srmstudents.tech · Dedicated To My All Students I would like to thank my students and readers, who remain my primary motivation to discover better and more efficient way of thinking

Dedicated

To

My All Students

I would like to thank my students and readers, who remain my

primary motivation to discover better and more efficient way of thinking.

It has been always my effort to help and guide you with the best

possible study material and practice question so that you can get simulated

experience of the whole process before you participate in actual exam.

All the Best

Sateesh Kr. Shivhare

Verbal Trainer

SRMIST Delhi NCR Campus

*******

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning

18PDH101T (General Aptitude)

I YEAR

Course Learning Syllabus

Course

Code

18PDH10101T

Course

Name GENERAL APTITUDE

Course

Category H

Humanities

& Social

Sciences

L T P C

0 0 2 1

Pre-

requisite

Courses

Nil Co-

requisite

Courses

Nil Progressive

Courses Nil

Course Offering

Department Career Development Centre

Data Book /

Codes/Standards NA

Course Learning

Rationale (CLR):

The purpose of learning this

course is to: Learning Program Learning Outcomes (PLO)

CLR-1

:

To give the right knowledge, skill and

aptitude to face any competitive

examination.

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Lev

el o

f T

hin

kin

g (

Blo

om

)

Ex

pec

ted

Pro

fici

ency

(%

)

Ex

pec

ted

Att

ain

men

t (%

)

E

ng

inee

rin

g K

no

wle

dg

e

Pro

ble

m A

nal

ysi

s

Des

ign

& D

evel

op

men

t

An

aly

sis,

Des

ign,

Res

earc

h

Mo

der

n T

oo

l U

sag

e

So

ciet

y &

Cu

ltu

re

En

vir

on

men

t &

Su

stai

nab

ilit

y

Eth

ics

Ind

ivid

ual

& T

eam

Wo

rk

Co

mm

un

icat

ion

Pro

ject

Mg

t. &

Fin

ance

Lif

e L

on

g L

earn

ing

PS

O -

1

PS

O –

2

PS

O -

3

Course Learning

Outcomes (CLO):

At the end of this course,

learners will be able to:

CLO-1

:

build a strong base in the fundamental

mathematical concepts L H M M L H

CLO-2

:

grasp the approaches and strategies to solve

problems with speed and accuracy L H M M L H

CLO-3

:

gain appropriate skills to succeed in

preliminary selection process for

recruitment

L H M M L H

CLO-4

:

collectively solve problems in teams &

group. L H M M L H

CLO-5

:

enhance lexical skills through systematic

application of concepts and careful analysis

of style, syntax, semantics and logic

L H M M H H

CLO-6

:

build vocabulary through methodical

approaches and nurture passion for

enriching vocabulary

L H M M H H

CLO-7

hone critical thinking skills by analyzing

the arguments with explicit and implicit

premises to validate the author’s point of

view

L H M M H H

CLO-8

sharpen logical reasoning through skilful

conceptualization, identification of

relationships between words based on their

function, usage and characteristics

L H M M H H


Learning Unit /

Module 1

Learning Unit /

Module 2

Learning Unit /

Module 3

Learning Unit /

Module 4

Learning Unit /

Module 5

Duration (hour)

6 6 6 6 6

S-1 SLO-1 Types of

numbers,

Divisibility tests

Square root, Cube

roots, Remainder

concepts

Percentage Intro Discount Logarithms Intro

S-2 SLO-1

Introduction to

Significance of

Verbal Aptitude

in Competitive

Examinations

Contextual

Vocabulary

Exercise –

Synonyms

Sentence

Completion Basic

Level Exercises –

Single Blank

Reading

Comprehension –

Introduction

Grammar Rules – A

comprehensive

Introduction

S-3 SLO-1 LCM and GCD Identities Percentage

Problems

Simple Interest Logarithms Rules

S-4 SLO-1

Vocabulary

enrichment

techniques

Contextual

Vocabulary

Exercise -

Synonyms

Sentence

Completion Basic

Level Exercises –

Double Blank

Reading

Comprehension –

Summary & Main

Idea

Sentence

Completion –

Grammar

S-5 SLO-1

Unit digit,

Number of

zeroes, Factorial

notation

Fractions and

Decimals, surds

Profit and Loss Compound Interest,

Installments

Linear Equations

S-6 SLO-1

Vocabulary

enrichment

Techniques

Contextual

Vocabulary

Exercise -

Antonyms

Cloze Test Reading

Comprehension –

Summary & Main

Idea

Spotting Errors –

Level I

Learning

Resources

1. The Pearson Guide to Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation for the CAT, by Nishit

K Sinha

2. Dinesh Khattar-The Pearson Guide to QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE for competitive

examinations.

3. Abhijit Guha- Quantitative Aptitude for All Competitive Examinations

4. Arun Sharma- How to prepare for quantitiative aptitude for CAT

5. Norman Lewis, How to Read Better and Faster, Goyal, 4th

Edition

6. Franklin GRE Word List, 3861 GRE Words, Franklin Vocab System, 2014

7. Wiley’s GMAT Reading Comprehension Grail, Wiley, 2016

8. Manhattan Prep GRE : Reading Comprehension and Essays, 5th

Edition

9. Martin Hewings, Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press, 2013

10. Charles Harrington Elstor, Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary,

Random House Reference, 2002

11. Merriam Webster’s Vocabulary Builder, Merriam Webster Mass Market, 2010

http://www.pearsoned.co.in/web/books/9789332528826_The-Pearson-Guide-to-Quantitative-Aptitude-and-Data-Interpretation-for-the-CAT-2e-with-CD_Nishit-K-Sinha.aspx


Dell

Typewritten text

Learning Unit 1 1.Introduction to Significance of Verbal Aptitude in Competitive Examinations 2.Vocabulary enrichment techniques 3.Vocabulary enrichment Techniques Learning Unit 2 1.Contextual Vocabulary Exercise – Synonyms 2.Contextual Vocabulary Exercise - Synonyms 3.Contextual Vocabulary Exercise -Antonyms


Significance of Verbal Aptitude

If You are going to Appear any of the competitive examination, You will find this subject in that

exam

Exam Like as--

CAT, MAT, XAT

GMAT, GRE

SSC, UPSC, BANK

E-Litmus, AMCAT, CO-Cubes

Written Exam of MNC

The Weightage of this Section may be to 35% to 50% based on exam pattern

How to Enrich Vocabulary

READ The secret of building vocabulary is reading

Aim to read 1 hour per day

Pick something, You are interested in:

- Sport, Movies, Music, Cars, Fitness, Fashion, Electronic, etc.

Find interesting material to read:

- Magazines, Novels, short stories, Biographies, Online, article, Wikipedia, etc.

When You read, don’t look up every difficult word in a dictionary

Focus on the overall idea what you are reading

For difficult words:

-- Try to guess the meaning

-- If you cannot, Mark them or write them down

RECORD

Go Back to the text and find the word to learn

Unknown Words – Words you don’t know

Inactive Words – Words you have seen before but not sure how to use.

Aim to collect 5-10 new words per day

in a note book

on your computer (in Word / Excel)

on your phone (using an app)

READ RECORD REVIEW


Start with the first word – Look it up in a dictionary

- Cambridge

(http://dictionary.cambridge.org)

- Oxford

(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com)

- Merriam-Webster

(http://www.m-w.com)

Example- Creative

Form: Adjective

Meaning: Having ability to produce original ideas

- Sentence

1. “Frank Zappa was a highly creative musician.”

2. “Children enjoy doing creative activities”

Ref: The hound of the Baskervilles, Page no 48

Other Forms: Create – (verb)

Creator, Creativity – (Noun)

Creatively – (Adverb)

REVIEW o The challenge is bring to new vocab into your active vocabulary

o You can only achieve this by reviewing them regularly.

o Pick one day of the week as your review day

o Short by reviewing words from the week

Useful Review Techniques:

--Test yourself

--Ask a friend or family member to test you

-- Use flashcard

--Practice making sentence

--Try to use new word in your own speech and writing

Some Other tools to improve Vocab

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/

http://www.m-w.com/

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningPrefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes and suffixes are grammatical “affixes” (prefixes come before the root word, and suffixes come after). In very simplistic terms, prefixes change the meaning of words, and suffixes change their form (including plural, tense, comparative, and part of speech).

Prefixes – Change the Meaning of Words

Some of the most common prefixes are:

Prefix Meaning Examples un- not unhappy, unsuccessful, unable re- again redo, return, reappear dis- not, undo disappear, disgrace, discontinue

inter- between International, internet, intermission non- not nonsense, nonfiction, nonviolent pre- before predawn, prefix, precaution post- after postpone, postscript, postwar poly- many polygamy, polyester, polyglot sub- under subterranean, submarine, subordinate co- together cooperate, collaborate, coordinate

Suffixes – Change the Form of Words

Some of the most common suffixes are:

Form Suffix Meaning Examples Noun -age action or process marriage, voyage, pilgrimage

-ence state or quality of violence, absence, reticence -ant one who servant, immigrant, assistant -arium place for aquarium, planetarium, auditorium -tion state or quality of starvation, inspiration, tension -cy state or quality of accuracy, bankruptcy, conspiracy -dom state or quality of freedom, boredom, wisdom -eer person engineer, puppeteer, auctioneer -ectomy surgical removal of tonsillectomy, appendectomy


-ent one who superintendent, resident, regent -eur one who chauffeur, masseur -hood state or quality of childhood, falsehood, neighborhood -i plural alumni, foci, syllabi -ism doctrine of capitalism, socialism, patriotism -wright one who works with playwright, shipwright -ology study of biology, etymology, psychology

Adjective -able Is, can be comfortable, durable, perishable -acious inclined to be audacious, loquacious, spacious -ant inclined to be vigilant, pleasant, defiant -ative inclined to be demonstrative, talkative, pejorative -ic characteristic of comic, poetic, historic -y characteristic of fruity, sunny, chewy

Verb -ble repeated action stumble, squabble, mumble -ed past tense wanted, hated, looted -en made of strengthen, fasten, frighten -ify to make terrify, falsify, vilify -ize to make standardize, computerize, pulverize

Adverb -ly resembling slowly, kindly, seriously -ward direction forward, backward, onward -ways manner sideways, crossways


Building Vocabulary: Common Root Words

Root Meaning Word alter other alternate, alter ego

ami, amic love amiable, amicable

amphi

both ends or all sides

amphibian, amphitheater

ann, enni

year

anniversary, annual, biennial, perennial

anthrop

human, man

anthropology, anthropomorphic, misanthrope

aqua, aque

water

aquatic, aquarium, aqueduct

arch

chief, leader, ruler

archangel, monarch, archaic, archenemy

Root words provide the basic structure and meaning to words. English root words and their meanings are commonly derived from Greek and Latin roots. For example, the root soph is derived from the Greek root sophos meaning wise. Learning and recognizing these common roots can help you decipher meaning. For example, if you were unfamiliar with the word sophisticated but knew the root word soph, you could gather some sort of meaning for the word from the root meaning, wise.

What follows is a list of common roots words that you can remember to help expand your vocabulary and increase your reading comprehension. To help build your vocabulary, you can add words that you are familiar with, or words that you come across as you read, to the last column of the table.


Root Meaning Word aud

sound

auditorium, audible, audiologist, audiotape

bell

war

belligerent, bellicose

biblio

book

bibliography, bibliophile

bio

life

biography, autobiography, biology, antibiotic

brev

short

brief, abbreviate, brevity

cap

take, seize

capture, captivate, capacity

carn

meat

carnivorous

ced

yield, go

recede, secede, proceed, intercede, concession

chrom

color

chromatic, monochrome, polychrome

chron

time

chronicle, chronology, chronometer, synchronize

cogn

know

recognize, cognitive, incognito

cord/chord

cord

harpsichord

corp

body

corpus, corpse, corporal,

crac, crat rule, ruler

aristocracy, autocrat, democracy, bureaucrat

cred

believe

credible, credulous, credibility, credit, credo, incredible

cruc

cross

crucifix, crucial

crusta

shell

crustacean

crypt

hidden

cryptogram, cryptology, cryptic

culp

guilt

culpable, culprit

dei

god

deity, deify

demo

people

demography, democracy, epidemic


Root Meaning Word derm

skin

dermatology, epidermis, hypodermic

dic

speak, say

dictate, predict, diction, indict

dox

belief, opinion

orthodoxy, paradox, heterodoxy

duc, duct

lead

induce, deduce, seduction, conduct, abduction

duo

two

duo

dynam

power

dynamo, dynamics

ego

self

egotist, egomania

equ

equal

equal, equity, equanimity, equate, equidistant

fac

make, do

manufacture, factory, benefactor

fil

threadlike

filament

frater

brother

fraternal, fraternize

gam‐

marriage

monogamy, polygamy, bigamy

geo‐

earth

geopolitical, geology, geography, geothermal

grad, gress

step

gradual, progression, transgression

graph

writing, printing

graphology, biography, telegraph, geography

gyn‐

woman

gynecologist, androgynous, misogyny

hemo, hema, hem

blood

hemophilia, hematology, hemoglobin

holo

whole, entire

holograph

hydro, hydr

water

dehydrate, hydraulics, hydroelectric, hydroplane

ject

throw

inject, reject, subject, projection


Root Meaning Word leg, lect

read, choose

legible, lectern, lecturer, election

liter

letter

literature, illiterate, literal

loc

place

local, location

log

word

monologue, epilogue

luc

light

lucid, elucidate

magn

large

magnify, magnate, magnificent

man

hand

manufacture, manual, manuscript

mar

sea

marine, mariner

mat, mater mother

maternal, maternity, matriarchy, matricide

meta

behind, between, beyond

metacognition, metaphysics

metri, meter

measure

geometric, thermometer, odometer

min

small

minority, minuscule, minute

mit, miss

send

permit, submission, mission, emit,

mob, mot, mov

move

mobile, automobile, motion, promote, movie

mon

warn

premonition, admonition

mor, mort

death

mortal, mortician, immortality

morph

form, structure

metamorphosis, amorphous, morphology

mut

change

mutant, mutability, mutate

neuro

nerve

neurology, neurosis, neuron

nomen, nomin

name

nominal, nominate, nomenclature

nov new novel, renovate, innovation


Root Meaning Word nym, onym

word, name

synonym, acronym, anonymous, pseudonym

odonto

tooth

orthodontist

ortho‐

straight, correct

orthodox, orthodontist, orthopedic

pac

peace

pacify, pacifist

pater

father

paternal, paternity, patricide, patriotic

path

feeling, suffering

sympathy, apathy, empathy, telepathy, pathology

ped, pod

foot

pedal, pedometer, centipede, gastropod

pel, puls

push

pulsate, repulsive, impulse, compel, propel

pend

hang, weigh

append, depend, pendulum, pendant, suspend, pending

phon, phono

sound, voice

cacophony, euphony, phonograph, telephone,

plan

flat

planar, plantation, plane

pneum

lung

pneumatic, pneumonia

pod

feet

podiatrist, tripod

port

carry

portable, transport, portage, report

pot

power

potent, omnipotent, potentate

psych‐

soul, spirit, mind

psychology, psychic

pug, pugna

fight

pugnacious, pugilist

quer, quis

ask

query, inquisition,

scent, scend

climb

ascend, ascent

schizo, schiz division, split schizophrenic, schism


Root Meaning Word sci

know

scientific

scrib, script

write

manuscript, scribe, scripture

sec, sect

cut

dissect, section

sed, sess

sit

sedentary, session

sens, sent

feel, be aware

sensible, sentient

sequ, secu

follow

sequence, sequel, consecutive

serv

serve, protect

service, servile

simil

same

similar, assimilate, simile, facsimile

siphon

tube

siphon

sol

sun

solar

son

sound

sonar, resonate, unison

soph

wisdom, knowledge

philosophy, sophomoric

spec, spic

look, see

spectacles, spectator, inauspicious, prospect

spir

coil

spiral

spir

breathe

inspire, respiration, conspire, perspiration

spond, spons

promise, answer for

respond, responsible

spont

by one's own force

spontaneous

stat

stand, position

station, status

tang, tact

touch

tangible, tactile

temp

time

temporary, temporize

ten

hold

tenable, tenant

ter, terr

earth

subterranean, terrain, terrestrial, disinter

theo god, deity theology, polytheism, atheist


Root Meaning Word therm‐

heat

thermal, thermos, thermometer

trophy

nutrition, food

atrophy

uro

urine

urologist

vac

empty

vacuum, vacuous, vacant

ven, vent

come, go

intervene, convene, contravene

ver

truth

veracity, verify, verity

vert

turn

introvert, irreversible, vertigo

vit

life

vital, revitalize, vitamin

voc

call

revoke, invocation, vocal, evocative, convocation

zoo

animal

zoo, zoology, zoolatry


Strategy to solve Synonyms and Antonyms

First Let us understand, what actually Synonyms & antonyms are.

What are Synonyms?

When two pair of words mean exactly same in their meaning or nearly same or similar are termed as Synonyms. Thereby a single word can carry many synonyms. For example; Simple, Smooth, Easy are Synonyms of each other.

The formations of synonyms changes as per the changing form, let it be either verb, adjective, adverb, preposition etc. On can understand better with the help of examples.

Walk and Stroll Verb:

Beautiful and Charming Adjective:

Easily and Comfortably Adverb:

On and Upon Preposition:

Given below are a few handful tips which shall be helpful to you to solve synonyms.

Tips & Tricks to solve Synonyms correctly in exam:

1. If one does not know the exact meaning of the word, try understanding it in the context of the paragraph.

2. In case the meaning of the word is not clear, going through all the available options can certainly be considered as a good idea. By doing so, one can start getting idea about the given question & start negating the available options one after the other.

3. Sometimes it so happens that a particular word sounds more like a tongue twister, so try & break it into meaningful parts. Chances are there that the full word might start making more sense in this way.

4. One of the effective ways of knowing & scoring well in this section is to keep a regular tab & enough involvement of reading synonyms & making one’s own list. Revising the list regularly helps one in remembering the synonyms more often.

5. While replacing a particular word in sentence, using its synonym, please see to it that the context does not change nor the whole meaning of the sentence.

What is the synonym of Philanthropy? Example:a) injury

b) misappropriate

c) charity

d) endaemonism

e) cling

The correct answer is option c) charity.


Moving on to Antonyms. Let us understand what do we mean by saying Antonyms.

What are Antonyms?

Antonyms are the words, which mean opposite to the given word. Example: Antonym of Benevolent is Malevolent or Unkind.

Given below are a few types of antonyms for better understanding of the students.

Types of Antonyms:

Both the words lie in a continuous spectrum. eg: hard and soft. 1. Gradable Antonyms:

Over here, both the words do not lie in a continuous spectrum. eg: 2. Complementary Antonyms: push and pull

Few kinds of antonyms are the ones, who make sense only when they are 3. Relational Antonyms: read together. eg: teacher and pupil

In context of the examination, antonyms are being asked directly & at times based on the paragraph.

Tips & Tricks to solve antonyms shall remain same as that of synonyms.

Let us take a look at the following passage for better understanding:

The railroad was not the first institution to impose regularity on society, or to draw attention to the importance of precise timekeeping. For as long as merchants have set out their wares at day break & communal festivities have been celebrated, people have been in rough agreement with their neighbours as to the time of day. The value of this tradition is today more apparent than ever. Were it not for public acceptance of a single yardstick of time, social life would be unbearably chaotic: the massive daily transfers of goods, services, information, would proceed in fits & starts the very fabric of modern society would begin to unravel.

In the above passage find out the antonym for the word stated in bold. Question:

a) lawless

b) untidy

c) jumbled

d) calm

The answer to the above question is d) calm.

Thus a regular study & revisions of both synonyms & antonyms can give an answer to your long lasting question on how to crack synonyms & antonyms questions in exams. Keep in mind the above tips & techniques for better performance.


Q1. INDIGNANT

(a) Useless

(b) Exasperated

(c) Rapacious

(d) Indecent

S1. Ans.(b)

Sol. Indignant: feeling or showing anger or annoyance.

Exasperate: irritate intensely; infuriate.

Indecent: not appropriate or fitting.

Rapacious: aggressively greedy or grasping.

Hence Indignant and Exasperate are synonyms to each other.

Q2. PILLAGE

(a) Pictorial

(b) Peculiar

(c) Foe

(d) Plunder

S2. Ans.(d)

Sol. Pillage: the action of pillaging a place or property, especially in war.

Plunder: the violent and dishonest acquisition of property.

Foe: an enemy or opponent.

Hence Pillage and Plunder are synonyms to each other.

Q3. EXCULPATE

(a) Absolve

(b) Effete

(c) Pigmy

(d) Perilous

S3. Ans.(a)

Sol. Exculpate: to declare that someone is not guilty of wrongdoing.

Absolve: declare (someone) free from guilt, obligation, or

punishment.

Effete: no longer capable of effective action.

Perilous: exposed to imminent risk of disaster or ruin.

Hence Exculpate and Absolve are synonyms to each other.

50 SYNONYM QUESTIONS COMPILATION Directions: Choose among the following that best expresses the meaning of the given word.

http://www.bankersadda.com/

http://www.sscadda.com/

http://www.careerpower.in/

http://www.careeradda.co.in/


Q4. SURFEIT

(a) Shortage

(b) Satiate

(c) Canny

(d) Voluptuous

S4. Ans.(b)

Sol. Surfeit: an excessive amount of something.

Satiate: satisfied to the full; sated.

Voluptuous: relating to or characterized by luxury or sensual pleasure.

Canny: having or showing shrewdness and good judgement.

Hence Surfeit and Satiate are synonyms to each other.

Q5. FLAGRANT

(a) Burial

(b) Notorious

(c) Lethal

(d) Strife

S5. Ans.(b)

Sol. Flagrant: conspicuously offensive.

Notorious: being known for some bad quality or deed.

Strife: angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues.

Hence Flagrant and Notorious are synonyms to each other.

Q6. PLIGHT

(a) Dilemma

(b) Blessing

(c) Repair

(d) Disable

S6. Ans.(a)

Sol. Plight: a dangerous, difficult or otherwise unfortunate situation.

Dilemma: a difficult situation or problem.

Hence Plight and Dilemma are synonyms to each other.

Q7. CONTEXTUAL

(a) Supplant

(b) Dependent

(c) Unrelated

(d) Replace

S7. Ans.(b)

Sol. Contextual: Relating to or determined by or in context.

Supplant: supersede and replace.

Dependent: Contingent on or determined by.

Hence Contextual and Dependent are synonyms to each other.






Q8. SUPERSEDE

(a) Replace

(b) Appropriate

(c) Comparable

(d) Ideal

S8. Ans.(a)

Sol. Supersede: Take the place or move into the position of.

Ideal: satisfying one's conception of what is perfect; most suitable.

Hence Supersede and Replace are synonyms to each other.

Q9. EVINCE

(a) Belie

(b) Exhibit

(c) Conceal

(d) Stray

S9. Ans.(b)

Sol. Evince: reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling).

Exhibit: manifest clearly (a quality or a type of behavior).

Belie: fail to give a true impression of.

Hence Evince and Exhibit are synonyms to each other.

Q10. APHORISM

(a) Adage

(b) Conundrum

(c) Enigma

(d) Throng

S10. Ans.(a)

Sol. Aphorism: a pithy observation that contains a general truth.

Adage: a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.

Conundrum: a confusing and difficult problem or question.

Hence Aphorism and Adage are synonyms to each other.

Q11. REPAST

(a) Futurity

(b) Feast

(c) Expound

(d) Scrimp

S11. Ans.(b)

Sol. Repast: a meal.

Feast: a large meal, typically a celebratory one.

Expound: present and explain (a theory or idea) in detail.

Scrimp: be thrifty or parsimonious; economize.

Hence Repast and Feast are synonyms to each other.






