TANSEN TEST

The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the
most appropriate answer to each question.
We should appreciate natural language and the messy qualities that
give it so much flexibility and power, and that make it so much more
than a simple communication device. Its ambiguity and lack of
precision allow it to serve as an instrument of thought formulation,
of
experimentation and discovery. We don't have to know exactly what we
mean before we speak; we can figure it out as we go along. Or
not. We can talk just to talk, to be social, to feel connected, to
participate. At the same time natural language still works as an
instrument
of thought transmission, one that can be made extremely precise and
reliable when we need it to be, or left loose and sloppy when we
can't spare the time or effort.
When it is important that misunderstandings be avoided, we have access
to something that artificial language inventors have typically
disregarded or even disdained: 'mere' conventional agreement, a shared
culture in which definitions have been established by habit. It is
convention that allows us to approach a high level of precision in
academic and scientific papers or legal documents. Of course, to
benefit
from the precision, you must be 'in on' the conventional agreements on
which those modes of communication depend. That's why when
specialists want to communicate with a general or lay audience – those
who don't know the conventions – they have to rely on techniques
such as slowing down, answering questions, explaining terms,
illustrating with examples. Convention is a faster, more efficient
instrument
of meaning transmission, as long as you take the trouble to learn the
conventions.
When inventors of artificial languages try to bypass convention – to
make a language that is 'self-explanatory' or 'universal' – they
either
make a less efficient communication tool, or take away too much
flexibility by over-determining meaning. When they try to take away
culture, the place where linguistic conventions are made, they have to
substitute something else – like thousands of grammar rules.
There are types of communication, such as the 'language' of music,
that may allow us to access some kind of universal meaning or
emotion, but give us no way to say, 'I left my purse in the car.'
There are unambiguous systems, such as computer programming
languages, that allow us to instruct a machine to perform a certain
task, but we must be so explicit about meanings we can normally trust
to inference or common sense that it can take hours or days of
programming work to achieve even the simplest results. Natural
languages
may be less universal than music and less precise than programming
languages, but they are far more versatile, and useful in our
everyday lives, than either.
Ambiguity, or fuzziness of meaning, is not a flaw of natural language
but a feature that gives it flexibility and that, for whatever reason,
suits our minds and the way we think. Likewise, the fact that
languages depend on arbitrary convention or cultural habit is not a
flaw but a
feature that allows us to rein in the fuzziness by establishing
agreed-upon meanings at different levels of precision. Language needs
its
'flaws' in order to do the enormous range of things we use it for.


1

Choose the combinations that correctly match the type of language with
one of its features.
i] The language of music – universal
ii] Artificial language – thousands of grammar rules
iii] Computer programming languages – based on common sense



1) [i] and [ii]
2) [i] and [iii]
3) [ii] and [iii]
4) [i], [ii] and [iii]


2

According to the passage, the inventors of artificial languages would
agree with which of the following statements?

1) Culture is vital as a basis for language.
2) It is important for language not to be universally understood.
3) Conventional agreement is useful as it allows a high degree of
precision in language.
4) None of the above

3

Choose a suitable title for this passage.

1) Natural vs. Artificial Language
2) Conventions in Natural Language
3) The Requisite Flaws of Natural Language
4) Ambiguity and Convention: Flaws or Features?



The passage given below is followed by a set of four questions. Choose
the most appropriate answer to each question.

Science and a painter's vision agree: the human eye must reinvent
reality for itself every single moment. But what reality?

Early on, Monet alternated between city parks and streets. Before
long, in collaborations with Pierre-Auguste Renoir that forged a new
style, he painted weekend getaways. Later, with more time, fame, and
cash, he became the perfect tourist, traveling up the Seine and to
London. Eventually he just bought and lavishly transformed whatever
land he wished to paint.

One can easily identify Monet with the middle class on holiday, just
as a century before flower painting graced another leisure class, the
aristocracy. At best, like Manet, he may force viewers' attention on
their own guilty pleasures. At worst, he may succumb to them.

