UGC NET December 2026 – English Paper II

Mock Test 4: Unit V – Language: Basic Concepts, Theories and Pedagogy

Examination Instructions

Examination

UGC NET December 2026

Subject

English – Paper II

Unit

Unit V – Language

Total Questions

20 MCQs

Maximum Marks

40 marks

Suggested Time

25 minutes

Each question carries 2 marks.
Each question has four options: (A), (B), (C), and (D).
Select the single most appropriate answer.
There is no negative marking in this practice test.
The complete answer key and explanations appear at the end.

Coverage: Saussurean linguistics, generative grammar, language acquisition, phonology, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, language teaching theories and assessment.

This is an original practice paper based on established UGC NET English syllabus topics and commonly examined concepts. It is not an official NTA question paper or a prediction of the exact December 2026 examination.

Section A: Multiple-Choice Questions

Question 1. Langue and Parole

According to Ferdinand de Saussure, which statement best describes the relationship between langue and parole?

(A) Langue refers to written language, whereas parole refers exclusively to spoken language.

(B) Langue refers to the shared system of linguistic conventions, whereas parole refers to individual acts of language use.

(D) Langue and parole are interchangeable terms for linguistic competence.

Question 2. Generative Grammar

Which of the following best explains the distinction between deep structure and surface structure in the classical transformational-generative framework?

(A) Deep structure refers to spoken language, while surface structure refers to written language.

(B) Deep structure concerns an underlying syntactic representation, while surface structure concerns the form resulting from grammatical operations.

(D) Deep structure is acquired through imitation, while surface structure is acquired through reinforcement.

Question 3. Assertion–Reason: Language Acquisition

Assertion (A): Children often produce forms such as “goed” or “comed” while learning English.

Reason (R): Children may overgeneralise a productive grammatical rule to irregular verbs.

Choose the correct answer:

(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A.

(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not correctly explain A.

(D) A is false, but R is true.

Question 4. Phonology: Distinctive Features

Which pair of English sounds differs primarily in voicing while sharing the same place and manner of articulation?

(A) /p/ and /b/

(B) /p/ and /f/

(D) /t/ and /k/

Question 5. Match the Following: Linguistic Concepts

Match List I with List II.

List I	List II
(a) Phonology	(i) Study of word formation and structure
(b) Morphology	(ii) Study of language in social contexts
(c) Pragmatics	(iii) Study of sound systems and phonological patterns
(d) Sociolinguistics	(iv) Study of meaning in context

Choose the correct code:

(A) (a)–(iii), (b)–(i), (c)–(iv), (d)–(ii)

(B) (a)–(i), (b)–(iii), (c)–(ii), (d)–(iv)

(D) (a)–(ii), (b)–(iv), (c)–(i), (d)–(iii)

Question 6. Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis

According to Stephen Krashen, which condition is most likely to facilitate second-language acquisition?

(A) High anxiety and fear of making mistakes.

(B) Continuous correction of every error during communication.

(D) Complete avoidance of interaction with other language users.

Question 7. Statement-Based Question: Linguistic Knowledge

Consider the following statements:

Phonetics studies the physical properties and production of speech sounds.
Phonology examines how sounds function within the sound system of a language.
Morphology studies the structure of words and morphemes.
Syntax deals exclusively with the historical development of vocabulary.

Which statements are correct?

(A) 1 and 2 only

(B) 1, 2 and 3 only

(D) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Question 8. Semantics: Entailment

Consider the following two sentences:

Sentence 1: “Maya murdered the king.”
Sentence 2: “The king died.”

If Sentence 1 is true in its ordinary literal sense, Sentence 2 must also be true. This relationship is an example of:

(A) Metaphor

(B) Conversational implicature

(D) Deixis

Question 9. Pragmatics: Presupposition

Consider the sentence:

“Ravi has stopped smoking.”

Which proposition is normally presupposed by this sentence?

(A) Ravi has never smoked.

(B) Ravi used to smoke.

(D) Ravi dislikes every form of tobacco.

Question 10. Sociolinguistics: Diglossia

The term diglossia, in its classical sociolinguistic sense, describes a situation in which:

(A) Two languages are always spoken with equal prestige in every context.

(B) A community uses two varieties with distinct social functions, often including a high variety for formal domains and a low variety for everyday interaction.

(D) A language loses all grammatical distinctions over time.

Question 11. Grice's Conversational Maxims

A student asks a professor, “How many chapters of the book have you read?”

The professor replies, “I have read three chapters,” while knowing that the book contains ten chapters and that the student is asking about the whole book.

Which maxim may be implicated if the reply gives less information than the question requires?

(A) Maxim of Quantity

(B) Maxim of Quality

(D) Maxim of Relation

Question 12. Case Study: Task-Based Language Teaching

An English teacher divides students into groups and asks each group to plan a two-day educational trip within a fixed budget. Students must compare destinations, negotiate transport arrangements and present a final itinerary in English.