Q12. ESCHEW

(a) Embrace

(b) Avoid

(c) Incentive

(d) Ethnic

S12. Ans.(b)

Sol. Eschew: deliberately avoid using; abstain from.

Avoid: keep away from or stop oneself from doing (something).

Hence Eschew and Avoid are synonyms to each other.

Q13. EXUBERANT

(a) Baneful

(b) Glum

(c) Profuse

(d) Crestfallen

S13. Ans.(c)

Sol. Exuberant: filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement.

Baneful: harmful or destructive to someone or something.

Glum: looking or feeling dejected; morose.

Profuse: exhibiting great abundance; bountiful.

Being close in meaning, Exuberant and Profuse are synonyms to each other.

Q14. INADVERTENT

(a) Lush

(b) Unintentional

(c) Insane

(d) Rough

S14. Ans.(b)

Sol. Inadvertent: not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning.

Lush: growing luxuriantly.

Unintentional: not done deliberately, but happens by accident.

Hence Inadvertent and Unintentional are synonyms to each other.

Q15. FORTITUDE

(a) Prudence

(b) Allow

(c) Courage

(d) Indifferent

S15. Ans.(c)

Sol. Fortitude: Courage in pain or adversity.

Hence Fortitude and Courage are synonyms to each other.


Q16. IMPERIOUS

(a) poor

(b) humble

(c) domineering

(d) urgent

S16. Ans.(c)

Sol. Imperious: arrogant and domineering.

Hence Imperious and Domineering are synonyms to each other.

Q17. DIGRESSIVE

(a) rigid

(b) indirect

(c) punctual

(d) expert

S17. Ans.(b)

Sol. Digress: leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing; not directing

Hence Digress and Indirect are synonyms to each other.

Q18. EPITOME

(a) exemplar

(b) extension

(c) ruddy

(d) lively

S18. Ans.(a)

Sol. Epitome: a person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type.

Exemplar: a person or thing serving as a typical example or appropriate model.

Ruddy: used as a euphemism for ‘bloody’.

Hence Epitome and Exemplar are synonyms to each other.

Q19. SPURIOUS

(a) credible

(b) gloomy

(c) fake

(d) dumb

S19. Ans.(c)

Sol. Spurious: not being what it purports to be; false.

Fake: not genuine; imitation or counterfeit.

Hence Spurious and Fake are synonyms to each other.


Q20. TREPIDATION

(a) disastrous

(b) exaggerate

(c) nervousness

(d) ephemeral

S20. Ans.(c)

Sol. Trepidation: a feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen.

Nervousness: a feeling of worry and anxiety.

Ephemeral: lasting for a very short time

Hence Trepidation and Nervousness are synonyms to each other.

Q21. ABLAZE

(a) cool

(b) furious

(c) restore

(d) prolong

S21. Ans.(b)

Sol. Ablaze: filled with anger or another strong emotion.

Furious: full of anger or energy; violent or intense.

Hence Ablaze and Furious are synonyms to each other.

Q22. CHIVALROUS

(a) heroic

(b) abhorrent

(c) doleful

(d) rude

S22. Ans.(a)

Sol. Chivalrous: (of a man or his behavior) courteous and gallant.

Heroic: having the characteristics of a hero; admirably brave or determined.

Doleful: causing grief or misfortune.

Hence Chivalrous and Heroic are synonyms to each other.

Q23. CONCOCTED

(a) certain

(b) sensitive

(c) pathetic

(d) contrive

S23. Ans.(d)

Sol. Concocted: create or devise (a story or plan).

Contrived: created or arranged in a way that seems artificial and unrealistic.

Hence Concocted and Contrived are synonyms to each other.


Q24. GAMBOL

(a) brittle

(b) frisk

(c) shallow

(d) work

S24. Ans.(b)

Sol. Gambol: run or jump about playfully.

Frisk: a playful skip or leap.

Hence Gambol and Frisk are synonyms to each other.

Q25. JANGLE

(a) quite

(b) flatter

(c) clash

(d) spongy

S25. Ans.(c)

Sol. Jangle: make or cause to make a ringing metallic sound, typically a discordant one.

Clash: meet and come into violent conflict.

Hence Jangle and Clash are synonyms to each other.

Q26. SPRIGHTLY

(a) sulky

(b) blithe

(c) benevolent

(d) depressed

S26. Ans.(b)

Sol. Sprightly: lively; full of energy.

Sulky: morose, bad-tempered, and resentful.

Blithe: happy or carefree.

Hence Sprightly and Blithe are synonyms to each other.

Q27. PLENTEOUS

(a) paucity

(b) innocuous

(c) injurious

(d) profuse

S27. Ans.(d)

Sol. Plenteous: plentiful.

Paucity: the presence of something in only small or insufficient

quantities.

Profuse: very plentiful; abundant.

Hence Plenteous and Profuse are synonyms to each other.


Q28. FLOUNDER

(a) triumph

(b) struggle

(c) starved

(d) reverence

S28. Ans.(b)

Sol. Flounder: struggle mentally; show or feel great confusion.

Triumph: a great victory or achievement.

Hence Flounder and Struggle are synonyms to each other.

Q29. DAINTY

(a) coarse

(b) insipid

(c) restore

(d) elegant

S29. Ans.(d)

Sol. Dainty: delicately small and pretty.

Elegant: graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.

Hence Dainty and Elegant are synonyms to each other.

Q30. PETULANT

(a) grouchy

(b) cordial

(c) gregarious

(d) delegate

S30. Ans.(a)

Sol. Petulant: (of a person or their manner) childishly sulky or bad-tempered.

Grouchy: irritable and bad-tempered; grumpy; complaining.

Cordial: warm and friendly.

Hence Petulant and Grouchy are synonyms to each other.

Q31. AVER

(a) Stealthy

(b) Assert

(c) Peak

(d) Fertile

S31. Ans.(b)

Sol. Aver: state or assert to be the case.

Stealthy: behaving or done in a cautious and surreptitious manner.

Assert: state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.

Hence Aver and Assert are synonyms to each other.


Q32. PILFER

(a) Embezzle

(b) Strangle

(c) Follow

(d) Defame

S32. Ans.(a)

Sol. Pilfer: steal (things of little value).

Embezzle: steal or misappropriate

Strangle: sounding as though the utterer's throat is constricted.

Hence Pilfer and Embezzle are synonyms to each other.

Q33. YAW

(a) Twist

(b) Means

(c) Immoral

(d) Prediction

S33. Ans.(a)

Sol. Yaw: twisting or oscillation

Hence Yaw and Twist are synonyms to each other.

Q34. MAIM

(a) Applaud

(b) Avoid

(c) Disfigure

(d) Entice

S34. Ans.(c)

Sol. Maim: wound or injure (a person or animal) so that part of the body is permanently damaged.

Disfigure: spoil the appearance of.

Hence Maim and Disfigure are synonyms to each other.

Q35. ATTRITION

(a) Friendly

(b) Harassment

(c) Restore

(d) Surplus

S35. Ans.(b)

Sol. Attrition: the process of reducing something's strength or effectiveness through sustained attack

or pressure.

Harassment: aggressive pressure or intimidation.

Hence Attrition and Harassment are synonyms to each other.


Q36. TRUCULENT

(a) Ferocity

(b) Justified

(c) Cautious

(d) Dormancy

S36. Ans.(a)

Sol. Truculent: eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.

Ferocity: a very fierce or violent quality.

Hence Truculent and Ferocity are synonyms to each other.

Q37. DIDACTIC

(a) Graceful

(b) Instructive

(c) Qualified

(d) Vindictive

S37. Ans.(b)

Sol. Didactic: intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.

Instructive: useful and informative.

Hence Didactic and Instructive are synonyms to each other.

Q38. SPRY

(a) Lively

(b) Conviction

(c) Adversity

(d) Artificial

S38. Ans.(a)

Sol. Spry: active; lively.

Hence Spry and Lively are synonyms to each other.

Q39. FUGACIOUS

(a) Harangue

(b) Ephemeral

(c) Shave

(d) Peerless

S39. Ans.(b)

Sol. Fugacious: tending to disappear; fleeting.

Ephemeral: lasting for a very short time.

Hence Fugacious and Ephemeral are synonyms to each other.


Q40. URCHIN

(a) Waif

(b) Refined

(c) Calamity

(d) Squalid

S40. Ans.(a)

Sol. Urchin: a young child who is poorly or raggedly dressed.

Waif: a homeless, neglected, or abandoned person, especially a child.

Squalid: extremely dirty and unpleasant.

Hence Urchin and Waif are synonyms to each other.

Q41. WILE

(a) Destroy

(b) Ruse

(c) Urge

(d) Comply

S41. Ans.(b)

Sol. Wile: devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone.

Ruse: an action intended to deceive someone; a trick.

Hence Wile and Ruse are synonyms to each other.

Q42. SERVILE

(a) Adamant

(b) Swelter

(c) Slavish

(d) Canny

S42. Ans.(c)

Sol. Servile: of or characteristic of a slave or slaves.

Slavish: servile or submissive.

Swelter: be uncomfortably hot.

Hence Servile and Slavish are synonyms to each other.

Q43. QUIP

(a) Repartee

(b) Occupy

(c) Uncommon

(d) Scruple

S43. Ans.(a)

Sol. Quip: a witty remark

Repartee: conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies.

Hence Quip and Repartee are synonyms to each other.


Q44. PRETENTIOUS

(a) Postulate

(b) Kitschy

(c) Foreboding

(d) Unpoised

S44. Ans.(b)

Sol. Pretentious: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually

possessed.

Kitschy: (of art, objects, or design) considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness.

Hence Pretentious and Kitschy are synonyms to each other.

Q45. PROD

(a) Nudge

(b) Delay

(c) Explore

(d) Hardship

S45. Ans.(a)

Sol. Prod: a poke with a finger, foot, or pointed object.

Nudge: a light touch or push.

Hence Prod and Nudge are synonyms to each other.

Q46. JEREMIAD

(a) Friction

(b) Incident

(c) Trouble

(d) Acme

S46. Ans.(c)

Sol. Jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or complaint.

Acme: the point at which something is at its best or most highly developed.

Trouble: difficulty or problems.

Hence Jeremiad and Trouble are synonyms to each other.

Q47. OUTRE

(a) Fair

(b) Traditional

(c) Real

(d) Grotesque

S47. Ans.(d)

Sol. Outre: unusual and typically rather shocking.

Grotesque: incongruous or inappropriate to a shocking degree.

Hence Outre and Grotesque are synonyms to each other.


Q48. MASTICATE

(a) Devour

(b) Drink

(c) Chomp

(d) Shallow

S48. Ans.(c)

Sol. Masticate: chew

Chomp: munch or chew noisily or vigorously.

Hence Masticate and Chomp are synonyms to each other.

Q49. EFFETE

(a) Affected

(b) Injured

(c) Feeble

(d) Sick

S49. Ans.(c)

Sol. Effete: no longer capable of effective action.

Feeble: lacking physical strength, especially as a result of age or illness.

Hence Effete and Feeble are synonyms to each other.

Q50. CONUNDRUM

(a) Puzzle

(b) Discussion

(c) Explanation

(d) Solution

S50. Ans.(a)

Sol. Conundrum: a question asked for amusement typically one with a pun in its answer; a riddle.

Puzzle: A thing that is difficult to understand or explain; an enigma.

Hence Conundrum and Puzzle are synonyms to each other.


Directions: In the following questions, choose the word opposite in meaning to the given word.

Q1. MELODIOUS

(a) Harmonious

(b) Tuneless

(c) Odious

(d) Mellifluous

S1. Ans.(c)

Sol. Melodious: pleasant to listen to,

Odious: extremely unpleasant, horrible.

Mellifluous: pleasingly smooth and musical to hear.

Hence Melodious and Odious are antonyms to each other.

Q2. FIENDISH

(a) Diabolical

(b) Devilish

(c) Reimbursement

(d) Friendly

S2. Ans.(d)

Sol. Fiendish: cruel and unpleasant: extremely clever and complicated.

Friendly: Behaving in a kind and pleasant way showing kindness.

Reimbursement: a sum paid to cover money that has been spent or lost.

Hence Fiendish and Friendly are antonyms to each other.

Q3. SUBSEQUENT

(a) Eventual

(b) Succeeding

(c) Prior

(d) Comparative

S3. Ans.(c)

Sol. Subsequent: Happening or coming after something else.

Prior: Happening or existing before something else.

Hence Subsequent and Prior are antonyms to each other.

50 IMPORTANT ANTONYM QUESTIONS COMPILATION


Q4. SOBRIETY

(a) Modernization

(b) Drunkenness

(c) Despicable

(d) Stupidity

S4. Ans.(b)

Sol. Sobriety: the state of being sober not being drunk; the fact of being sensible and serious.

Despicable: deserving hatred and contempt.

Drunkenness: the state of being drunk; intoxication.

Hence Sobriety and Drunkenness are antonyms to each other.

Q5. NEFARIOUS

(a) Slapdash

(b) Perfect

(c) Unblemished

(d) Righteous

S5. Ans.(d)

Sol. Nefarious: (typically of an action or activity) wicked or criminal.

Righteous: morally right or justifiable.

Slapdash: done too hurriedly and carelessly.

Hence Nefarious and Righteous are antonyms to each other.

Q6. RECUPERATE

(a) Relapse

(b) Rude

(c) Rush

(d) Sparse

S6. Ans.(a)

Sol. Recuperate: recover from illness or exertion.

Relapse: a deterioration in someone's state of health after a temporary improvement.

Sparse: scanty; in short supply.

Hence Recuperate and Relapse are antonyms to each other.

Q7. TREMULOUS

(a) Healthy

(b) Steady

(c) Obese

(d) Young

S7. Ans.(b)

Sol. Tremulous: shaking or quivering slightly.

Steady: firmly fixed, supported, or balanced; not shaking or moving.

Obese: grossly fat or overweight.

Hence Tremulous and Steady are antonyms to each other.


Q8. ELUDE

(a) Dodge

(b) Support

(c) Thwart

(d) Flee

S8. Ans.(b)

Sol. Elude: evade or escape from (a danger, enemy or pursuer), typically in a skillful or cunning way.

Dodge: avoid (someone or something) by a sudden quick movement.

Thwart: prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.

Hence Elude and Support are antonyms to each other.

Q9. CONTEMPTUOUS

(a) Respected

(b) Derisive

(c) Haughty

(d) Expedite

S9. Ans.(a)

Sol. Contemptuous: showing contempt; scornful.

Derisive: expressing contempt or ridicule.

Expedite: make (an action or process) happen sooner.

Hence Contemptuous and Respected are antonyms to each other.

Q10. RELISH

(a) Zest

(b) Apathy

(c) Corporal

(d) Prototype

S10. Ans.(b)

Sol. Relish: Great Enjoyment.

Apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

Hence Relish and Apathy are antonyms to each other.

Q11. IGNOMINY

(a) Glory

(b) Lifeless

(c) Obloquy

(d) Opprobrium

S11. Ans.(a)

Sol. Ignominy: public shame or disgrace.

Glory: high renown or honor won by notable achievements.

Opprobrium: harsh criticism or censure.

Hence Ignominy and Glory are antonyms to each other.


Q12. SCRIMMAGE

(a) Peace

(b) Scuffle

(c) Fence

(d) Closed

S12. Ans.(a)

Sol. Scrimmage: a confused struggle or fight.

Peace: freedom from disturbance; tranquility.

Scuffle: a short, confused fight or struggle at close quarters.

Hence Scrimmage and Peace are antonyms to each other.

Q13. CAVALIER

(a) Curt

(b) Humble

(c) Terminate

(d) Hostile

S13. Ans.(b)

Sol. Cavalier: showing a lack of proper concern; offhand.

Curt: rudely brief.

Humble: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's importance.

Hence Cavalier and Humble are antonyms to each other.

Q14. IMPECUNIOUS

(a) affluent

(b) comatose

(c) ruthless

(d) superficial

S14. Ans.(a)

Sol. Impecunious -having little or no money.

Affluent: having a great deal of money; wealthy.

Hence Impecunious and Affluent are antonyms to each other.

Q15. CLUMSY

(a) adroit

(b) messy

(c) convoluted

(d) boorish

S15. Ans.(a)

Sol. Clumsy: awkward in movement or in handling things.

Adroit-clever or skillful.

Convoluted: extremely complex and difficult to follow.

Hence Clumsy and Adroit are antonyms to each other.


Q16. FLACCID

(a) Upright

(b) Taut

(c) Uneven

(d) Tough

S16. Ans.(b)

Sol. Flaccid: soft and hanging loosely or limply, especially so as to look or feel unpleasant.

Taut: stretched or pulled tight; not slack.

Hence Flaccid and Taut are antonyms to each other.

Q17. IMPOUND

(a) Generate

(b) Strengthen

(c) Stimulate

(d) Release

S17. Ans.(d)

Sol. Impound: seize and take legal custody of (something, especially a vehicle, goods, or documents)

because of an infringement of a law.

Hence Impound and Release are antonyms to each other.

Q18. BALK

(a) Admire

(b) Break

(c) Glabrous

(d) Impetus

S18. Ans.(d)

Sol. Balk: hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking.

Glabrous: free from hair or down; smooth.

Impetus: something that makes a process or activity happen or happen more quickly.

Hence Balk and Impetus are antonyms to each other.

Q19. STRIDENT

(a) Stable

(b) Pleasant

(c) Musical

(d) Melodious

S19. Ans.(d)

Sol. Strident: (of a sound) loud and harsh.

Melodious: pleasant-sounding.

Hence Strident and Melodious are antonyms to each other.


Q20. ZANY

(a) Cautious

(b) Calculating

(c) Cunning

(d) Sane

S20. Ans.(d)

Sol. Zany: amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic.

Sane: reasonable or sensible.

Hence Zany and Sane are antonyms to each other.

Q21. POUR

(a) Radical

(b) Active

(c) Young

(d) Gentle

S21. Ans.(d)

Sol. Dour: relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance.

Gentle: having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character.

Hence Dour and Gentle are antonyms to each other.

Q22. LEGATO

(a) Uneven

(b) Brief

(c) Silent

(d) Smooth

S22. Ans.(a)

Sol. Legato: in a smooth flowing manner, without breaks between notes.

Hence Legato and Uneven are antonyms to each other.

Q23. ADVENT

(a) Departure

(b) Appearance

(c) Awry

(d) Alright

S23. Ans.(a)

Sol. Advent: the arrival of a notable person or thing.

Departure: the action of leaving, especially to start a journey

Awry: away from the usual or expected course; amiss.

Hence Advent and Departure are antonyms to each other.


Q24. UNHINGE

(a) Dismay

(b) Soothe

(c) Unsettle

(d) Chafe

S24. Ans.(b)

Sol. Unhinge: make (someone) mentally unbalanced.

Soothe: reduce pain or discomfort.

Chafe: rub (a part of the body) to restore warmth or sensation.

Hence Unhinge and Soothe are antonyms to each other.

Q25. UPTURN

(a) Soar

(b) Upheave

(c) Slump

(d) Recline

S25. Ans.(c)

Sol. Upturn: an improvement or upward trend.

Slump: a sudden severe or prolonged fall.

Hence Upturn and Slump are antonyms to each other.

Q26. TURPITUDE

(a) Depravity

(b) Virtue

(c) Rakishness

(d) Rot

S26. Ans.(b)

Sol. Turpitude: depraved or wicked behavior or character.

Virtue: behavior showing high moral standards.

Rakishness: stylishness as evidenced by a smart appearance.

Hence Turpitude and Virtue are antonyms to each other.

Q27. RAPTUROUS

(a) Depressed

(b) Giddy

(c) Enrapt

(d) Tickled

S27. Ans.(a)

Sol. Rapturous: characterized by, feeling, or expressing great

pleasure or enthusiasm.

Depressed: in a state of unhappiness or despondency.

Giddy: having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall or

stagger; dizzy.

Enrapt: fascinated; enthralled.

Hence Rapturous and Depressed are antonyms to each other.


Q28. INDENTURE

(a) Pit

(b) Protrusion

(c) Hollow

(d) Dint

S28. Ans.(b)

Sol. Indenture: a legal agreement, contract, or document, in particular:

Protrusion: something that protrudes; a protuberance.

Hence Indenture and Protrusion are antonyms to each other.

Q29. DUST-UP

(a) Truce

(b) Hassle

(c) Rakishness

(d) Melee

S29. Ans.(a)

Sol. Dust-up: a fight or quarrel.

Truce: an agreement between enemies or opponents to stop fighting or arguing for a certain time.

Hassle: irritating inconvenience.

Hence Dust-up and Truce are antonyms to each other.

Q30. APPALL

(a) Emasculate

(b) Rejoice

(c) Stun

(d) Unnerve

S30. Ans.(b)

Sol. Appall: greatly dismay or horrify.

Emasculate: make (someone or something) weaker or less effective.

Rejoice: feel or show great joy or delight.

Hence Appall and Rejoice are antonyms to each other.

Q31. DOUR

(a) Radical

(b) Sluggish

(c) Young

(d) Cheerful

S31. Ans.(d)

Sol. Dour: relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance.

Sluggish: slow-moving or inactive.

Cheerful: causing happiness by its nature or appearance.

Hence Dour and Cheerful are antonyms to each other.


Q32. ADO

(a) Urban

(b) Arable

(c) Bright

(d) Quietude

S32. Ans.(d)

Sol. Ado: a state of noisy, confused activity

Quietude: a state of stillness, calmness, and quiet in a person or place.

Arable: used or suitable for growing crops.

Hence Ado and Quietude are antonyms to each other.

Q33. NUGATORY

(a) Voluptuous

(b) Slender

(c) Valuable

(d) Worthless

S33. Ans.(c)

Sol. Nugatory: of no value or importance.

Voluptuous: relating to or characterized by luxury or sensual pleasure.

Slender: (of a person or part of the body) gracefully thin.

Hence Nugatory and Valuable are antonyms to each other.

Q34. LEGATO

(a) Uneven

(b) Brief

(c) Silent

(d) Smooth

S34. Ans.(a)

Sol. Legato: in a smooth flowing manner, without breaks between notes.

Hence Legato and Uneven are antonyms to each other.

Q35. CONVENE

(a) Cancel

(b) Tumult

(c) Dissolve

(d) Prudent

S35. Ans.(a)

Sol. Convene: come or bring together for a meeting or activity; assemble.

Tumult: a state of confusion or disorder.

Hence Convene and Cancel are antonyms to each other.


Q36. INTRANSIGENT

(a) Traitor

(b) Faithful

(c) Pliable

(d) Obscured

S36. Ans.(c)

Sol. Intransigent: unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something

Pliable: too easily influenced or controlled by other people.

Traitor: a person who betrays someone or something.

Hence Intransigent and Pliable are antonyms to each other.

Q37. REQUISITE

(a) Dispensable

(b) Random

(c) Appropriate

(d) Chaotic

S37. Ans.(a)

Sol. Requisite: made necessary by particular circumstances or regulations.

Dispensable: able to be replaced or done without.

Hence Requisite and Dispensable are antonyms to each other.

Q38. EXECRATE

(a) Crafty

(b) Prosaic

(c) Help

(d) Revere

S38. Ans.(d)

Sol. Execrate: feel or express great loathing for.

Revere: to show devoted deferential honor to.

Prosaic: lacking imaginativeness or originality.

Hence Execrate and Revere are antonyms to each other.

Q39. BALMY

(a) Severe

(b) Genuine

(c) Pleasant

(d) Fragrant

S39. Ans.(a)

Sol. Balmy: of air, weather, etc. warm, calm, and pleasant.

Hence Balmy and Severe are antonyms to each other.


