CBSE Class 10 English Fog Important Questions Set 01

Extract Based Questions

Extract 1

(a). Choose the option with qualities of the cat that Carl Sandburg applies to the fog.
(a) Cats are independent animals, they don’t follow rules, they slip and slide in and out of our lives as they please.
(b) Cats are distrustful of strangers and can be jealous and moody.
(c) Cats are stealthy, moving in slow motion at times and they appear to be moving in a mysterious fashion.
(d) Cats often communicate with a combination of a distinctive sound and body language.
Answer: (c) Cats are stealthy, moving in slow motion at times and they appear to be moving in a mysterious fashion.

(b). Which one/s of the following applies to the given lines?
1. Personification is a literary device where you give an animal, object or natural phenomenon, qualities or abilities that only a human can have.
2. Transferred epithet is a literary device when an adjective usually used to describe one thing is transferred to another.
3. Imagery is the language used by poets and writers to create visual representation of ideas in the minds of the readers.
4. Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear side by side.
(a) 1 and 4
(b) 2 and 3
(c) Only 1
(d) Only 3
Answer: (d) Only 3

(c). Pick the option that shows a cat on its haunches.
(a) A cat crouching low and creeping forward
(b) A cat sitting upright on its hind legs, front paws straight
(c) A cat with an arched back and raised fur
(d) A cat lying stretched out on the ground
Answer: (b) A cat sitting upright on its hind legs, front paws straight

(d). Choose the option that DOES NOT list movement of the fog.
1. It stole in on us like a foot-pad / Somewhere out of the sea and air... —E.J. Pratt
2. A fog drifts in, the heavy-laden / Cold white ghost of the sea— —Sara Teasdale
3. The fog it tricks the eye / The wonder of the veil of white / Under the clear blue sky. —K.C. Cox
4. ...comes gliding, / rolling / in at ground level, / pressing its white featureless face / against... —R.H. Grenville
(a) Option 1
(b) Option 2
(c) Option 3
(d) Option 4
Answer: (c) Option 3

(e). The poet has used short lines to compose the given poem. Choose the option that lists the most appropriate explanation for the same.
(a) By keeping the lines short, the poet keeps the liberty in stepping away from rule, traditional form, logic, or fact, in order to produce a desired effect.
(b) By keeping the lines short, the poet wants the reader to omit some parts of a sentence, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps while reading it out.
(c) By keeping the lines short, the poet wants to introduce ambiguity or contradiction into an otherwise straightforward sentence.
(d) By keeping the lines short, the poet is controlling the pace to make the reader slow down thereby reflecting the slow rolling in of the fog.
Answer: (d) By keeping the lines short, the poet is controlling the pace to make the reader slow down thereby reflecting the slow rolling in of the fog.

Extract 2

(a). In what way does the language used in this poem challenge traditional ideas of what poetry should be?
Answer: The poem is written in free verse and the poet has used enjambment throughout the poem to describe his unfiltered thoughts.

(b). What is the significance of the use of symbols and metaphor to describe the fog in the poem and how does this contribute to the overall mood of the poem? Answer in about 40 words.
Answer: The fog is initially used as a metaphor but later this extends and runs throughout the poem to become personification. The poet has symbolised the fog, the harbour, the city and a cat’s paws to describe different moments as the fog progresses and envelops everything.

(c). Pick out the most unsuitable option that cannot be used to complete the blanks given below.
The fog’s entry is ______ and as ______ it makes an exit.
(a) silent/silently
(b) quiet/ quietly
(c) unobtrusive/unobtrusively
(d) quite/ quietly
Answer: (d) quite/ quietly

(d). Identify the type of imagery used in the lines of the poem.
Answer: Carl Sandburg has used powerful visual imagery in the poem to give an identity to the fog, which acts and moves purposefully.

Extract 3

(a). Consider the use of the present tense throughout the poem. What effect does it have on the reader's experience of the fog's movement?
Answer: The use of present tense in the poem "Fog" makes the fog's movement feel alive and happening right now. It creates a sense of immediacy and connection for the reader, as if they are witnessing the fog's gentle and silent movement in real-time.

