CLAT UG question bank

English Language MCQs for CLAT UG, Page 5

CLAT UG English Language questions 96-119 of 310, with answer keys and explanations covering central ideas, inference, tone, vocabulary in context, paragraph structure, and passage interpretation.

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Practice passage-based CLAT UG questions with answers for English, current affairs, legal reasoning, logical reasoning, and quantitative techniques.

  • Adaptive Reuse of Old Buildings5
  • Authenticity in Building Restoration5
  • Benches and the Design of Rest5
  • Checklists and Professional Judgment5
  • Cinema and Shared Attention5
  • Community Kitchens and Reciprocity5
  • Convenience and the Loss of Skill5
  • Corrections and Trust in Public Records5
  • Defaults and Meaningful Choice5
  • Definitions and Productive Disagreement5
  • Digitising Archives Without Losing Context5
  • Expert Consensus and Honest Dissent5
  • Expertise and Plain Language5
  • Footnotes and Intellectual Honesty5
  • Imitation and Originality in Art5
  • Labels and Changing Categories5
  • Listening and Historical Silence5
  • Lost Objects and Public Stories5
  • Manual Skills and Digital Convenience5
  • Maps and Public Knowledge5
  • Maps and the Appearance of Objectivity5
  • Maps of Distance and Travel Time5
  • Marginal Notes and Active Reading5
  • Margins and the History of Reading5
  • Memory, Archives, and Historical Evidence5
  • Metrics and Classroom Participation5
  • Missing Data and Honest Conclusions5
  • Museum Lighting and Care5
  • Names, Pronunciation, and Belonging5
  • Photographs as Historical Evidence5
  • Public Apologies and Institutional Memory5
  • Public Clocks and Shared Time5
  • Public Dashboards and Legibility5
  • Public Notices and Actionable Clarity5
  • Public Space and Urban Belonging5
  • Queues and Everyday Fairness5
  • Quiet Rooms and Productive Attention5
  • Rankings and the Illusion of Exact Order5
  • Readable Law and Necessary Precision5
  • Reading Aloud and Textual Attention5
  • Reading and Productive Difficulty5
  • Recipes, Measurement, and Judgment5
  • Reconstructing Lost Performances5
  • Recording Endangered Languages5
  • Repair and Public Memory5
  • Repair, Memory, and Material History5
  • Repair, Ownership and Product Design5
  • Restoration and Honest Repair5
  • Revision and the Value of Delay5
  • Scientific Models and Useful Simplification10
  • Seeds and Shared Memory5
  • Silence in Public Memorials5
  • Small Errors and Scientific Credibility5
  • Speed, Technology, and Public Judgment5
  • Standardised Tests as Proxies5
  • Translation and Meaning10
  • Urban Sound and Public Memory5
  • Urban Trees and Public Maintenance5
  • Waiting as Public Infrastructure5
  • Weather Diaries and Ordinary Evidence5
Passage or principleOriginal literary non-fiction passage

The community kitchen opened after a flood, when many households had lost cooking equipment. Months later, water had receded and the kitchen remained. Its purpose had changed before anyone formally decided that it should. Some visitors paid for meals, some supplied vegetables, and others washed dishes. These exchanges were not equal in monetary value. The organisers resisted keeping a public list of who contributed what, fearing that exact accounting would turn assistance into a test of deservingness. The absence of a list did not mean that contribution was irrelevant. People noticed who regularly took difficult shifts and who quietly brought food when prices rose. Memory produced its own imperfect accounts. The kitchen survived because it was neither pure charity nor a commercial restaurant. It allowed uneven forms of reciprocity while recognising that a person unable to contribute today might contribute later in a different way.

Question 96MediumCommunity Kitchens and Reciprocity

What is the passage mainly concerned with?

  1. A

    Why emergency kitchens should always close after floods

  2. B

    Why every contribution must have an identical price

  3. C

    How a community kitchen continued through flexible and unequal forms of reciprocity

  4. D

    How the kitchen became a commercial restaurant

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. How a community kitchen continued through flexible and unequal forms of reciprocity

C captures the institution's changing purpose and social exchange.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 10, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 97MediumCommunity Kitchens and Reciprocity

Why did organisers resist a public contribution list?

