NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

End Semester Exams February, 2021

MA English 4th Semester (Morning)

Roll No Total Marks 30

System ID Program MA Morning
Email Address Teacher’s
Name
Class/Section Campus Main, Islamabad
Course Title Date
Course Code ELL- Time Allowed 2.5 hrs

Instructions:
(1) Be mindful of time. Try to finish your answers within prescribed time. Upload your answers within 15 minutes
after the paper time.
(2) Honestly observe all online examination protocols with your cameras on.
(3) If you upload hand-written answer scripts, write legibly so that teachers can conveniently read and grade your
papers.
(4) Be precise and relevant in your answers.

Note: Attempt all the given questions.

Q. 1 Discuss Austin’s theory of Speech Acts. How does this theory pose a challenge to the
semanticists’ view of meaning? (15)

Q. 2 (a) In some cases below, the second sentence is semantically related to the first sentence
(by entailment or presupposition). In other cases, it is conversational implicature. Identify and
briefly explain the type of relation for each pair of sentences.
(Marks: 10)
i. Jane managed to shut the door.
It was difficult for Jane to shut the door.
ii. The movie is OK.
The movie is not fantastic.
iii. Bill took off his hat and sat down.
Bill took off his hat before he sat down.
 iv. It continued to rain.
It had been raining.
v. Jill went into a nearby house.
The house was not her house.
(b) Which of Grice’s maxims is/are violated in the below-given dialogues? Also, indicate the
conversational implicature generated by the second speaker in each case. (Marks: 5)
i. Mom: What did you think of Jesper’s childish behavior last night?
Dad: Well, boys will be boys.
ii. Speaker A: Do you want to go to the movies tonight?
Speaker B: My little sister is coming for a visit.

Paper setter: Dr. Aneela Gill