CLAT English Language Previous Year Paper Analysis 2020-23

Are you preparing for CLAT 2024 or CLAT 2025? Are you in quest for the CLAT English language previous year paper analysis? Do you want to know the dominant genres, prominent types of questions, and source of passages asked in the CLAT English language previous years paper? Then you have come to the right place.

With the change in the pattern of CLAT by the Consortium of NLUs, subject -wise previous year paper analysis for you has become one of the most crucial tasks. With the subject wise previous year paper analysis, you can acknowledge yourself regarding different aspects of each section of the CLAT exam paper.

Thousands of students aspire to get admission to the top-notch law school in India by cracking the CLAT exam. Clearing the CLAT examination is no joke. It cannot be cleared by sheer luck. To get admission to the most premier law schools in the country, you need to prepare proper strategy, planning, and determination.

So, subject-wise previous paper analysis is a must for you. Here, we will do CLAT english language previous year paper analysis for you to save your time and that you can utilise your valuable time in preparation for your CLAT examination.

CLAT English Language – Pattern and Importance

The total number of questions in CLAT has been reduced from 150 to 120. There will be 120 questions for a total of 120 marks. The CLAT English Language section will consist of approximately 22-26 questions, i.e., roughly about 20% of the paper. For each correct answer, 1 mark will be allotted, and for each incorrect answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted.

Subject	Number of Questions likely to be Asked	Approximate Weightage (in %)
English Language	22-26 questions	20% of the paper (approx.)

This section will consist of about 450 words. These passages will be extracted from historically or contemporarily significant fiction and non-fiction writing, and will be such that in an about 5-7 minutes, a 12th standard student may be able to read.

You will be required to demonstrate your language and comprehension skills through a series of questions that will follow each passage.

These questions will test your ability to:

Read and understand the passage’s main thesis as well as any arguments and opinions that are explored or presented in the passage;
Make assumptions and deductions based on the passage.
Summarise the text;
In the passage, evaluate and contrast the various arguments or points of view presented.
Recognize the meaning of different terms and expressions in relation to the passage’s context.

Ever since the change in the pattern of the CLAT examination, there has been increase in the significance of the CLAT english language section. With the emphasis on the passages, each section of the CLAT paper except quantitative techniques will be based on passages. A series of questions will be asked from the passages, thereby making the English language section more essential for you.

Also Read: Topic Wise Reading Comprehension For CLAT Exam

CLAT English Language Paper Analysis – 2020

Dominant Genre:

In the year 2020, literature, current affairs, newspaper editorials, and environmental science were the dominant genres. Passages were asked from these aspects.

Passage Topics:

Following are the topics that were asked in the passages:

Climate Change
Social Networking
Fiction
Philosophical
Crime
Telemedicine

Prominent Questions:

Vocabulary, Main idea, and inference-based questions were the prominent questions that were asked. Apart from that, contextual questions and questions about the tone of the passage were also asked.

Passage Asked

The uncovering of a private Instagram group styling itself ‘Bois Locker Room‘ featuring students from some prominent South Delhi schools discussing their female classmates in disturbingly violent ways including plans of sexual assault is a wakeup call for parents and authorities. The group formed last month or so kicked up a social media storm when screenshots surfaced. Police have questioned a 15 year old boy to identify other members. Similar incidents involving minors discussing rape/ gang rape of classmates have been reported on other digital platforms like WhatsApp too, across cities. The exchanges in the now deleted group require precise responses from police, parents and school authorities around whom the fates of the juveniles involved now revolve. It is important to recognise where a teenager spouting objectification of his female counterparts is coming from. People of all ages, not just children, are retreating deeper into the recesses of their online avatarsduring this lockdown. But the heavy technological investment in children‘s education, including flooding them with personal smartphones, has not been matched by serious conversations centred on responsible internet usage and equality. Young, impressionable minds absorb the normalisation of rape from the adults around them. When what they see, read and hear is toxic masculinity, that is what they perform. That‘s what peer pressure becomes about. But if this youthful role play of macho dominance receives timely counselling, it can prevent far graver adult offences. Schools and parents have a critical role to play in educating children on gender equality. Digital platforms which claim to have zero tolerance towards content that violates community standards must also explain why such abuses go undetected, despite boasts about Artificial Intelligence-driven technologies to stop them. They should play a more proactive role in stopping the sexual harassment of real people in the guise of virtual sport.

