QUES: Sanskrit linguist Madhav Deshpande says that when the term "Sanskrit" arose it was not thought of as a specific language set apart from other languages, but rather as a particularly refined or perfected manner of speaking. Knowledge of Sanskrit was a marker of social class and educational attainment in ancient India, and the language was taught mainly to members of the higher castes through the close analysis of Vyākaraṇins such as Pāṇini and Patanjali, who exhorted proper Sanskrit at all times, especially during ritual. Sanskrit, as the learned language of Ancient India, thus existed alongside the vernacular Prakrits, which were Middle Indo-Aryan languages. However, linguistic change led to an eventual loss of mutual intelligibility.
In what country did the lower class study Sanskrit?

ANS: unanswerable

QUES: Washington University has a large number of student-run musical groups on campus, including 12 official a cappella groups. The Pikers, an all-male group, is the oldest such group on campus. The Greenleafs, an all-female group is the oldest (and only) female group on campus. The Mosaic Whispers, founded in 1991, is the oldest co-ed group on campus. They have produced 9 albums and have appeared on a number of compilation albums, including Ben Folds' Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! The Amateurs, who also appeared on this album, is another co-ed a cappella group on campus, founded in 1991. They have recorded seven albums and toured extensively. After Dark is a co-ed a cappella group founded in 2001. It has released three albums and has won several Contemporary A Capella Recording (CARA) awards. In 2008 the group performed on MSNBC during coverage of the vice presidential debate with specially written songs about Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. The Ghost Lights, founded in 2010, is the campus's newest and only Broadway, Movies, and Television soundtrack group. They have performed multiple philanthropic concerts in the greater St. Louis area and were honored in November 2010 with the opportunity to perform for Nobel Laureate Douglass North at his birthday celebration.
How many a cappella groups does Washington University have?

ANS: 12

QUES: Carnival celebrations, usually referred to as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French), were first celebrated in the Gulf Coast area, but now occur in many states. Customs originated in the onetime French colonial capitals of Mobile (now in Alabama), New Orleans (Louisiana) and Biloxi (Mississippi), all of which have celebrated for many years with street parades and masked balls. Other major American cities with celebrations include Washington, DC; St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco; San Diego; Galveston, Texas; and Miami, Pensacola, Tampa, and Orlando in Florida.
What originated in the onetime French colonial capitals?

ANS: Customs

QUES: The scope of the term "post-punk" has been subject to controversy. While some critics, such as AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, have employed the term "post-punk" to denote "a more adventurous and arty form of punk", others have suggested it pertains to a set of artistic sensibilities and approaches rather than any unifying style. Music journalist and post-punk scholar Simon Reynolds has advocated that post-punk be conceived as "less a genre of music than a space of possibility", suggesting that "what unites all this activity is a set of open-ended imperatives: innovation; willful oddness; the willful jettisoning of all things precedented or 'rock'n'roll'". Nicholas Lezard, problematizing the categorization of post-punk as a genre, described the movement as "so multifarious that only the broadest use of the term is possible".
Why type of scholar is music journalist Simon Reynolds?

ANS:
post-punk