Q40. PALTRY

(a) Strong

(b) Worthwhile

(c) Mean

(d) Bitter

S40. Ans.(b)

Sol. Paltry: petty; trivial.

Worthwhile: of value or importance.

Hence Paltry and Worthwhile are antonyms to each other.

Q41. DEBONAIR

(a) Worried

(b) Pensive

(c) Graceful

(d) Rustic

S41. Ans.(d)

Sol. Debonair: confident, stylish, and charming.

Rustic: made in a plain and simple fashion, in particular.

Hence Debonair and Rustic are antonyms to each other.

Q42. REDOLENT

(a) Stiff

(b) Succour

(c) Revamp

(d) Malodorous

S42. Ans.(c)

Sol. Redolent: having a pleasant smell

Malodorous: having a bad odor.

Hence Redolent and Malodorous are antonyms to each other.

Q43. COSSET

(a) Purify

(b) Divert

(c) Pamper

(d) Mistreat

S43. Ans.(d)

Sol. Cosset: care for and protect in an overindulgent way.

Hence Cosset and Mistreat are antonyms to each other.


Q44. KOOK

(a) Conformist

(b) Satire

(c) Peculiar

(d) Fascinated

S44. Ans.(a)

Sol. Kook: a person of odd or whimsical habits.

Conformist: a person who conforms to accepted behavior or established practices.

Hence Kook and Conformist are antonyms to each other.

Q45. EXODUS

(a) Restoration

(b) Plumb

(c) Conventional

(d) Influx

S45. Ans.(d)

Sol. Exodus: a mass departure of people.

Influx: an arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things.

Hence Exodus and Influx are antonyms to each other.

Q46. ODIUM

(a) Affection

(b) Antipathy

(c) Bruise

(d) Deform

S46. Ans.(a)

Sol. Odium: general or widespread hatred or disgust incurred by someone as a result of their actions.

Antipathy: a deep-seated feeling of aversion.

Affection: a gentle feeling of fondness or liking.

Hence Odium and Affection are antonyms to each other.

Q47. MANGLE

(a) Contort

(b) Severity

(c) Repair

(d) Deliver

S47. Ans.(c)

Sol. Mangle: destroy or severely damage by tearing or crushing.

Contort: twist or bend out of the normal shape.

Repair: restore (something damaged, faulty, or worn) to a good condition.

Hence Mangle and Repair are antonyms to each other.


Q48. SPRY

(a) Lumbering

(b) Awake

(c) Chunk

(d) Drill

S48. Ans.(a)

Sol. Spry: active; lively.

Lumbering: moving in a slow, heavy, awkward way.

Hence Spry and Lumbering are antonyms t each other.

Q49. PLENITUDE

(a) Swarm

(b) Driblet

(c) Myriad

(d) Stack

S49. Ans.(b)

Sol. Plenitude: an abundance.

Driblet: a small or insignificant amount.

Myriad: countless or extremely great in number.

Swarm: a large number of people or things.

Hence Plenitude and Driblet are antonyms to each other.

Q50. PESTILENT

(a) Innocuous

(b) Contagious

(c) Affable

(d) Honesty

S50. Ans.(a)

Sol. Pestilent: causing annoyance; troublesome.

Innocuous: not harmful or offensive.

Hence Pestilent and Innocuous are antonyms to each other.


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Learning Unit 3

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1.Sentence Completion Basic Level Exercises – Single Blank 2.Sentence Completion Basic Level Exercises – Double Blank 3.Cloze Test











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Level of Difficulty

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_

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II


Directions: In each of the following

questions four statements with a blank in

each are given. You have to choose a word

from the given option that can fill all the

blanks. Mark that option as your answer.

1. i. He was met by a __ of noisy, angry

youths.

ii. The British feel no compunction about

ushering the gentry into the coach and

packing the __ off to debtor‘s prison.

iii. We arrived at the grounds after

following a __ of butterflies.

iv. Tourists __ to the picturesque village.

A) hearth

B) gentry

C) cream

D) rabble

E) society

View Answer

Option D

Explanation: i- a disorderly crowd

ii-ordinary people

iii-a large group of butterflies

iv- present in large number

2. i. You and all the others like you are __.

ii. Some calls were vitriolic, accusing us

of publishing pornography and __.

iii. Stagnant pools of __ are scattered all

over this area.

iv. The windows were thick with __.

A) celibacy

B) filth

C) fastidious

D) cohorent

E) dirty

View Answer

Option B

Explanation:i- corrupted

ii- obscene and offensive language or

printed material.

iii- mire

iv- dirt ingrained on the surface of

something.

3. i. The building has been lovingly __.

ii. The effort to __ him to office isn‘t

working.

iii. The government __ confidence in the

housing market.

iv. The steering box was recently __.

A) cured

B) disrupted

C) moved

D) restored

E) desolate

View Answer

Option D

Explanation: i- repair or renovate; ii-

return to a former condition; iii- bring

back or re-establish; iv- take apart

4. i. The debate has become __by

conflicting ideological perspectives.

ii. None of this should __ the skill and

perseverance of the workers.

iii. Grey clouds __ the sun.

iv. His origins and parentage are __.

A) obscured

B) cloaked

C) brightened

D) lambent

E) amplified

View Answer

Option A

Explanation: i- make unclear and

difficult to understand; ii- keep from

being known; iii- keep from being seen;

iv- uncertain

5. i. A good __walk is good for health.

ii. She adopted a __, businesslike tone.

iii. The sea was shimmering and heaving

beneath the __ breeze.

iv. The archers played a ___ part in the


victory.

A) animated

B) laggard

C) indolent

D) brisk

E) lethargic

View Answer

Option D

Explanation: i active and energetic; ii-

showing a wish to deal with things

quickly; iii- cold but pleasantly

invigorating; iv- settling an issue

6. i. Firemen were soaking everything to __

the blaze.

ii. Hope is __ little by little.

iii. A look which would have __ any

man.

iv. Rights of common pasture were __.

A) kindled

B) quench

C) extinguished

D) erected

E) made

View Answer

Option C

Explanation: I- cause to cease to burn;

ii- destroy; iii- subdue or reduce

(someone) to silence; iv- render (a right

or obligation) void.

7. i. Her upper lip curled in __.

ii. He __ his patients as an inferior rabble.

iii. She remained standing, pointedly __

his invitation to sit down.

iv. I asked her to be my wife, and was __

in no uncertain terms.

A) scrutinize

B) approve

C) disdain

D) ignore

E) spurn

View Answer

Option C

Explanation: contempt; ii- consider to be

unworthy of one‘s consideration; iii-

refuse to do (something) from feelings of

pride or superiority;

8. i. They described the outbreak of

violence in the area as an __.

ii. Color __ lead to misunderstanding.

iii. The experience might have been no

more than a temporary __ of an

exhausted mind.

iv. Shelley‘s angry retort was an __from

her normally quiet demeanor.

A) delusion

B) oddity

C) ordinary

D) connote

E) aberration

View Answer

Option E

Explanation: I- anamoly ; ii- disorder;

iii- vagary; iv- not typical

9. i. A proposal to __temporarily the right to

strike.

ii. We believe the board __ its

responsibilities to its shareholders.

iii. You cannot __ anyone‘s right to free

speech!

iv. Our city needs to __ outdated laws.

A) void

B) ratify

C) abrogate

D) allow

E) authorize

View Answer


Option C

Explanation: i- repeal or do away with ;

ii- evade (a responsibility or duty) ; iii- ;

iv-

10. i. His theory __ a rotatory movement for

hurricanes.

ii. The chapter was then allowed to

postulate the bishop of Bath.

iii. Perhaps the __ of Babylonian

influence on Greek astronomy is

incorrect.

iv. The best economists in the world are

working to __ an idea that will revive

international finances.

A) guess

B) obviate

C) postulate

D) calculate

E) posit

View Answer

Option C

Directions: Pick out the most appropriate

pair of words to complete the given

sentences.

1. It is shameful and horrifying and totally

__ and completely __ that gender

activists have failed to address this

gaping inequality.

A) sticky, intolerable

B) problematic, unacceptable

C) tight, adequate

D) convenient, dandy

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: unacceptable = not

satisfactory or allowable

2. We still hear about the ―wage gap‖

almost daily, and even though it‘s a myth,

we __ still marshal our resources to __

this imaginary injustice.

A) shall, adulterate

B) can, ruin

C) could, emend

D) should, rectify

E) None of these

View Answer

Option D

Explanation: rectify = put right; correct.

3. The burning of crop __, which has been

identified as the villain-in-chief of the

current crisis, has __ a large number of

northern cities.

A) chaff, loose

B) shuck, fiexed

C) stubble, impacted

D) debris, bumped

E) None of these

View Answer

Option

Explanation: stubble = the cut stalks of

cereal plants left sticking out of the

ground after the grain is harvested;

impacted = strongly affected by

something.

4. Facebook has said that the initiative,

which could be __ to other countries

based on the response, is really aimed at

protecting users by ensuring that nude

photos and other __ images of them don‘t

get posted on Facebook, Instagram and

other platforms without their consent.

A) circumscribe, foe

B) extended, intimate

C) diminished, formal

D) abridged, extrinsic

E) None of these None of these

View Answer

Option B


5. While India has never __ that the Indian

Ocean is ―India‘s Ocean‖ China has __

the bulk of the South China Sea is

―China‘s Sea‖ and even extended its

claim to Indonesia‘s shores.

A) adopted, adopted

B) affirmed, affirmed

C) claimed, claimed

D) avowed, avowed

E) None of these

View Answer

Option C

6. While China has a legitimate interest in

ensuring the security of its frontiers, what

has __ the entire maritime neighbourhood

has been Beijing‘s readiness to deploy its

navy coercively to enforce its __ claims

across the South China Sea.

A) fair, imperialist

B) nonchalant, bossy

C) agitated, colonialist

D) shaken, expansionist

E) None of these

View Answer

Option D

Explanation: expansionist = relating to

or characteristic of a policy of territorial

or economic expansion.

7. Since 2013, the world has had five __

years of large production of oilseeds

resulting in a __ inventory.

A) direct, gentle

B) straight, burdensome

C) candid, smooth

D) levelled, fluffy

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: burdensome = difficult to

carry out or fulfil; taxing.

8. Unfortunately within the Indian

government there is __ global commodity

market commercial intelligence available

so as to be able to take __ decisions on

tariff changes.

A) troubling, naive

B) few, oblivious

C) small, enlightened

D) little, informed

E) None of these

View Answer

Option D

9. Any __ with trade policy without taking

into account international sensitivities

and trade relations can potentially lead to

a __ and retaliatory action.

A) fiddling, bounce

B) tinkering, backlash

C) botching, rebuff

D) dallying, reflex

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: backlash = a strong

negative reaction by a large number of

people, especially to a social or political

development.

10. Despite the fact that India is a __

economy and not an export-oriented one,

farm exports are not __.

A) constructing, strong

B) abstaining, concrete

C) consuming, insubstantial

D) substantial, fanciful

E) None of these


View Answer

Option C

Explanation: insubstantial = lacking

strength and solidity.

Directions: Pick out the most appropriate

pair of words to complete the given

sentences.

1. __of sorts, Lord Robert Clive would __a

gun in one hand, and a sword in the other.

A) certainty, blaze

B) conjectural, flash

C) empirical, spark

D) strength, flicker

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: conjectural = speculative;

flash = shine in a bright but brief, sudden,

or intermittent way.

2. Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay

walked into India, as if __ into a__.

A) measuring, limber

B) regulating, ambulance

C) pacing, palanquin

D) trotting, barrow

E) None of these

View Answer

Option C

Explanation: palanquin = a covered

litter for one passenger,

3. I fully believe that a __ penal code is

better than a severe penal code, the worst

of all systems was surely that of having a

__ code for the Brahmins

A) strong, strong

B) mild, mild

C) moderate, moderate

D) sarcastic, sarcastic

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: mild = not severe,

serious, or harsh.

4. On the US side, movement — even __—

on a totalisation agreement would be a

welcome __ for temporary Indian

workers and Indian companies from

paying an annual social security payment.

A) abrupt, distress

B) incremental, relief

C) decrescent, anguish

D) acute, pang

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: incremental = relating to or

denoting an increase or addition,

especially one of a series on a fixed scale;

relief = a feeling of reassurance and

relaxation following release from anxiety

or distress.

5. When PM Modi announced his __ for

―Startup India‖ in early 2016, the buzz __

throughout Silicon Valley.

A) vision, dull

B) vision, reverberated

C) vision, quiet

D) vision, reflected

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: reverberated =

6. A recent report predicts __ shifts in the

global economic __ by 2050 — six of the

seven largest economies will be emerging

economies led by China and India.

A) exciting, ruckus

B) modest, group

C) monotonous, organize


D) dramatic, order

E) None of these

View Answer

Option D

7. In an extremely warm speech, Tillerson

highlighted a number of points of __

between the two erstwhile ―__

democracies‖.

A) difference, allied

B) isolation, conciliated

C) convergence, estranged

D) dissent, chummy

E) None of these

View Answer

Option C

Explanation: convergence = the process

or state of converging.;

8. While designating India and the US as

―the two __ of stability‖, Tillerson was

quite __ on the implications of China‘s

rise.

A) bookmarks, delusive

B) bookends, forthright

C) bounds, insincere

D) sets, subtle

E) None of these

View Answer

Option B

Explanation: bookends = be positioned

at the end or on either side of

(something); forthright = (of a person or

their manner or speech) direct and

outspoken.

9. After __ Pakistan for harbouring

terrorists in his August speech, Trump

recently praised Pakistan for the help it

provided in securing the release of an

American woman and her family from

the Haqqani network‘s__.

A) excusing, acquittal

B) scolding, sovereignty

C) castigating, captivity

D) exonerating, license

E) None of these

View Answer

Option C

Explanation: castigating = reprimand

(someone) severely; captivity = the

condition of being imprisoned or

confined.

10. The __ aspect of US policy on South

Asia has involved maintaining a balance

between India and Pakistan and this has

been so even in a period of __ bilateral

progress over the last two decades.

A) unstated, significant

B) untold, weighty

C) unspoken, notable

D) tacit, critical

E) None of these

View Answer

Option A


Directions: In each question a sentence is given followed by a blank. Each blank is followed by three options and you have to determine which option can be used in place of blank to make it a meaningful sentence and mark it as your answer.

1. The disappearance is bad enough but to replace it with fake news, and/or flaky analysis,___.

i. Is shameful

ii. is deplorable

iii. Is atrocious

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii and ii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E Explanation: deplorable = deserving strong condemnation; completely unacceptable.

syn:disgraceful, shameful, dishonourable, disreputable, discreditable, unworthy, shabby,

inexcusable, unpardonable, unforgivable, terrible

2. An ill-informed remedy can ___ a patient‘s illness, not make her get well.

i. only aggravate

ii. merely appease

iii. only mitigate

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii and i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option A Explanation: aggravate = make (a problem, injury, or offence) worse or more serious.

3. ____ — let alone close — examination, the IFPRI hunger index is not a hunger index at all; it is

an index about child mortality, and stunting, and wasting, and undernourishment of children.

i. on a cursory

ii. on a hurry

iii. on a straw

A) only iii and i

B) only ii and i

C) only ii

D) only i

E) All are Correct

View Answer


Option B

Explanation: cursory = hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed.

syn: perfunctory, desultory, casual, superficial, token, uninterested, half-hearted, inattentive,

unthinking, offhand, mechanical, automatic, routine

4. ___ , and detailed research, has shown that too many calories — obesity — is a major problem

in the US, not under-nutrition.

i. informal induction

ii. random experimentalism

iii. casual empiricism

A) only iii and ii

B) only iii and i

C) only ii

D) only i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E

Explanation: empiricism = the theory that all knowledge is based on experience derived from

the senses. Stimulated by the rise of experimental science

5. The committee was formed in June — in the backdrop of ___ in some of India‘s storied

corporate houses and firms with promoters or founders and professional managers ranged

against each other in a battle for control, raising uncomfortable issues relating to transparency

and accountability and the role of independent directors.

i. public skirmishes

ii. public encounters

iii. public tussles

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii and ii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E

Explanation: skirmishes = an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting, especially

between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets.

syn: fight, battle, clash, conflict, encounter, confrontation, engagement, fray, contest, combat,

tussle, scrimmage, fracas, affray, melee; archaicrencounter

6. Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has attempted ___ its asset managers to be more

forceful and to publicly disclose the voting records for each investee company through a

Stewardship Code and Corporate Governance Code.

i. to dissuade

ii. to fix

iii. to nudge

A) only ii


B) only iii

C) only i

D) only iii and ii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option B Explanation: nudge= prod (someone) gently with one’s elbow in order to attract attention.

7. The U.S. concluded that Iran had recovered from the Stuxnet ___ and was barely months away

from producing enough highly enriched uranium to produce a nuclear device.

i. disaster

ii. fiasco

iii. debacle

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only ii and i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E Explanation: debacle = a sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco. syn: fiasco, failure, catastrophe, disaster, disintegration, mess, wreck, ruin;

8. U.S. sanctions relief was ___ because of a multiplicity of sanctions (relating to nuclear and

missile activities, human rights violations and terrorism) which also had extra-territorial

application.

i. more convoluted

ii. more simple

iii. more tangled

A) Only ii

B) Only iii

C) Only iii and i

D) Only ii and iii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option C Explanation: convoluted = (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow. syn : complicated, complex, involved, intricate, elaborate, impenetrable, serpentine,

labyrinthine, tortuous, tangled, Byzantine, Daedalian,

9. The scheme would imply ___ of the JCPOA, something that would attract a veto by both

Russia and China were it to be taken up in the UNSC.

i. an inappropriate adjustment


ii. an implicit renegotiation

iii. an indirect realignation

A) Only iii

B) Only i

C) Only iii and i

D) only ii and iii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option D Explanation: renegotiation = negotiation of something again in order to change the original agreed terms.

10. Relations between Mr. Trump and Senator Corker have deteriorated with Mr. Trump blaming

Mr. Corker for ___and Mr. Corker comparing the White House to an adult day care centre.

i. the terrible allocation

ii. the horrendous deal

iii. the subjugation aprobation

A) only

B) only

C) only i and ii

D) only

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option C Explanation: horrendous = extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible.


1. For the brick workers‘ union I was researching, __ out of the bureaucracy had become their

bread and butter.

i. enticing favours

ii. coaxing benefits

iii. cajoling gains

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only i & iii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E Explanation: coaxing = persuade (someone) gradually or gently to do something.


2. Even if the Dalits take__ , it is under a less stringent section of the law that permits bail.

i. enlightenment of the abnegation

ii. realization of the violation

iii. cognisance of the offence

A) only i & ii

B) only iii

C) only ii & iii

D) only iii & i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option C Explanation: cognizance = knowledge or awareness.

3. __ on health, needs intensive research, on how air pollution affects not just the lungs, but

different organs of the body.

i. Gauging its precise impact

ii. estimating its scrupulous influence

iii. appraising its actual hokum

A) only ii

B) only i

C) only ii & i

D) only iii & i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option C

4. As the urgency for putting in place effective solutions gathers momentum, it is __ options in the

local context, particularly since resources are always limited.

i. unfussy to need

ii. critical to prioritise

iii. trivial to triage

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii & ii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option B

5. The climate question presents __ for India‘s development paradigm.

i. a leapfrog era


iii. a bound date

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii & ii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E Explanation:

6. The record in this sphere will naturally be evaluated against India‘s Paris Agreement pledge to

use a __ for clean production and levies on fuel to maintain a balance.

i. blend of dampers

ii. combination of incentives

iii. association of checks

A) only i

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii & i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option B

7. aad Hariri‘s shock resignation as Lebanon‘s Prime Minister has not just __ into another spell of

political instability but also reignited regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

i. dashed the country

ii. plunged the country

iii. emersed the country

A) only iii & ii

B) only ii

C) only ii & i

D) only i & iii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option C Explanation: plunge = fall suddenly and uncontrollably.

8. His continued absence has __ that he was forced by the Saudis to resign and is being held in

Riyadh against his will at a time when the kingdom is turning up the heat on Hezbollah and Iran.

i. stimulated venture

ii. instigated prediction

iii. triggered speculation


A) only i

B) only iii

C) only ii

D) only i & iii

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E

9. Lebanon‘s leaders, who will recall the horrors of the 1975-1990 civil war, should forge at least

a __ and ask regional powers to stay out of the country‘s domestic politics.

i. Similarity of harmony

ii. semblance of unity

iii. Resemblance of oneness

A) only ii & iii

B) only ii

C) only iii

D) only iii & i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option E

10. The Chief Justice, as the head of the judiciary, determines the roster is __ in public significance

to the critical role of the Chief Justice as the embodiment of moral authority of the entire judicial

system.

i. a platitude that pales

ii. an inanity that faints

iii. A profoundness that blanches

A) only ii

B) only ii & i

C) only i

D) only iii & i

E) All are Correct

View Answer

Option B Explanation: platitude = a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has

been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful; pales = become pale in one‘s face from

shock or fear.



1. The recently-concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was a/an

_______political theatre which showcased President Xi Jinping‘s primacy, his vision and his

status as the helmsman of the party and the nation.

i. evidently improvised

ii. intricately choreographed

iii. labyrinthinely mimed

A) Only i

B) Only ii

C) Only i & ii

D) Only ii & iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option D Explanation: intrcate = very complicated or detailed.

2. Mr. Xi has become the only leader after Mao to have his ___ ideological contribution written

into the party charter while in office.

i. anonymous

ii. unidentified

iii. eponymous

A) Only i

B) Only ii

C) Only iii

D) Only ii & iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option C Explanation: eponymous= (of a person) giving their name to something.

3. In his speech, Mr. Xi spoke of China as a ―strong country‖ or ―great power‖ as many as 30

times, ____ about the country‘s great power ambitions.

i. jettisoning the earlier coyness

ii. disposing the subsequent assurance

iii. chucking the previous modesty

A) Only i

B) Only i and ii

C) Only ii and iii

D) Only i and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer


Option D Explanation:

4. By broadening banking services to unbanked and/or underbanked people, bank managers can

not only take early advantage of _____potential of customers and create a ‗lock-in‘ effect but

also aid an inclusive development agenda while allocating resources into more productive areas.

i. endeavoring the untouched

ii. exploiting the untapped

iii. maneuvering the pristine

A) Only i

B) Only i and ii

C) Only ii and iii

D) Only i and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option E

5. The government ___ the criticism made in Parliament when the law was being debated.

i. haughtily rejected

ii. proudly incorporated

iii. uppishly disclaimed

A) Only i

B) Only ii

C) Only ii and iii

D) Only i a nd iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option D Explanation: haughtily = done in a proud or boastful manner

6. Now, students at the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT-H) are

______in the wake of Apple‘s campus placement drive, as per a report in TOI.

i. awfully jubilant

ii. extremely elated

iii. highly blissful

A) only i

B) Only i and iii

C) Only ii and iii

D) Only i and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option E


7. Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani _____after government assigns commando for protection.

i. unleashes taunt

ii. fetters taunt

iii. confines commendation

A) Only i

B) Only ii

C) Only i and ii

D) Only ii and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option A

8. Since the launch of the programme by the prime minister in October 2014, there has been an

______ in the construction of toilets, with five crore built in three years.

i. stggerring spurt

ii. overwhelming spurt

iii. astonishing acceleration

A) Only i

B) Only ii and iii

C) Only ii

D) Only i and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option E

9. A video clip of the public reception given to Mr. Ravi drew some___.

i. stingy remarks

ii. uncharitable comments

iii. altruism silences

A) Only i

B) Only ii

C) Only i and ii

D) Only i and iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option C

10. In recent years, Supreme Court has grappled with the disturbing phenomenon of

criminals________.

i. getting into the optional ruckus

ii. entering the electoral fray

iii. entering the voting brawl


A) Only i

B) Only ii

C)Only i and ii

D) only ii nad iii

E) All are correct

View Answer

Option D


Direction: In the following passages there areblanks, each of which has been numbered. Thesenumbers are printed below the passage andagainst each five words are suggested, one ofwhich fits the blank appropriately. Find out theappropriate word in each case.

