Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow…
2021
Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
The richness of her childhood experience came from living a life, which embraced tradition on one hand and exposure to the world of change, of questioning and questing on the other. Her father’s progressive ideas, his involvement in bringing about change in the restricted Brahminical society, his encouragement of Kamaladevi to follow her own inclinations and yet give her an opportunity to study in a school and participate in all the social functions with which he was involved, as a Senior Revenue Official, gave her confidence. The example of her grandmother, who lived the life of a scholar and fearless woman, who travelled alone without any fear of any social disapproval or adverse consequences, was a fitting example to Kamaladevi, who later travelled all over the world, often risking her life.
Girjabai, her mother was a dominant influence throughout her childhood and youth who set an example by overcoming all difficulties without a murmur. She discarded meaningless social customs and observances. She championed the cause of women. Her conviction was that a woman must educate herself, so that she could be independent and her insistence that Kamaladevi should not only study, but also participate in cultural activities and sports, enriched her daughter’s life.
Kamaladevi went with her mother to Seva Sadan and saw her exhorting women even older than her to become literate. She heard her read to them from the newspapers, magazines and extracts from books by social reformers and nationalists, followed by discussions and saw their attitudes changing. Girjabai’s love for music was shared by Kamaladevi and she was encouraged to learn North Indian and Carnatic music. This love of music was a great source of peace for Kamaladevi in her later years.
'living a life, which embraced tradition,'
Which part of speech is the underlined word 'which'?
- A.
Adjective
- B.
Adverb
- C.
Pronoun
- D.
Determiner
Attempted by 5 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun already introduced in the sentence and takes on that noun’s grammatical role. Relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that) additionally introduce a dependent clause describing the noun they refer back to, and can themselves act as the subject or object inside that clause. A determiner, by contrast, always attaches directly in front of a noun to specify it and cannot stand alone as a clause’s subject.
Application: Trace the underlined word through the sentence:
Locate the underlined word’s position: in “living a life, which embraced tradition,” the word “which” begins a clause immediately after the comma.
Find what “which” refers back to: it refers to the noun “life”, just mentioned before the comma.
Determine “which”’s job inside its own clause: it is the subject of the verb “embraced” — “which embraced tradition” means “[the life] embraced tradition”.
Because “which” stands alone as the subject of a verb — rather than sitting directly in front of a noun — it is functioning as a pronoun.
Cross-check: Test each near-miss category against the same word:
An adjective would need to sit directly before the noun it describes (as in “a rich life”); “which” does not modify any noun in this position.
An adverb would need to modify the verb “embraced” itself (as in “fully embraced”); “which” does not describe how the action was performed.
A determiner would need to sit directly in front of a noun (as in “which life”); here “which” is followed immediately by the verb “embraced”, with no noun attached to it.
Since “which” stands alone as the subject of its own clause, standing in for “life”, it functions as a relative pronoun — matching the officially released CTET 2021 Paper II answer key, which selects Pronoun for this item.