I think that either concern is correct-but largely beside the point.
Monet does focus art on pleasure, but distinct from the pleasures of
everyday life. He neither glorifies nor assaults the property owner;
he sets himself apart. When he paints an urban train station, a cloud
of smoke hides equally the power of the engine and the fatigue of the
commuter or crew. His indifference and his immersion in modernity
assert the artist's independence, even superiority.

One of my favorite early works shows men unloading a ship. Lean,
graceful silhouettes, poised at intervals on thin black ramps, appear
to move back and forth in a steady rhythm. Faced with the same scene,
a wealthy tourist might have tuned them out entirely. A more overt
social critic could actually have missed the dark, poignant beauty of
their endless labor. Monet is interested in the preconditions of any
critical perception.

Ordinary consumers hardly ever put in an appearance in Monet's
paintings. Except for the infamous tongue lickings, his increasingly
rare human subjects are his motley friends. The Art Institute reunites
the surviving fragments of an early Luncheon on the Grass. Like a more
aggressive rendition by Manet, this one takes on Titian. In place of
the mythical figures of the Renaissance, Monet stuck the Impressionist
circle. He makes the artist an emblem of modern life.

The avant-garde was not about criticism so much as abstention. The
Salon des Refusés, the exhibition that launched it all, was a refusal
on both sides. The artist stood apart from society, sharing some of
its values, violating others, searching for the origins of all values.
Such idealism makes less and less sense for Postmodernism, but it was
a judgment to be feared.

Monet combined self-assertion, generalization, and escapism. In the
process, he defined a new, powerful avant-garde. In this full career
retrospective, we can see it emerge step by step. The very first room
documents the discovery of the Impressionist brushstroke.

Four rooms later comes the turn from single scenes to the
underpinnings of human vision. Black paint and people all but vanish,
while even subject matter loses its uniqueness. A station or a rock
face must be seen in a series, for all different weathers and times of
day. Monet abandons the pretense of taking it all in within an
instant. He begins a dozen canvases at once, returning to each one
when the light strikes.

Finally, the act of observation subsumes even the observer. Water and
sky extend to the painting's edge. Accuracy of vision remains, but a
viewer has nowhere at all to stand. A cryptic, incomplete horizon
keeps one from interpreting the scene apart from the seeing. Now too,
Monet owns all the property he paints.

4

Through this passage, the author attempts to do which of the following?
a The author attempts to show that Monet evokes a world of color
from themes that never before existed within it.
b The author attempts to show Monet's development, increasingly
isolated from the avant-garde he helped so to create.
c The author attempts to show that in Monet, for the first time, the
artist became independent of worldly forms.
d The author attempts to show that Monet did copy appearances, but he
transformed both copying and seeing into a creative act.

5

According to the author, which of the following describes an activity
that Monet indulged in?
a Of being an avid traveler
b Of transcribing what one sees
c Of being only in the company of one's friends
d Of doing whatever one wishes to do

6

The author would agree with which of the following?
a Monet's each painting offers a new technical challenge,
startlingly overcome.
b Good art should stress the conjunction of visual imagining with the
artist's original vision.
c Monet elevated subject and canvas together above everyday things.
d Artistic vision should mean imagining rather than mirroring.


7

The passage has most likely been taken from?
a An article on postmodernist artists
b A review of an art show
c An essay on Monet
d A critical analysis of Monet


8

Three out of four sentences in the options, when correctly sequenced,
form a coherent paragraph. Which of the following sentences does
not fit into the context?
1] Two songs can have the same tempo but feel very different.
2] Songs with fast tempos tend to be regarded as happy, and songs with
slow tempos as sad.
3] Although this is an oversimplification about the complex effect of
music, it holds true in a remarkable range of circumstances and across
many cultures.
4] The tempo of music is a major factor in conveying emotion.