(b). Which poetic device is used in the line "and then moves on"?
(a) Metaphor
(b) Personification
(c) Alliteration
(d) Simile
Answer: (b) Personification

(c). Evaluate the following statement in about 40 words and give reasons for your answer. No action takes place in the poem 'Fog'.
Answer: The poet has described the movement of fog in the poem. He has compared the stealthy movement of fog to how a cat moves on its silent paws. The action that takes place in the poem is the movement of fog over the city and harbour. It happens very silently and is unnoticeable to people who are not observing it. Hence, I do not agree with the statement given in the question.

(d). Fill in the blank with one word.
When the poet says that the fog sits on silent haunches and then moves on, the ‘moving on’ of the fog suggests the ______ nature of life.
Answer: temporary

(e). What does the poet mean by little cat feet?
Answer: Little cat feet here represents the silent and careful steps of a cat. The way fog comes, resembles the steps of a cat.

(f). How is the fog looking over the harbour and the city?
Answer: According to the given lines, the fog looks over the harbour and the city by sitting on its haunches like a cat.

Extract 4

(a). “The fog comes on little cat feet”. Which poetic device has been applied to the given phrase?
(a) Simile
(b) Assonance
(c) Alliteration
(d) Metaphor
Answer: (d) Metaphor

(b). Comment on the poet’s use of language in these lines.
Answer: The language is simple and the lines are short and unrhymed. The poet uses an extended metaphor of a cat and everyday words to create a quiet, clear picture of the fog.

(c). Fill in the blank with one word. The fog's arrival sets a tone of ______.
Answer: mystery

(d). What mood is evoked by the arrival of the fog in the poem?
Answer: The arrival of the fog evokes a calm, quiet and mysterious mood.

Extract 5

(a). ‘It’ here refers to ______.
(a) the little cat
(b) feet of the little cat
(c) the fog
(d) the city
Answer: (c) the fog

(b). The figure of speech used here is ______.
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) personification
(d) both (b) and (c)
Answer: (d) both (b) and (c)

(c). It ______ over the harbour and the city.
(a) settles
(b) looks
(c) moves
(d) walks
Answer: (b) looks

Extract 6

(a). The poet compares the fog with ______.
(a) a little cat
(b) haunches
(c) feet of the little cat
(d) city
Answer: (a) a little cat

(b). ‘It sits looking’. ‘It’ here refers to ______.
(a) harbour
(b) fog
(c) cat
(d) wind
Answer: (b) fog

(c). The figure of speech used by the poet is ______.
(a) simile
(b) alliteration
(c) metaphor
(d) both metaphor and personification
Answer: (d) both metaphor and personification

Extract 7

(a). ‘It’ in the above lines refers to ______.
(a) the cat
(b) the harbour
(c) the fog
(d) the city
Answer: (c) the fog

(b). Like a cat it moves ______.
(a) silently
(b) upward
(c) very fast
(d) over harbour and city
Answer: (a) silently

(c). ‘It sits looking ...’ The poetic device used here is ______.
(a) simile
(b) personification
(c) hyperbole
(d) alliteration
Answer: (b) personification

Extract 8

(a). The above lines are an extract from—
(a) The Trees
(b) Dust and Snow
(c) Amanda
(d) Fog
Answer: (d) Fog

(b). From where does the fog come according to the poem?
(a) Nowhere
(b) A polluted city
(c) A crowded harbour
(d) None of the above
Answer: (a) Nowhere

(c). Which figure of speech is evident in the lines above?
(a) Simile
(b) Alliteration
(c) Personification
(d) Oxymoron
Answer: (c) Personification

(d). Which of the following statements is false about the extract given?
(a) The poet has closely observed the nature of the fog.
(b) The fog and cat steal things that come their way.
(c) ‘Fog’ as a poem though short is laden with meanings.
(d) The cat carries the fog.
Answer: (b) The fog and cat steal things that come their way.

