Comprehension
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, and he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he claims dominion over all animals. He sets us to work, returns only the bare minimum to keep us from starving, and keeps the rest for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilizes it, and still, not one of us owns more than our bare skin. You cows, look at yourselves—how many thousands of gallons of milk have you produced this past year? And what has become of it, milk that should have nurtured strong calves? Every drop has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you laid, and how many of those ever hatched into chicks? The rest have gone to have you laid. And you, Clover, where are the four foals you bore, who should have supported and comforted you in your old age? Each was sold at just a year old—you will never see them again. For all your labour in the fields and your four confinements, what have you gained except bare rations and a stall?
Even the lives we do live are cut short, denied their natural span. I do not grumble, for I am among the fortunate. I am twelve years old and have borne over four hundred children. Such is the natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the end. You young porkers sitting before me, each of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year. This is the fate that awaits all of us—cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone. Even horses and dogs share no better end. Boxer, the very day your great muscles fail you, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will slit your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds. And the dogs, when old and toothless, are tied with a brick and drowned in the nearest pond. (356 words)
[Extracted with edits from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”]
Question: 1

Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage?

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Strong emotional language signals a critical and somber tone.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • Detached and neutral
  • Critical, somber, and resentful, evoking both awareness and outrage
  • Humorous and light-hearted
  • Admiring and celebratory
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The Correct Option is B

Approach Solution - 1

Asking what effect the speaker is trying to produce in the listeners, rather than just cataloguing individual words, points to the same answer from a different direction.

  1. The speaker lists specific losses, milk, eggs, foals, and specific violent fates, the knacker's knife, drowning, aimed straight at named animals in the room.
  2. This kind of direct, escalating detail is meant to make the audience feel wronged and angry about their treatment, not calm, amused, or admiring of it.

A speech built to provoke that reaction has a critical, resentful tone, matching only the option that names both criticism and outrage.

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Approach Solution -2

Another reliable check is to imagine how the intended audience, the animals being addressed, would actually feel hearing this speech, and match the tone to that reaction.

  1. Detached and neutral: a neutral speech would not single out cows, hens, and Clover by name with specific personal losses, that kind of direct appeal is not neutral in effect.
  2. Critical, somber, and resentful: hearing that your milk went to 'enemies,' your foals were sold within a year, and your friend Boxer will be boiled down for foxhounds is designed to provoke anger and grief, exactly a critical, resentful reaction.
  3. Humorous and light-hearted: none of these details, sold foals, slaughter, drowning, would land as funny to the animals hearing them.
  4. Admiring and celebratory: there is nothing here for the animals to admire or celebrate, every detail describes a loss or a threat.

The reaction this speech is built to produce, outrage and sorrow at mistreatment, matches only the critical, somber, resentful option.

So the correct answer is Critical, somber, and resentful, evoking both awareness and outrage.

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Question: 2

The speaker frequently contrasts animals’ work with human gain. This literary technique is best classified as:

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When exploitation is described symbolically, it points to allegory, not irony or biology.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • Allegory of class exploitation
  • Hyperbole for comic effect
  • Irony about farm management
  • Metaphor for animal biology
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The Correct Option is A

Approach Solution - 1

One simple test for allegory versus a single figure of speech is whether the same comparison repeats across multiple examples or appears just once.

  1. The contrast between animal labour and human gain repeats across cows (milk), hens (eggs), and Clover (foals), not just once but as a running pattern through the whole speech.
  2. A repeating pattern like this, standing consistently for one bigger idea, workers producing value that is taken by those in control, is what defines an allegory, not a one-off metaphor, an isolated exaggeration, or a single ironic moment.

Because the comparison is sustained across several examples rather than appearing once, the correct label is allegory of class exploitation.

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Approach Solution -2

It also helps to check the pattern in this passage against what the source material as a whole is built to do.

  1. Allegory of class exploitation: Animal Farm, from which this passage is adapted, is a well-known political allegory in which the farm animals stand for different classes and factions in a society, and the humans stand for an exploiting ruling class. The specific contrast here, animal labour taken by humans who give almost nothing back, is a direct expression of that larger allegorical design.
  2. Hyperbole for comic effect: the source work uses this kind of contrast to make a serious political point, not to generate comedy.
  3. Irony about farm management: the work is not primarily a satire of management practices, its target is a broader social and political system.
  4. Metaphor for animal biology: the source material is not concerned with biology as its subject, it uses animal facts as a vehicle for a political argument.

