So, here we will provide you a set of 10 questions of English Language, important for SSC MTS exam.
Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
Jazz had its beginnings in song. Its roots lie deep in the tradition of Negro folk singing that once flourished throughout the rural Southland of the United States before the Civil War. The Negro, in those days, owned only a few crude musical instruments which he made for himself from boxes, barrels and brooms. His voice was his principal means of musical expression. Songs of work and play, trouble and hope, rose on rich and rhythmic voices everywhere in the South-from peddlers crying their wares to the countryside, from work gangs on the rail roads, from families gathered at the day’s end to sing away their weariness in their unpainted cottages overlooking the cotton fields, from the wayside churches singing with the sounds of Sabbath praise.
These were the voices which the early Negro musicians imitated and transferred to their horns when they taught themselves to play the discarded band instruments that come into hands at the close of the Civil War in the eighteen-sixties. As played by their proud Negro owners, the instruments became extensions of the human voice-"singing horns" which opened the way to Jazz. For this reason there has always been a strong, singing quality to Jazz.
Q-1 The Negro owned ———— musical instruments.
A. only a few
B. many
C. no
D. the main
Q-2 Where and when did Negro folk singing flourish?
A. In the urban Southland of the United States after the Civil War.
B. In the United States at the end of the Civil War.
C. In the Southland during the Civil War.
D. In the rural Southland of the United States before the Civil War.
Q-3 Who sang the folk songs?
A. The religious groups.
B. Voices from everywhere in the south.
C. The early Jazz musicians.
D. The negro musicians.
Q-4 Where were the folk songs sung?
A. Everywhere
B. In the churches only
C. On the railroads, in the cotton fields and in the churches
D. Every where in the urban Southland
Q-5 Which of the following statements is true in the context of the passage?
A. were familiar with the instruments they were learning to play.
B. were not familiar with the instruments they were learning to play.
C. knew about the rules of music.
D. were taught to play the instruments.
Q-6 What opened the way to Jazz?
A. The discarded musical instruments.
B. The crude band instruments.
C. The musical instruments made from boxes.
D. "Singing horns"
Q-7 Which of the following statements is false in the context of the passage?
A. The early Jazz musicians extended the range of their horns.
B. The band instruments became extensions of the human voice.
C. Jazz has always hand a strong, singing quality
D. the Negro’s voice was not his principal means of musical expression.
Q-8 The phase ‘sing away’ in the passage means.
A. sing songs at the end of a tiring day
B. sing songs to forget
C. sing songs to make the worry disappear
D. sing songs to draw attention
Q-9 Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?
A. The tradition of Negro folk singing
B. The ‘singing horns’
C. The early origins of Jazz
D. The history of Jazz
Q-10 Where do the roots of Jazz lie?
A. In the songs sung in the urban Southland of the United States.
B. In the songs sung on railroad gangs.
C. In church hymns.
D. In Negro folk singing.
Answers :-
Q.1 (A)
Q.2 (D)
Q.3 (B)
Q.4 (C)
Q.5 (B)
Q.6 (D)
Q.7 (D)
Q.8 (B)
Q.9 (C)
Q.10 (D)