  1. A

    They feared exact accounting would make support conditional on proving worthiness.

  2. B

    They believed that no one ever contributed.

  3. C

    They wanted to prohibit payment for meals.

  4. D

    They could not recognise vegetables.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. They feared exact accounting would make support conditional on proving worthiness.

A follows directly from the second paragraph.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 10, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 98HardCommunity Kitchens and Reciprocity

What does the third paragraph clarify?

  1. A

    Only monetary contributions mattered.

  2. B

    Not keeping a formal list did not make contribution socially invisible.

  3. C

    Memory produced a perfectly accurate record.

  4. D

    Difficult shifts were never noticed.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Not keeping a formal list did not make contribution socially invisible.

B explains the distinction between formal accounting and social memory.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 10, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 99HardCommunity Kitchens and Reciprocity

Which statement best expresses the passage's view of reciprocity?

  1. A

    Reciprocity requires immediate repayment of equal value.

  2. B

    Charity and commerce are identical.

  3. C

    Only people who cook may receive meals.

  4. D

    Contribution can occur at different times and in different forms.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. Contribution can occur at different times and in different forms.

D reflects the final sentence and the kitchen's practices.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 10, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 100MediumCommunity Kitchens and Reciprocity

What is suggested by saying that the kitchen's purpose changed before a formal decision?

  1. A

    The kitchen had no organisers.

  2. B

    Flood recovery was impossible.

  3. C

    Formal decisions never affect institutions.

  4. D

    Institutions can evolve through continued practice before rules acknowledge the change.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. Institutions can evolve through continued practice before rules acknowledge the change.

D is the most reasonable inference from the opening paragraph.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 10, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Passage or principleOriginal non-fiction passage

A scientific model is sometimes criticised for leaving things out. The criticism is odd because selection is the reason a model can be useful. A map that reproduced every stone would be as difficult to navigate as the landscape itself. Simplification, however, is not automatically harmless. A model designed to predict river flow may ignore household water use because it is negligible at one scale, yet that omission may matter when the same model guides local allocation. A model should therefore be judged in relation to its purpose. Good models make their assumptions visible and indicate where predictions become uncertain. They are tools for inquiry, not miniature copies of reality. Their success lies not in containing everything, but in leaving out the right things for the question being asked. The danger begins when a useful simplification is mistaken for a complete description and carried into decisions for which it was never designed.

Question 101MediumScientific Models and Useful Simplification

Which statement best captures the central idea of the passage?

  1. A

    A model is useful only when it reproduces every detail.

  2. B

    Models should be judged by whether their simplifications suit their purpose.

  3. C

    Scientific predictions never contain uncertainty.

  4. D

    A model created for one purpose applies equally to every decision.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Models should be judged by whether their simplifications suit their purpose.

B captures the author's purpose-based account of modelling.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 102MediumScientific Models and Useful Simplification

What does the map analogy illustrate?

  1. A

    Maps contain no information about landscapes.

  2. B

    Stones are the only important geographic features.

  3. C

    Navigation does not require selection.

  4. D

    Complete reproduction can defeat the practical purpose of a model.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. Complete reproduction can defeat the practical purpose of a model.

D explains why selective representation can be useful.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 103HardScientific Models and Useful Simplification

Why may ignoring household water use be acceptable in one model but not another?

  1. A

    Household use can never be measured.

  2. B

    River flow is unrelated to allocation.

  3. C

    Every model must use identical variables.

  4. D

    The significance of an omission depends on the decision and scale involved.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. The significance of an omission depends on the decision and scale involved.

D follows from the contrast between prediction and local allocation.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 104EasyScientific Models and Useful Simplification

Which description best fits the author's tone?

  1. A

    Dismissive of all modelling

  2. B

    Uncritically optimistic

  3. C

    Analytical and cautionary

  4. D

    Humorous and nostalgic

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Analytical and cautionary

The author defends models while warning against misuse.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 105HardScientific Models and Useful Simplification

Which practice would the author most strongly support?