(e). What do the fog and the cat metaphorically represent?
(a) Calmness
(b) Meanness
(c) Stealthiness
(d) Curiousness
Answer: (c) Stealthiness

(f). Which fog is the poet hinting at?
Answer: The fog that came over Chicago Harbour while the poet was passing through the city.

(g). What is the significance of a cat here?
Answer: The cat is used to personify the fog and the animal is used as a metaphor for the fog.

(h). What was the poet thinking when he was talking about the ‘little cat feet’?
Answer: The poet was trying to compare the silent manner in which the fog entered the city to that of the cat’s little feet.

(i). What do you think is common between a fog and a cat as thought by the poet?
Answer: The poet has compared the coming of the fog with that of the cat, because both could move in and out of the city silently without people noticing them.

(j). What does the poet actually try to signify by mentioning the fog?
Answer: The fog denotes change. The city was faring quite well that morning until the fog rolled in putting everyone into distress. However it soon passed away, and things became normal. Thus we can say that change or distress in someone’s life is common, and it soon passes away too and makes life normal again.

Extract 9

(a). Who is ‘it’?
(a) Cat
(b) Fog
(c) Crow
(d) None of these
Answer: (b) Fog

(b). What is ‘it’ looking over?
(a) Nothing
(b) Prey
(c) Nest
(d) City
Answer: (d) City

(c). What is important about harbour and city?
(a) A crowded place
(b) A commercial place
(c) ‘It’ hovers over here
(d) Cat hovers around here
Answer: (c) ‘It’ hovers over here

(d). What does ‘sits’ imply?
(a) ‘It’ is sitting and relaxing with other cats
(b) ‘It’ is perching here on a tree
(c) ‘It’ is on guard
(d) ‘It’ hovers over place for some time.
Answer: (d) ‘It’ hovers over place for some time.

(e). The activity of ‘sits’ given to ‘it’ implies the use of—
(a) metaphor
(b) personification
(c) onomatopoeia
(d) rhyme
Answer: (b) personification

(f). As you have read the poem – which one do you think is the metaphor – fog or cat?
Answer: The cat is the metaphor used for the fog.

(g). What looks over the city?
Answer: It is actually a fog that sits and looks over the city, but the poet personifies the fog to be a cat which too sits on a high place gazing on to a city below.

(h). How is the cat symbolizing the fog while looking over the city?
Answer: Like the cat looking over the city the poet felt that the fog too was gazing over the city.

(i). What does sitting of the cat signify?
Answer: The sitting of a cat here in the poem is meant to denote a fog that has suddenly engulfed the city.

(j). What difference is there between a cat sitting and observing over the city and a fog over the city?
Answer: The difference is that a cat surveys the city for a prey, while the fog is a natural phenomenon, after engulfing one place, rolls over to another place.

Extract 10

(a). What is the meaning of ‘haunches’?
(a) Sitting with bent knees
(b) Sleeping and relaxing
(c) Branches of a tree
(d) None of the above
Answer: (a) Sitting with bent knees

(b). Which poetic device has been used in the above extract?
(a) Irony
(b) Repetition
(c) Enjambment
(d) All of the above
Answer: (c) Enjambment

(c). Which statement given below is TRUE about the extract given?
(a) ‘silent haunches’ has a mystery about it.
(b) ‘silent haunches’ implies more to the fog than to the cat.
(c) ‘silent haunches’ implies more to the cat than to the fog.
(d) All of the above
Answer: (b) ‘silent haunches’ implies more to the fog than to the cat.

(d). Whose ‘silent haunches’ is it and why?
(a) Haunches is the cat’s though emphasis is of the fog. Just like a cat, the fog comes and sits silently looking over the harbour.
(b) Haunches means a place to rest, hence it is of the harbour.
(c) The poem is not very clear on the aspect of silent haunches.
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (a) Haunches is the cat’s though emphasis is of the fog. Just like a cat, the fog comes and sits silently looking over the harbour.

