COMPREHENSION
To comprehend is to understand. So comprehension suggests understanding. In examinations , students are often given an unseen passage and are reuired to answer a few questions based on it. These questions test their comprehension or ‘understanding’ of the passage.
Remember these points to attempt this question.
1. Read the passage carefully and try to get a general idea of the subject it deals with.
2. Read the passage again , this time more thoroughly , and make a mental note of the details in it.
3. Now take each question in turn and try to locate its answer in the passage. Make sure that you are able to find a precise and to-the-point answer for each question. Each question should have a distinct answer , that is , your answer to a particular question should not be repeated elsewhere.
4. Once you have mentally prepared all the answers , write them down. Your answer should be brief and , as far as possible , in your own language.
5. While answering questions , do not add anything from your own side.
Read the following passage carefully , and answer the questions given below :
I entered the second class compartment and took a corner seat. A few minutes later a large , noisy family rushed in and spread themselves all over the compartment.
The parents arranged and re-arranged their belongings on the luggage racks. A suitcase fell on the grandmother’s feet and she shouted at them. The children quarreled and the baby cried.
Suddenly the whistle blew and with much clanging and groaning the train moved out of the station. It soon gathered speed and rushed on through the night.
My companions opened large tiffin-carriers and settled down to their meal. But the baby’s cries became howls and the grandmother hung a sari from the chain on the side wall of the carriage. She put the baby in this cradle and the baby stopped crying almost at once.
At the same time the train came to a stop. There was a great commotion. I looked out of the window and found that a large crowd had gathered outside and everyone was asking who had pulled the chain. Suddenly I saw that the grandmother had hung the cradle on the alarm chain.
Questions
1. Who were the occupants of the second class compartment ?
2. Why did the grandmother shout ?
3. How did she make a cradle ?
4. What two things stopped almost at the same time ?
5. Why did the train stop ?
6. Complete the following statements :
(a) The family that entered the compartment was ……………. .
(b) A great noise was created inside the compartment by …………… .
(c) Soon after the train gathered speed , the family …………….. .
(d) As soon as the baby was put in the cradle , ……………. .
7. Find a word from the passage which means ‘a lot of noise and confusion’ .
Answers
1. The compartment was occupied by a large noisy family besides the narrator of the incident .
2. The grandmother shouted because she was hurt by a suitcase which fell on her feet .
3. She hung her sari from the alarm chain , giving it the shape of a cradle .
4. The cries of the baby and the running train came to a stop almost at the same time .
5. The weight of the baby in the cradle pulled the alarm
chain and brought the train to a halt .
6. (a) Large and noisy
(b) the quarreling of the children and the cries of the baby .
(c) settled down to their meal .
(d) it stopped crying .
7. Commotion
