English Language Literature Interview Questions & Answers

Question 1. What Is Onomatopoeia ?

Answer :

It means making a word by using a sound that suggests the object.

Question 2. What Is Epic ?

Answer :

Epic is a long narrative poem.

Question 3. Name Two Of The Poems Termed As “ Epic ” ?

Answer :

Mahabharatha and Iliad.

Question 4. What Is Epic Narrative ?

Answer :

Some poems which seem to be epic in style and narration are epic narratives .

Question 5. What Is Simple Narrative ?

Answer :

It is direct telling of a simple story in the form of poem.

Question 6. Who Is The Author Of Malgudi Days ?

Answer :

R.K.Narayan

Question 7. Which Politican Of Indiawrote The Novel “ The Insider ” ?

Answer :

P.V.Narasimha Rao.

Question 8. Who Ever The Three Sisters Who Became Famous English Novelists ?

Answer :

The Bronte sisters.

Question 9. How Was The Vice Chancellor Of Bangalore University. He Was An Eminet Poet And Won Jnanapeeth Award. Who Is He ?

Answer :

V.K. Gokak

Question 10. Who Wrote The Famous Book “ The Mother ” ?

Answer :

Maxim Gorky.

Question 11. What Is Etymology ?

Answer :

It is branch of linguistics dealing with the tracing of a word or words back as far as possible to find out the origin.

Question 12. What Is An Ode ?

Answer :

It is a long poem written on a public occasion. The expression will be as addressing some person or personified thing.

Question 13. Who Wrote The Just So Stories ?

Answer :

Rudyard Kipling.

Question 14. Who Wrote The Autobiography “ Against The Grain ” ?

Answer :

Boris Yeltsin.

Question 15. Who Is A “ Dog In The Manger ” ?

Answer :

Some one who keeps what he does not want in order that no one else shall enjoy it.

Question 16. Which Two Languages Are Regarded As The Origin Of The English Language ?

Answer :

Greek and Latin

Question 17. In The English Language What Does The Linguistic Term Hybrid Mean ?

Answer :

A word that is composed of parts from two or more languages. Eg automobile

Question 18. What Is Verse Essay ?

Answer :

This is a type of poem that provokes thought on a topic of interest.

Question 19. What Are The Two Types Of Verse Essay ?

Answer :

They are didactive verse and satires.

Question 20. What Is Lyric ?

Answer :

Lyric is a short poem. It expresses feelings and moods.

Question 21. What Are The Name Of The Essay Written By The Great Poet P.b.shelley That Caused Him To Be Thrown Out Of Oxford University ?

Answer :

Necessity of atheism.

Question 22. Who Wrote “ Chithirapavai ”, The Jnanathapith Award Winner Of 1975 ?

Answer :

P. V. Akilandan

Question 23. What Was The Name Of The Nine Year Old Girl Who Wrote The Book ‘ The Young Visitors ’ ?

Answer :

Daisy Ashford.

Question 24. Which Book Helped To Start A Civil War ?

Answer :

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Question 25. What Is Op Art ?

Answer :

It is a form abstract art, which tries to produce optical illusions.

Question 26. Which Is The Famous Novel Still Considered To Be The Greatest ?

Answer :

 ‘ War and peace ’ by Leo Tolstoy.

Question 27. What Is A Grangerized Book ?

Answer :

A book with some blank pages, which can be illustrated with prints of pictures, cut out of other books.

Question 28. What Is Epigram ?

Answer :

An epigram is a short poem. It does not exceed more than six lines. It express a witty climax.

Question 29. What Is Dramatic Poetry ?

Answer :

Some dramas contain much poetry as in the dramas of shakespeare. Such a method of writing poetry is dramatic poetry.

Question 30. What Is Dramatic Lyric ?

Answer :

A poem in which the poet speaks in the voice of another personality is a dramatic lyric.

Question 31. Who Is The Author Of The Book “ Death Of A City ” ?

Answer :

Amrita Preetam.

Question 32. What Is Ballad ?

Answer :

It is poem of simple language and is presented with music accompanied to dance.

Question 33. What Is A Dictionary ?

Answer :

A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed words in a language with etymologies, pronunciations, definitions etc.

Question 34. Who Is Author Of The Banned Book “ Workshipping False Gods ” ?

