The Interview Class 12 MCQ Quiz – Test Your Understanding!

Why does Christopher Silvester describe the viewpoints of other writers and authors when discussing the concept of an interview?

Maybe I give the impression of doing many things. But in the end, I am convinced I am always doing the same thing… And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist. Similarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces.

Read the questions given below. Imagine they were interjections raised by the interviewer based on the above extract. Choose the option that correctly describes the given questions.

1. If you are “always doing the same thing”, isn’t your work lacking in originality?
2. Could you elaborate on these larger ethical, philosophical interests that inform your work?
3. All writing happens in empty spaces. In fact, why don’t I tell you all about my experiences?

What makes an interview 'a source of truth'?

Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication. “These days, more than at any other time, our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews,” Denis Brian has written. “Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another. Because of this, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence.”

How would you describe Denis Brian’s opinion on interviews? Choose the most appropriate option.

1. appeasing
2. utilitarian
3. approving
4. praising

What is the primary challenge that interviewers face, according to the author?

Which of these uses 'just' in the same way as the following expression in the extract?

'a just horror of the interviewer'

Maybe I give the impression of doing many things. But in the end, I am convinced I am always doing the same thing… And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist. Similarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces.

Based on your reading of Part I of ‘The Interview’, which one of the following may NOT be an appropriate title to the above extract?

Some might make quite extravagant claims for it as being, in its highest form, a source of truth, and, in its practice, an art. Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul.

On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.

1. Celebrities don’t consent to be interviewed.
2. Interviews intrude on the privacy of celebrities.

What skills must interviewers have to conduct good and ethical interviews?

Column A below describes Rudyard Kipling’s views on interviews. Column B provides fictional descriptions of some of Kipling’s works if they were about interviews and interviewers. Choose the option that correctly matches interview attributes given in Column A to the works in Column B:

Some might make quite extravagant claims for it as being, in its highest form, a source of truth, and, in its practice, an art. Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul.

What is the most likely reason some people consider the practice of interviews to be an art? This could be because it requires

Mukund Padmanabhan mentions that much like his novels, Umberto Eco’s “scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about it.” To what is this attributed?

What qualities does Mukund Padmanabhan exhibit as an interviewer?

“I work in empty spaces”. Choose the option that most accurately captures Eco’s idea of empty spaces.

1. management of time
2. organization of space
3. philosophical inclination
4. command of thought

So it is hardly surprising that opinions of the interview --- of its functions, methods, and merits --- vary considerably. Some might make quite extravagant claims for it as being, in its highest form, a source of truth, and, in its practice, an art. Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person's soul. V. S. Naipaul feels that 'Some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves.' Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to have had 'a just horror of the interviewer' and he never consented to be interviewed.

Based on V. S. Naipaul's quote, we can say that interviews __________.