CBSE Class 12 English

An unseen passage is a piece of continuous prose the reader has not met before: it may be factual (an account of how something works or happened), descriptive (a place, a person, a scene) or literary (a stretch of narrative or reflective writing). Questions on it ask for more than finding a sentence. They ask what the passage means, what follows from it and what the writer is doing, and they are answered either by choosing among options or in a short written answer of a sentence or two. ## Reading the passage first A first reading is for the shape of the passage: what it is about, how it is organised and what the writer's attitude is. Most passages have a main point that the opening paragraph states or hints at, supporting points in the middle and a conclusion, a warning, a recommendation or a turn in the last paragraph. Knowing that shape makes each later question quicker, because the question can be placed within it. Questions are best read after the passage and then the passage is checked again for the lines they point to. Answers should come from the text and not from what the reader already knows about the topic, since a question that asks what the writer says about, for instance, the effects of noise is asking for the writer's claim and not for general knowledge of noise. ## Kinds of question ### Comprehension Comprehension questions ask what is stated. The answer is in the passage, often in different words from the question, so the work is matching meaning and not…