Answer :

Arun Shourie

Question 35. In Printing The Right Hand Page Of A Book Is Called Recto. What Is The Left - Hand Page Called ?

Answer :

Verso.

Question 36. What Is The Concluding Part Of A Liberary Work Called ?

Answer :

An Epilogue

Question 37. Which Sanskrit Word Has “ Veda ” Been Derived From ?

Answer :

Vid, meaning to know.

Question 38. What Is A Lexicon ?

Answer :

A lexicon is the specical vocabulary of a particular author, field of study etc.

Question 39. Who Is Lexicographer ?

Answer :

A person who writes dictionaries is a lexicographer.

Question 40. Who Won The Prestigious Onassis Award Of Greece For One Of Her Plays ?

Answer :

Manjula Padmanabha.

Question 41. Which British Prime Minister Won Nobel Prize For Literature ?

Answer :

Winston Churchill

Question 42. Arundhati Roy Won Booker Prize For Her First Book. Which Is That Book ?

Answer :

The god of small things.

Question 43. Who Is The Author Of The Controversial Book “ It Takes A Village ” ?

Answer :

Hillary Clinton.

Question 44. Name The Indian Language In Which Early Buddhist Literature Was Written?

Answer :

Pali

Question 45. What Is Lexicography ?

Answer :

The act of writing or compiling words and their meanings for the creation of a dictionary is lexicography.

Question 46. Which Is The Mother Language Of Malayalam ?

Answer :

Tamil

Question 47. Which Italian Poet Said, “ Nature Is The Art Of God ” ?

Answer :

Dante

Question 48. What Is Poem Of Fourteen Lines Called ?

Answer :

Sonnet

Question 49. Who Is The American Writer Won The Pulitzer Prize For Her Novel ‘ The Good Earth ’ ?

Answer :

Pearl S. Buck

Question 50. Who Is The American Author Of The Famous Novel “ Portrait Of A Lady ” ?

Answer :

Henry James.

Question 51. Who Is The First Recipient Of The Prestigious Jnanapeeth Award ?

Answer :

Sankara Kurup

Question 52. Who Is The First Indian To Win Nobel Prize ?

Answer :

Ravindranath Tagore.

Question 53. What Are The Names Of The Three Musketeers In Alexander Dumas’s Book ?

Answer :

Athos, porthos and aramis.

Question 54. What Is The Name Of Gulliver In Swift’s Book Gulliver’s Travels ?

Answer :

Lemuel

Question 55. Who Is The First Kannada Poet Who Won Jnanapeeth Award ?

Answer :

Dr. K.V. Puttappa

Question 56. Who Is The Miserly Hero Of Charles Dickens’s Book ‘a Chritmasc Carol ’ ?

Answer :

Ebenezer Scrooge

Question 57. Which Ancient Dravidean Language In India Is Still Used ?

Answer :

Tamil

Question 58. Which Dictionary Of Malayalam - English Type Is Considered As The First Authoritative And Authentic One ?

Answer :

It is Gundert Nikhantu ( dictionary ) prepared by Dr. Herman Gundert.

Question 59. What Is Orthography ?

Answer :

Any method of speeling is termed by this word.

Question 60. What Is Transliteration ?

Answer :

It is way of writing or speeling a word using the alphabet of another language.

Question 61. How Many Writers In Kannda Have Received Jnanapeeth Award Till 1998 ?

Answer :

Six

Question 62. Who Was The Creator Of The Character “ Tarzan ” ?

Answer :

Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Question 63. The Author Of Ashtadhyayi ?

Answer :

Panini

Question 64. Shakespear’s Last Play ?

Answer :

The tempest.

Question 65. When Was First Crossword Puzzle Published ?

Answer :

In 1913 in new york sunday world.

Question 66. Which Is The Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper In The World ?

Answer :

Post och Inrikes Tidningar, since 1645 in sweden.

Question 67. What Is An Abbrevation ?

Answer :

An abbrevation is a shortened form a long word or a group of words.

Question 68. What Is Slang ?

Answer :

Slang is an informal use of language and it is short - lived. It is generally a use of language related to some work, way of life etc.. In slang, words are coined and new meanings are given to words.

Question 69. In Which Century Did Omar Khayyam Write His “ Rubaiyat ” ?

Answer :

Omar Khayyam wrote “ Rubaiyat ” in eleventh century.