[Editorial Published in Times of India, dated 6 May, 2020]

1. What is the Central Idea being conveyed by the Author in the passage above?

(a) Modern Social Networking platforms must take the lead in regulating young people from using these platforms for sexual abuse.

(b) It is significant to educate children and youngsters about gender equality.

(d) None of the above.

2. As per author, why is this incident a wake-up call for parents?

(a) Because even the parents are indulged heavily in social networking platforms.

(b) Because parents have failed to stop their children from committing such blunders.

(d) Because the parents have failed in educating their children regarding fair internet usage and have simply invested in the technology driven education of their children.

3. According to the author, in order to understand the root cause of such insensitive incidents, it is important to:

(a) Understand and examine the kind of socialisation process these children are exposed to.

(b) Adopt Artificial Intelligence driven technologies.

(d) All of the above.

4. On the basis of your reading of the passage, which of the following statements can be inferred?

(a) Sexual Offenses can be reduced by timely counselling from parental and quasi-parental authorities i.e., parents and teachers respectively.

(b) If digital platforms implement a Zero Tolerance Policy towards such a menace, sexual offenses can be completely stopped.

(d) All of the above.

5. Which of the following words are synonymous with the word ‘Spouting‘?

(a) Pouring (b) Streaming

Also Read: CLAT 2023 English Language Syllabus With Important Topics

English Language Paper Analysis – 2021

Dominant Genre:

In the year 2021, newspaper editorials, polity, economics, short story, current affairs were the dominant genres. Passages were asked from these aspects.

Passage Topics:

Following are the topics that were asked in the passages –

Fiction
Planning
Vaccination
Democracy
Tech-Education
Job Generation

Prominent Questions:

Tone of the passage, Vocabulary, and Inference based questions were the prominent questions that were asked.

Passage Asked

Read an extract from A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle:

“I rang the door-bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own.

With hardly a word spoken, Sherlock Holmes waved me to an armchair. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.

“Watson, you did not tell me that you intended to go into harness.”

“Then, how do you know?”

“I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most

clumsy and careless servant girl?”

“My dear Holmes,” said I, “this is too much. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I have changed my clothes, I can’t imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out.”

“It is simplicity itself,” said he; “my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts.

Obviously, they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scared round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.”

In fiction, detectives like Holmes are usually portrayed as people with exceptionally brilliant minds. They possess the rare skill to see and analyze what ordinary people can’t. They have incredible abilities to infer, deduce, induce and conclude.

Then, there is G.K. Chesterton’s fictional catholic priest, Father Brown who relies on his extraordinary power of sympathy and empathy that enable him to imagine and feel as criminals do. He explains, “I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was.”

Sherlock finds the criminal by starting from the outside. He relies on science, expe rimental methods and deduction. On the contrary, Father Brown uses varied psychological experiences learned from those who make confessions of crime to him. He relies on introspection, intuition and empathy.

There is yet another set of detectives like those created by writers like Agatha Christie. Her Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot is a story-teller who draws information from the stories that others tell. He patiently listens to numerous accounts of what happened, where it happened and how it happened. He listens for credibility and ambiguity; he identifies why and how the pieces of the jig-saws don’t fit together. Ultimately, he uncovers the truth.

1. From the passage, it can be inferred that

(a) Watson is Holmes’ mentor.

(b) Earlier, Watson used to live with Holmes.

(d) Watson shares all his personal matters with Holmes.

2. It is evident that for solving cases, Father Brown relies largely on

(a) His own sympathetic and empathic thought process about criminals.

