English Comprehension PYQs

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

The story of Joanne Kathleen Rowling’s near magical rise to fame is almost as well known as the characters she creates.

Rowling was constantly writing and telling stories to her younger sister Dianne. “The first story I ever wrote down was about a rabbit called Rabbit.” Rowling said in an interview. “He got the measles and was visited by his friends including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have always wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so. However, my parents, both of whom come from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

A writer from the age of six, with two unpublished novels in the drawer, she was stuck on a train when Harry walked into her mind fully formed. She spent the next five years constructing the plots of seven books, one for every year of his secondary school life.

Rowling says she started writing the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in Portugal, where she was teaching English.

At first nobody wanted to publish Harry Potter. She was told that the plot was too complex. Refusing to compromise, she found a publisher.

In 1997, Rowling received her first royalty cheque. By book three, she had skyrocketed to the top of the publishing world. A row of zeros appeared on the author’s bank balance and her life was turned upside down. Day and night she had journalists knocking on the unanswered door of her flat.

Rowling’s quality control has become legendary, as is her obsession with accuracy. She’s thrilled with Stephen Fry’s taped version of the books and outraged that an Italian dust jacket showed Harry minus his glasses. “Don’t they understand that the glasses are the clue to his vulnerability?”

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

The story of Joanne Kathleen Rowling’s near magical rise to fame is almost as well known as the characters she creates.

Rowling was constantly writing and telling stories to her younger sister Dianne. “The first story I ever wrote down was about a rabbit called Rabbit.” Rowling said in an interview. “He got the measles and was visited by his friends including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have always wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so. However, my parents, both of whom come from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

A writer from the age of six, with two unpublished novels in the drawer, she was stuck on a train when Harry walked into her mind fully formed. She spent the next five years constructing the plots of seven books, one for every year of his secondary school life.

Rowling says she started writing the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in Portugal, where she was teaching English.

At first nobody wanted to publish Harry Potter. She was told that the plot was too complex. Refusing to compromise, she found a publisher.

In 1997, Rowling received her first royalty cheque. By book three, she had skyrocketed to the top of the publishing world. A row of zeros appeared on the author’s bank balance and her life was turned upside down. Day and night she had journalists knocking on the unanswered door of her flat.

Rowling’s quality control has become legendary, as is her obsession with accuracy. She’s thrilled with Stephen Fry’s taped version of the books and outraged that an Italian dust jacket showed Harry minus his glasses. “Don’t they understand that the glasses are the clue to his vulnerability?”

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

It was an unusual dark night. In the (1)________ of an enjoyable dream, Jim thought he heard his dog (2)________ loudly. He groaned and glanced (3)________ his clock sleepily. Twelve o'clock the green fluorescent (4)________ of his clock read. Suddenly, Jim (5)________ hushed voices outside his house. He immediately became alert and jumped out of bed. As his parents had gone on a holiday, Jim was alone at home. He decided to look who was outside.