Since the contrast fits the sustained political allegory the passage is built on, the correct option is the one naming that allegory.

So the correct answer is Allegory of class exploitation.

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Question: 3

Who is a “knacker”?

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A slaughterer kills animals for meat; a knacker disposes of animals not fit for meat.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • A slaughterer
  • A trader whose business is disposal of dead and unwanted animals
  • A person whose business is disposal of dead or unwanted animals especially those whose flesh is not fit for human consumption
  • Harness-maker
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The Correct Option is C

Approach Solution - 1

A fast way to compare near-identical options is to list what details the full, correct definition needs, then see which option is missing which piece.

  1. Needed detail 1: the person's job is disposal, not slaughter of healthy livestock.
  2. Needed detail 2: the animals are specifically unfit for human consumption.

'A slaughterer' is missing both details. 'A trader whose business is disposal of dead and unwanted animals' gets detail 1 but is missing detail 2. 'A person whose business is disposal of dead or unwanted animals especially those whose flesh is not fit for human consumption' includes both details in full. 'Harness-maker' is unrelated to either detail. Only the third option is complete, matching Boxer's fate of being processed for foxhound feed rather than human food.

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Approach Solution -2

Substituting each option back into the passage's own sentence about Boxer is a quick way to see which definition actually fits the scene being described.

  1. 'Jones will sell you to a slaughterer of healthy meat animals': this does not fit, Boxer is being boiled down for foxhound feed, not turned into meat for people, so a plain slaughterer definition misses the point.
  2. 'Jones will sell you to a trader in dead and unwanted animals': closer, but this makes it sound like buying and selling stock, when the passage is really describing processing Boxer's body afterward.
  3. 'Jones will sell you to someone whose business is disposing of dead or unwanted animals unfit for human food': this fits the sentence perfectly, Boxer's body is going to be processed and turned into food for foxhounds, not people, which is exactly this definition's specific condition.
  4. 'Jones will sell you to a harness-maker': this makes no sense in context, a harness-maker has no reason to buy a horse being sold off for slaughter.

Only the full, precise definition slots naturally into the passage's own description of Boxer's fate.

So the correct answer is A person whose business is disposal of dead or unwanted animals especially those whose flesh is not fit for human consumption.

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Question: 4

The repeated reference to slaughter, drowning, and the knacker in the passage primarily implies to

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When a passage uses strong imagery involving violence or suffering, the purpose is usually emotional impact and moral criticism.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • Provide a detailed account of animal husbandry
  • Evoke emotional outrage and highlight the brutality of exploitation
  • Suggest that animals are naturally subservient
  • Indicate that humans value animals
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The Correct Option is B

Approach Solution - 1

Each repeated image is aimed at a specific listener in the room, which is a useful angle for checking the options.

  1. The knife is aimed at the young pigs listening right there. Drowning is aimed at the dogs' eventual fate. The knacker is aimed specifically at Boxer, named directly in the speech.
  2. Naming exact fates for exact listeners is not neutral information (ruling out husbandry) and is not a sign of humans valuing them (ruling out that option); it is meant to make each listener feel the threat personally.
  3. Making animals feel their own coming fate this vividly is also not an argument for natural subservience, if anything it argues against accepting that fate quietly.

Aimed this personally at the listeners, the repetition is built to provoke outrage at the brutality awaiting them, not to inform, reassure, or suggest they should accept it.

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Approach Solution -2

Since this speech's larger goal is to convince the animals to rise up, it helps to read the repeated violent images as a build toward that persuasive goal rather than as description for its own sake.

  1. Provide a detailed account of animal husbandry: a persuasive call to action would not pause for calm, technical explanation, and this passage does not read that way at all.
  2. Evoke emotional outrage and highlight the brutality of exploitation: a speaker trying to move an audience to act needs them to feel the injustice sharply, so stacking one violent fate after another, milk taken, eggs taken, foals sold, then knife, drowning, and the knacker, is exactly how a speech builds toward outrage strong enough to spur action.
  3. Suggest that animals are naturally subservient: this would undercut the speech's own goal, no one urges rebellion by arguing their audience naturally deserves to submit.
  4. Indicate that humans value animals: this would also undercut the goal, a speaker trying to provoke resistance would not depict the very people he opposes as caring and fair.

Given that the speech is building toward a call to resist, the repeated brutal imagery serves to evoke outrage at exploitation, which is the only option that fits that persuasive purpose.

So the correct answer is Evoke emotional outrage and highlight the brutality of exploitation.

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