Passage 1Economic backwardness of a region is (1) by the

co-existence of unutilized or underutilized (2)on theone hand, and (3)natural resources, on the other.Economic development essentially means a processof (4) change whereby the real per capita income of aneconomy (5) over a period of time. Then, a simple butmeaningful question arises: what causes economicdevelopment? Or what makes a country developed?This question has absorbed the (6) of scholars ofsocio-economic change for decades. Going through the(7) history of developed countries like America, Russiaand Japan, man is essentially found as (8) in theprocess of economic development. Japan, whoseeconomy was (9) damaged from the ravages of theSecond World War, is the clearest example of our timeto (10) kingpin role in economic development.1. 1) developed 2) cured

3) improved 4) enhanced5) characterised

2. 1) sources 2) finances3) funds 4) manpower5) industries

3. 1) exhaustive 2) unexploited3) abundant 4) indefinite5) unreliable

4. 1) upward 2) drastic3) negligible 4) incredible5) sudden

5. 1) diminishes 2) degenerates3) increases 4) succumbs5) stabilizes

6. 1) plans 2) attempts3) attention 4) resources5) strategy

7. 1) existing 2) glorious3) ancient 4) economic5) discouraging

8. 1) pivotal 2) neutral3) insignificant 4) enchanted5) vicious

Cloze Test

9. 1) increasingly 2) always3) gradually 4) deliberately5) badly

10. 1) enlighten 2) validate3) negate 4) underestimate5) belittle

Absorb = to hold somebody’s attention orinterest completely

Ravage = to damage something badly; todestroy something

The ravages = the damaging effect of something;of something the destruction done by somethingKingpin = a person of thing essential for

successEnhance = to increase or improve further the

good quality, value or status ofsomething

Incredible = difficult to believe; extraordinaryDiminish = to decrease; to become or make

something smaller or lessDegenerate = to pass into a worse physical, mental

or moral state that one which isconsidered normal or desirable.

Succumb = to fail to resist an illness, an attacketc

Pivotal = central; of great importance becauseother things depend on it.

Vicious = acting or done with evil intentions;cruel and violent.

Enlighten = to give somebody greater knowledgeor understanding

Validate = to show that something isreasonable or logical; to makesomething legally valid

Negate = to cancel the effect of something; tonullify something

Belittle = to make a person or an action seemunimportant or of little value.

Passage 2Although John Wisdom’s writings in philosophy

show clearly the influence of Wittgenstein, theynevertheless also display a (1) originality. Despite the(2) and difficulty of his style, a careful reading ofWisdom is seldom (3). He is a unique kind of geniusin philosophy.

This essay is an excellent example of Wisdom’srepeated attempts to (4) the ultimate bases ofphilosophical perplexity. A great deal of the timeWisdom is (5) interested in finding out whymetaphysicians feel (6) to utter such strangesentences (e.g. “Time is unreal”, There are no material


410 Test of English Language

things”, etc). According to Wisdom, such sentencesare both false (and perhaps meaningless) and yet (7).Even more than Wittgenstein, Wisdom has stressedthe “therapeutic” conception of philosophy, a view thatcomes out clearly in this essay where he emphasizesthe analogy between philosophical and neuroticdistress (8) them with other kinds of problems.

The reader who is interested in gaining a fuller (9)with Wisdom’s thought is referred to his famous article“Gods in Philosophy and Psycho-analysis”. Other Mindsis Wisdom’s most (10) discussion of a single topicand in many ways his finest work.1. 1) concise 2) virtual 3) marked

4) limited 5) relative2. 1) individuality 2) novelty

3) originality 4) complexity5) creativity

3. 1) unprofitable 2) useful3) advantageous 4) unreliable5) durable

4. 1) jettison 2) delimit3) augment 4) fortify5) explore

5. 1) admirably 2) primarily3) inadvertently 4) reluctantly5) happily

6. 1) depressed 2) confined3) alluded 4) compelled5) adapted

7. 1) illuminating 2) damaging3) confusing 4) critical5) unreliable

8. 1) compelling 2) associating3) contrasting 4) describing5) advocating

9. 1) comparison 2) analysis3) agreement 4) elaboration5) acquaintance

10. 1) projected 2) sustained3) prolonged 4) prolific5) attributed

Perplexity = confusion; the state of beingconfused or worried

Metaphysics = the branch of philosophy dealingwith the nature of existence, truthand knowledge

Utter = to say something; to expresssomething in speech.

Therapeutic = of or connected with healing; havinga good general effect on the body orthe mind

Neurotic = having or showing an abnormalanxiety or obsession aboutsomething; caused by or sufferingfrom a mental illness that causesdepression or abnormal behaviour

Concise = briefVirtual = almost or nearly the thing described,

but not completely.Jettison = to abandon or reject something that

is not wanted.

Augment = to make something larger in numberor size; to increase something

Fortify = to make somebody feed stronger,braver etc.

Explore = to examine something thoroughly inorder to test it or found out about it.

Inadvertent = not done deliberately orintentionally

Reluctant = unwilling and therefore slow to act,agree etc.

Allude = to mention somebody/somethingbriefly or indirectly.

Adapt = to make something suitable for anew use situation etc.

Acquaintance = slight knowledge of somethingProlong = to make something last longer; to

extend somethingProlific = producing many works.

Passage 3The latest stage of the continuing (1) between India

and the United States on the nuclear issue is nowpunctuated with pleasing diplomatic observations. Ourlatest round of talks with the American DeputySecretary of State is “positive and encouraging”. TheUS Deputy Secretary of State remarked that “none ofus are pleased to have any clouds over the (2)”. We inIndia know that these clouds have (3) towards thesubcontinent from the West. The US can easilydisperse the clouds if it wants. But the economicsanctions are still in place. The US is only (4) tryingto come to terms with the fact that the nuclearweapons are not the (5) of the Permanent Membersof the Security Council. If they do not recognize Indiaas a nuclear power, then what is it that they are (6)to? India will not (7) by their de-recognising the nucleartests. Both sides can happily close (8) eyes and agreeto (9) what has happened. The fact that India is asovereign nation, entitled to take decision beneficialfor its own security, has not been altered by the tests.The US has come round to (10) that India has somesay in this matter.1. 1) adversaries 2) negotiations

3) strifes 4) strategies5) disputes

2. 1) relationship 2) struggle3) matter 4) talks5) countries1) formed 2) eclipsed3) reined 4) covered5) floated

4. 1) spontaneously 2) generously3) grudgingly 4) gracefully5) willingly

5. 1) threats 2) creations3) properties 4) monopoly5) possessions

6. 1) prepared 2) objecting3) pointing 4) clinging5) planning


411Cloze Test

7. 1) gain 2) differ3) flourish 4) suffer5) develop

8. 1) their 2) our3) naked 4) inward5) both

9. 1) imitate 2) undo3) cherish 4) reiterate5) ignore

10. 1) expecting 2) suspecting3) accepting 4) advocating5) rejecting

Punctuate = to interrupt something at intervals.Disperse = to go in different directions or make

somebody/something do thisAdversary = an opponent in a contest, an

argument or a battleStrife = angry or violent disagreement;

conflictEclipse = to outshine somebody/something;

to make somebody/somethingappear dull or unimportant bycomparison.

Rein = to restrain or control somebody/something

Spontaneous =done, happening, said etc becauseof a sudden impulse from within,not planned or caused or suggestedby something/somebody outside.

Grudgingly = reluctantlyGrudge = to do or give something very

unwillinglyCling = to become attached to something;

to stick to somethingImitate = to copy somebody/something; to

take or follow somebody/somethingas an example.

Cherish = to keep a feeling or an idea in one’smind or heart and think of it withpleasure.

Reiterate = to repeat something that has alreadybeen said, especially for emphasis

Passage 4Trust is the basis of human relationship. As trust

between people grows, (1) change and interpersonaldynamics are transformed. Diverse skills and abilitiesbecome (2) and appreciated as strengths. People beginto (3) one another’s attitudes and feelings. They learnto be (4) instead of playing roles. As trust grows the(5) that prevent (6) and openness lessen. Peoplebecome more expressive, impulsive, frank and (7).Their communication is efficient and clear. They risk(8) and confrontation, opening the doors to deepercommunication, involvement and commitment.Congestion and (9) lessen. The flow of data is openand (10).1. 1) motivations 2) behaviours

3) patterns 4) aspirations5) commitments

2. 1) obvious 2) necessary3) essential 4) recognised5) prominent

3. 1) accept 2) participate3) pronounce 4) inculcate5) relate

4. 1) advocates 2) possessed3) exponents 4) indifferent5) themselves

5. 1) seriousness 2) beliefs3) barriers 4) masks5) chains

6. 1) snobbery 2) egoism3) brashness 4) boasting5) candour

7. 1) projective 2) spontaneous3) pious 4) cavaliers5) callous

8. 1) conflict 2) persuasiveness3) dedication 4) propensity5) jealousy

9. 1) pervasiveness 2) boundaries3) sluggishness 4) blocking5) enthusiasm

10. 1) unanimous 2) uncritical3) uninhabited 4) uncanny5) unusual

Interpersonal = existing or done between twopeople

Impulsive = noted for or involving sudden actionwihtout careful thought

Prominent = distinguished or important; easilyseen

Pronounce = to declare or announce somethingespecially formally, solemnly orofficially

Inculcate = to fix ideas, principles etc firmly insomebody’s mind especially byoften repeating them

Exponent = a person who supports andpromotes a theory, belief, cause etc

Snobbery = attitudes and behaviour that arecharacteristic of a snob.

Snob = a person who believes he or she hassuperior taste or knowledge

Brash = confident in a rude, noisy oraggressive way.

Candour = the quality of being frank andhonest in one’s behaviour orspeech.

Pious = having or showing a deep respectfor God and religion

Cavalier = showing a lack of proper concernCallous = having or showing no sympathy for

other people’s feelings or sufferingPropensity = a tendency to do something

especially something undesirable.Pervasive = present and seen or felt everywhereSluggish = moving slowly; not alert or livelyUnanimous = agreed with by everybody in a groupUncanny = not natural; mysterious and slightly

frightening.


412 Test of English Language

Passage 5A good percentage of the population of India is

tribal. The tribals live in the hills and forests of thecountry and have been little (1) by the (2) currents ofthe plains. Practically all the states of India have theirtribal population. The tribes are numerous, computedto be about 200, some living in (3) regions in denseforests, and others on the borders of villages. Sometribes are (4) to a few souls, while others like theSanthals, run into millions and are steadily (5) innumbers. During the British period some of them wereknown as ‘criminal tribes’ for they showed (6) respectfor the Indian Penal Code. After independence theyhave been named Scheduled Tribes. Under modernconditions isolation, however, has become (7) and thehill tribes are getting (8). The cultural traffic is two-way. Social reformers are taking civilization to thehills, and the tribes, (9) their old occupations ofhunting and (10) farming, are settling in villages,towns and cities as labourers and industrial workers.1. 1) affected 2) domiciled

3) motivated 4) deprived5) favoured

2. 1) financial 2) proud3) cultural 4) unruly5) swift

3. 1) comfortable 2) marshy3) wild 4) unpopulated5) inhospitable

4. 1) devoted 2) confined3) susceptible 4) related5) attached

5. 1) constant 2) deteriorated3) developing 4) increasing5) decreasing

6. 1) abundant 2) genuine3) superficial 4) exorbitant5) scant

7. 1) crucial 2) necessary3) difficult 4) convenient5) indispensable

8. 1) civilized 2) demoralised3) wiped-out 4) entertained5) reduced

9. 1) escaping 2) with3) enhancing 4) leaving5) continuing

10. 1) productive 2) primitive3) profitable 4) cultivable5) scientific

Unruly = not easy to control or manageMarshy = wet and muddyInhospitable = not giving a friendly or polite

welcome to guestsSusceptible = easily influenced or harmed by

something; sensitiveExorbitant = much too high or great;

unreasonable

Scant = hardly enough; not very muchPrimitive = of or at an early stage of social

development

Passage 6India’s (1) over the past half century since

independence has been unique and (2) in many ways.Yet the record is (3) in relation to what the countryset out to achieve and could certainly have been (4).It is (5) to look at both sides; the alternative is to be(6) down by unrelieved gloom or unwarranted (7). Thefact is that after eight 5-year plans, about 40 per centof population is (8) below the poverty line. The humandevelopment indices are (9) low, placing India at the126th position in the world table, far below manycountries that came into (10) much later than it did.1. 1) development 2) domination

3) predicament 4) history5) excellence

2. 1) dubious 2) insignificant3) desperate 4) special5) commendable

3. 1) outshining 2) broken3) disappointing 4) brighter5) played

4. 1) underplayed 2) accomplished3) tampered 4) noteworthy5) exaggerated

5. 1) proposed 2) futile3) impracticable 4) necessary5) suggested

6. 1) laid 2) struck3) cooled 4) weighed5) brought

7. 1) progress 2) debating3) meticulousness 4) haste5) complacency

8. 1) much 2) still3) obviously 4) found5) far

9. 1) deplorably 2) admirably3) surprisingly 4) not5) amusingly

10. 1) world 2) being3) independence 4) compete5) India

Unrelieved = not changing; continuingGloom = partial darkness; a feeling of

sadness and depressionUnwarranted =not justified or necessaryDominate = to have control or power over or very

strong influence on somebody/something

Predicament = a difficult or unpleasant situationespecially one in which it is difficultto know what to do.

Dubious = doubtfulCommendable = deserving praiseAccomplished = skilledTamper = to interfere with or alter something


413Cloze Test

without authorityExaggerate = to make something seem larger,

better, worse etc than it really isFutile = producing no result; having no

purposeMeticulous = giving or showing great care and

attention to detail.Complacency =a calm feeling of satisfaction with

oneself, one’s workDeplore = to be shocked or offended by

something; to condemnAmusing = causing laughter or smile; enjoyableWeigh down = to make somebody/something bend

by being heavy.

Passage 7In the thirties and forties, geography was (1) subject

in schools. Children spent hours tracing maps and(2) about strange places, peoples and customs.Harvard University (3) its geography department afterWorld War II. A string of leading universities in theUnited States (4) suit. Geography has been tarred withthe racist brush, and no one wants to be (5).

David S Landes, professor of history and economicsat Harvard University, makes a forceful (6) forgeography in his book, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.Geography, he says, tells the unpleasant truth thatnature is unfair, unequal in its (7) and that itsunfairnesses are not easily (8). For Landes, there isnothing racist in a geography that links (9) and groupbehaviour to nature, no one can be praised or (10) forthe temperature of the air, the volume or timing ofrainfall, or the topography.1. 1) full-fledged 2) resourceful

3) decent 4) boring5) famous

2. 1) knowledge 2) drawings3) ignored 4) learned5) figures

3. 1) established 2) nurtured3) intensified 4) developed5) abolished

4. 1) followed 2) cleared3) prepared 4) wore5) filed

5. 1) learned 2) contaminated3) neglected 4) prepared5) knowledgeable

6. 1) decision 2) impeachment3) lesson 4) plea5) plan

7. 1) behaviour 2) favours3) sources 4) deal5) functions

8. 1) sensed 2) placated3) remedied 4) over-ruled5) understood

9. 1) expediency 2) sentiments3) performance 4) acquisition5) obedience

10. 1) credited 2) implored3) admired 4) flattered5) blamed

Tarred with the = having or considered to havesame brush the same faults as somebody(as somebody)Decent = proper, acceptable, satisfactoryNurture = to help the development of

somethingAbolish = to end the existence of a law, a

practice, an institution etcContaminate = to make something/somebody

impure by adding substances thatare dangerous or carry disease

Impeach = to raise doubts about something; toquestion something

Placate = to make somebody less angry; tocalm or satisfy somebody.

Remedy = to correct, change or improvesomething undesirable

Implore = to ask or beg for something in aserious way

Flatter = to praise somebody too much or inan insincere way especially in orderto gain favour for oneself.

Passage 8Fourteen centuries ago when the world was much

younger, the ruler of all India, Rajah Balhait, was (1)about his people. A new game of dice, called nard, had(2) the imagination of his subjects. Teaching themthat chance alone - a roll of the dice - guided the (3)of men. All who played this game of fortune lost their(4) in the virtues of courage, prudence, wisdom andhope. It bred a fatalism that was (5) the spirit of thekingdom.

Rajah Balhait commissioned Sissa, an intelligentcourtier, at his court, to find an answer to this (6).After much (7) the clever Sissa invented another game,chaturanga, the exact (8) of nard, in which the fourelements of the Indian army were the key pieces. Inthe game these pieces - chariots, horses, elephantsand foot soldiers - joined with a royal counsellor todefend their king and defeat the enemy. Forceful (9)was demanded of the players not luck. Chaturanga soonbecame more popular than nard, and the (10) to thekingdom was over.1. 1) concerned 2) confident

3) ignorant 4) indifferent5) partisan

2. 1) propelled 2) enshrined3) captured 4) activated5) enhanced

3. 1) communities 2) ways3) abnormalities 4) destinies5) groups

4. 1) bravado 2) interest3) peace 4) wealth5) faith



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Typewritten text

Learning Unit 4 1.Reading Comprehension – Introduction 2.Reading Comprehension – Summary & Main Idea 3.Reading Comprehension – Summary & Main Idea


Reading Comprehensions Workbook

Page 2

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions givenbelow it.

A long time ago, on a big tree in the lap of the mountain, lived a bird namedSindhuka. It was a rather special bird because its droppings turned into gold assoon as they hit the ground.

One day, a hunter came to the tree in search of prey and he saw Sindhuka'sdroppings hit the ground and turn into gold. The hunter was struck with wonder. Hethough, "I have been hunting birds and small animals since I was a boy, but in allmy 80 years, I have never seen such a miraculous creature. He decided that he hadto catch the bird somehow. He climbed the tree and skillfully set a trap for the bird.The bird, quite unaware of the danger it was in, stayed on the tree and sang merrily.But it was soon caught in the hunter's trap. The hunter immediately seized it andshoved it into a cage.

The hunter took the bird home joyfully. But as he had time to think over hisgood fortune later, he suddenly realised, "If the king comes to know of this wonder,he will certainly take away the bird from me and he might even punish me forkeeping such a rare treasure all to myself. So it would be safer and more honourableif I were to go to the king and present the unique bird to him," The next day, thehunter took the bird to the king and presented it to him in court with greatreverence. The king was delighted t o receive such an unusual and rare gift. He toldhis courtiers to keep the bird safe and feed it with the best bird food available.

The king's prime minister though, was reluctant to accept the bird. Hesaid "O Rajah, how can you believe the word of a foolish hunter accept this bird?Has anyone in our kingdom ever seen abird dropping gold? The hunter must beeither crazy or telling lies. I think it is best that you release the bird from the cage."After a little thought, the king felt that his prime minister's words were correct. Sohe ordered the bird to be released. But as soon as the door of the cage was thrownopen, the bird flew out, perched itself on a nearby doorway and defecated. Toeveryone's surprise, the dropping immediately turned into gold. The king mournedhis loss.

1. Which of the following is possible the most appropriate title for the story?a) The Skilled Hunterb) The King’s Prime Ministerc) The King’s Defeatd) The Bird with the Gold Droppinge) The Trials and Tribulations of the Foolish Bird Sindhuka

2. Which of the following emotions made the hunter gift the bird to the king?a) Respect b) Joy c) Prided) Fear e) Awe

3. Which of the following is true according to the story?a) Birds like Sindhuka were very common in the area near the mountain


Reading Comprehensions Workbookb) Sindhuka remained caged for the rest of its lifec) Sindhuka was unaware of the trap laid by the hunterd) The King, when told to not accept the bird, did not listen to his PrimeMinistere) All are true

4. Why was the king’s Prime Minister reluctant to accept the bird?a) He believed that the bird would die if cagedb) He know about the hunter’s habit of lyingc) He believed that the bird would bring bad luck to the kingd) His sources had informed him that the hunter was crazye) None of these

5. How did the hunter find Sindhuka?a) He had read stories about the bird and had set traps at various locations inthe cityb) He followed the bird’s droppingsc) He was on the lookout for a prey when he chanced upon itd) People from the city had informed him about the bird’s whereaboutse) He was attracted by the birds calls

Directions (Q. 6-8) Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.

6. Rathera) Regular b) Quite c) Insteadd) But e) Known

7. Releasea) Free b) Vacate c) Ventd) Let expire e) Make public

8. Reverencea) Respect b) Detail c) Astonishmentd) Hope e) Remembrance

Directions (Q. 9-10) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning to theword printed in bold as used in the passage.

9. Reluctanta) True b) Clever c) Aversed) Hesitant e) Keen

10. Skilfullya) Angrily b) Haphazardly c) Highlyd) Cheaply e) Deftly


Reading Comprehensions WorkbookRead the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

Once a thief named Kalu had planned to loot the king's treasury. At midnight,he went to the palace and began to drill a hole in the side wall of the treasury. Theking, who was awake in his bedroom just above the treasury, came out toinvestigate the whirring sound. He was dressed in a simple nightgown and the thiefcould not recognize him. He asked Kalu who he was and what he was doing. Thelatter said, "Sir, I am a thief and intend to loot this treasury. I presume that you arealso a thief and have come with the same intentin. No matter, let us both go insideand we shall share the loot equally. "Both entered the treasury and divided all themoney and the jewels equally between them.

Inside a locker they found three big diamond pieces. As the thief was puzzled asto how to divide the three pieces into two portions, the king siggested. "We havetaken away everything else. Let us leave one diamond piece for the poor king andshare the rest equally". Kalu agreed and when he took his leave, the king asked forhis name and address. As Kalu had taken a vow of telling only the truth, he have thecorrect information.

The king took away his share of the loot and hid it in his room. Next morninghe asked his Prime Minister to inspect the treasury as he had heard some strangesounds during the previous night. The Prime Minister saw to his horror that all thevaluables were missing and only a single diamond was left, perhaps inadvertantly,by the theif. He put the diamond in his oiwn shift pocket as its loss could beascribed to the thief and nobody would suspect the Prime Minister. The PrimeMinister went back to the king. The king particularly enquirerd. "Do you mean thatthe theif has completely denuded the treasury of its valuables and not a single itemhas been left?" The Prime Minister confirmed it. The king asked the chief of policeto bring in Kalu. When Kalu came he was unable to recfognize the king as hisaccomplice of the previous night. The king asked him, "Are you the theif who h asstolen everything from my treasury leaving nothing back?" Kalu confirmed it butsaid, "Sir, I did leave one diamond back in the locker as advised by an accompliceof mine and it should st ill be there." The Prime Minister interrupted saying, "YourMajesty, this thief is lying. There is nothing left in the locker." The king asked thepolice chief to search the pockets of the Prime Minister, from where the missingdiamond was recovered. The kind told his courtiers, "Here is a Prime Minister, whois a liar and a thief and here is a thief who is at truthful gentleman."

11. The king came out in the middle of the night in order toa) Help kalu to break into the palace treasuryb) Share the loot equally between Kalu and himselfc) Find out the source of and reason for the sound he had heardd) Catch the thief who had come to steal his valuablese) None of these

12. Kalu could not recognize the king becausea) The king was wearing clothes like those of an ordinary person


Reading Comprehensions Workbookb) The king’s clothes were covered by a simple nightdownc) Kalu had never seen the king befored) Kalu had not seen the king descending from his bedroome) None of these

13. Which of the following made the king suspect the Prime Minister? ThePrime Minister’s statement thata) Except for one piece of diamond all other valuables were stolenb) All the valuables without any exception were stolen from the treasuryc) The thief was lying when he said he had left one diamond back in thelockerd) The search for the diamond did not yield any favourable resulte) None of these

14. Which of the following horified the Prime Minister?a) The valuables missing from the king’s treasuryb) A piece of diamond left in the lockerc) Certain strange sounds heard by the Prime Ministerd) The fact that the king suspected him of stealthe) None of these

Directions (Q. 15-17) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaningas the word given in bold as used in the passage.

