  3. The passage confuses cause with effect.
  4. The passage uses no evidence at all.

Explanation

Thirty pupils in one school cannot represent all pupils, so the general conclusion about abolishing homework is unsupported. The flaw is the leap from a tiny, local sample to a sweeping policy claim. The passage does cite evidence, but its scope is far too limited.

Question 39Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

A writer describes a character thus: 'He never raised his voice. He never needed to.' What does the second sentence chiefly add to the first?

  1. It shows that he was physically weak.
  2. It explains that his quietness carried authority. Correct answer.
  3. It contradicts the first sentence.
  4. It indicates that he spoke very rarely.

Explanation

The short follow-up turns a simple fact about volume into a statement about power: his calm was enough to command attention. The second sentence explains rather than contradicts the first. It concerns influence, not weakness or silence.

Question 40Reading comprehension of unseen prose passages

In a passage, the narrator describes a family's ordinary evening and then, in the same paragraph, a battle in a distant country, without any linking comment. What is the most defensible reading of this juxtaposition?

  1. The family's evening is a dream from which they will wake.
  2. The distant battle is meant to be ignored by the reader.
  3. The narrator has confused two unrelated stories by mistake.
  4. The calm domestic scene is set against distant violence to unsettle the reader. Correct answer.

Explanation

Placing ordinary domestic calm beside distant violence without commentary invites the reader to feel the connection and the unease between them. The absence of a linking comment is itself a technique, forcing the reader to supply the relation. It is not an error, a signal to ignore the war, or a dream.

Question 41Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

In an unseen verse passage, the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that runs through the lines is best described as the poem's:

  1. theme
  2. metre Correct answer.
  3. diction
  4. tone

Explanation

Metre is the technical term for the regular arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse, and it is measured by scanning each line into feet. Theme and tone belong to meaning and attitude, not to sound pattern.

Question 42Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

A line of verse contains five feet, each made of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The line is written in:

  1. anapaestic trimeter
  2. dactylic hexameter
  3. iambic pentameter Correct answer.
  4. trochaic tetrameter

Explanation

An iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, and five such feet make pentameter. The other names specify different foot types or different foot counts, so they cannot fit.

Question 43Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

Read these lines: 'The wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.' The repetition of the vowel sound in 'Chilling' and 'killing' is an example of:

  1. enjambment
  2. assonance Correct answer.
  3. onomatopoeia
  4. alliteration

Explanation

Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds within nearby words, as with the short 'i' in 'Chilling' and 'killing'. Alliteration would repeat initial consonants, and onomatopoeia would imitate a sound.

Question 44Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

In an unseen poem, a line ends without punctuation and the sentence continues into the next line. This technique is called:

  1. couplet
  2. enjambment Correct answer.
  3. caesura
  4. refrain

Explanation

Enjambment occurs when the sense of a line runs over into the following line without a pause at the line break. A caesura is a pause inside a line, and a refrain is a repeated line or phrase.

Question 45Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

A stanza of four lines, in which the first and third lines rhyme and the second and fourth rhyme, is described as having the rhyme scheme:

  1. abab Correct answer.
  2. abba
  3. abcb
  4. aabb

Explanation

A rhyme scheme is recorded by giving the same letter to lines that rhyme. If lines one and three rhyme and lines two and four rhyme, the pattern is abab.

Question 46Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

In the line 'The grey sea and the long black land', the words 'grey' and 'black' function chiefly as:

  1. kinetic imagery
  2. visual imagery Correct answer.
  3. auditory imagery
  4. tactile imagery

Explanation

Visual imagery appeals to the sense of sight, and colour adjectives such as 'grey' and 'black' create pictures for the reader. Auditory imagery would appeal to hearing and tactile imagery to touch.

Question 47Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

An unseen poem describes a deserted village where 'the moss grows on the broken hearth'. The reader infers that the village has been abandoned. This reading is best described as:

  1. an inference drawn from imagery Correct answer.
  2. a paraphrase of the metre
  3. an identification of the refrain
  4. a statement of the rhyme scheme

Explanation

The conclusion that the village is abandoned is not stated directly but is inferred from the picture of moss on a broken hearth. Inference combines the imagery with the reader's reasoning about what such details imply.

Question 48Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

In a poem, a speaker says 'I have measured out my life with coffee spoons'. The chief effect of this image is to suggest that the speaker's life has been:

  1. pious and self-denying
  2. joyful and spontaneous
  3. heroic and adventurous
  4. narrow and habitually trivial Correct answer.

Explanation

A coffee spoon is a small, everyday object, and measuring a whole life with it reduces existence to petty routine. The image therefore conveys narrowness and triviality rather than grandeur or joy.

Question 49Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

A poem addresses a 'O wild West Wind' and asks it to scatter the speaker's words among mankind. The device of speaking directly to an absent or non-human entity is called:

  1. personification
  2. apostrophe Correct answer.
  3. oxymoron
  4. hyperbole

Explanation

Apostrophe is a direct address to someone absent, dead or non-human, as when a speaker hails the wind and speaks to it. Personification would give human qualities to the wind, but here the wind is simply addressed.

Question 50Reading comprehension of unseen verse passages

Read the stanza: 'The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, / The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.' The lines are best described as written in:

  1. blank verse
  2. terza rima
  3. heroic couplets Correct answer.
  4. ballad quatrains

Explanation

Heroic couplets are pairs of rhyming lines in iambic pentameter, and the two quoted lines rhyme and have five stresses each. Blank verse would be unrhymed, and the other forms have different stanza shapes.