Question 70. He Was A Doctor Turned Detective Writer, Finally He Gave Up His Pratice And Became A Full Time Writer. Who Is He ?

Answer :

ISir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Question 71. “ What Is The Name ” ? Who Said This ?

Answer :

Shakespeare.

Question 72. Who Is Author Of “ Endymion ” ?

Answer :

Keats wrote “ endymion ” at the age of 24.

Question 73. Who Wrote The Famous Hindi Poem ‘ A Mere Vatan Ki Logo ’ ?

Answer :

Pradeep.

Question 74. She Was Called The Night Angle Of India. She Was A Poet Besides A Politican Mention Her Name?

Answer :

Sarojini Naidu

Question 75. Sappho Was A Greek Poetess. She Lived In About 600 B.c. On Which Island Did She Live ?

Answer :

Lesbos.

Question 76. A Dog Is One Of The Characters Of The Shalespearean Play. Name The Play ?

Answer :

Two gentlemen of verona.

Question 77. His Own Is The Pseudonym Of The British Author. Who Is The Author ?

Answer :

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Question 78. Men Are April When They Woo, December When They Wed. This Is A Dialogue In One Of The Plays Of Shakespeare. Name The Play ?

Answer :

As you like it.

Question 79. What Is Dialect ?

Answer :

Dialect is the form of a spoken language peculiar to a region, community, social group, occupational group etc.

Question 80. What Is Colloquial Language ?

Answer :

Colloquial language is the informal use of language in which words, phrases, idioms and everything is designated the form of informal speech and writing.

Question 81. What Is Coinage ?

Answer :

Coinage is used for a word or expression invented.

Question 82. Who Is A Grammarian ?

Answer :

A grammarian is a specialist or expert in grammar.

Question 83. What Is Length Of The Longest Word ?

Answer :

It consists of 100 letters.

Question 84. His Works Demonstrate His Brilliant Wit. He Won Nobel Prize For Literature In 1925. Who Was He ?

Answer :

George Bernard Shaw.

Question 85. Pearl S. Buck Won Nobel Prize In 1938. What Are Her Earlier Name ?

Answer :

Pearl Sydenstricker

Question 86. Mention One Of The Famous Novels Of Jane Austen ?

Answer :

Pride and Prejudice

Question 87. In Which Country Did The Famous Dramatic Genre Called Commedia Dell Arte Originate ?

Answer :

Italy

Question 88. Who Coined The Word “ Wive ” And What Does It Mean ?

Answer :

Shakespeare coined this term and it means to marry.

Question 89. The Pen Name Of English Novelist Who Wrote “ Animal Farm ” Is George Orwell. What Is The His Original Name ?

Answer :

Eric Arthur Blair.

Question 90. Which Country Does Aeschylus Belong To ?

Answer :

Greece.

Question 91. Which First Play Written By George Bernard Shaw ?

Answer :

Widowers Houses.

Question 92. Who Is Known As The Father Of English Poetry ?

Answer :

Geoffrey Chaucer.

Question 93. “ Water Water Everywhere, Not A Drop To Drink ”. Who Wrote These Famous Words In One Of His Poems ?

Answer :

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Question 94. Where Does The Longest Word Come From ?

Answer :

The book Finnegans wake by James Joyce.

Question 95. How Long Is The Word Second To The Longest One ?

Answer :

45 letters long.

Question 96. What Is The Length Of The Word Third To The Longest ?

Answer :

29 letters long.

Question 97. What Is The Length Of The Forth And Fifth Words Compared To The Longest One ?

Answer :

28 letters and 27 letters respectively.

Question 98. What Is The Prize Given Every Year To The Author Of The Best American Book For Children ?

Answer :

Newberg Medal

Question 99. Which Country Has The Most Languages ?

Answer :

India

Question 100. Which Country Has More Daily Newspapers ?

Answer :

United States of America.

Question 101. The Author Of “ Black Beauty ” Was A Campaigner Against Cruelty To Horses. What Was Her Name ?

Answer :

Anna Sewell.

Question 102. Who Is The Author Of The Kannada Novel “ Parva ” The Story Related To Mahabharatha ?

Answer :

S.L. Byrappa

Question 103. Name The First Woman Jnanapeeth Award Winner In India ?

