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The Proposal: CBSE Class 10 English practice questions

Practise 50 questions on The Proposal, free, with an explanation for each answer.

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Sample questions

Lomov arrives wearing a dress-jacket and white gloves. But he says he has come only to see Chubukov. What does Chubukov think about his clothes?

A host looking surprised at a visitor in a dark jacket and white gloves, with party bunting on the wall
  1. He praises the gloves and asks where Lomov bought them
  2. He wonders if Lomov is going to some special occasion, joking that it looks like a New Year's Eve visit
  3. He orders Lomov to take off the gloves before sitting down
  4. He guesses at once that Lomov has come to ask for money
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B. He wonders if Lomov is going to some special occasion, joking that it looks like a New Year's Eve visit

Chubukov remarks on how formal Lomov looks and asks whether he is going anywhere, teasing that it is as if he were paying a New Year's Eve visit. Lomov says he has come only to see him. The guess about money comes later, as an aside, and the other options are not in the play. The odd dress is a running joke: Natalya also asks about it, and Chubukov later sneers at it ("he dresses up in evening clothes").

Natalya agrees the Meadows are worth little to her, only about 300 roubles. Still, she will not give them up. Why?

A balance scale: a tuft of grass and a small coin on one pan, a heavy purple block marked RIGHT on the other pan, which sinks lower
  1. She cannot stand unfairness
  2. She plans to build a new house on them
  3. She needs the hay urgently
  4. Chubukov has promised them to the peasants
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A. She cannot stand unfairness

Natalya says, "These Meadows aren't worth much to me... but I can't stand unfairness." Lomov likewise says, "I don't want the Meadows, but I am acting on principle." Both refuse to give way not for the land but to be proved right. That makes the quarrel more comic: the Meadows are not what they are fighting for.

Alone on stage, Lomov gives reasons why he must marry. Which of these is not one of them?

A big birthday calendar page showing 35 with a candle, beside a cosy armchair for a quiet life
  1. He is deeply in love with Natalya and cannot live without her
  2. He is already 35, "a critical age"
  3. He wants to lead a quiet and regular life
  4. Natalya is an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking and well-educated
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A. He is deeply in love with Natalya and cannot live without her

Lomov never claims to be in love. He says that if he waits "to look for an ideal, or for real love", he will never get married, so his motives are practical: he is 35, wants a quiet life, and thinks Natalya a good housekeeper. This is part of the play's comedy: a marriage proposal treated like a sensible business decision.

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