(b) A sympathetic approach towards various people’s opinion on the case to be solved.

(d) All the above.

3. For the three detectives mentioned in the passage, which one of these would be nonessential for solving criminal cases?

(a) Forgiving nature (b) Sensitivity

4. In order to solve cases, Poirot uses the art of ______ the narratives that he has been told.

(a) Building a fantasy based on

(b) Empathizing with all the characters in

(d) Detecting and analyzing the missing links in

5. The word incorrigible is the antonym of

(a) Habitual (b) Unperformable

Also Read: CLAT 2024 Most Important Topics

English Language Paper Analysis – 2022

Dominant Genre:

In the year 2022, The passages were a bit lengthy in comparison to passages asked in 2021. The dominant genres were history, non-fiction, autobiography, current affairs and philosophy.

Passages were asked from these aspects.

Passage Topics:

Following are the topics that were asked in the passages:

Public Speaking
Real life story
Medical
Cryptocurrency
Historical advancement
Animals

Prominent Questions:

In 2022, inference-based questions, Tone of the passage, and vocabulary were the prominent questions that were asked.

Passage Asked

The modern animal rights movement, which originated in the 1970s, may be understood as a reaction to dominant emphases within science and religion (principally, though not exclusively, Christianity). When the Jesuit Joseph Rickaby wrote in 1888 that “Brute beasts, not having understanding and therefore not being persons, cannot have any rights” and that we have “no duties of charity or duties of any kind to the lower animals as neither to stocks and stones”, he was only articulating, albeit in an extreme form, the moral insensitivity that has characterized the Western view of animals.

That insensitivity is the result of an amalgam of influences. The first, and for many years the most dominant, was the

“other worldly” or “world denying” tendency in Christianity, which has, at its worst, denigrated the value of earthly things in comparison with things spiritual. Traditional Catholicism has divided the world into those beings that possess

reason and therefore immortal souls, and those that do not. Christian spirituality has not consciously been at home with the world of non-human creatures-either animal or vegetable. Classic accounts of eternal life as found in Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, or John Calvin make little or no reference to the world of animals. Animals, it seems, are merely transient or peripheral beings in an otherwise wholly human-centric economy of salvation.

The second idea-common to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-is that animals, along with vegetables and minerals, exist instrumentally in relation to human beings; they are made for human beings, even belong to human beings, as resources in creation. This idea predates Christianity and is found notably in Aristotle, who argues that “since nature makes nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made them for the sake of man”. This idea, largely unsupported by scripture, was nevertheless taken over by Aquinas, who conceived of creation as a rational hierarchy in which the intellectually inferior existed for the sake of the intellectually superior.

Such instrumentalism, which features rationality as the key factor dividing human beings from “brute beasts,” has in turn buttressed the third influence, namely the notion of human superiority in creation. Human superiority need not, by itself, have led to the neglect of animal life, but when combined with the biblical ideas of being made “in the image of God” and God’s preferential choice to become incarnate in human form, some sense of moral as well as theological ascendancy was indicated. As a result, Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, have been characterized historically by an overwhelming concern for humanity in creation rather than an egalitarian concern for all forms of God-given life.

That humans are more important than animals, and that they self-evidently merit moral solicitude in a way that animals

cannot, has become religious doctrine. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that “it is . . . unworthy to spend money on them [animals] that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery”.

These influences have in turn enabled and justified the scientific exploration of the natural world and specifically the subjection of animals to experimentation. Francis Bacon pursued his scientific investigations in the belief that humanity

should “recover that right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest”. Rene Descartes famously likened the movements of a swallow to the workings of a clock, and maintained that “There is no prejudice to which we are more

accustomed from our earliest years than the belief that dumb animals think”.

1. Jesuit Joseph Rickaby’s articulation on animals may be termed as:

(a) Eco-centric view of animals

(b) Anthropocentric view of animals

(d) Androcentric view of animals

2. According to the author, how did Christianity contribute to insensitivity of the West towards animals?

(a) It denigrated the value of earthly things in comparison with spiritual things.