15. Accomplicea) Co-traveller b) Collaborator c) Controllerd) Coordinator e) Commuter

16. Ascribeda) Attributed b) Donated c) Attachedd) Withdrew e) Connected

17. Denudeda) Uncovered b) stripped c) Destroyedd) Discarded e) Abandoned

Directions (Q. 18-19) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of theword given in bold as used in the passage.

18. Inadvertentlya) Knowingly b) Sensibly c) Indifferentlyd) Unwittingly e) Unscrupulously

19. Previousa) New b) Preceding c) Noveld) Modern e) Subsequent


Reading Comprehensions WorkbookRead the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

Banking sector reforms in India were introduced in order to improveefficiency in the process of financial intermediation. It was expected that bankswould take advantage of the changing operational environment and improve theirperformance. Towards this end, the Reserve Bank of India initiated a host ofmeasures for the creation of a competitive environment. Deregulation of interestrates on both deposit and lending sides imparted freedom to banks to appropriateprice their products and services. To compete effectively with non-banking entities,banks were permitted to undertake newer activities like investment banking,securities trading and insurance business. This was facilitated through amendmentsin the relevant acts which permitted PSBs to raise equity from the market up tothreshold limit and also enabling the entry of new private and foreign banks. Thischanging face of banking led to an erosion of margins on traditional bankingbusiness, promoting banks to search for newer activities to augment their freeincomes. At the same time, banks also needed to devote focused attention tooperational efficiency in order to contain their transaction costs. Simultaneouslywith the deregulation measures prudential norms were instituted to strengthen thesafety and soundness of the banking system. Recent internal empirical researchfound that over the period 1992-2003, there has been a discernible improvement inthe efficiency of Indian banks. The increasing trend in efficiency has been fairlyuniform, irrespective of the ownership pattern. The rate of such improvement has,however, not been sufficiently high. The analysis also reveals that PSBs and privatesector banks in India did not differe significantly in terms of their efficiencymeasures. Foreign banks, on the other hand, recorded higher efficiency as comparedwith their Indian counterparts.

20. Prudential norms were initiated in the banking sector with a view toa) Increase operational efficiencyb) Contain the non-performing assetsc) Strengthen the soundness of banking systemd) Improve the custome servicee) None of these

21. Banking sector reforms in India were introduced for the purpose ofa) Giving more and more employment opportunities to the educatedunemployedb) Taking care of the downtrodden massesc) Increasing efficiency in the banking activitiesd) Giving better return to the Central Governmente) None of these

22. Banks can control their transaction costs bya) Restricting their lending activitiesb) Undertaking more and more non-banking activities


Reading Comprehensions Workbookc) Encouraging the customers to bank with other banksd) Devoting more attention to operational efficiencye) None of these

23. The recent internal empirical research conducted by the RBI found thata) There is cut-throat competition in banking industryb) The rate of return is not commensurate with the operational costc) The rate of improvement has not been highd) Nationalised banks and private sector banks did differ in the efficiencymeasurese) None of these

24. Which of the following statements recognising improvement in efficiency istrue in the context of the passage?a) There is no discremible difference in efficiency parametersb) The foreign banks recorded higher efficiencyc) The efficiency of foreign banks is not comparable with Indian banksd) The rate of such improvement in efficiency was very highe) None of these

Directions (Q. 25-26) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaningas the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

25. Relevanta) Recorded b) Opposite c) Appropriated) Stringent e) Germane

26. Augmenta) Make b) Become c) Enlarged) Increase e) Envelop

Directions (Q. 27-28) Choose the word that is most opposite of the word printed inbold as used in the passage.

27. Improvea) Retard b) Disprove c) Proved) Accelerate e) Degenerate

28. Reveala) Show b) Conceal c) Secretived) Exhibit e) None of these

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

King Hutamasan felt he had everything in the World not only due to hisriches and his noble knights, but because of his beautiful queen, Rani Matsya. Therays of the Sun were put to shame with the iridescent light that Matsya illuminated,


Reading Comprehensions Workbookwith her beauty and brain. At the right hand of the king, she was known to sit andaid him in all his judicial probes. You could not escape her deep-set eyes, when youcommitted a crime as she always knew the victim and the culprit. Her generositypreceded her reputation in the kingdom and her hands were always full to give.People in the kingdom revered her because if she passed by, she always gave to thecompassionate and poor.

Far away from the kingly palace lived a man named Raman with only endsto his poverty and no means to rectify it. Raman was wrecked with poverty as hehad lost all his land to the landlord. His age enabled him little towards manuallabour and so begging was the only alternative to salvage his wife and children.Every morning, he went door to door for some work, food or money. The kindnessof people always got him enough to take home. But Raman was a little self-centered. His World began with him first, followed by his family and the rest. So,he would eat and drink to his delight and ret urn home with whatever he foundexcess. This routine followed and he never let anyone discover his interests as healways put on a long face, when he reached home.

One day as he was relising the bowl of rice he had just received from ahumble home, he heard that Rani Matsya was to pass from the very place he wasstanding. Her g enerosity had reached his ears and he knew if he pulled a long faceand showed how poor he was, she would hand him a bag full of gold coins –enough for the rest of his life, enough to buy food and supplies for his family. Hethought he could keep some coins for himself and only reveal a few to his wife, sohe can fulfil his own wishes.

He ran to the chariot of the Rani and begged her soldiers to allow him tospeak to the queen. Listening to the arguments outside Rani Matsya opened thecurtains of her chariot and asked Raman what he wanted. Raman went on his kneesand praised the queen. I have heard you are most generous and most chaste, showthis beggar some charity. Rani narrowed her brows and asked Raman what he couldgive her in return, surprised by such a question, Raman looked at his bowl full ofrice. With spite in him he just pricked up a few grains of rice and gave it to thequeen. Rani Matsya counted the 5 grains and looked at his bowl full of rice andsaid, you shall be given what is due to you. Saying this, the chariot galloped away.

Raman abused her under his breath. This he never thought would happen.How could she ask him for something in return, when she hadn’t given himanything? Irked with anger he stormed home and gave his wife the bowl of rice.Just then he saw a sack at the entrance. His wife said men had come and kept itthere. He opened it to find it full of rice. He put his hand inside and caught hold of ahard mental only to discover it was a gold coin. Elated he upturned the sack to find5 gold coins in exact for the five rice grains. If only I had given my entire bowl,thought Raman, I would have had a sack full of gold.

29. According to the passage, which of the following is definitely true aboutRani Matsya?A. She was beautiful.B. She was intelligent.


Reading Comprehensions WorkbookC. She was kind.a) Only A b) Only B c) Only Cd) A and B e) All the three

30. What does the phrase ‘pulled a long face’ as used in the passage mean?a) Scratched his faceb) Looked very sorrowfulc) Disguised himselfd) Put on makeupe) None of these

31. What can possibly be the moral of the story?a) Do onto others as you would want others to do to youb) Patience is a virtuec) Winning is not everything, it is the journey that countsd) Change is the only constant thing in lifee) Teamwork is more we and less me

32. Why was begging the only option for Raman to get food?a) As Raman belonged to a family of beggarsb) As begging was the easiest way for him to obtain foodc) As Raman’s family had forced him to begd) As he had lost all his property and was too old to do manual worke) None of these

33. Which of the following words can be used to describe Raman?A. DeceitfulB. SelfishC. Timida) Only A b) Only B c) A and Bd) B and C e) All the three

34. What did Raman find after he returned home from his meeting with RaniMatsya?a) The Rani’s soldiersb) An empty housec) The five grains of rice that he had given to Rani Matsyad) A sack full of rice and five gold coinse) None of these

Directions (Q. 35-36) Choose the word/group of words which is most similar inmeaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.

35. Gallopeda) Hurtled b) Stumbled c) Slumberedd) Jumped e) Ran


Reading Comprehensions Workbook36. Revered

a) Remembered b) Feared c) Talked aboutd) Embraced e) Respected

Directions (Q. 37-38) Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite inmeaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.

37. Reveala) Stop b) Conceal c) Presentd) Pending e) Tell

38. Elateda) Afraid b) Poor c) Happyd) Depressed e) Grounded


Rahul a young householder, used to study the scriptures everyday under aguru. One day the guru was explaining the following passage from the Upanishads.

“No husband is loved by his wife for his own sake but it is all for the sakeof the self ____ No sons are lov ed by their fathers for their sake but it is all for thesake of the self that the sons become dear to him.”

At that stage, Rahul intervened and said, “Sir, in my case, both my parentsand my wife love me so dearly for my own sake that if I am delayed by a fewminutes in reach ing home they get highly agitated and if something happens to methey will die.” Guruji said, “You shall learn the truth of it tomorrow, when you seethe result of a test I am going to h old. Before going to bed tonight, you mustswallow this herbal powder. As a result, you will lie as if dead tomorrow morning,but you will be able to hear all that is spoken in your presence. After a few hours,when the effect of this medicine wears off, you will become normal and get up. Youwill see the fun.”

Rahul did as instructed and in the morning his wife and parents found him‘dead’-lying motionless without any pulse or heartbeat. The guruji asked for a jarfull of water and said, “I shall draw out all the bad destiny responsible for yhourson’s death into this water. One of you will have to drink this water. The one whodrinks will die immediately, while Rahul will be restored to life. Tell me whoamong you is prepared to die for him?

Both the parents refused saying, “we are old and, helping each othermutually. If one dies, the other will not have anybody to help. So our drinking thewater is out of question.” Rahul’s young wife also said, “I am very young and havenot seen anything of this world yet. When such old people, who have seen life in itsfulness, do not want to die how can you expect me to volunteer for death?

A brighter idea flashed into the mind if the fat her who told the guruji, “Sir,you are a reunciate and have no relatives to mourn your death. Why don’t you drinkthe water yourself? We will conduct your funeral in a grand manner.”


Reading Comprehensions Workbook39. The contents of the passage prove that

a) What the Upanishad states appears to be trueb) Rahul’s initial understanding about his family members was truec) The guru did not have any miraculous powerd) The guru did not have thorough knowledge of scripturese) None of these

40. After experimenting as per the guru’s plan, Rahul realised thata) His parents would do anything for his sakeb) His wife would readily sacrifice for his welfarec) The guru’s prediction had proved to be wrongd) One loves oneself more than one loves anyone elsee) None of these

41. What according to the passage, was the essence of the Upanishad passage?a) Sons are loved by their fathers for the sake of themselvesb) Relatives are dear to us because we love themc) Most human beings are not selfishd) Every person’s actions are to gratify himself or herselfe) None of these

42. The guru wanted a jar of water toa) Drink from as he was very thirstyb) Extract the bad elements responsible for Rahul’s deathc) Give it to Rahul’s parents to drink fromd) Sprinkle it on Rahul’s dead body to bring him to lifee) None of these

43. Which of the following was proposed by Rahul’s father to the guru?a) He may be given the enchanted water to drinkb) Rahul’s wife was the most appropriate person to drink the magical waterc) Rahul be brought back to life without the death of anybody elsed) The guru himself should participate in Rahul’s grand funerale) None of these

Directions: (Q. 44-46) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of theword given in bold as used in the passage.

44. Refuseda) Denied b) Accepted c) Declinedd) Defused e) Accomplished

45. Brighta) Vivid b) Dark c) Dazzlingd) Shadow e) Stupid


Reading Comprehensions Workbook46. Agitated

a) Roused b) Troubled c) Excitedd) Claim e) Angered

Directions (Q. 47-48) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaningof the word given in bold as used in the passage.

47. Appriseda) Respected b) Valued c) Assessedd) Shown e) Informed

48. Entreateda) Respected b) Implored c) Desiredd) Commanded e) Managed


“Uncle” said Luke to the old Sean, “You seem to be well fed, though Iknow no one looks after you. Nor have I seen you leave your residence at any time.Tell me how do you manage it?”

“Because” Sean replied, “I have a good feed every night at the emperor’sorchard. After dark, I go there myself and pick out enough fruits to last a fortnight.”

Luke proposed to accompany his uncle to the orchard. Though reluctantbecause of Luke’s habit of euphoric exhibition of extreme excitement, Sean agreedto take him along.

At the orchard while Sean hurriedly collected the fruits and left, Luke onthe other hand at the sight of unlimited supply of fruits was excited and lifted hisvoice which brought ecmperor’s men immediately to his side. They seized him andmistook him as the sole cause of damage to the orchard. Although Luke reiteratedthat he was a bird of passage, they pounded him mercilessly before setting himfree.

49. How did old Sean manage to meet his food requirements?a) By buying food from the marketb) His nephew Luke took care of his requirementsc) Luke brought fruits from the emperor’s orchard for Seand) He picked up fruits from the emperor’s orcharde) The emperor provided him with ample supply of fruits

50. Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?a) Sean was a poor and suffering manb) Luke came to know about the orchard from his unclec) Sean initially hesitated to take his nephew alongd) Luke as finally set freee) Both Sean and Luke collected fruits from Emperor’s orchard


Reading Comprehensions Workbook51. Why was Sean reluctant to take Luke along?

a) Becausre he was a selfish manb) He feared that Luke’s reaction may alert the Emperor’s menc) Because Luke could harm himd) He wanted to bring fruits for Luke himselfe) He knew Luke was a greedy person

52. How often did Sean visit the emperor’s orchard?a) Dailyb) Once a monthc) In a period of two weeksd) Never, his nephew Luke brought fruits for hime) Everyday during midnight

53. Luke remitted behind at the orchard because hea) Was greedy and wanted to collect more fruitsb) Waited for the Emperor’s men to arrest himc) Lost his composure and started expressing his feelings loudlyd) Had waited for his uncle to returne) Could not move in the dark

Directions (Q. 54-56) Choose the word/phrase which is most nearly the same inmeaning of the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

54. Reiterateda) Pleaded b) Regurgitated c) Protestedd) Repeated e) Recapitulated

55. Extremea) End b) High c) Severed) Serious e) Moderate

56. Reluctanta) Disinclined b) Opposed c) Againstd) Resistant e) None of these

Directions (Q. 57-58) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of theword printed in bold as used in the passage.

57. Poundeda) Weighed b) Released c) Paidd) Attended e) Caressed

58. Mercilesslya) Calmly b) Compassionately c) Mildly


Reading Comprehensions Workbookd) Forgivably e) Sympathetically


The King of Kanchi set off to conquer Kamat. He was victorious in battle.The elephants were laden with sandalwood, ivory gold and precious stones, takenfrom the conquered kingdom of Kamat. They would be a part of the victory paradefor his sujbjects. On his way back home he stopped at a temple, finished his prayersto the goddess and turned to leave. Around his neck, was a garland of scarlethibiscus and as was the custom for all, his forehead was anointed with red sandalpaste. His Minister and the court jester were his only companions. At one spot, in amango grove by the wayside, they spied some children play. The King said, “Letme go and see what they are playing.”

The children had lined up two ros of clay dolls and were playing warriorsand battles. The king asked, “Who is fighting with whom?” They said, “Kamat is atbattle with Kanchi.” The king asked, “who is winning and who is the loser?” Thechildren puffed their chests up and said, “Kamat will win and Kanchi will lose.”The Minister froze in disbelief, the King was furious and the juester burst intolaughter.

The King was soon joined by his troops and the children were stillimmersed in their game. The King commanded, “Cane them hard.” The children’sparents came running from the nearby village and said, “They are naïve, it was justa game, please grant them pardon.” The King called his commander and ordred,“Teach these children and the village a slesson so that they never forget the king ofKanchi.” He went back to his camp.

That evening the commander stood before the King. He bowed low inshame and said, “Your Majesty, with the exception of hyenas and vultures, all liesilent in the village.” The Minister said, “His Majesty’s honour has been saved.”The priest said, “The goddess has blessed our King.” The jester said, “Yourhighness, please grant me leave to go now.” The King asked, “But why?” The jestersaid, “I cannot kill, I cannot maim, I can only laugh at God’s gift of life.” TremblingIn the face of the King’s anger he bravely continued, “If I stay in your Majesty’scourt, I shall become like you and I shall forget how to laugh.”

59. Why were the elephants carrying loads of gold and other valuables?a) This was what the king had looted from Karnat to distribute among hissoldiers as a rewardb) This was the king’s offering to the deity out of gratitude for making himvictoriousc) It was what the king had plundered from Karnat to display to the peopleof his kingdom as a sign of victoryd) So that the people of the kingdom of Karnat acknowledged him as theirrew rulere) None of these

60. Why did the king anoint his head with red sandal paste?


Reading Comprehensions Workbooka) As a mark of celebration to show he had been victoriousb) It was the usual practice for all devotees at the templec) To show other devotees that he was kingd) To priest requested him to do soe) To show his soldiers that he had visited the temple

61. What excuse was given for the children’s behaviour?a) They were disobedient to their parent’s wishesb) They were unaware of the true facts of the battlec) They were upset that their army had lostd) They were in the habit of lyinge) None of these

62. Which of the following is true in the context of the passage?a) The king stopped at the temple to see what else could be plunderedb) The people of the village to which the children belonged developed greatrespect for the kingc) The commander was ashamed at having obeyed the king’s orders to canethe childrend) The jester was unhappy that the king had defeated the army of karnate) None of these

63. Why did the jester resign from his post?a) He felt that the king was too influenced by the Ministerb) To show that he disapproved of the king’s action of punishing thechildrenc) He did not want to accompany the king on his war campaignd) He was no longer able to make the king laughe) None of these

64. Why was the king angry with the children?a) Because the game they were playing was dangerousb) They had lied himc) They did not recognize him as kingd) They had unknowingly insulted hime) They were rude to him

Directions (Q. 65-67) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaningas the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

65. Frozea) Cold b) Numb c) Shiveredd) Stood still e) Chill

66. Leavea) Holiday b) Transfer c) Exit


Reading Comprehensions Workbookd) Permission e) Farewell

67. Spieda) Noticed b) Keep watch c) Followedd) Spot e) Caught

Directions (Q. 68-69) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of theword printed in bold as used in the passage.

68. Immersed ina) Safe from b) Distracted from c) Boringd) Drowning in e) Entertained by

69. Pardona) Punishment b) Excuse c) Convictd) Intolerance e) Imprison

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certainwords/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering someof the questions.

Various measures have been deployed to combat food inflation. Subsidieson food and fertilisers, imports of food as well as regulations to prevent hoardingfarm produce did succeed in stabilising prices from time to time. But such crisismanagement has been able to provide only short lived relief, and prices have goneup from 2007.

Bringing down food inflation will benefit the consumer, but make pricesunattractive to farmers. This will accentuate poverty. Unremunerative pricesdiscourage investments in agriculture, causing supply side shortages, fuelinginflation further. So, the most effective way of prices, ploughing a larger share ofthe consumer spend back to the farmer.

First we need to lower transaction costs. The Agricultural Produce MarketCommittee Acts mandate all farm produce should be brought to mandis for farmerpays to transport his produce over loing distances, before knowing the price atwhich his produce would be sold, or whether any other market would have paid abetter price.

The journey from farm to consumer involves multiple levels oftransportation, handling expenses, commissions of agents and a mandi cess, addingnearly 20% cost to food prices. This absurdity was acknowledged years ago, and anew Model APMC Act recommended by the Centre in 2003.

This Model Act must be implemented in all states. Unless farmers have thefreedom to sell at farm-gate or other transparent platforms directly to buyers,transaction costs will remain high and drive consumer prices higher. Next, we needto cut wastage. Anywhere from, 5% to 40% of food is wasted along the chain,depending on the perishability of the crop and the season. First, market instruments


Reading Comprehensions Workbookmust empower farmers to produce as per tommorrow’s demand, rather than beguided by yesterdat’s prices.

If the Forward Contracts Regulation Act is amended to permit trading inoptions, farmers are assured of a minimum price when sowing, based on futureprojections simulated by a market consensus. This will align production volumes tofuture demand conditions and minimise wastage.

70. What has been the overall effect of the various measures taken to combatfood inflation?a) Such measures have successfully stablisied prices of food items for alonger periodb) Such measures have proved ineffective in the long run, and the priceshave gone up.c) Such measures could provide only a short lived reliefd) Only b) and c)

71. What prompted the Centre to bring about a new Model APMC Act? Selectthe most appropriate option.a) The earlier version of the APMC Act forced the farmers to bear hugetransportation costb) The APMC Act provided that every farmer had to sell his produce onlyin man di and that also through agents.c) APMC Act was not acceptable to farmers, and on several occasions theyhad expressed their resentment against the said Act.d) The APMC Act could not provide relief to farmers, rather it led the foodprices to costlier by 20%.

72. Which of the following statements is contrary to the facts mentioned in thegiven passage?a) Unremunerative prices discourage investment in agriculture resultinginto supply side shortageb) To contain food inflation the consumer prices should be lowered.c) Market instruments must empower farmers to produce as per yesterday’sdemand.d) The new Model of APMC Act was recommended by the centre to lowerthe transaction cost.

73. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Absurditya) Logic b) Wisdom c) Follyd) Seriousness

74. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Virtual


Reading Comprehensions Workbooka) Real b) Practical c) Authenticd) Actual

75. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Simulateda) Unexpected b) Classified c) Deliveredd) Imitated

76. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Accentuatea) Alleviate b) Increase c) Accentuated) Highlight

77. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passageFuelinga) Inciting b) Lessening c) Inflamingd) Sustaining


India’s external debt profile appears similar to that of other major marketeconomies. But its short term external debt stock is now higher than countries suchas Brazil and Russia (in terms of percentage of GDP), according to Taimur Baig andKaushik Datta, economists at Deutsche Bank. India’s share of short term debtrelative to the stock of total external debt is also higher than other emerging marketeconomies, with the exception of Turkey, they say.

Though short term debt was contained in FY 14, it was largely due to aslowdown in imports and may again rise once there is a rebound in growth andimports pick up. Some economists point out that since GDP is expressed in dollarterms, a weak rupee translates into a lower GDP number and hence, a lower ratiocould be misleading.

However, the composition of long term debt which is reckoned to bedurable and ‘safe’ is also worrisome. While the share of almost risk free sovereign,multilateral and bilateral credit has reduced significantly over the years, it is privatecorporate sector debt and ‘retail’ component in terms of NRI deposits that hasswelled over the years. Proceeds from the FCNR (B) swap and overseas borrowingschemes were, in fact, the main contributors to the $31.2 bn increase in externaldebt in FY 14, which were facilitated by the Reserve Bank to stabilise the Indiancurrency.

“NRI deposits do not pose material risks (as they are generally rolled over).But the increase in the share of external commercial borrowings exposes the


Reading Comprehensions Workbook

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domestic corporate sector significantly to external shocks, including adverseexchange rate movements,” says Samiran Chakrabarty, Chief India Economist,Standard Ch artered Bank. Every year about $20 bn is scheduled for repayment. Theamount may not seem alarming, but the risk arises if there is a global liquiditysqueeze.

The recent trouble in Iraq has added another dimension to external sectorwoes, which is that the reduction in trade deficit in FY 14 may reverse again.“Already struggling with a record low growth, high inflation, a weak currency, lowmanufacturing growth and possibility of sub-normal monsoon, the threat of oilsupply shock and the resultant increase in prices add to the risks faced by thecountry, which could hamper India’s envisaged improvement in economic growthin FY 15,” say Madan Sabnavis and Kavita Chacko of Care Ratings. If crude pricerisks persist, the current account deficit, which was contained in 2013-14, coulddeteriorate further and also add to pressure on the rupee. Care Ratings has projecteda CAD for the year at 2.5% of GDP, assuming stable crude oil prices and a recovery in industrial production. Higher persistent crude prices would upset thiscalculation.