9

In the following question, there are sentences that form a paragraph.
Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct
in
terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and
logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option.
A.It was not so long ago that we got around by using maps that folded.
B.Occasionally, if we wanted a truly global picture of our place in the world,
C.we would have pulled shoulder-dislocating atlases from shelves.
D.The world was bigger back then. Experience and cheaper travel have
rendered it small,
E.but nothing has shrinked the world more than digital mapping.


1) A, B & D
2) A, B & C
3) B, D & E
4) C, D & E


10

Each question has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been
deleted. From the given options, choose the sentence that
completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The notion that each story has a natural length has long been
championed by writers and ignored by publishers. In traditional
publishing,
certain lengths are commercially viable. If a draft of a book exceeds
these limits, the author will more than likely be asked to cut it. The
flip
side of the coin is worse, where elegantly crafted stories are puffed
up to meet a page count. Good luck getting that perfect 30,000-word
novella published unless you're highly valued by your publisher, and
even then it's difficult.


1) When it comes to traditional publishing, size matters.
2) There is no place for quality short fiction in the cut-throat world
of publication.
3) Fortunately, the ebooks industry is set to remove the burden of
length from writing.
4) Even excellent work finds itself on the chopping block, just
because it runs over a predetermined length


11

Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph. From the
given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. The task may be harder than she imagines.
B. It is the Marmite of the meat counter - dark, salty and you either
love it or hate it.
C. But black pudding is gaining in popularity, with a little help from
celebrity chefs, manufacturers and even government ministers.
D. I love the stuff, but my children are squeamish eaters and the very
notion of a "blood sausage" brings about their swift exit from the
kitchen.
E. The environment minister, Liz Truss, recently listed the culinary
concoction of blood, salt and rusk among the "must-eat" British foods
that a new generation should be introduced to.

a BCEAD
b CEADB
c EADBC
d ADBCE


12

Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph. From the
given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. That said, understanding and doing aren't the same thing.
B. "I've a lot of available options as a playwright and that comes
from knowing a lot of plays," he says.
C. Theatre academic and playwright Dan Rebellato believes seeing a
wide range of work opens up one's possibilities.
D. Even seeing the breadth of playwrights' work encourages him to experiment.
E. You can see why a critic, so accustomed to judging, might struggle to start.
a CBADE
b ECDBA
c EBCDA
d CBDAE

13

Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph. From the
given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. Amani Yahya - billed as Yemen's first female rapper - is still
thousands of miles away.
B. On top of this, her visa to attend the UK festival has been denied.
C. With her homeland on the brink of civil war, Yahya, along with her
family, has had to flee to Saudi Arabia, where the kingdom's strict
rules mean her fledging musical career has come to an abrupt halt.
D. "I was so excited to be coming to the UK," says the 22-year-old,
who started rapping in her bedroom while at high school.
E. It's day three of the Liverpool Arab Arts festival, but one of its
performers hasn't yet been to a single event.
a ACDBE
b EACBD
c EACDB
d ACBDE

14

Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph. From the
given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. But under the Public Order Act 1986 the home secretary has no power
to ban static demonstrations.
B. The small New Dawn party has planned a protest in Golders Green for 4 July.
C. The Golders Green Together campaign, launched on Monday by the
London Jewish Forum and the anti-fascist organisation Hope Not Hate,
plans to spark feelings of solidarity in the area.
D. It will take place on a Saturday - the Jewish sabbath - in an area
where about 40% of the population are Jewish.
E. Tessa Jowell, one of the contenders to become Labour's London
mayoral candidate, has asked Theresa May to prevent the march from
going ahead and 11,000 people have signed an online petition to that
effect.
a BDCEA
b BDEAC
c EACBD
d CDBAE

15


Four sentences are given below, labelled (a), (b), (c) and (d). Of
these, three sentences need to be arranged in a logical order to form
a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the one
that does not fit the sequence.
a The victims, crammed into a sealed, coffin-like wooden case,
squawked as they struggled to breathe.
b The hiss of gas, released by a red lever turned by Arie den Hertog
in the back of his white van, signaled the start of the massacre.
c This is the most effective method of goose control.
d Then, after barely two minutes, they fell silent.