  1. A

    Hiding assumptions to make a prediction appear certain

  2. B

    Stating a model's assumptions, purpose, and limits before applying it

  3. C

    Using the most detailed model regardless of the question

  4. D

    Treating predictions as complete descriptions of reality

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Stating a model's assumptions, purpose, and limits before applying it

B follows directly from the third and fourth paragraphs.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Passage or principleOriginal literary non-fiction passage

The clock above the old market had been stopped for years, yet residents still used it as a meeting point. When the council proposed removing it, officials described it as an instrument that no longer performed its function. The description was accurate but incomplete. The clock no longer told time, but it organised directions, memories, and expectations. People waited beneath it, shops used it in addresses, and former residents recognised it in photographs. Some campaigners wanted the clock restored to perfect working order. Others preferred to preserve the stopped hands at 4:17, the time recorded after a historic storm. Restoration would recover one function while altering another kind of evidence. The dispute showed that usefulness is not stable. Objects can acquire public roles never intended by their makers. Deciding what to preserve therefore requires asking not only what an object was built to do, but also what communities have learned to do with it.

Question 106MediumPublic Clocks and Shared Time

What is the main idea of the passage?

  1. A

    Broken objects have no public value.

  2. B

    Every historic object should remain unchanged.

  3. C

    An object may gain social functions beyond its original practical purpose.

  4. D

    Public clocks should be replaced by photographs.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. An object may gain social functions beyond its original practical purpose.

C captures the clock's practical, social, and memorial roles.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 107MediumPublic Clocks and Shared Time

Why is the officials' description called incomplete?

  1. A

    The clock continued to show accurate time.

  2. B

    Officials did not know where the market was.

  3. C

    Residents had stopped using the clock as a landmark.

  4. D

    It considers timekeeping but ignores the clock's later social uses.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. It considers timekeeping but ignores the clock's later social uses.

D explains the contrast between original and acquired functions.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 108HardPublic Clocks and Shared Time

What conflict is illustrated by the proposal to restart the clock?

  1. A

    The clock cannot be photographed while working.

  2. B

    Restoring its practical function may erase evidence associated with its stopped state.

  3. C

    The market has no address.

  4. D

    Residents disagree about whether time exists.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Restoring its practical function may erase evidence associated with its stopped state.

B identifies the preservation tension in the third paragraph.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 109MediumPublic Clocks and Shared Time

What does the author mean by saying that usefulness is not stable?

  1. A

    Useful objects never change.

  2. B

    Only makers determine how objects are used.

  3. C

    A broken object always becomes a monument.

  4. D

    An object's value and role can change as communities use it differently.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. An object's value and role can change as communities use it differently.

D states the broader conclusion drawn from the clock.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 110HardPublic Clocks and Shared Time

Why does the author mention addresses and photographs?

  1. A

    To show how the clock remained embedded in navigation and memory

  2. B

    To prove that photographs can tell time

  3. C

    To recommend renaming every shop

  4. D

    To establish that markets require clocks

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. To show how the clock remained embedded in navigation and memory

A explains how the examples support the clock's continuing public role.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 11, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Passage or principleOriginal non-fiction passage

Young artists are often told to find an original voice, as though influence were evidence of failure. Yet artists learn by imitating forms, techniques, and decisions made before them. The question is not whether influence exists, but what the artist does with it. A copy may reproduce the visible features of a work without understanding why those features matter. Careful imitation can do the opposite. By rebuilding a composition, a student discovers how balance, sequence, or contrast produces an effect. The exercise becomes inquiry rather than duplication. Originality does not require creating without predecessors. It may arise from placing inherited methods in a new setting, exposing their assumptions, or combining traditions that had remained separate. The demand to appear entirely new can itself produce shallow novelty. Work that refuses to acknowledge influence may conceal its debts while learning less from them.

Question 111MediumImitation and Originality in Art

Which statement best captures the central idea of the passage?

  1. A

    Imitation prevents artistic learning.

  2. B

    Original work can emerge from critically engaging with inherited forms.

  3. C

    A copy is always identical to careful study.