78. Which of the following statements is contrary to the facts mentioned in thegiven passage?a) In FY 14, short term debt was contained due to slowdown in imports.b) Short term debt is directly proportional to t he quantum of imports.c) A weak rupee translates into a lower GDP numberd) Private corporate sector debt has decreased over the years

79. What is/are the reasons of the author being apprehensive about India’simprovement in economic growth in FY 15?a) The recent Iraq crisis may lead to reduction in trade deficit in the currentfinancial yearb) The possibility of sub-normal monsoonc) High inflation and low manufacturing growthd) All of the above

80. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Containeda) Neglected b) Accomodated c) Controlledd) Excluded

81. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Reckoneda) Nullified b) Abandoned c) Startedd) Considered


Reading Comprehensions Workbook82. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the

word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Envisageda) Anticipated b) Amazed c) Doubtedd) Discarded

83. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Proceedsa) Profit b) Outgo c) Incomed) Interests

84. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Squeezea) Congestion b) Crunch c) Restraintd) Release


The first budget of the new administration needed to focus on two keymacro problems – a path to fiscal consolidation and a clear signal for structuralreforms – to boost the long run growth trajectory of the economy. The budgetdelivers on both counts.

On the fiscal deficit, the new government has continued from where theprevious administration left in laying out a path and a commitmen to reducing thedeficit to 3% of GDP by FY 17. On the structural reform path, there was a clearfocus on boosting labour intensive manufacturing and growth.

The excise duty cuts for food processing and footwear industries, creationof SEZs, single window clearance, tax deductions for investments, reforms to theApprenticeship Act and Rs.10,000 Crore as venture capital for SMEs were all smallsteps in that direction. While the fiscal path is admirable, it also may be tooaggressive. It may be difficult to get a 20% increase in tax revenues in a year whengrowth is likely to remain below 6%.

The assumption of service tax revenues growing by 40% may be a tadoptimistic. Further, the 3G telecom privatisation proceeds of Rs.45,000 Crore alsolook ambitious. To achieve the government’s medium term targets will not be easy.First, we would have preferred a more realistic and gradual approach toconsolidation. Taking an extra year to reach the 3% deficit target (i.e. by FY 18instead of FY 17) might be more realistic, and would not compromise macrostability. Second, there is an urgent need for a return to fiscal rules and the FRBMAct, with due sanctions, as the Economic Survey argues. Without it, and despite themedium term path laid out in the budget, there may be an incentive to pause onfiscal consolidation, as happened in FY 09 and was witnessed through FY 12.


Reading Comprehensions WorkbookMore than 80 countries follow some sort of a fiscal rule and have found them veryuseful in imposing fiscal descipline.

Third, if consolidation is based on increasing the tax base, then furthererosions could be avoided. In this regard, the increase in income tax exemptionlimits further reduces an already small tax base. Only 3% of Indians (35 mn) payincome tax compared with more than 20% of Chinese and over 45% of Americans.The strategy that China followed was to not raise I ncome tax thresholds with risingincomes to increase the base further. If the government consistently raises thethreshold limits, it would be difficult to expand the tax base.

Fourth, tax administration could be improved by having an independentrevenue service, with its own budget and autonomy in hiring staff. As thegovernment implements its revenue strategy, autonomy and reforms inadministration could be potentially very helpful.

Fifth, a road map for reducing subsidies, particularly the large fertilisersubsidy, can give greater credence to the consolidation path.

The budget marks a very good beginning in terms of signalling acommitment to fiscal discipline and structural regorms. While the strategy seems toimprove GDP growth and, thereby, reduce fiscal deficit through revenue byoyancy,such a strategy is fraught with risks.

We think that to meet the consolidation path requires a clear set of rules,measures to broadbase the tax system and a road map to reduce subsidies. Thisbudget lays out the overall vision.

85. Which of the following statements is not based on the facts mentioned inthe given passage?a) It will be difficult to get a 20% increase in income tax revenue if thegrowth remains below 6%.b) It will be difficult to achieve government’s medium term targets.c) The new government has committed to reducing the fiscal deficit to 3%of GDP by FY 17.d) Among India, China and America, the highest number of tax payers livein America.

86. What is being done by the government for structural reform?a) Special attention was paid on the growth of labour intensivemanufacturing.b) Excise duty cut for food processing and footwear industries was allowedc) SEZs are to be createdd) All of the above

87. What is/are the prerequisite(s) to meet the consolidation path? Give youranswer in the context of the given passage.a) More and more people should be brought under the net of income tax.b) A blue print should be prepared to reduce subsidies.c) An independent, autonomous body with an authority to inspect thefunctioning of income tax department should be brought into existence.


Reading Comprehensions Workbookd) Only a) and b)

88. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Erosiona) Destruction b) Deterioration c) Strengtheningd) Consumption

89. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Buoyancya) Elasticity b) Snap c) Rigidityd) Feslience

90. Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Fraughta) Empty b) Devoid c) Lackd) Abound

91. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Consistentlya) Steadily b) Customarily c) Neverd) Congruously

92. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Credencea) Distrust b) Assurance c) Beliefd) Credit


The RBI orders a moratorium when a bank’s financial stability isthreatened. Depositors face some restrictions on withdrawing money from theiraccounts during this period. Currently the restriction is confined to prematurewithdrawl of FDs in case of Kapol Bank. Customers can still withdraw money fromtheir savings and current accounts. However, the Bhanking Regulation Act hasprovisions for relief to customers facing a financial emergency. “Banks’administrative board can approach the RBI with a plea for relaxing the withdrawallimits in case of account holders such as those who have saved or deposited moneyfor their medical treatment or educational purpose and pensioners,” says VN


Reading Comprehensions WorkbookKulkarni, chief credit counsellor with the Bank of India backed Abhay CreditCounselling Centre.

Since one cannot do much after the bank gets into trouble or the RBI comesinto the picture, it would be wise to take some precautions. “Depositors need to beselective not only in choosing the bank, but also in depositing the amount usingdifferent combinations,” says Kulkarni. For instance, you can maintain the firstdeposit in your name, held jointly with your spouse or children. Similarly, thesecond joint FD could be created with your wife as the first holder. This will helpyou benefit from the deposit insurance cover extended to retail depositors.

Currently, deposits are insured upto Rs.1 Lakh per bank, and not per branchof the same bank. You can also look at maintaining FDs in more than one bank tospread out the risk.

However, this may not be feasible for some individuals. For instance, aretiree who wishes to invest her huge retirement corpus in FDs. “It is not feasible tosplit a huge amount of, say, Rs.50 Lakh into 50 deposits with different banks.Senior citizens have to strike a balance between convenience, risks and higherreturns that some of the smaller banks offer,” says Suresh Sadagopan, certifiedfinancial planner and founder, Ladder. Financial Advisories. He recommendsdiversification by investing in fixed income options like company FDs, non-convertible debentures as also more secure alternatives such as tax free bonds andsenior citizens savings scheme, which offers an interest rate of 9.2%. You must alsoevaluate the bank’s credentials carefully before parking your money in it. “Whileselecting the bank, you need to ascertain its gross NPAs. It should be not higherthan 5%. Similarly, ensure that your bank has adequate capital as prescribed by theregulators,” says Kulkarni. “That is, minimum 9% of risk-weighted assets, and atleast 12%, in case of cooperative banks.” You will find this information in thebalance sheets of banks.

93. Which of the following is not definitely true with respect to Kapol Bank?a) It is a private sector bankb) At present, premature withdrawal of FD cannot be allowed.c) Customers of this bank have been allowed withdrawal of money fromtheir CASA.d) There are no restrictions on withdrawal except of premature fixeddeposits.

94. Find the statement which is not based on the facts mentioned in the passage.a) Under certain circumstances, account holders facing financial emergencycan be allowed withdrawal of moiney beyond withdrawal limit as per theprovisions laid down in the Banking Regulation Act.b) When the bank gets into trouble it is better for a depositor to be selectivein both ch oosing the bank and depositing the amount using differentcombinations.c) When the financial stability of a bank is at stake the central bank ordres amoratoriumd) The central bank has ordered a moratorium on Kapol Bank.


Reading Comprehensions Workbook95. Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in

bold as used in the passage.Parkinga) Removing b) Depositing c) Stoppingd) Walking

96. Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed inbold as used in the passage.Picturea) Scene b) Mainstream c) Portraitd) Role

97. Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed inbold as used in the passage.Diversificationa) Variegation b) Homogenous c) Allocationd) Division

98. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Threateneda) Warned b) Jeopardised c) Ensuredd) Exposed

99. Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning of theword/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.Strikea) Maintain b) Hit c) Knockd) Smack


India’s banking sector may be getting ready for a wave of consolidation asthe country tries to build institutions of world class proportions. Four big state runbanks – State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank ofIndia – have already begun on exercise to identify takeover targets to gain access tofranchises that would augment their capabilities, said three top bankers familiarwith the move. The top managements of the four banks are in the process ofpreparing a blueprint that would explain the rationale for absorbing one or twoentities, said the people cited above, none of whom wanted to be named. Employeesat these state run banks are engaged in the exercise after Finance Minister ArunJaitley gave the lenders the go-ahead to decide how they would strategiese toremain relevant in the emerging economic scenario.



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Learning Unit 5

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1.Grammar Rules – A comprehensive Introduction 2.Sentence Completion – Grammar 3.Spotting Errors – Level I


Direction (1-30): Read each of the following sentences to find out if there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number (A, B, C or D) of this part is your answer. If there is no error in the statement, then mark option (e) as your answer choice.

Q1. Such (A)/ regressive rules (B)/ do not apply (C) to you and I. (D)/ No error (E)

Q2. Ram Nath Kovind was (A)/ elected as the 14th (B)/ president of the Republic (C)/ of India on July 20, 2017 (D)/No Error (E)

Q3. Two plus (A)/ two are (B)/ equal (C)/ to four. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q4. Due to urgent work at (A)/ the office and heavy traffic on (B)/ the roads, I was unable (C)/ to catch the last train. (D)/ No Error

Q4.Due to urgent work at (A)/ the office and heavy traffic on (B)/ the roads, I was unable (C)/ to catch the last train. (D)/No Error

Q5. Owing to increased demands for the (A)/ products in the market, (B)/ the company has ordered for some (C)/new

manufacturing equipments. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q6. Raman left for his (A)/ hometown on Sunday (B)/ afternoon, reaching (C)/ there on Monday. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q7. I was given a two days (A)/ holiday by my Manager (B)/ and so I decided (C)/ to go hitch-hiking. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q8. Ever since he got retired (A)/ in August last year, he has (B)/ been travelling across the world, (C)/ exhausting all his savings.

(D)/ No Error (E)

Q9. Reacting to the traffic jam at the society’s (A)/ entrance, the watchman sprinted to the (B)/ canteen and shouted at the boys,

(C)/ “Whom’s car is that?” (D)/ No Error (E)

Q10. Payal shouted, “what happened?”, (A)/ at Anmol, for merely (B)/ looking at her while (C)/ working in the office. (D)/ No (E)

11. Harish raised his hand and said, (A)/ “It is I who is responsible, Sir”, (B)/ when the principal asked the whole (C)/ class who

was guilty for the mischief. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q12. Three Indian students are made it to the (A)/ finals of the prestigious annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, (B)/ a global

science competition for teenagers to share (C)/ their passion for mathematics and science. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q13. A study of patterns of leopard attacks (A)/ of humans here reveal that some areas are high- risk (B)/ zones requiring urgent

conservation (C)/ measuring for the safety of both man and beast. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q14. In a move that might seriously impasse Indo-Lanka relations, (A)/ Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday

accused (B)/ India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) (C)/ of plotting his assassination. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q15. Three Assam-based Muslim men, one of them in the Army Medical (A)/ Corps (AMC), have wrote to the Taj Group of Hotels

(B)/ accusing their four-star establishment in (C)/ Guwahati of racial profiling and harassment. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q16. Th`e Sheep in the pasture were much (A)/ astonished and amused at the Pig’s (B)/ behaviour

and they follow the (C)/ Shepherd and his charge to the pasture gate.(D)/ No Error (E)

Q17. “Preventing a extra single degree of heat could (A)/ make a life-or-death difference in the next few (B)/ decades for

multitudes of people and ecosystems (C)/ on this fast-warming planet”, experts claim. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q18. The Nobel Prize-winning (A)/ Inter government Panel on Climate Change (B)/ issued its gloomy (C)/ report at a meeting in

Incheon, South Korea.(D)/ No Error (E)

Q19. But meeting the more ambitious goal (A)/ of slightly less warming would require immediate, (B)/ draconian cuts in emissions

of heat-trapping (C)/ gases and dramatic changes in the energetic field.(D)/ No Error (E)

Q20. The Union government has launched an evaluation (A)/ this week as part of the measures to (B)/ double the number of people

cover by its pension (C)/ scheme from the current 3.09 crore to more than six crore. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q21. We would like the Union of India (A)/ to obtain all necessary information (B)/ from each of the States and (C)/ not take

unnecessary timing to obtain information. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q22. It is easy (A)/ to be brave (B)/ when there (C)/ isn’t any danger. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q23. The King had all the famous painters of his (A)/ kingdom gather in a room and then (B)/ announce that he wants a beautiful

(C) portrait of himself made, to be placed in the palace. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q24. I do not have (A)/ any problem with (B)/ him using my (C)/ car for the weekend. (D)/ No Error

Q25. The teacher told, “You liked (A)/ the one chocolate very much but still (B)/ you kept looking for a bigger (C)/ one. That, my

dear, is called Greed.” (D)/ No Error (E)

26. The rape of a toddler by a (A)/ migrating worker in a village in Sabarkantha district (B)/ triggered the violent attacks on (C)/

migrants working in factories and construction sites.(D)/ No Error (E)

Q27. On my way back, I saw a dog sleeping (A)/ on the roadside. It was stinking. (B)/ On the other hand is my pet, Rocky – (C)/he

is always neat & clean and well behaved. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q28. The Reserve Bank of India (A)/ pulled up a surprise on the markets (B)/ on Friday by keeping its (C)/ benchmark interest

rate unchanged at 6.5%. (D)/ No Error (E)

Q29. A conversation is an exchange (A)/ of ideas, questions and thoughts. (B)/ The best way keeping a (C)/ conversation going is to

ask questions! (D)/ No Error (E)

Q30. After the National Anthem, (A)/ as the guests seated themselves, (B)/ he introduced himself by saying, (C)/ “Hello, Myself

Chaman Singh”. (D)/ No Error (E)


Solutions

S1. Ans.(d) Sol. There is an error in part (D). Here instead of nominative (subjective) case, objective case pronoun should be

used here. Hence, ‘I’ should be replaced by ‘me’ to make the sentence grammatically correct and meaningful.

S2. Ans.(b) Sol. In the given statement, part B has a grammatical error. Here, ‘as’ should not be used because, the verb

‘elect’ does not take ‘as’ after it.

Verbs that take ‘as’ after them – regard, treat, describe, define view, know

Verbs that do not take ‘as’ after them – call, elect, register, appoint, make, chose, think, name, consider

S3. Ans.(b) Sol. Part B has an error here. Instead of helping verb ‘are’, ‘is’ should be used because the subject here is the

‘sum’ of two and two, which is singular.

S4. Ans.(a) Sol. Part A has an error here. ‘due to’ is never used at the start of a sentence. Hence, to make the given sentence

grammatically correct, ‘due to’ should be replaced by ‘owing to’ or ‘because of’.

S5. Ans.(d) Sol. Part D has an error here. ‘Equipment’ is a collective noun and hence, usage of ‘equipments’ in the given

sentence is incorrect.

S6. Ans.(c)Sol. Part C here, has an error. The sentence is in indirect speech. Hence, instead of ‘reaching’, the correct form of

the verb ‘reach’, to be used here, would be, ‘reached’.

Therefore the grammatically correct sentence will be – ‘Raman left for his hometown on Sunday afternoon

and reached there on Monday.’

S7. Ans.(e) Sol. There is no error in the given sentence.

S8. Ans.(c) Sol. Part C of the given sentence has a grammatical error. Usage of

‘across’ is incorrect here and instead, ‘around’ should be used.

S9. Ans.(d) Sol. The given sentence has an error in part D. ‘whom’ is always an

object pronoun and never a subject pronoun. Hence, in place of

‘whom’, ‘whose’ must be used to make the sentence grammatically

correct.


S11. Ans.(b) Sol. Part B is incorrect. The subject here is ‘I’ and hence, instead of ‘is’, the correct helping verb to be used

here is ‘am’.

S12. Ans.(a) Sol. The given sentence has an error in part A. The sentence is in reported speech and hence, usage of ‘are’

here makes no sense; instead, the correct sentence would be as follows –

Three Indian students have made it to the finals of the prestigious annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global science

competition for teenagers to share their passion for mathematics and science.

S13. Ans.(d) Sol. Very clearly the given sentence has an error in part D. Instead of ‘measuring’, ‘measures’ will make the

sentence grammatically and contextually correct and meaningful.

S14. Ans.(a) Sol. Part A here is incorrect as usage of ‘impasse’ is contextually incorrect here. It means a situation in which

no progress is possible; a deadlock

The sentence talks about the damage caused to Indo-Lanka relations by the allegations made by the

SriLankan President. One of the words that could fit in contextually and grammatically in place of ‘impasse’

is, ‘impair’, which means weaken or damage (something)

S15. Ans.(b) Sol. The error is in part B here. With the helping verb ‘have’ past participle form of the verb should be used

instead of the past form. Hence, the correct statement will be –

Three Assam-based Muslim men, one of them in the Army Medical Corps (AMC), have written to the Taj

Group of Hotels accusing their four-star establishment in Guwahati of racial profiling and harassment.


S16. Ans.(c) Sol. Since the sentence here is in past tense, to maintain parallelism past form of ‘follow’ must be used in

part (C).

Also, the plural of the noun ‘Sheep’ is also ‘sheep’.

S17. Ans.(a) Sol. There is an error in part (A) as ‘extra’, which starts with a vowel is not preceded by ‘an’. Hence, to make

the sentence grammatically correct here, ‘a’ should be replaced by ‘an’

S18. Ans.(b) Sol. In part (B) of the given sentence an adjective must be used to make it grammatically correct. Hence

the correct word to be used here is, ‘intergovernmental’ in place of ‘intergovernment’.

S19. Ans.(d) Sol. In the given sentence, the phrase, ‘energetic sector’ in part (D) is

a misfit and makes the sentence meaningless; whereas, using ‘energy‘

– which (also) refers to ‘power’ or ‘electricity’ – in place of energetic, would make sentence grammatically correct and

meaningful.

S20. Ans.(c) Sol. In the given sentence, the use of ‘cover’ in part (C) is grammatically incorrect as it talks about all the

people covered by the government’s pension scheme. Hence, ‘covered’ should replace ‘cover’

here.

S21. Ans.(d) Sol. Very clearly, in the given sentence the use of ‘timing’ in part (D) is incorrect and makes the sentence

meaningless. To make the sentence grammatically correct and meaningful, ‘timing’ must be replaced by

‘time’.


S23. Ans.(c) Sol. The sentence has an error in part (C). It talks about a situation where the King first got all the famous

painters of his kingdom gather in a room and then announced something. Hence, since the sentence is in past tense, past form

of ‘announce’ must be used to make it grammatically correct.

S24. Ans.(c) Sol. The given sentence is grammatically incorrect. As per English grammar, whenever a pronoun is used

before gerund (V1+ing), it has to be a possessive pronoun. Hence, to make the sentence grammatically correct, we must

replace ‘him’ with ‘his’.

S25. Ans.(a) Sol. Very clearly there is an error in part (A) here. In direct/indirect speech, ‘told’ is always followed by

some objective pronoun (me/him/her/you) or name.

Hence, to make the sentence grammatically correct, either add ‘him’, ‘me’ etc after ‘told’ or replace ‘told’

by ‘said’.

S26. Ans.(b) Sol. Here the use of ‘migrating’ is incorrect and makes the sentence meaningless. It should be replaced by

‘migrant’.

Meaning of ‘migrant -

Noun - a person who moves from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions.

Adjective - tending to migrate or having migrated; Ex -"migrant workers"


Generally animals are always referred to with the pronouns ‘it’ or

‘which’, but if the speaker shares a special bond and emotion with the

animal, pronouns like he/she/him/her or ‘whom’ are used.

S28. Ans.(b) Sol. There is an error in part (B) of the given sentence. The correct idiom is ‘to pull a surprise on someone’

which means - to shock or surprise someone, to do something unexpected to someone.

S29. Ans.(c) Sol. Part (C) has an error here. To make it grammatically correct we must either use ‘to keep’ in place of

‘keeping’ or we should use ‘of keeping’ here.

S30. Ans.(d) Sol. The given sentence is grammatically correct. According to English grammar, reflexive pronouns like

myself/ourselves/herself etc are always objective pronouns and never used as the subject of a statement. Hence, the

grammatically correct statement would be – ‘Hello, I am Chaman Singh’


Direction (1-5): The following sentence have grammatical error, find out which part have errors.

1. Time magazine dedicated their person of the year cover to women that broke the silence surrounding the

pervasive of sexually harassment and violence, especially in the workplace.

2. What mattered to them was that Lenin had inspired the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – lead government in

that northeast State, which have un-seated after an un-broken 25 years of ‘red rule’.

3. The new Chief Minister, to, deserves appreciation of his expression of disapproval. Those who said things that

seemed at explaining away the dhakka will be hopefully sober by the Prime Minister’s admonition.

4. It says to Presidents and Governors who they should or should not do, how they should and not should act when

scrutinized results to see who should be called to form government.

5. The beauty of what Ghosh discovers is that these villagers have been followed such sanely ecological practices for

many decades without any help from State, and well beyond the gaze of the media.

Direction (1-20): Some of the sentences have errors and some are correct. Find out which part of a sentence has

an error. If a sentence is free from errors, blacken the rectangle corresponding to the answer sheet.

Q1. The call of the seas (a)/ have always (b)/ found an echo in me. (c)/ No error (d)

Q2. Hardly, I had left home for Mumbai (a)/ when my son who is settled in Kolkata arrived (b)/ without any prior

information. (c)/ No error (d)

Q3. The hundred-rupees notes (a)/ that he gave them for the goods bought from them looked genuine (b)/ but later

they reliably learnt that the notes were all counterfeit. (c)/ No error (d)

Q4. Lack of winter rains (a)/ have delayed the sowing of (b)/ wheat crop in this area. (c)/ No error (d)

. The Foreign Minister said (a)/ there was no use to criticize the policy of non-alignment (b)/ which had stood the test

of time. (c)/ No error (d)

Q6. The train should arrive at (a)/ 7:30 in the morning (b)/ but it was almost an hour late. (c)/ No error (d)

Q7. She sang (a)/ very well, (b)/ isn‘t it ? (c)/ No error (d)

Q8. He is working (a)/ in a bank in New Delhi (b)/ for the past several months. (c)/ No error (d)

Q9. There was no any piece of paper (a)/ in my pocket (b)/ as I had expected. (c)/ No error (d)

Q10. Neither the teacher (a)/ or the student (b)/ is keen on joining the dance. (c) No error (d)

Q11. The value of the rupee (a)/ declines (b)/ as the rate of inflation raises. (c)/ No error (d)

Q12. Before the advent of the television, the common man (a)/ haven’t got the opportunity (b)/ to see his leaders

express their views. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q13. The new model of the washing machine (a)/ costs (b)/ twice as much as last year’s model. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q14. He hoped to finish (a)/ the assignment (b)/ in the last month but in fact he could not. (c)/ No error.

