hss.iitd.ac.in PhD Entrance Exam English Question Paper : Indian Institute of Technology Humanities & Social Sciences

Organization : Indian Institute of Technology
Department : Humanities and Social Sciences
Exam : PhD Entrance Examination
Subject : English
Document Type : Previous Year Question Paper
Website : https://hss.iitd.ac.in/
Download Model/Sample Question Paper :
General : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/23715-General.pdf
English : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/23715-Eng.pdf

IITD PhD English Entrance Exam Question Paper

Total Marks: 100;
Duration: 2 hours

Related : Indian Institute of Technology Humanities & Social Sciences PhD Entrance Exam Sociology Question Paper : www.pdfquestion.in/23710.html

Section A

** 30 MARKS ONLY
** In this section, you are required to read a passage and answer a few questions based on it.
** Answer any ONE of the TWO questions (Question 1 or Question 2) given below : 30 Marks only

Test On General Comprehension

Question 1 :
Passage :
“Philosophic contemplation, when it is unalloyed, does not aim at proving that the rest of the universe is akin to man. All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self, but this enlargement is best attained when it is not directly sought. It is obtained when the desire for knowledge is alone operative, by a study which does not wish in advance that its objects should have this or that character, but adapts the Self to the characters which it finds in its objects.

Please answer the following:
1a.What kind of “pursuit of knowledge” is said by Russell to contribute to the “enlargement of Self” in the above passage? (Approximately 50 words)
1b.How does Russell contrast “Knowledge of Self-assertion” with “Knowledge as Contemplation” in the above passage? (Approximately 50 words)

Question 2 :
Passage :
One of the underrated pleasures of living in a city is anonymity —guaranteed not by the fact that you look the same as everyone else but that no one really cares that you look different. And a truly cosmopolitan city is one in which everyone looks different.

I have been fortunate that for the 30 or so years that I have lived in Bangalore I have not had to deal with the fact that I look different. Save for occasional reminders of my Chineseness, the city has given me enough space to be who I am — cinephile, bibliophile, foodie — without having to bother too much about questions of identity.

The need of the hour is to contain this spillover effect. Politicians of all shades and the media have to recognise the vital role that they play in diffusing the situation rather than inflaming it. Rumours and riots have always been insidiously linked to each other and we have no choice but to deal with the situation before us with utmost care and responsibility. Centuries of immigrant struggles have won us the right to say that a city can belong to us even if we do not belong to the city. And if we do not care of what belongs to us, we will run the danger of losing it.
(This is an article written by Lawrence Liang that appeared in the Hindu on August 18, 2012).

Please answer the following : (Approximately 50 words for each answer).
2a How did the events of August 2012 change Liang’s perception of Bangalore? Please take the entire piece into account before writing.
2b The writer suspects that the host-guest metaphor may not be suitable for a city claiming cosmopolitan status. What might he mean by this? Can you explain in your own words?
2c What sort of danger seems most pressing and terrible to the writer?

Section B

Candidates: 70 MARKS

Literature

Answer any TWO of the following questions. Each question is worth 35 marks.
Total Marks: 70

1. Using any ONE novel or short story and its film adaptation(s), discuss the differences between the novelistic and the filmic representation of time and space. Please provide a thoroughgoing analysis of both literary text and filmic text, avoiding plot summary or impressionistic descriptions of plot or scene.

2. What are the distinctions between low and high literature? Discuss with reference to at least two texts you have studied.

3. Pick a novel/play in English of your choice and discuss it with reference to its form and style. How do its formal qualities shape its theme, meaning or message? Please note that you do not need to provide a summary of the text. We would like simply to see a discussion of the relationship between form and content in a literary work of your choice.