CLAT English Practice Passage with 6 Questions and Answers

This CLAT English practice passage is an original 450-word reading comprehension passage with 6 questions, answers and explanations, written in the style of the CLAT UG 2027 English section. The Consortium describes that section as passages of about 450 words, readable by a Class 12 student in about 5 to 7 minutes, with 22 to 26 questions out of 120. Set a timer for 11 minutes, read the passage once carefully, answer all six questions, then open the answers.

CLAT English practice passage: reading comprehension

When the municipal library in a small town in Madhya Pradesh announced that it would close its reading room on Sundays to save electricity costs, the protests were small but stubborn. The council, which met twice a year and had never before discussed the reading room, had assumed that nobody would notice. A retired schoolteacher stood at the gate with a placard. A group of students from the nearby polytechnic signed a petition. The librarian, who had worked there for thirty-one years, said little in public, but she kept a register in which she noted, every Sunday, how many people came. The register told a story that no official report had recorded.

Libraries are usually defended in the language of knowledge: they hold books, and books are good. This defence is true but incomplete, and it is the reason why libraries lose budget arguments. A councillor asked to choose between a new streetlight and a reading room will find the streetlight easier to justify, because its benefit can be counted in accidents avoided. The benefit of a reading room is spread thinly over many lives and appears in no ledger. Consider a student preparing for a competitive examination whose family of six lives in two rooms. For her, the library offers neither entertainment nor even information alone. It offers a quiet place, and quiet is a scarce good.

Critics argue that such places are now unnecessary. Books are cheaper than they once were, and much of what a library holds can be found on a phone. This argument deserves a fair hearing, and it is correct that access to text has widened enormously. Yet access to a text is different from access to the conditions in which a text can be read. A phone offers a thousand books and a thousand interruptions. A reading room offers fewer books and almost no interruptions, and for a person whose home is crowded or noisy, that exchange is worth making. It is a trade that wealthier readers rarely have to consider.

None of this means that libraries should be preserved unchanged. Many are poorly stocked, badly lit and open at hours that suit the staff more than the readers. The librarian’s register suggests a more modest conclusion: that public institutions should be judged by who actually uses them and when, not by assumptions made in committee rooms. On Sundays, according to her count, the reading room averaged forty-two visitors, most of them under twenty-five. The council eventually kept the room open, though it shortened the hours. Nobody called it a victory, and perhaps nobody should have. But it showed that a few pages of careful counting can answer an argument that many speeches cannot.

Questions on the CLAT English practice passage, with answers

How to use a CLAT English practice passage

Read the passage once, marking the main claim of each paragraph in a few words. Then answer from the text, not from memory. When you miss a question, find the sentence that proves the right answer and write it down. For method, see CLAT English preparation tips and how to solve CLAT passage based questions. Try a full set in the free CLAT UG 2027 mock test.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find CLAT English practice passages with answers?

Use the Consortium’s previous years’ papers (₹500 with the application), the free Lexfolio CLAT UG 2027 mock, and the original passage on this page. Time yourself and review every wrong answer against the text.

How long are CLAT English passages?

The CLAT 2027 syllabus says about 450 words, drawn from contemporary or historically significant fiction and non-fiction, at a level a Class 12 student can read in about 5 to 7 minutes.

How many English questions come in CLAT 2027?

About 22 to 26 of the 120 questions, roughly 20% of the paper. They test comprehension, inference, summary, comparison of viewpoints and words in context.

Sources

• Consortium of National Law Universities, CLAT 2027 UG syllabus and question paper format, read 29 October 2026
• The passage and questions are original Lexfolio practice material; the town, librarian and figures are fictional

This page is for education and general information. Lexfolio is not affiliated with the Consortium of NLUs. Exam details as on 29 October 2026.