(d) Q15. Everybody (a)/ was in the lawn (b)/ enjoying themselves. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q16. Nobody offered to give up (a)/ their seat (b)/ to the blind man who boarded the bus with great difficulty. (c)/

No error. (d)

Q17. Subhash Chandra Bose (a)/ was a great nationalist and a great scholar (b)/ who had a great vision and the

courage to change it into reality. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q18. If you would have seen (a)/ yesterday’s cultural programme, (b)/ I am sure you would have enjoyed watching

the performance of the little ones. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q19. In evaluating your progress (a)/ I have taken (b)/ into account your classroom performance, your attendance,

your sincerity and how you have improved. (c)/ No error. (d)

Q20. Although the marks (a)/ obtained in written examination by both the candidates (b)/ are same yet the

differences among them are considerable in the marks obtained in the interview. (c)/ No error. (d)


Answer(1-5) Correct Sentence 1. Time magazine dedicated its person of the year cover to women who broke the silence surrounding the

pervasiveness of sexual harassment and violence, especially in the workplace.

2. What mattered to them was that Lenin had inspired the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – led government in

that northeastern State, which had un-seated after an un-broken 25 years of ‘red rule’.

3. The new Chief Minister, too, deserves appreciation for his expression of disapproval. Those who said things that

seemed to explain away the dhaka will be hopefully sobered by the Prime Minister’s admonition.

4. It says to Presidents and Governors what they should or should not do, how they should and should not act when

scrutinizing results to see who should be called to form government.

5. The beauty of what Ghosh discovers is that these villagers have been following such sane ecological practices for

many decades without any help from The State, and well beyond the gaze of the media.


Page 2

SPOTTING ERRORS

Sol. Change ‘raises’ into ‘rises’. S012. Ans.(b)

Sol. Change ‘haven’t’ into ‘hasn’t’. Common man is a singular noun so it takes singular verb. S013. Ans.(d)

Sol. No error. S014. Ans.(c)

Sol. Remove ‘in the’. ‘Finish the assignment last month’ will suffice. S015. Ans.(c)

Sol. Change ‘themselves’ into ‘himself’. ‘Everybody’ is singular so it takes singular verb, singular pronoun etc.

S016. Ans.(a) Sol. Change ‘their’ into ‘his’ or ‘her’. ‘Nobody’ is singular so it takes singular adjective, singular verb etc.

S017. Ans.(b) Sol. Remove ‘a’ that has come before ‘great scholar’. Here we are talking about a single person, so we use only one article before the first subject.

S018. Ans.(a) Sol. Change ‘would have’ into bad’. Rule - If + Past perfect, sub + would + have + V3 is the correct formula of a type of conditional sentence.

S019. Ans.(a) Sol. Change ‘in evaluating’ into ‘while evaluating’ or ‘to evaluate’.

S20. Ans.(c) Sol, Change ‘among’ into ‘between’. Here we are talking about two persons and for two person ‘between’ is used.

S1. Explanation (b) Use ‗has‘ in place of ‗have‘.

S2. Explanation (a) Replace ‗hardly I had with ‗hardly had I‘.

S3. Explanation (a) It should be hundred rupee notes in place of hundred rupee notes.

S4. Explanation (b) Use ‗has‘ instead of ‗have‘ as the subject ‗lack‘ is singular in number.

S5. Explanation (b) Replace ‗there was no use‘ by ‗it was of no use‘ or ‗it was useless‘.

S6. Explanation (a) Replace ‗should‘ by ‗could‘ or ‗was to‘.

S7. Explanation (c) It should be ‗didn‘t she‘. The sentence is in Past Tense.

S8. Explanation (a) Use ‗has been‘ in place of ‗is‘. The sentence is in Present Perfect Continuous Tense.

S9. Explanation (a) In this part ‗any‘ is a redundant word and makes the sentence grammatically wrong.

‗There was no ……..‘ is correct usage. In the other way of constructing a sentence ‗There is not any piece

of…

S10. Explanation (b) Neither-nor combination is a standard usage. Either-Or is also standard. In the

context of sentence first one is required. So in the part (b) of the sentence a change has to be made.

S011. Ans.(c)


The spotting of errors forms an indispensable part of any competitive exam. In this section, a

number of sentences are given and each of them is divided into three parts (a), (b) and (c). You are

required to spot the part which has an error. If there is no error, your answer is (d).

Such kind of questions are usually based on different grammatical rules and their correct usage. A

sound knowledge of grammatical rules and regular practice will enable you to solve these questions.

ArticlesThe adjectives a, an and the are called Articles. There are

two kinds of articles

(I) Indefinite article—A/An

(II) Definite article—The

Use of Indefinite Article–A/An

1. The article An is used before a word beginning with avowel sound. eg,

(i) She is an intelligent girl.

(ii) He is an MP.

(iii) You are an honest man.

2. The article A is used before a word beginning with aconsonant sound. eg,

(i) He is a university student.

(ii) He is a European.

(iii) He is a one-eyed man.

3. A/An is used before a singular countable noun when itis mentioned for the first time representing noparticular person or thing. eg,

(i) He has an axe.

(ii) She is a lawyer.

(iii) A boy came to my office.

4. A/An is used before a singular countable noun which isused as the representative of a class of things or persons.eg,

(i) A lion is a fierce animal.

(ii) A pupil should obey his teacher.

(iii) A dog is a faithful animal.

5. A/An is used to make a common noun of a proper noun.eg,

(i) My neighbour is a Daniel.

(ii) She is a Lata Mangeshkar.

(iii) His brother is a Shylock.

6. A/An is used in exclamations before singular countablenouns. eg,

(i) What an interesting movie

(ii) What a pretty girl

(iii) What a lovely morning

7. A/An is used in its original sense of one or any. eg,

(i) She wants a car.

(ii) There are twelve inches in a foot.

(iii) He bought a book.

Use of Definite Article—The

The definite article The is used

1. when we talk about a particular person or thing or onealready mentioned. eg,

(i) Give me the book which you bought yesterday.

(ii) The dress you want is out of stock.

(iii) I met a girl. The girl was beautiful.

2. when a singular noun represents a whole class. eg,

(i) The lotus is a beautiful flower.

(ii) The cat loves comfort.

(iii) The banyan is a useful tree.

3. before the first noun in ‘noun + preposition + noun’construction. eg,

(i) The Bharat of Ramayana is an ideal brother.

(ii) The gold of India is famous.

(iii) She likes the sweets of Jaipur.

4. before names of mountain-ranges. eg,

The Alps, The Himalayas, The Vindhyas

5. before names of groups of islands. eg,

The Andamans, The Hebrides, The West Indies

6. before names of rivers, oceans, gulfs, deserts and forests.eg,

The Ganges, The Amazon, The Nile,

Spotting Errors

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningThe Arabian Sea, The Pacific Ocean, The Indian Ocean,

The Persian Gulf, The Gulf of Mexico, The Sahara, TheBlack Forest

7. before names of religious and mythological books. eg,

The Veda, The Ramayana, The Bible

8. before names of newspapers and magazines. eg,

The Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Statesman

9. before names of heavenly bodies, directions and thingsunique of their kind. eg,

The earth, The sun, The moon, The east, The north, Theequator

■ ‘The’ is not used before the words ‘Heaven, Hell, God,

Parliament’.

10. before names of historical buildings, places and events.eg,

The Taj Mahal, The Red Fort, The Pyramids, The Kaba,The Kurukshetra, The French Revolution

11. before musical instruments. eg,

(i) He can play the guitar.

(ii) She is fond of playing on the piano.

■ When musical instruments are used as countable

nouns, A/An is used. eg,(i) We gave her a harmonium.

(ii) I have bought a violin.

12. before religious communities and political parties. eg,

The Hindus, The Muslims, The Sikhs, The BJP, TheCongress Party, The Janata Dal

13. before names of ships, aeroplanes and trains. eg,

The Virat, The Vikrant, The Meghdoot

The Shatabdi Express, The Punjab Mail, The RajdhaniExpress

14. before the words denoting physical positions. eg,

The top, The bottom, The centre

The inside, The front, The back

15. before parts of body. eg,

(i) He was hit on the head.

(ii) She pulled the cat by the tail.

(iii) You caught me by the arm.

16. before names of government departments and armedforces. eg,

The Judiciary, The Legislative, The Executive, TheArmy, The Navy, The Air Force

17. before the dates of months. eg,

The 6th February, The 21st of December

18. before the superlative degree. eg,

(i) Honesty is the best policy.

(ii) She is the tallest girl in the class.

(iii) The rose is the sweetest of all flowers.

19. before the names of a few countries and provinces. eg,

The USA, The USSR, The Netherlands, The Sudan, ThePunjab

20. before comparative degree in case of a choice. eg,

(i) She is the prettier of the two sisters.

(ii) He is the stronger of the two.

21. before the ordinals. eg,

The first, The third, The ninth

Omission of Articles

The articles a, an, the are omitted

1. before names of days and months. eg,

(i) She will go on Monday.

(ii) They are getting married in January.

2. before names of languages. eg,

(i) He cannot speak French.

(ii) She is learning Marathi.

3. before names of subjects. eg,

(i) She has no interest in mathematics.

(ii) Biology is his favourite subject.

4. before names of diseases. eg,

(i) AIDS is spreading like wild fire.

(ii) He died of cancer.

■ But ‘The’ is used before the names of a few diseases.

eg, the measles, the plague, the gout, the mumps

5. before names of festivals and seasons. eg,

(i) He will go to Canada in winter.

(ii) She celebrated Christmas with her friends.

But

(i) He will go to Canada in the winter season.

(ii) She went to Delhi in the Diwali holidays.

6. before names of sports. eg,

(i) She plays tennis.

(ii) We like cricket.

7. before the names of persons, villages, cities, districts,states and countries. eg,

(i) Anjali is a beautiful girl.

(ii) London is a big city.

(iii) Paris is the capital of France.

8. before names of meals. eg,

(i) They take lunch at 2 pm.

(ii) Breakfast is ready.

■ ‘A’ is used when there is an adjective before names of

meals. We use ‘the’ when we specify. eg,

(i) We had a late breakfast today.

(ii) The lunch I had at the Rajmahal was nice.

9. after possessive adjectives (my, our, your, his, her, their,its) and nouns in possessive case (Ram’s, lion’s). eg,

(i) This is Rahul’s car.

(ii) That is my book.

10. before school, college, church, prison, hospital, bed,market, when these places are visited or used for theirprimary purpose. eg,

(i) She goes to church on Sunday.

(ii) The criminal was sent to prison.

(iii) I go to bed at 10 pm.

11. before man, life, death, art, science, when these wordsare used in the widest sense. eg,

(i) Man is mortal.

(ii) Science has developed much in the past fifty years.

12. before the nouns used after rank of / title of. eg,

(i) He was promoted to the rank of Colonel.

(ii) He was given the title of Nawab.

4

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningTense

Kinds of Tense

There are basic tenses

1. Present Tense 2. Past Tense

3. Future Tense

There are four sub-categories of each of three

(i) Simple (ii) Continuous

(iii) Perfect (iv) Perfect Continuous

Uses of Tense

I. Simple Present Tense

1. Simple Present Tense is used to express universal truth,principle and proverb. eg,

(i) The earth moves round the sun.

(ii) Oil floats on water.

(iii) Fortune favours the brave.

2. This tense is used to express habitual, regular andrepeated actions. eg,

(i) She drinks tea every morning.

(ii) He often gets late for school.

(iii) We like rice and curry.

3. This tense is used to express human feelings, emotionsand mental activity. eg,

(i) I love my family.

(ii) She thinks he is the best.

(iii) Shilpa hates beggars.

4. This tense is used to show possession. eg,

(i) She has a piano.

(ii) This car belongs to him.

(iii) They have a son and a daughter.

5. This tense is used to express a future event that is part offixed time table or fixed programme. eg,

(i) The next train is at 6.00 tomorrow morning.

(ii) The show starts at 12 o’clock.

(iii) She goes to London next Monday.

6. This tense is used, instead of the Simple Future Tense,in clauses of time and of condition. eg,

(i) She will not come if it rains.

(ii) I shall wait till he comes.

(iii) You will get success if you try hard.

II. Present Continuous Tense

1. Present Continuous Tense is used for an action going onat the time of speaking. eg,

(i) The boys are playing cricket.

(ii) It is raining heavily.

(iii) She is sleeping in the room.

2. This tense is used for a temporary action which may notbe actually happening at the time of speaking. eg,

(i) He is reading the Bible.

(ii) She is learning French.

(iii) They are working on this project.

3. This tense is used for an action that is planned or arrangedto take place in the near future. eg,

(i) Her brother is arriving tomorrow.

(ii) We are going to the cinema tonight.

(iii) They are leaving for Mumbai next Friday.

4. This tense is used to express intention or likelihood andit indicates future time. eg,

(i) He is going to meat her.

(ii) Dhoni is playing to score runs.

(iii) You are going to fail.

III. Present Perfect Tense

1. Present Perfect Tense is used to indicate completed

activities in the immediate past. eg,

(i) He has just arrived.

(ii) They have left for Delhi.

(iii) The show has just begun.

2. This tense is used to denote an action beginning at some

time in the past and continuing up to the present

moment (often with since/for phrases). eg,

(i) I have worked here for five years.

(ii) She has known him for a long time.

(iii) We have lived here since 1998.

3. This tense is used to express past actions whose time is

not given and not definite. eg,

(i) Have you been to Agra?

(ii) She has read ‘Geetanjali’.

(iii) I have written five books.

IV. Present Perfect Continuous Tense

1. Present Perfect Continuous Tense is used to express an

action which began at some time in the past and is still

continuing. eg,

(i) She has been sleeping for four hours.

(ii) They have been living here for ten years.

(iii) We have been working on this project since Maylast.

2. This tense is also sometimes used for an action already

finished. In such cases the continuity of the activity is

emphasised as an explanation of something. eg,

(i) She has been waiting for you.

(ii) He has been playing.

(iii) They have been fighting.

V. Simple Past Tense

1. Simple Past Tense is used to indicate an action

completed in the past. eg,

(i) I met her a week ago.

(ii) We left school last year.

(iii) He saw you yesterday.

2. This tense is used to indicate a situation related to past.

eg,

(i) She was a good teacher.

(ii) We were very poor.

(iii) I was very happy.

Spotting Errors 5

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning3. This tense is also used to express past habits. eg,

(i) He always carried a stick.

(ii) She never came late.

(iii) I studied two hours everyday.

VI. Past Continuous Tense

1. Past Continuous Tense is used to denote an action goingon at sometime in the past. eg,

(i) She was playing chess.

(ii) We were talking loudly.

(iii) It was getting dark.

2. This tense is used to denote actions going on at thesametime in the past. eg,

(i) While you were sleeping, she was reading.

(ii) While he was laughing, Sonu was weeping.

3. This tense is also used for persistent habits in the past.eg,

(i) She was always complaining.

(ii) He was always chewing tobacco.

VII. Past Perfect Tense

1. Past Perfect Tense is used to describe an actioncompleted before a certain moment in the past. eg,

(i) She had written a poem even before she was eightyears old.

(ii) I had seen him last five years before.

2. If two actions happened in the past, the earlier one isdenoted by past perfect while the latter one is denoted bysimple past. eg,

(i) The train had left before I reached the station.

(ii) She took dinner after they had gone.

(ii) We had slept before he came.

VIII. Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used to express anaction that had begun before a certain point in the pastand continued up to that time. eg,

(i) At that time she had been living there for two years.

(ii) We had been playing football since 2000.

IX. Simple Future Tense

1. Simple Future Tense is used to express an action that isstill to take place. eg,

(i) He will come here tomorrow.

(ii) We shall meet her on Monday.

(iii) You will do it.

2. This tense is also used to express intention, will, threatand determination. eg,

(i) I will never tell a lie.

(ii) He shall not come here again.

(iii) We will help her.

X. Future Continuous Tense

1. This tense is used to talk about actions which will be inprogress at a time in the future. eg,

(i) She will be sleeping in the room.

(ii) They will be watching the match on TV.

(iii) I shall be reading a novel.

2. This tense is also used to express future events that areplanned. eg,

(i) She will be coming here for your marriage.

(ii) I shall be staying here till Monday.

XI. Future Perfect Tense

1. Future Perfect Tense is used to indicate the completionof an action by a certain future time. eg,

(i) We shall have reached there by evening.

(ii) She will have written the letter by then.

2. This tense is used when there are two actions and it isnecessary to emphasise that the preceding action will becompletely finished before the next action starts. eg,

(i) She will have left before you go to see her.

(ii) I shall have come before she sleeps.

XII. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Future Perfect Continuous Tense is used for actionswhich will be in progress over a period of time that willend in the future. eg,

(i) We shall have been living here for ten years by nextAugust.

(ii) She will have been reading for three hours.

■ When sentence is in Indirect Narration and the

reporting verb is in the past tense, all present tense of

the reported speech are changed into the

corresponding past tenses and the Simple past is

changed into Past perfect.■ He said that he does not wish to see any of them and

orders them to go away. (Incorrect)■ He said that he did not wish to see any of them and

ordered them to go away. (Correct)

Subject-Verb AgreementThe subject and the verb are the essential parts of a

sentence. A verb must agree with its subject in number andperson.

■ If the subject is singular, verb must be singular.

If the subject is plural, verb must be plural.

■ Noun + s/es = Plural

Verb + s/es = Singular

Some Important Rules

Rule 1 Two or more singular nouns or pronouns joinedby and take a plural verb. eg,

(i) He and his sister were playing.

(ii) Gold and silver are precious metals.

(iii) Fire and water do not agree.

Rule 2 If two singular nouns refer to the same person orthing, the verb must be singular. eg,

(i) The magistrate and collector has come.

(ii) The poet and critic has been honoured.

(iii) A red and white bull is in the field.

When the article is used before only one noun, oneperson/thing is intended and hence the verb must be singular.

6

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningWhen the article is used before both the nouns, two

different persons/things are intended and hence the verb mustbe plural. eg,

(i) The magistrate and the collector have come.

(ii) The poet and the critic have been honoured.

(iii) A red and a white bull are in the field.

Rule 3 When two or more subjects are joined by as wellas, like, besides, with, in addition to, together with, alongwith, but, except etc, the verb is used according to the firstsubject. eg,

(i) The leader with all his followers was arrested.

(ii) The ship along with its crew was lost.

(iii) The guru as well as his disciples is committed tocelibacy.

Rule 4 Either, neither, each, every, anyone, someone,nobody must be followed by a singular verb. eg,

(i) Neither of your friends is intelligent.

(ii) Each of these substances is found in India.

(iii) Either of them has done this.

Rule 5 When the subjects joined by or, nor, either........or, neither .........nor are of different persons, the verbagrees with the nearer. eg,

(i) Either you or I am going.

(ii) Neither Rekha nor her friends were present at theparty.

(iii) You or she is to blame.

Rule 6 If two subjects together express one idea, theverb is singular. eg,

(i) Honour and glory is his reward.

(ii) Whisky and soda was served in the party.

(iii) The horse and carriage is at the door.

Rule 7 If the subject of a clause is a relative pronoun(who, which, that), the verb is used according to theantecedent of the relative pronoun. eg,

(i) The boys who are playing are my friends.

(ii) It is I who am helping you.

(iii) She knows the boys who have broken the glass.

Rule 8 When plural nouns explain specific amount,distance, quantity, time or period as a whole, the verb shouldbe singular. eg,

(i) Fifty rupees was the amount given to her.

(ii) Three hours is too short a time to judge one’scharacter.

(iii) Hundred miles is a long distance.

Rule 9 When nouns like glasses, shoes, scissors, pants,trousers, spectacles etc are used as subject, the verb is plural.eg,

(i) His trousers are very loose.

(ii) My scissors are sharp.

(iii) Your spectacles were on the table.

■ If a pair of is used before these nouns, the verb must

be singular. eg,

(i) A pair of scissors has been bought.

(ii) A pair of shoes was presented to him.

Rule 10 Furniture, luggage, scenery, information,poetry, percentage, knowledge, advice, news, music etc arealways singular and take a singular verb. eg,

(i) All his luggage was thrown out.

(ii) Wordsworth’s poetry is immortal.

(iii) The scenery of Kashmir is beautiful.

NounsA Noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or

thing.

Kinds of Nouns

1. Proper NounA proper noun is the name of a particular person or place. eg,

Radha, Kolkata, India

■ Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter

at the beginning.

2. Common NounA common noun is a name given in common to every person

or thing of the same class or kind. eg, girl, city, country, book

3. Collective NounA collective noun is the name of a group of persons or things

taken together and spoken of as a whole, as unit. eg,

team, army, jury, fleet

4. Material NounA material noun is the name of metal or substance, of which

things are made of. eg,

silver, cotton, wood

5. Abstract NounAn abstract noun is usually the name of a quality, action or

state considered apart from the object to which it belongs. eg,

kindness, laughter, childhood

Some Important Rules

Rule 1 Some nouns like furniture, information, poetry,scenery, machinery, work, wood, paper, glass, dust, traffic,electricity, food, grass, luggage, advice etc are alwayssingular.

■ These are Uncountable Nouns. Neither a/an is used

before them nor their plural is formed. eg,

(i) Young persons dislike the advice of elderly people.

(ii) He gave me information.

Rule 2 Some nouns have the singular and the pluralalike. As, sheep, deer, swine, species etc. eg,

(i) A sheep is grazing in the field.

Sheep are grazing in the field.

(ii) It is a rare species.

There are many species of dogs.

Spotting Errors 7

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningRule 3 Nouns expressing number like dozen, score,

hundred, thousand etc are used in singular with numerical

adjectives. eg,

(i) She bought three dozen oranges.

(ii) There are two score books in this almirah.

(iii) I gave him five hundred rupees.

Rule 4 Some nouns like cattle, poultry, people, police,

gentry, peasantry, electorate etc are always plural. eg,

(i) Cattle are not allowed to enter this ground.

(ii) These poultry are mine.

(iii) There are few gentry in this town.

PronounsA Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

Kinds of Pronouns

1. Personal Pronouns

I, we, you, he, me, her, them etc.

1. If a pronoun acts as a subject of a verb, it is in

nominative/subjective case and if it acts as an object of a

verb, it is in objective case.

Nominative case I, we, you, he, she, it, they.

Objective case me, us, you, him, her, it, them.

2. A Pronoun is used in objective case after let. eg,

(i) Let him and me do this .

(ii) Let her and us go.

3. A Pronoun is used in objective case after a preposition.

eg,

(i) She was angry with you and him.

(ii) They laughed at her and me.

4. Nominative case is used after than if the comparison is

between two nominatives. eg,

(i) As a student of science you are far better than he.

(ii) She drives faster than I.

5. Objective case is used after than if the comparison is

between two objects. eg,

(i) She loves you more than me.

(ii) I know her better than him.

6. Good manners require that the order of personal

pronouns in a sentence should be 231 ie,the second

person should come before the third and the third person

before the first. eg,

(i) You and I must work together.

(ii) You and he will follow it.

(iii) You, he and I are going to Delhi.

■ While referring to unpleasant acts or accepting

guilt/mistake, the order of personal pronouns in a

sentence should be 123. eg,

(i) I, you and he have stolen the money.

(ii) I and you will be punished.

2. Distributive Pronouns

Each, either, neither

1. Either and Neither are used for two persons or things. eg,

(i) Either of them can do this.

(ii) Neither of you will go there.

2. Each is used for two or more than two persons/things. eg,

(i) Each of the students contributed fifty rupees.

(ii) Each of the two boys is doing his work .