(e). What does the last line of the given extract imply?
(a) Nothing is permanent on this earth.
(b) The thoroughfare is never permanent.
(c) Fog stays in a place for a limited time.
(d) The cat is ever on the move.
Answer: (c) Fog stays in a place for a limited time.

Extract 11

(a). What are ‘haunches’?
Answer: Haunches here are meant to be the backsides of a cat.

(b). What does silent haunches signify?
Answer: Silent haunches here denotes the silence associated with a fog sitting over a city like the silent manner in which a cat is perched over a high place.

(c). What moves on?
Answer: According to the poet, like the cat the fog moves too.

(d). What does the poet mean by saying the fog moves on?
Answer: According to the poet, the fog moves on after sometime just like the good and bad times in life is a temporary factor.

(e). According to your studies, which part of the world has this poem been set upon?
Answer: The poem was written by the poet while sitting beside the Chicago Harbour. So it can be said that the poem has been set upon the Chicago Harbour.

Short Answer Questions

Question 1. What does Sandburg think the fog is like?
Answer: Sandburg thinks that the fog is like a cat.

Question 2. How does the fog come?
Answer: The fog comes quietly on little cat feet.

Question 3. What does ‘it’ in the third line refer to?
Answer: ‘It’ in the third line refers to the ‘fog’.

Question 4. Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a ‘cat’.
Answer: No, the poet does not actually say that the fog is like a cat; he uses a metaphor. Three things tell us so: the fog comes ‘on little cat feet’, it sits looking over the harbour and city ‘on silent haunches’, and it ‘then moves on’, just as a cat does.

Question 5. Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat?
Answer: The poet compares the fog to a cat. A cat comes without making any noise and goes away. In the same way, the fog comes and spreads slowly and silently over the harbour and the city.

Question 6. How does the poet make the fog like a living creature?
Answer: The poet uses a metaphor to describe the fog. The fog comes down like a cat, so smoothly and silently. The movement of the fog is similar to a cat’s movement.

Question 7. Stealth is an important aspect of fog. State any two instances from the poem “Fog” that suggest the same.
Answer: The phrase "on little cat feet" depicts the fog's quiet and subtle movement, akin to a cat's stealthy steps. The phrase "It sits looking over harbour and city" further emphasises the fog's stealthy nature by implying that it has the capacity to quietly observe.

Question 8. What emotions or feelings does the poem "Fog" evoke in the readers? How does the poet achieve this emotional response?
Answer: The poem evokes a sense of tranquilly in readers. The poet achieves this by using gentle and soothing imagery, like the fog moving "on little cat feet" and sitting "on silent haunches." The short, simple lines produce a calm rhythm that enhances the peaceful atmosphere and invites readers to connect with the serene nature of the fog.

Question 9. Is fog portrayed as a resident of the city or as an outsider? Support your answer with two such references from the poem “Fog”.
Answer: “Fog” is portrayed as an outsider as it comes to the city, hovers over it for some time, and then returns all of a sudden, like an outsider who visits a city.

Question 10. What is the significance of the phrases 'on little cat feet' and 'on silent haunches' in the poem?
Answer: The poem "Fog" compares the fog to a cat by using the phrases "on little cat feet" and "on silent haunches" to describe the fog's calm and beautiful movement. These vivid descriptions create a calming atmosphere and emphasise the fog's gentle and mysterious nature, making the poem more captivating and intriguing for readers.

Question 11. How does the use of personification in the line "It sits looking over harbour and city" create a vivid image and add depth to the poem?
Answer: The personification in the phrase "It sits looking over harbour and city" lends the fog human characteristics, giving the impression that it is a living thing. This gives the reader a clear picture of the fog looking around with curiosity and gives the poetry more depth by giving the fog emotions and actions.

Question 12. Comment, in detail, on the significance of the closing phrase of the poem-“moves on”.
Answer: The closing phrase “moves on” shows that after fog stays for a little period of time over the city, it suddenly disappears, leaving the city silent. Just like an outsider or a visitor, fog moves out of the city as soon as it is done hovering over it.