  4. D

    Artists should conceal all influence.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Original work can emerge from critically engaging with inherited forms.

B captures the author's account of influence and originality.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 112HardImitation and Originality in Art

When does imitation become inquiry according to the passage?

  1. A

    When it reveals how artistic choices produce an effect

  2. B

    When it avoids every existing technique

  3. C

    When it reproduces only visible details

  4. D

    When the student claims complete originality

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. When it reveals how artistic choices produce an effect

A follows from the discussion of rebuilding a composition.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 113MediumImitation and Originality in Art

What contrast does the second paragraph draw?

  1. A

    Old art and new art

  2. B

    Students and professional artists

  3. C

    Painting and music

  4. D

    Surface copying and investigation of artistic decisions

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. Surface copying and investigation of artistic decisions

D identifies the paragraph's central distinction.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 114EasyImitation and Originality in Art

Which description best fits the author's tone?

  1. A

    Indifferent and detached

  2. B

    Hostile to artistic tradition

  3. C

    Reflective and corrective

  4. D

    Entirely celebratory

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Reflective and corrective

The author corrects a simplistic opposition between influence and originality.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 115HardImitation and Originality in Art

Which statement would the author most likely support?

  1. A

    Acknowledging influence proves that a work lacks value.

  2. B

    New combinations of inherited methods may be genuinely original.

  3. C

    Novelty is valuable regardless of depth.

  4. D

    Artists can create without any predecessors.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. New combinations of inherited methods may be genuinely original.

B follows from the third paragraph.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Passage or principleOriginal non-fiction passage

For forty years, a schoolteacher recorded the first monsoon rain, the flowering of two trees, and the level of a village pond. The diary was not designed as scientific research. Its entries sometimes said only "heavy rain" or "pond nearly full." Researchers later found the diary useful, but not because every observation was precise. Its strength lay in continuity. The same observer returned to the same places using broadly similar habits. When compared with rainfall records, satellite images, and interviews, the notes helped identify changes in season and landscape. The diary also contained gaps caused by illness and travel. Researchers marked those absences rather than guessing what had happened. A long record gains credibility not by pretending to be complete, but by making its limits visible. Ordinary observation can become evidence when its conditions are understood and when it is tested alongside independent sources.

Question 116MediumWeather Diaries and Ordinary Evidence

What is the passage mainly concerned with?

  1. A

    Why satellite images should replace diaries

  2. B

    Why informal descriptions are always scientific measurements

  3. C

    How a long ordinary record can become useful evidence through context and comparison

  4. D

    How the teacher predicted every monsoon

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. How a long ordinary record can become useful evidence through context and comparison

C captures continuity, limitation, and corroboration.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 117MediumWeather Diaries and Ordinary Evidence

What was the diary's principal strength?

  1. A

    Every entry used exact numerical units.

  2. B

    It contained no gaps.

  3. C

    The teacher was a professional climate scientist.

  4. D

    It offered repeated observations over a long period.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. It offered repeated observations over a long period.

D follows from the emphasis on continuity.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 118HardWeather Diaries and Ordinary Evidence

Why did researchers compare the diary with other sources?

  1. A

    To test and interpret its observations rather than treat them as conclusive alone

  2. B

    To remove all references to the pond

  3. C

    To prove that interviews are always accurate

  4. D

    To fill every gap with an estimate

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. To test and interpret its observations rather than treat them as conclusive alone

A reflects the method described in the second and final paragraphs.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

Question 119HardWeather Diaries and Ordinary Evidence

Why were gaps marked rather than silently filled?

  1. A

    Missing entries establish that no weather occurred.

  2. B

    Acknowledging absence preserves the record's limits and credibility.

  3. C

    Researchers lacked access to writing materials.

  4. D

    Every gap represents travel.

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Acknowledging absence preserves the record's limits and credibility.

B states the principle in the third paragraph.

Source note: Original LexMentor CLAT UG Batch 12, prepared in the official passage-based format.

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Current Affairs including General Knowledge310 questions with explanationsLegal Reasoning310 questions with explanationsLogical Reasoning310 questions with explanationsQuantitative Techniques310 questions with explanations