Answer :

Ashapoorna Devi

Question 104. Which English Dramatist And Poet Was Born At Stratford - Upon - Avon In 1564 ?

Answer :

William Shakespeare.

Question 105. Shakespear Of India ?

Answer :

Kalidasa 

Question 106. Who Invented The Fictional Detective, Hercule Poirot ?

Answer :

Agatha Christie. 

Question 107. William Sydney Porter Was A Famous American Short Story Writer. What Pen Name Did He Use ?

Answer :

O’Henry

Question 108. What Is Blank Verse ?

Answer :

It is a sequence of Iambic pentametres. But this is unrhymed.

Question 109. What Is Quatrain ?

Answer :

A quatrain is a stanza of four line in a poem. They can be rhymed or unrhymed.

Question 110. What Is Terza Rima ?

Answer :

It is Iambic pentametre ryhming aba beb cdc ded etc.

Question 111. Which Is The Autobiography Of Adolf Hitler ?

Answer :

Mein Kampf ( My life ).

Question 112. Which Are The Two Long Poems Written By William Shakespeare ?

Answer :

They are “ Venus and Adonis ” and “ The Rape of Lucrece ”. 

Question 113. Who Wrote This Epitaph For His Own Grave ‘ Casta Cold Eye, On Life And Death, Horesman Pass By ’ ?

Answer :

W.A. Yeats.

Question 114. Who Wrote The Book “ Life Divine ” ?

Answer :

Aravinda.

Question 115. How May Sonnets Are There In Shakespeare’s Credit ?

Answer :

There are one hundred and fifty four sonnets in his credit. 

Question 116. Which Literary Work Of Salman Rushdhi Recently Provoked The Leaders Of Muslim Sect In Iran ?

Answer :

MSatanic Verses.

Question 117. What Is A Sonnet ?

Answer :

A poem of fourteen Iambic pentametre lines is a sonnet.

Question 118. What Is Elizabethan English ?

Answer :

English language used during the period of elizabeth I of england is called elizabethan english.

Question 119. What Does Victorian English Mean ?

Answer :

The english language used during the period of queen Victoria.

Question 120. What Is The Name Of The Villainous Pirate In Treasure Island By R.l. Stevenson ?

Answer :

Long John Silver.

Question 121. Who Was The Boy Brought Up By Wolves In Rudyard Kiplings “ The Jungle Book ” ?

Answer :

Mowgli

Question 122. What Is The Anthology Of 400 Tamil Poems On Valour By Various Poets Of Sanga Age Called ?

Answer :

Purananooru

Question 123. Which Composer Wrote Rhapsody In Blue ?

Answer :

George Gershwin

Question 124. Who Holds The Records For Fastest Speed In Hindi Shorthand ?

Answer :

Ajay Gosh, a chief reporter of rajya sabha, has created a national record in hindi shortland with a speed of 230 wpm. His achievement has been entered in the limca book of records.

Question 125. Widely Spoken Language ?

Answer :

English

Question 126. What Is American English ?

Answer :

The english language spoken by the americans is termed as american english. 

Question 127. What Is Known As English Sonnet ?

Answer :

Shakespearean sonnet is called english sonnet.

Question 128. What Are Triplets ?

Answer :

Lines rhyming in sets of three in any metre are termed triples.

Question 129. What Is Doggerel ?

Answer :

This term is used to identify verse of loose and irregular measure.

Question 130. What Is Heroic Couplet ?

Answer :

Lines rhyming in pairs and are the iambic pentametre lines are termed by this word.

Question 131. What Is The Biggest Dictionary In The World ?

Answer :

“ Britanica of english language ”.

Question 132. Which Is The Most Widely Used Dictionary Of American Language ?

Answer :

Webster’s Dictionary.

Question 133. What Was The Psuedonym Used By H.h.munro ?

Answer :

Saki ( 1870 - 1960 ) he began his career writing political satires for the ‘ west minister gazette ’.

Question 134. What Is Postscript ?

Answer :

It is a part added to a letter after the signature.

Question 135. Who Wrote The Great Treasury Of Tales In Sanskrit Called Kathasarithsagara ?

Answer :

Somadeva

Question 136. What Was The Name Of Sindbad The Sailor’s Enormous Bird ?

