30 Important Comprehension Questions & Short Answers

 

📚 Standard 12 English

30 Important Comprehension Questions & Short Answers

🌸 SECTION I: POETRY

🌼 Daffodils – William Wordsworth

1 How does the memory of the daffodils serve as a source of joy for the poet?

Answer: When the poet is lonely or thoughtful, the memory of the dancing daffodils comes to his mind. It fills his heart with joy and gives him peace.

2 Where did the speaker see the host of golden daffodils, and what were they doing?

Answer: He saw them beside the lake and under the trees. They were dancing and tossing their heads in the breeze.

3 Why does the speaker compare the daffodils to the stars in the Milky Way?

Answer: He compares them to stars because there were many daffodils shining brightly in a long, continuous line along the lake.

📖 A Psalm of Life – H. W. Longfellow

4 What does the speaker mean by “Act, act in the living Present!”?

Answer: The poet tells us to act bravely in the present. We should not waste time worrying about the past or the future.

5 Why does the speaker say that “the grave is not its goal”?

Answer: He believes that human life and the soul do not end with physical death. The soul is immortal.

6 How do the lives of great men inspire people facing difficulties?

Answer: Their noble lives and deeds give us hope and courage. They inspire us to live meaningful and successful lives.

⛪ The Ballad of Father Gilligan – W. B. Yeats

7 Why did Father Gilligan ask God for forgiveness?

Answer: He complained about his heavy work because he was very tired. Later, he realized that his body was tired, not his faith, so he asked God for forgiveness.

8 Why was Father Gilligan weary night and day?

Answer: An epidemic had affected his parish. Many people were sick or dying, so he had to visit them constantly.

9 What surprising thing did the sick man's wife tell Father Gilligan?

Answer: She told him that her husband had already received the priest's blessing and had died peacefully. The blessing had actually been given by an angel.

10 How does the poem show God's mercy towards Father Gilligan?

Answer: God understood Father Gilligan's tiredness. He allowed him to sleep and sent an angel to do his duty for him.

📘 SECTION II: PROSE

🏅 My Greatest Olympic Prize – Jesse Owens

11 What advice did Luz Long give Jesse Owens during the long-jump trials?

Answer: Luz advised Owens to take off a few inches behind the board. This helped him avoid fouling and qualify for the final.

12 Why was nationalistic tension very high during the 1936 Berlin Olympics?

Answer: Hitler believed that German athletes belonged to a superior Aryan race. He wanted them to prove this by winning the Olympic events.

13 Why did Jesse Owens perform poorly in his first long-jump trials?

Answer: He was angry and distracted by Hitler's racial ideas. Because of this, he lost concentration and fouled his first two jumps.

14 Why did Jesse Owens call his friendship with Luz Long his “greatest Olympic prize”?

Answer: Luz Long showed true friendship and sportsmanship by helping his rival. Owens valued this friendship more than his medals.

📝 On Examination – Winston Churchill

15 Why did Churchill and the examiners prefer different subjects?

Answer: Churchill liked history, poetry and essay writing because he could express his ideas. The examiners preferred Latin and mathematics.

16 What did Churchill write on his Latin examination paper?

Answer: He wrote his name and the question number. He spent two hours looking at the blank paper and wrote almost nothing. Dr. Welldon still recognized his ability and admitted him to Harrow.

17 How did Mr. Somervell teach English to the bottom-form students?

Answer: He used different coloured inks to show parts of a sentence. This method helped Churchill understand English grammar very well.

18 What happened at the school swimming bath?

Answer: Churchill pushed a boy into the deep water as a joke. He later discovered that the boy was Amery, a senior student. Churchill apologized cleverly, and Amery forgave him.

👵 The Portrait of a Lady – Khushwant Singh

19 What was the turning point in the relationship between the narrator and his grandmother?

Answer: The turning point came when they moved from the village to the city. The grandmother could no longer go to school with him or help him with his studies.

20 Why was it difficult for the narrator to believe that his grandmother had once been young and pretty?

Answer: He had always seen her as an old, wrinkled woman. So, he found it difficult to imagine her as young and beautiful.

21 Why was the grandmother unhappy with the city school?

Answer: The school taught science and music but did not teach about God and religion. This greatly upset the grandmother.

22 How did the sparrows react to the grandmother's death?

Answer: Thousands of sparrows sat silently around her body. They did not eat the bread crumbs and flew away quietly after her body was taken away.

📕 SECTION III: SHORT STORIES

🩺 The Doctor's Word – R. K. Narayan

23 Why did Dr. Raman tell a lie to his friend Gopal?

Answer: Gopal was seriously ill and had lost hope. Dr. Raman feared that the truth would kill him, so he gave him hope by saying that he would recover.

24 Why did people visit Dr. Raman only when they were “on their last legs”?

Answer: His fee was high and people feared his serious medical verdicts. Therefore, they usually called him only in critical cases.

25 How did Dr. Raman react when he found Gopal seriously ill?

Answer: He rushed to Gopal's house after his clinic hours. He treated him carefully and stayed beside him throughout the night.

26 Why did Dr. Raman call Gopal's recovery a lifelong “puzzle”?

Answer: Gopal's recovery was medically unexpected. Dr. Raman could not understand how he survived such a serious heart attack.

🌹 The Nightingale and the Rose – Oscar Wilde

27 Why did the Nightingale sacrifice her life for a red rose?

Answer: She believed that the Student was a true lover. She believed that love was more valuable than life and decided to sacrifice herself for him.

28 What condition did the Rose-tree place on the Nightingale?

Answer: The Nightingale had to sing all night with her breast against a thorn. Her heart's blood would make the rose red.

29 What did the Student write about the Nightingale's song?

Answer: He thought the song had style but no practical value. He failed to understand its true beauty and emotion.

30 Why did the Student throw the red rose into the gutter?

Answer: The Professor's daughter rejected the rose because it did not match her dress and she preferred expensive jewels. The Student became disappointed and returned to studying Philosophy.

💡 Exam Tip: Read each answer carefully and remember the main idea. Write answers in simple sentences and use important words from the chapter.

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