(b) It divided the world into beings with and without reason.

(d) All the above.

3. Which of the following is closest to the meaning of the word ‘instrumentalism’ as used in the passage?

(a) Pragmatism

(b) Idealism

(d) None of the above

4. Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?

(a) Western philosophy and science are both under the influence of religion.

(b) Western philosophical views on animals have been influenced by religious notions about them.

(d) Some of the scientific views on animals have been influenced by religious notions about them.

5. It may be inferred from Rene Descartes’ view that

(a) It as irrational to assume that animals have awareness and some mental capacities.

(b) Animals are automata or they act mechanically.

(d) Both (a) and (b)

Also Read: CLAT Previous Year Question Papers PDF (2019 to 2023)

English Language Paper Analysis – 2023

Dominant Genre:

In the year 2023, all the passages were based on Indian context. The dominant genres for the year 2023 were history, newspaper editorials, short stories, and psychology.

Passage Topics:

Following are the topics that were asked in the passages:

Fiction
History
Internet
Groundwater
English Language
Nature

Prominent Questions:

In the year 2023, most of the questions were vocabulary-based, followed by main idea-based questions.

Passage Asked

I grew up in a small town not far from Kalimpong. In pre-liberalization India, everything arrived late: not just material things but also ideas. Magazines — old copies of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic —arrived late too, after the news had become stale by months or, often, years. This temporal gap turned journalism into literature, news into legend, and historical events into something akin to plotless stories. But like those who knew no other life, we accepted this as the norm. The dearth of reading material in towns and villages in socialist India is hard to imagine, and it produced two categories of people: those who stopped reading after school or college, and those — including children — who read anything they could find. I read road signs with the enthusiasm that attaches to reading thrillers. When the iterant kabadiwala, collector of papers, magazines, and rejected things, visited our neighbourhood, I rushed to the house where he was doing business. He bought things at unimaginably low prices from those who’d stopped having any use for them, and I rummaged through his sacks of old magazines. Sometimes, on days when business was good, he allowed me a couple of copies of Sportsworld magazine for free. I’d run home and, ignoring my mother’s scolding, plunge right in — consuming news about India’s victory in the Benson and Hedges Cup….

Two takeaways from these experiences have marked my understanding of the provincial reader’s life: the sense of belatedness, of everything coming late, and the desire for pleasure in language. …. Speaking of belatedness, the awareness of having been born at the wrong time in history, of inventing things that had already been discovered elsewhere, far away, without our knowledge or cooperation, is a moment of epiphany and deep sadness. I remember a professor’s choked voice, narrating to me how all the arguments he’d made in his doctoral dissertation, written over many, many years of hard work (for there indeed was a time when PhDs were written over decades), had suddenly come to naught after he’d discovered the work of C.W.E. Bigsby. This, I realised as I grew older, was one of the characteristics of provincial life: that they (usually males) were saying trite things with the confidence of someone declaring them for the first time. I, therefore, grew up surrounded by would-be Newtons who claimed to have discovered gravity (again).

There’s a deep sense of tragedy attending this sort of thing — the sad embarrassment of always arriving after the party is over. And there’s a harsh word for that sense of belatedness: “dated.” What rescues it is the unpredictability of these anachronistic “discoveries” — the randomness and haphazardness involved in mapping connections among thoughts and ideas, in a way that hasn’t yet been professionalised.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from “The Provincial Reader”, by Sumana Roy, Los Angeles Review of Books]

1. What use was the kabadiwala (wastepicker) to the author?

(a) The kabadiwala bought up all her magazines.

(b) The kabadiwala’s stock of books and magazines were of interest to the author.

(d) The author ordered books online which the kabadiwala delivered.

2. What according to the author is essential about the experience of being a ‘provincial reader’?

(a) Belatedness in the sense of coming late for everything.