Which approach is most directly reflected in this activity?

(A) Grammar-Translation Method

(B) Task-Based Language Teaching

(D) Silent memorisation of vocabulary lists

Question 13. Discourse Analysis: Cohesion

Identify the cohesive device used in the following sentence:

“Meera lost her umbrella, but she found another one near the entrance.”

(A) Only phonological assimilation

(B) Reference and substitution

(D) Grammatical recursion alone

Question 14. Assertion–Reason: Communicative Competence

Assertion (A): Grammatical competence alone does not guarantee successful communication in every social situation.

Reason (R): Effective communication also requires an understanding of contextual appropriateness, social norms and communicative purposes.

Choose the correct answer:

(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A.

(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not correctly explain A.

(D) A is false, but R is true.

Question 15. Morphology: Derivational Processes

Which of the following pairs illustrates conversion or zero derivation in English?

(A) Happy → happiness

(B) Teach → teacher

(D) Bottle (noun) → bottle (verb), as in “They bottle the juice.”

Question 16. Match the Following: Theorists and Concepts

Match List I with List II.

List I	List II
(a) Ferdinand de Saussure	(i) Cooperative Principle
(b) Noam Chomsky	(ii) Signifier and signified
(c) H. P. Grice	(iii) Universal Grammar
(d) Dell Hymes	(iv) Communicative competence

Choose the correct code:

(A) (a)–(ii), (b)–(iii), (c)–(i), (d)–(iv)

(B) (a)–(iii), (b)–(iv), (c)–(ii), (d)–(i)

(D) (a)–(iv), (b)–(i), (c)–(iii), (d)–(ii)

Question 17. Language Teaching: The Silent Way

Which principle is most closely associated with Caleb Gattegno's Silent Way?

(A) The teacher speaks continuously while students listen passively.

(B) Learners are encouraged to discover language patterns, while the teacher uses silence and carefully chosen prompts to support independence.

(D) Language learning depends exclusively on memorising long dialogues through repetition.

Question 18. Application-Based Question: Formative Assessment

An English teacher regularly uses short quizzes, peer feedback and draft writing to identify students' difficulties. The teacher then adjusts classroom instruction to address the problems identified.

This practice primarily demonstrates:

(A) Formative assessment used to improve learning during instruction.

(B) Summative assessment conducted only at the end of a course.

(D) A standardised aptitude test unrelated to classroom teaching.

Question 19. Language and Thought

Which statement best represents a cautious interpretation of the linguistic relativity hypothesis associated with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf?

(A) Language completely determines every thought a person can have.

(B) Language has no possible relationship with habitual thought or perception.

(C) Linguistic categories may influence habitual patterns of attention, thought or perception, without necessarily determining all possible thought.

(D) Speakers of different languages cannot communicate with one another.

Question 20. Integrated Application: Language Pedagogy

A teacher asks learners to solve a real-world problem in English. Students collaborate in pairs, negotiate meaning, use authentic materials and receive temporary guidance when they struggle. The teacher evaluates both the final solution and the effectiveness of communication.

Which combination best describes this approach?

(A) Grammar-Translation Method and summative grammar testing alone.

(B) Behaviourism without meaningful communication.

(D) Structuralist analysis without attention to language use.

Section B: Answer Key

Question	Correct Answer	Key Concept
1	B	Langue and parole
2	B	Deep and surface structures
3	A	Overgeneralisation
4	A	Voicing contrast
5	A	Branches of linguistics
6	C	Affective Filter Hypothesis
7	B	Linguistic subfields
8	C	Entailment
9	B	Presupposition
10	B	Diglossia
11	A	Maxim of Quantity
12	B	Task-Based Language Teaching
13	B	Cohesion
14	A	Communicative competence
15	D	Conversion
16	A	Linguists and their contributions
17	B	Silent Way
18	A	Formative assessment
19	C	Linguistic relativity
20	C	Integrated language pedagogy

Section C: Detailed Explanations

1. B — Langue and parole

Saussure distinguished langue, the shared system of linguistic conventions, from parole, the individual use of that system in actual speech or language production. The distinction is foundational to structural linguistics.

2. B — Deep and surface structures

In classical transformational-generative grammar, deep structure refers to an underlying syntactic representation, while surface structure refers to the representation associated with the sentence's resulting form. These terms belong to a particular stage of Chomsky's theoretical development and should not be treated as an unchanged description of every later generative model.

3. A — Overgeneralisation

Children may apply the regular past-tense rule of adding -ed to irregular verbs, producing forms such as goed. This demonstrates their ability to form and extend grammatical patterns, although it also produces non-standard forms during acquisition.

