TestUstad

All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

Every English Literature question in the bank, across all chapters, each with the correct answer and a written explanation. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

3,192 questions · page 70 of 160

1381. In its general sense it refers to the creative capacity of language users to produce an endless number of new sentences, in contrast to the communication systems of animals is called ?

  • A. Productivity
  • B. Langue
  • C. Paradigmatic
  • D. Parole

Explanation: Productivity is the ability of language users to create and understand an unlimited number of new sentences.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Productivity

1382. __________ is term introduced by CHOMSKY to describe 'the actual use of language in concrete situations'

  • A. Performance
  • B. Parole
  • C. Paradigmatic
  • D. N. O. T

Explanation: For Chomsky, performance is the actual use of language in real situations, whereas competence is the speaker's underlying knowledge of…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Performance

1383. The system of communication within a community.

  • A. Langue
  • B. Parole
  • C. Paradigmatic
  • D. N. O. T

Explanation: Langue is the shared system of signs and rules that exists within a speech community.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Langue

1384. A pair of terms introduced by Noam CHOMSKY in 1965 to describe native speakers' intuitions about the grammatical correctness, or otherwise, of sentences.

  • A. Both b and c
  • B. Diachrony/Synchrony
  • C. Acceptable/Unacceptable
  • D. N. O. T

Explanation: Acceptable and unacceptable describe whether sentences accord with native speakers' grammatical intuitions in Chomskyan linguistics.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Acceptable/Unacceptable

1385. The study of language and mind, which has greatly advanced our understanding of the way in which we acquire language is_________?

  • A. Sociolinguistics
  • B. Psycholinguisctics
  • C. Biolinguistics
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Psycholinguistics examines the relationship between language and mental processes, including language acquisition, production, and…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Psycholinguisctics

1386. Who argues that language is a unique evolutionary development of the human species and distinguished from modes of communication used by any other animal species ?

  • A. Ferdenand de Sassure
  • B. Albert Chomsky
  • C. Noam Chomsky
  • D. Noah Webster

Explanation: Noam Chomsky argues that human language is a distinctive evolutionary capacity, unlike the communication systems of other animals.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Noam Chomsky

1387. There are ______ consonant sounds in English IPA.

  • A. 22
  • B. 23
  • C. 24
  • D. 25

Explanation: Standard English phonology is usually described as having 24 consonant phonemes, including stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, the…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: 24

1388. There are ______ vowel sounds in English IPA.

  • A. 19
  • B. 20
  • C. 21
  • D. 22

Explanation: The conventional British-English inventory has 20 vowel sounds: 12 pure vowels and 8 diphthongs.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: 20

1389. Noam Chomsky was born in _________?

  • A. December 7, 1928
  • B. December 8, 1928
  • C. December 9, 1928
  • D. December 10, 1928

Explanation: Noam Chomsky was born on 7 December 1928, in Philadelphia. The date distinguishes option a from the otherwise closely grouped alternatives.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: December 7, 1928

1390. The theory of Biolinguistics is given by__________?

  • A. Noam Chomsky
  • B. Ferdenand De Sassure
  • C. Steven Pinker
  • D. Enoch Powell

Explanation: Biolinguistics, which studies language as a biological capacity of the human mind, is strongly associated with Noam Chomsky.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Noam Chomsky

1391. Transformational-generative grammar is a broad theory used to model, encode, and deduce a native speaker's linguistic capabilities, was developed by_________?

  • A. Noam Chomsky
  • B. Ferdenand De Sassure
  • C. Leon Battista Alberti
  • D. Enoch Powell

Explanation: Noam Chomsky developed transformational-generative grammar to explain the underlying knowledge that enables speakers to produce and…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Noam Chomsky

1392. Chomsky developed Transformational-Generative Grammar in________?

  • A. 1950
  • B. 1951
  • C. 1952
  • D. 1953

Explanation: The theory emerged in the early 1950s and is conventionally dated to 1950 in this question’s framework.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: 1950

1393. Competence is a term to describe the knowledge possessed by native users of a language which enables them to speak and understand their language fluently was introduced by________?

  • A. Sassure
  • B. Enoch Powel
  • C. Noam Chomsky
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Chomsky separated linguistic competence, a speaker’s internal knowledge of language, from performance, its actual use in speech.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Noam Chomsky

1394. _______ is a term denotes historical perspective for studying language ?

  • A. Synchrony
  • B. Diachrony
  • C. Both a and b
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Diachrony studies language through historical change over time, whereas synchrony examines a language at a particular point.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Diachrony

1395. Reflections on Language is a book written by Noam Choamsky in__________?

  • A. 1975
  • B. 1976
  • C. 1977
  • D. 1988

Explanation: Chomsky’s Reflections on Language was published in 1975. It presents his ideas about language, mind, and the limits of linguistic…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: 1975

1396. The Syntactic Structures is a book written by Noam Choamsky in__________?

  • A. 1957
  • B. 1958
  • C. 1959
  • D. 1960

Explanation: Syntactic Structures was published in 1957 and became a landmark work in modern linguistics.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: 1957

1397. The study of relationships between two or more languages and the investigation whether the common languages have a common ancestor is called___________?

  • A. Psycho linguistics
  • B. Sociolinguistics
  • C. Comparative linguistics
  • D. None of theseTake Sociology Courses

Explanation: Comparative linguistics compares languages and investigates whether they developed from a shared ancestor.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Comparative linguistics

1398. The trickster figure is usually_______________?

  • A. Amoral (neither good nor evil)
  • B. Christian
  • C. Evil
  • D. None of these

Explanation: A trickster is generally amoral rather than simply good or evil: the figure may help or harm others according to personal motives.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Amoral (neither good nor evil)

1399. In the poem "When Malindy Sings," Paul Laurence Dunbar uses irony and caricature to "signify" on white assumptions about African Americans. What does Henry Louis Gate's term "signify" mean ?

  • A. Giving words double meaning that appear differently to white and black readers.
  • B. Fixing words with very specific meanings.
  • C. Making sure that what is written makes sense.
  • D. Lying to mislead the reader.

Explanation: In Gates's account, signify is an indirect, often ironic form of verbal play in which words carry layered meanings for different…

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: Giving words double meaning that appear differently to white and black readers.

1400. What do you mean by Diction ?

  • A. choice of words for writing
  • B. choice of characters
  • C. choice of rhythms
  • D. choice of simile and metaphor

Explanation: Diction means a writer's choice and use of words, including their level, tone, and connotations.

Read the full explanation →
Correct answer: choice of words for writing
Start Free English Literature Practice MCQs Test