(b) Over-eagerness.

arrived in the provincial location.

(d) None of the above

3. Why did the author feel a sense of epiphany and deep sadness?

(a) Because the things that felt special and unique to the author, were already established and accepted thought in the wider world.

(b) Because the author was less well-read than others.

(d) All the above

4. What does the word ‘anachronistic’ as used in the passage, mean?

(a) Rooted in a non-urban setting

(b) Related to a mofussil area

(d) Opposed to prevailing sensibilities

5. Which of the following options captures the meaning of the last sentence best?

(a) Though the author feels provincial, she pretends to be from the metropolis.

(b) Though the author feels dated in her access to intellectual ideas, her lack of metropolitan sophistication lets her engage with the ideas with some originality.

(c) Though the author is aware of the limitedness of her knowledge, she is confident and can hold her own in a crowd. She also proud of her roots in the small town.

(d) All the above

Also Read: How to Deal With Negative Marks in CLAT? Expert Tips

CLAT 2024

From the CLAT english language previous year paper analysis, you must have got an idea, the types of questions that are asked and what kind of topics you need to read for CLAT english language section. While preparing for the English language section of the CLAT 2024 and 2025 exam, the following are the important topics or types of questions that you can focus on:

Author’s Tone
Tone of the passage
Meaning of the phrase
Synonyms and Antonyms
Idioms and phrases
Vocabulary and word meanings
Author’s argument
The central theme of the passage
Statement supporting the passage

Source for Preparing English Language

For english language section, you can read articles from:

Newspapers – The Economic Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The New York Times, the Hindustan Times
Newspapers Editorials
Books and Magazines – Fiction and Non-Fiction, Abstracts from books and magazines
Websites – The Aeon, Swaddle, and American Literature

Tips for CLAT English Language

To enhance your preparation in CLAT english language, you can follow, the below mentioned tips:

Simplify the passage by summarizing each paragraph in the passage. Try to split or divide the passage naturally and then make a summary of each paragraph and relate them with the theme of the passage.
Do not use external information and make sure that you confine yourself to the information given in the passage.
Be an active reader by constantly asking why and how the author has written. Try to understand the main element or context of the passage.
Try to identify the author’s opinion. Once you can identify the author’s point of view, you can understand the tone of the passage or the purpose of the arguments or statements mentioned by the author in the passage.
You should balance speed with quality of comprehension. Enhancing your skills in reading comprehension for CLAT is an art. You should read the passage with speed, but not at the cost of accuracy.
Make reading a habit. Habitual reading passages will enhance your reading skills.
Increase your vocabulary. Whenever you read a passage and come across a new term, make sure that you learn its meaning. This will enhance your vocabulary.

You can view CLAT english language previous years questions papers for free by registering in our portal: https://courses.lawpreptutorial.com/clat

Overview:

The CLAT English previous year paper analysis is one of the key factors in your preparation for the most prestigious CLAT examination. After CLAT English previous year paper analysis, you can make your own strategy for your preparation.

CLAT english language is one such section that, by regularly practising you can easily ace in the CLAt examination. The CLAT english language will not only help you in the CLAT reading comprehension section but also in the other four sections of the CLAT exam paper. All in all, the CLAT English language previous year paper analysis is critical for your preparation.

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CLAT English Language Previous Year Paper Analysis 2020-23

CLAT English Language – Pattern and Importance

CLAT English Language Paper Analysis – 2020

Dominant Genre:

Passage Topics:

Prominent Questions:

Passage Asked

English Language Paper Analysis – 2021

Dominant Genre:

Passage Topics:

Prominent Questions:

Passage Asked

English Language Paper Analysis – 2022

Dominant Genre:

Passage Topics:

Prominent Questions:

Passage Asked

English Language Paper Analysis – 2023

Passage Topics:

Prominent Questions:

Passage Asked

CLAT 2024

Source for Preparing English Language

Tips for CLAT English Language

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