4. A — Voicing contrast

/p/ and /b/ are both bilabial plosives, but /p/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced. The contrast illustrates how voicing can distinguish English phonemes.

5. A — Branches of linguistics

Phonology: Sound systems and patterns.
Morphology: Word structure and word formation.
Pragmatics: Meaning in context.
Sociolinguistics: Relationships between language and society.

6. C — Affective Filter Hypothesis

Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis proposes that emotional variables such as anxiety, motivation and confidence can affect how readily learners benefit from comprehensible input. Low anxiety may facilitate acquisition, although it does not guarantee it.

7. B — Linguistic subfields

Phonetics investigates the physical production, transmission and perception of speech sounds. Phonology investigates how sounds pattern within languages. Morphology studies word structure, whereas syntax studies how words and phrases combine into larger structures, not exclusively historical vocabulary development.

8. C — Entailment

If someone literally murdered the king, the king must have died. Entailment concerns a relationship in which the truth of one proposition guarantees the truth of another under the relevant interpretation.

9. B — Presupposition

“Ravi has stopped smoking” normally presupposes that Ravi smoked previously. Presuppositions are background assumptions associated with particular expressions and constructions.

10. B — Diglossia

In the classical account associated with Charles Ferguson, diglossia involves functionally differentiated language varieties within a community. A high variety may be used in formal education, literature or public settings, while a low variety is used in everyday conversation. Actual language communities can display more complex patterns.

11. A — Maxim of Quantity

Grice's Maxim of Quantity concerns providing as much information as is required, but not more than is necessary. If a response supplies less information than the conversational context requires, it may be interpreted as underinformative.

12. B — Task-Based Language Teaching

Task-Based Language Teaching organizes learning around meaningful tasks with identifiable outcomes. Planning a trip requires learners to use English to exchange information, negotiate choices and complete a practical objective.

13. B — Reference and substitution

The pronoun she refers back to Meera. The expression another one uses one as a substitute for umbrella. These devices help link the clauses and maintain cohesion.

14. A — Communicative competence

Knowing grammatical rules does not automatically mean that a speaker can use language appropriately in every context. Communicative competence includes grammatical knowledge as well as the ability to use language in socially and contextually appropriate ways.

15. D — Conversion

Conversion, also known as zero derivation, involves changing a word's grammatical category without adding an overt affix. In “They bottle the juice,” the noun bottle functions as a verb. The other options involve overt derivational affixes.

16. A — Theorists and concepts

Ferdinand de Saussure: Signifier and signified.
Noam Chomsky: Universal Grammar.
H. P. Grice: Cooperative Principle.
Dell Hymes: Communicative competence.

17. B — Silent Way

The Silent Way, developed by Caleb Gattegno, encourages learner autonomy and discovery. The teacher limits unnecessary speech and uses prompts, gestures and materials to help learners identify patterns and correct their own errors.

18. A — Formative assessment

Formative assessment gathers information during learning so that teachers and students can improve subsequent performance. Quizzes, peer feedback and draft revision are formative when the information gathered is used to guide learning and instruction.

19. C — Linguistic relativity

Linguistic relativity proposes that language may influence habitual attention, categorisation or perception. The stronger claim that language completely determines all thought is a distinct and much more controversial position.

20. C — Integrated language pedagogy

The activity combines authentic communication and a meaningful task with collaborative learning, temporary teacher support and assessment of actual performance. It therefore integrates principles associated with communicative teaching, task-based learning and scaffolding.

Section D: Score Evaluation

Evaluate Your Performance

34–40

Excellent

26–32

Good

16–24

Needs revision

0–14

Revise fundamentals

These are practice benchmarks, not official UGC NET qualifying cut-offs. Each correct answer earns 2 marks.

High-Priority Revision Topics for December 2026

Saussure: langue, parole, signifier and signified.
Chomsky: Universal Grammar, transformational grammar and competence versus performance.
Language acquisition: behaviourism, innateness, overgeneralisation and comprehensible input.
Phonetics and phonology: voicing, place of articulation, minimal pairs and allophones.
Morphology: morphemes, inflection, derivation and conversion.
Semantics and pragmatics: entailment, presupposition, deixis and conversational implicature.
Grice: Cooperative Principle and the four conversational maxims.
Sociolinguistics: diglossia, dialect, register and communicative competence.
Discourse analysis: cohesion, coherence, reference and substitution.
Language teaching: Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Silent Way, CLT and TBLT.
Language learning theories: Krashen's hypotheses and Vygotsky's scaffolding.
Assessment: formative assessment, authentic assessment and performance-based evaluation.

Preparation tip: Practise identifying the theorist associated with each concept, distinguishing closely related linguistic terms, and applying language theories to classroom situations. These skills are useful for conceptual, assertion–reason, matching and case-study questions in UGC NET English Paper II.

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