Answer :

The roc

Question 137. Which Literary Character Said “ If Everybody Minded Their Own Business The World Would Go Round A Great Deal Faster Than It Does ” ?

Answer :

The duchess in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol.

Question 138. In A Play Or Story, What Is Peripeteia ?

Answer :

A sudden change of fortune, unexpected reversal of circumstances, eg., the down fall of antonio in ‘ The merchant of venice ’ .

Question 139. What Is A Parenthesis ?

Answer :

A word or a pharse inserted into a sentence, usually within bracket or between commas or hypens. It adds to the information of description but without it the sentence would still get grammatically complete.

Question 140. What Is A Holograph ?

Answer :

A single word which describes a document written in the handwriting of the person.

Question 141. Who Is A Ghost - Writer ?

Answer :

A person who writes a book, speech or an article on behalf of another. The credit is being given to the person for whom it is written.

Question 142. Who Is A Freelance Writer ?

Answer :

A writer who is not on the taff, or on contract of any particular organisation and may take assignments as he wishes.

Question 143. What Is Gobbledygook ?

Answer :

The use of long, involved and complicated word where simple ones would do eg. using the word “ terminological inexactitude ” where the simple wordlie would surface.

Question 144. What Is An Epigram ?

Answer :

A short poem or a verse, or a pointed statement on a subject ending in a witty thought.

Question 145. From Which Language Does The Word “ Algebra ” Come ?

Answer :

Arabic - al - jabr - which means the reduction.

Question 146. By What Persian Name Is The Essential Oil Of Flowers Used In Perfumery Known ?

Answer :

Attar - a word with the persian derived from arabic.

Question 147. What Is The German Word For Germany ?

Answer :

Deutschland.

Question 148. How Did The Word In “ Juggernaut ” Come Into The English Language ?

Answer :

It is corruption of jugganath, one of the forms of lord vishnu.

Question 149. What Does The Name “ Eskimo ” Mean ?

Answer :

Eater of raw flesh.

Question 150. What Is The Origin Of The Word Robot ?

Answer :

It comes from the Czechoslovakian word ‘ Robota ’ meaning compulsory or forced labour.

Question 151. How Was The Name ‘ Bihar ’ Formed ?

Answer :

From ‘ Vihara ’ which is the term of buddist monastery.

Question 152. Who Is The Author Of The Remark, The Difference Between Journalism And Literature Is That Journalism Is Unreadable And Literature Is Not Read ?

Answer :

Oscar wilde.

Question 153. What Is The “ Nadu ” In Tamil Nadu ?

Answer :

Nadu

Question 154. ‘ Good Grief Is The Main Title Of The Biography Of A Popular Cartoonist. Whose Biography Is It ?

Answer :

Charles M. Schulz, creator of peanuts.

Question 155. In South Africa What Is The Literal Meaning Of The Word ‘ Apartheid ’ ?

Answer :

‘ Apartness ’ and the term is used form racial segregation and discrimination. 

Question 156. The Word ‘ Tip ’, The Sense Of A Gratuity For A Service Rendered, Is An Abbreviation. For What Did The T-i-p Stand ?

Answer :

To insure prompyness. A small sum was put into a box or given in coffee shop from old days. This money was given to insure prompt service.

Question 157. Of Which Word Is ‘ Bus ’ An Abbreviation ?

Answer :

“ Omnibus ” - in latin it means for all.

Question 158. From Where Did The Word ‘ Academy ’ Originate ?

Answer :

From the greek word ‘ Akademeia ’ or ‘ Akademia ’ , the name of the gymnasium or school founded by plato.

Question 159. In The Word “ Petroleum ”, To What Does The “ Petro ” Refer ?

Answer :

Stone rock, from the greek word “ petros ” ( stone ) are “ petra ” ( rock ).

Question 160. Which Foreign Poet Is So Far The Only Honorary Fellow Of The Sahitya Academy ?

Answer :

Leopold Segar Senghor.

Question 161. What Is Latin Word From Which The Word Salary Originated ?

Answer :

‘ Salarium ’ which was the money paid to roman soldiers.

Question 162. Which Is The Longest Poem In The World ?

Answer :

The mahabharata an ancient epic has been labelled the longest poem in the world because of the fact that it 220,000 lines in length covering a total of 5,400 pages spread over 18 large volumes. This stupendous work was written between the years 400 B.C and 150 B.C.