■ For more than two persons or things any/anyone is

used in place of either and none is used in place of

neither. eg,(i) Anyone of the students can participate in the

debate.

(ii) None of these boys will enter the class.

3. Demonstrative Pronouns

This, that, these, those, such.

1. This and these are used for the persons / things whichare near the speaker.

This is used for one person/thing and these is used formore than one person/ thing. eg,

(i) This computer is a present for you.

(ii) These flowers are beautiful.

2. That and those are used for the persons/things which areaway from the speaker.

That is used for one person/thing and those is used formore than one person / thing. eg,

(i) That boy is my friend.

(ii) Those shirts are mine.

4. Indefinite Pronouns

One, some, any, everybody, somebody, anybody, everyone,someone, anyone, no one, everything, something, anything,nothing etc.

1. In referring to anybody, everybody, everyone, anyone,each etc, the pronoun he or she is used according to thecontext. eg,

(i) I shall be glad to help everyone of my boys in hisstudies.

(ii) Everyone of the Miss India contestants tried toimprove herself through rigorous training.

2. The indefinite pronoun one should be used throughout,if used at all, ie, its nominative —one, objective—one,possessive—one’s and reflexive—oneself should be used.eg,

(i) One should take care of one’s house .

(ii) One should help oneself.

5. Reflexive Pronouns

Myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, itself etc

1. A reflexive pronoun or an object must be put after acquit,absent, avail, resign, revenge, enjoy, exert, apply, adopt,adjust, avenge, pride. eg,

(i) I absented myself from the class.

(ii) You should avail yourself of every chance in life.

8

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning2. Verbs such as bathe, break, burst, feed, gather, hide,

keep, make, move, open, qualify, rest, roll, speed, steal,stop, turn, are usually not followed by a reflexivepronoun. eg,

(i) He has qualified for the post .

(ii) You should keep from bad boys.

3. A reflexive pronoun can not be used as a substitute forthe subject. eg,

Bunti and myself decided to join the army. (Incorrect)

Bunti and I decided to join the army. (Correct)

6. Emphatic Pronouns

When myself, yourself, ourselves, herself, itself, themselvesetc are used for the sake of emphasis they are called emphaticpronouns.

eg,

(i) I myself went to finalise the deal.

(ii) They themselves admitted their guilt .

7. Relative Pronouns

Who, whom, whose, which, that

1. Who is used for persons only and which is used for things

without life and for animals. eg,

(i) This is the man who brought the news.

(ii) The horse which I recently bought is an Arab.

2. That is used for persons and things. eg,

(i) This is the man that brought the news.

(ii) The horse that I recently bought is an Arab.

3. Who/Which is used in both defining and non- defining

cases that is used in defining case. eg,

(i) The horse which she has bought is black .

(ii) I have bought a dog which is white.

Here, in the first sentence that can be used in place of

which but in the second sentence it can’t be used.

4. That is used after superlative degree, all, same, only,

none, nothing. eg,

(i) He was the most eloquent speaker that I ever heard.

(ii) It is only donkeys that bray.

5. Who is used in nominative case ie, it is followed by a verb

while whom is used in objective case ie, it is not followed by a

verb eg,

(i) This is the boy who broke the glass.

(ii) The girl whom I met today was his friend.

8. Interrogative Pronouns

Who, whom, whose, which, what

1. Who is used for person. eg,

(i) Who was knocking at the door?

(ii) Who called you here?

2. Which is used for both persons and things. It implies

selection. eg,

(i) Which of these boys will win the prize?

(ii) Which of them has said so?

3. After preposition whom is used instead of who. eg,

(i) By whom was the flower plucked?

(ii) About whom are you talking?

9. Exclamatory Pronouns

When interrogative word what is used to express surprise itis called exclamatory pronoun. eg,

What! you don’t know Amitabh ?

10. Reciprocal Pronouns

Each other, one another

Each other is used for two persons/ things and one anotheris used for more than two persons/things.

But in modern use there is no difference in the use of eachother and one another. eg,

(i) They all loved one another.

(ii) The four friends quarrelled with each other.

■ From the examination point of view, you shouldremember that each other is used for two persons /things and one another is used for more than twopersons/things.

AdjectivesAn Adjective is a word which qualifies a noun or a pronoun.

Kinds of Adjectives

1. Proper Adjectives

Adjectives formed from proper nouns are called ProperAdjectives. eg,

Proper Nouns Proper AdjectivesIndia Indian

China Chinese

Turkey Turkish

America American

Shakespeare Shakespearian

A Proper Adjective must begin with a capital letter.

2. Possessive Adjectives

My, our, your, his, her, their, its are called PossessiveAdjectives.

Possessive Adjectives are always used before noun. eg,

My book, Your brother, His horse

3. Distributive Adjectives

Each, every, either, neither are called DistributiveAdjectives.

1. Each is used for two or more than two things/persons.eg,

(i) Each boy must take his turn.

(ii) Each of the two girls is beautiful.

2. Every is used for more than two persons/ things. eg,

(i) Every word of it is false.

(ii) He gave every girl the same dress.

Spotting Errors 9

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning3. Either and Neither are used for two persons/things. eg,

(i) Take either side, whichever you prefer.

(ii) Neither of the two ministers was available forcomments.

4. Article is not used before the noun used after each, every,either, neither. eg,

Either a book will serve the purpose. (Incorrect)

Either book will serve the purpose. (Correct)

4. Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative Adjectives are of two kinds

(I) Definite This, that, these, those, such, same.

These adjectives point out a particular person or

thing exactly.

(II) Indefinite A, an, a certain, certain, some, any,

any other, another, other.

These adjectives point out persons or things in acertain sense, but not exactly.

5. Numeral Adjectives

Numeral Adjectives are of two kinds

(I) Definite These adjectives denote exact number ororder of persons/things.

1. Those which denote exact number of persons/things

are called cardinals. eg,

One, two, three, four etc.

2. Those which denote the serial order in which a

person or thing stands are called ordinals. eg,

First, third, next, last etc.

3. Ordinals are used before cardinals, if they both are

to be used in a sentence. eg,

(i) The first three pages of this book.

(ii) The last two scenes of this movie.

(II) Indefinite These adjectives denote number of some

kind without saying precisely what the number is. eg,

many, some, enough, few, all, most, various, numerous,several etc.

If definite and Indefinite both Numeral Adjectives are to beused together, Indefinite Numeral Adjectives should be usedbefore Definite Numeral Adjectives.

6. Quantitative Adjectives

These adjectives show the quantity or degree of a thing. eg,

much, little, whole, some, enough, all etc.

1. Much, little, whole are always used for quantity. eg,

much milk, little sugar, whole book

2. All, some, enough, sufficient, most are used for both

quantity and number.

7. Qualitative Adjectives

These adjectives show what quality or in what statepersons or things are. eg,

big, small, brave, sick, ugly, good etc

8. Interrogative Adjectives

These adjectives are used to ask questions. eg,

(i) Which picture do you like most ?

(ii) Whose wife is she?

9. Exclamatory Adjectives

What is called Exclamatory Adjective when it is used toexpress surprise. eg,

(i) What an idea!

(ii) What a piece of work is man!

Degrees of Comparison

Positive Degree

The Positive Degree of an adjective is the adjective in itssimple form. It is used when no comparison is made. eg,

(i) Rekha is a good singer.

(ii) He is a tall boy.

Comparative Degree

The Comparative Degree of an adjective is used when thequality of two persons or things are compared. eg,

(i) This girl is more beautiful than that.

(ii) My mango is sweeter than his.

Superlative Degree

The Superlative Degree of an adjective denotes the highestdegree of quality, and is used when more than two persons orthings are compared. eg,

(i) He is the most intelligent boy in the class.

(ii) She is the politest of them.

Some Important Facts

1. Senior, superior, junior, prior, inferior, posterior arefollowed by to instead of than.

All his colleagues are senior than him. (Incorrect)

All his colleagues are senior to him. (Correct)

2. Interior, exterior, minor, major etc are the adjectives ofpositive degree.

Neither more/most is used before them nor than/to isused after them. eg,

(i) His age is a matter of minor importance.

(ii) The interior decoration of his office is excellent.

3. After comparatively or relatively positive degree is used.eg,

The wind is comparatively colder today. (Incorrect)

The wind is comparatively cold today. (Correct)

4. Before enough positive degree is used. eg,

He is smarter enough to get selected for thisprestigious post. (Incorrect)

He is smart enough to get selected for this prestigiouspost. (Correct)

5. To is used after prefer if the comparison is between twonouns. eg,

He prefers milk to tea.

10


■ But rather than is used after prefer if the comparison

is between two infinitives. eg,■ She prefers to sleep rather than play.

6. To is used after preferable. eg,

Fish is preferable to chicken.

7. Perfect, complete, full, excellent, unique, circular,extreme, universal, chief, golden etc. are used neither inComparative degree nor in superlative degree. eg,

Money is the chiefest aim of his life. (Incorrect)

Money is the chief aim of his life. (Correct)

8. Positive degree and as are used with so/as. eg,

Dhoni’s performance in the match was as better asYuvraj’s. (Incorrect)

Dhoni’s performance in the match was as good asYuvraj’s.

(Correct)

AdverbsAn Adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb,

an adjective or another adverb.

Kinds of Adverbs

(A) According to their uses, adverbs are divided into three

classes.

1. Simple Adverbs These adverbs modify the meaning of averb, an adjective, or an adverb. eg,

(i) You are quite right.

(ii) She can hardly believe it.

2. Interrogative Adverbs These adverbs are used forasking questions. eg,

(i) How did you come here?

(ii) Why is she not playing?

3. Relative Adverbs These adverbs are the same in form

as interrogative adverbs, but instead of asking

questions, they join two sentences together.

These adverbs relate to some antecedent, expressed or

understood. eg,

(i) Let me know the time when you will come.(The antecedent expressed)

Let me know when you will come.(The antecedent understood)

(ii) I remember the house where I was born.

(B) According to their meanings, adverbs may be divided into

the following classes.

1. Adverbs of Time These are the adverbs which tell us

when an action takes place. eg,

(i) I hurt my knee yesterday.

(ii) He comes here daily.

2. Adverbs of Place These are the adverbs which tell us

where an action takes place. eg,

(i) He follows Nisha everywhere.

(ii) She left her bag here.

3. Adverbs of Frequency These are the adverbs which tellus how often an action takes place. eg,

(i) He seldom makes mistakes.

(ii) I have called you twice.

4. Adverbs of Degree or Quantity These are the adverbswhich tell us how much or in what degree or to what extent.eg,

(i) These apples are almost ripe.

(ii) He is kind enough to help her.

5. Adverbs of Manner These are the adverbs which tell ushow an action takes place or in what manner. eg,

(i) The soldiers fought bravely.

(ii) He came down slowly

6. Adverbs of Reason These are the adverbs which tell uswhy an action takes place. eg,

(i) She therefore left school.

(ii) I am hence unable to do it.

7. Adverbs of Affirmation and Negation These are theadverbs which tell us whether an action is done or not. eg,

(i) She certainly hit him.

(ii) I did not meet her.

Some Important Adverbs

1. Too and Very

Too means ‘more than required’ and it is usually usedbefore unpleasant adjectives.

Very means ‘in a great degree’ and it is used beforepleasant/ unpleasant adjectives.

■ If the sentence is not based on too …… to structure,

very should be used in place of too. e.g.,

(i) I am too happy today. (Incorrect)

I am very happy today. (Correct)

(ii) My son’s health has been too good. (Incorrect)

My son’s health has been good. (Correct)

2. Too much and Much too

After too much a noun is used.

After much too an adjective is used. eg,

His wife’s rude behaviour gives him much too pain.

(Incorrect)

His wife’s rude behaviour gives him too much pain.

(Correct)

3. Much and Very

(a) Very is used with positive degree and much is used withcomparative degree. eg,

(i) The air is very hot today.

(ii) The air is much hotter today than yesterday.

(b) Very is used with present participle and much is usedwith past participle. eg,

(i) It is very surprising for me.

(ii) I was much surprised at hearing the news.

Spotting Errors 11

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning4. Fairly and Rather

(a) Fairly is used with positive degree while rather is usedwith both positive degree and comparative degree.

(b) Fairly is used with pleasant objectives while rather isusually used with unpleasant adjectives. eg,

(i) She is fairly wise.

(ii) This job is rather difficult.

But, rather good, rather clever, rather pretty are used.

5. Hard and Hardly

Hard means ‘difficult’ or ‘solid’. It is used as an adjective aswell as an adverb.

Hardly means ‘almost not’ and it is used as an adverb. eg,

(i) It is hard to believe that he is guilty.

(ii) There is hardly any tea left.

6. Late and Lately

Late means ‘near the end of a period of time’ and latelymeans ‘recently’. eg,

(i) She married in her late twenties.

(ii) He had lately returned from Australia.

7. Ago

Ago is always used in past indefinite tense. eg,

(i) I met her a year ago.

(ii) This had happened a week ago. (Incorrect)

This happened a week ago. (Correct)

8. Enough

(a) Enough is used just after the word that it qualifies.

(b) Always use positive degree of adjective/adverb before

enough. eg,

(i) He is now strong enough to leave his bed.

(ii) She is enough wise to allow her son to go. (Incorrect)

She is wise enough to allow her son to go. (Correct)

9. Else

Else should always be followed by but and never by than. eg,

It is nothing else but love.

10. Still and Yet

Still is usually used in affirmative sentences and yet innegative sentences. eg,

He has not still returned the money. (Incorrect)

He has not yet returned the money. (Correct)

Position of Adverbs

1. Always, often, seldom, never, just, ever, usually, hardly,already, nearly etc are used before the main verb. eg,

(i) I have told often him to write neatly. (Incorrect)

I have often told him to write neatly. (Correct)

(ii) He never talks ill of his friends.

(iii) Imran always comes late.

2. Adverbs of time/ place/manner are generally placed afterthe verb or after the object if there is one. eg,

(i) He does his work carefully.

(ii) She looked everywhere.

(iii) I met her yesterday.

■ Adverb of manner is used before the object if a clause

starting with who/ which/ that is used after the object.

eg,■ She received warmly all those who had come in time.

3. If adverbs of time/place/manner all are to be used in asentence, the normal order is—adverb of manner,adverb of place, adverb of time. eg,

He danced in the city hall well last night. (Incorrect)

He danced well in the city hall last night. (Correct)

4. Adverbs of quantity are usually used before the wordthat they qualify. eg,

(i) The party was too dull.

(ii) She is quite cool.

5. Only should be placed immediately before the word itqualifies. eg,

(i) We worked only four sums.

(ii) She has slept only two hours.

6. Preposition is not used before an adverb. eg,

My sister asked me to go to market with quickly.

(Incorrect)

My sister asked me to go to market quickly. (Correct)

7. The adverbs of frequency and quantity should be placedbefore the auxiliaries have to and used to. eg,

I used to often take a break from my packed schedule.(Incorrect)

I often used to take a break from my packed schedule.(Correct)

8. An adverb is not used by splitting an infinitive. eg,

She asked him to carefully write the answer. (Incorrect)

She asked him to write the answer carefully. (Correct)

9. No adverb is used before quite. eg,

Raman is absolutely quite alone. (Incorrect)

Raman is quite alone. (Correct)

10. ‘Inverted form of verb’ is used in the sentences startingwith seldom, never, hardly, scarcely, rarely, no sooner.eg,

(i) No sooner had he entered the class than the bellrang.

(ii) Seldom she meets her friends. (Incorrect)

Seldom does she meet her friends. (Correct)

ConjunctionsA Conjunction is a word which joins two or more than two

words, phrases, clauses or sentences.

12

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningSome Important Rules

Rule 1 Scarcely/hardly is always followed bywhen/before. eg,

Scarcely had he gone out of the office then he came.(Incorrect)

Scarcely had he gone out of the office when he came.(Correct)

Rule 2 Lest is followed by should.

Not is not used with it. eg,

Be careful lest you will fall. (Incorrect)

Be careful lest you should fall. (Correct)

Rule 3 Although/though must always be followed by yetor comma (,). eg,

Although he worked hard but he failed. (Incorrect)

Although he worked hard yet he failed. (Correct)

Rule 4 Both is followed by and and not by else, but or aswell as. eg,

Both Sonu as well as Pawan have done their work.(Incorrect)

Both Sonu and Pawan have done their work. (Correct)

Rule 5 Rather and other are always followed by than.

eg,

I have no other choice but to do it. (Incorrect)

I have no other choice than to do it. (Correct)

Rule 6 Neither ............ nor and Either .......... or are usedin pairs. These are followed by the same part of speech. eg,

(i) He has invited neither him not her. (Incorrect)

He has invited neither him nor her. (Correct)

(ii) Either the step taken was right or wrong .(Incorrect)

The step taken was either right or wrong. (Correct)

Rule 7 Not only is followed by but also. These alwaysjoin the same parts of speech. eg,

He is going not only to open a hospital but also an inn.(Incorrect)

He is going to open not only a hospital but also an inn.(Correct)

Rule 8 Whether is always followed by or. eg,

We don’t care that you pass or fail . (Incorrect)

We don’t care whether you pass or fail. (Correct)

Rule 9 The same is followed by relative pronoun that oras. eg,

He is the same boy who broke the glass. (Incorrect)

He is the same boy that broke the glass. (Correct)

■ As is used if the verb is not clear in the sentence. eg,

This is the same dress as mine.

Rule 10 Because, since, as, as soon as are not followedby therefore, thus, etc. eg,

As he came late, therefore he was punished. (Incorrect)

As he came late, he was punished. (Correct)

Objective Questions

Directions Find out the part which has an error in the following sentences. If there is no error, your answer is (d).

1. You can not withdraw (a)/ all your money until (b)/ yougive a prior notice. (c)/ No error (d)

2. You should behave with others (a)/ the same way whichyou (b)/ would expect them to behave with you. (c)/ Noerror (d)

3. Either he nor his brother (a)/ was informed about thevenue (b)/ of the meeting of our society. (c)/ No error (d)

4. He not only believes (a)/ in hard work but also (b)/ inhonesty of the highest order. (c)/ No error (d)

5. No sooner did she (a)/ reach the station (b)/ then itstarted raining. (c)/ No error (d)

6. The captain and his wife (a)/ were invited for the (b)/

cultural function at my home. (c)/ No error (d)

7. He tried (a)/ to open the can (b)/ by a can opener. (c)/ No

error. (d)

8. Let no one (a)/ remain with doubt that (b)/ India is

getting stronger and stronger. (c)/ No error (d)

9. When the students reached late (a)/ the teacher objected

their entering the class (b)/ without his permission. (c)/

No error (d)

10. Sheela advised to her (a)/ child not to play (b)/ with theball on the road. (c)/ No error (d)

11. The expert mason reported (a)/ to the owner of the hotel

that (b)/ there was no question of the wall's falling down.

(c)/ No error (d)

12. ‘‘This blade's edge is sharper (a)/ than any other

blades's,’’ (b)/ said the representative of the company.

(c)/ No error (d)

13. Your son's-in law's friend is serioulsy ill and (a)/ he

wants you (b)/ to see him as soon as possible. (c)/ No

error (d)

14. You know it well that your success in life (a)/ depends

not on my advice (b)/ but on somebody's else. (c)/ No

error (d)

15. He suggested to me (a)/ that I should go to nursery (b)/to bring some beautiful summer's flowers. (c)/ Noerror (d)

16. No sooner we entered (a)/ than he got up (b)/ and left theroom. (c)/ No error. (d)

Spotting Errors 13

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning17. He ultimately decided (a)/ to willingly and cheerfully

accept (b)/ the responsibility entrusted to him. (c)/ No

error (d)

18. Harish is (a)/ very much willing (b)/to come with you. (c)/

No error (d)

19. Mahesh thought that he would pass (a)/ in the

examination although he did not (b)/ answer most of the

questions correct. (c)/ No error (d)

20. Kunal's father advised him (a)/ not to ride the

motorcycly (b)/ lately at night. (c)/ No error (d)

21. Looking into the situation (a)/ that prevailed a few years

ago (b)/ he was taken that decision. (c)/ No error (d)

22. If you had not come in time (a)/ the child would havetaken (b)/ by the dacoits. (c)/ No error (d)

23. I knew our college library was run chaotically (a)/ but

only recently did I discover (b)/ how bad the situation is.

(c)/ No error (d)

24. They talked for a while (a)/ and then they will continue

to play (b)/ the game till tomorrow morning. (c)/ No error

(d)

25. We got everything ready (a)/ for all of them (b)/ long

before they arrived. (c)/ No error (d)

26. He looks more depressed (a)/ than her but I don't (b)/

know the reason. (c)/ No error (d)

27. The person which was (a)/ recommended for the position

(b)/ did not fulfil the prescribed qualifications. (c)/ No

error (d)

28. Between you and I (a)/ he probably (b)/ won't come at all.(c)/ No error (d)

29. If all of you quarral (a)/ among yourself we shal not (b)/

be able to solve your problems. (c)/ No error (d)

30. They have invited Ramesh and I (a/ to the function (b)/

to be held in the next month. (c)/ No error (d)

31. We should drink several glasses (a)/ of the water daily

(b)/ if we want to remain healthy. (c)/ No error (d)

32. Children who have had (a)/ good Pre-School Education

are most likely (b)/ to out do other children at school. (c)/

No error (d)

33. On my request Jatin (a)/ introduced me to his friend (b)/

who is singer and scientist. (c)/ No error (d)

34. The burglars were caught just as (a)/ they were about to

(b)/ escape from the jail. (c)/ No error (d)

35. The teacher drew (a)/ and attention of the boys (b)/ to

the importance of regular practise. (c)/ No error (d)

36. He has brought (a)/ four breads (b)/ for lunch today. (c)/

No error (d

37. This data are (a)/ very useful to arrive (b)/ at correct

conclusion. (c)/ No error (d)

38. ‘‘I have never seen (a)/ such a lovely spectacles in my

life,’’ (b)/said the passer by. (c)/ No error (d)

39. When you see his offsprings (a)/ you can't (b)/ believe

that he is above seventy. (c)/ No error (d)

40. An earthquake (a)/ is a natural phenomena (b)/ and

nobody can check it, be sure. (c)/ No error (d)

41. The Secretary of the worker's union remarked that (a)/

the present government is so selfish that (b)/ it cared

very little about solving anyone else's problem. (c)/ No

error (d)

42. Please explain to me (a)/ how is a digital computerdifferent (b)/ from an analogue computer. (c)/ No error(d)

43. We had swam (a)/ across the river (b)/ before the sunset.(c)/ No error (d)

44. The Secretary and Treasurer (a)/ were not present (b)/at today's meeting. (c)/ No error (d)

45. Neither Rakesh nor I (a)/ are leaving (b)/ for Hyderabad.(c)/ No error (d)

46. My book is superior (a)/ than yours although it has (b)/cost me much less. (c)/ No error (d)

47. When Charles was in hospital (a)/ his sister sent (b)/much fruit then his uncle. (c)/ No error (d)

48. Dilip's performance in the film (a)/ was worst thanAmit's (b)/ but was not as bad as Vinod's. (c)/ No error (d)

49. The teacher said that (a)/ Ajay was capable of (b)/ doing

more better work. (c)/ No error (d)

50. A severe cold (a)/ Prevented the president (b)/ being

present (c)/ at the function (d)

51. After he had read the two first chapters (a)/ of the novel,

he felt like (b)/ reading the book at one sitting. (c)/ No

error (d)

52. The girl said that (a)/ she preferred the blue gown (b)/than the black one. (c)/ No error (d)

53. Raju cannot walk (a)/ much than two miles (b)/ at astretch. (c)/ No error. (d)

54. I often give him money (a)/ and I gave him few

(b)/ yesterday also. (c)/ No error. (d)

55. It is always easy (a)/ to talk about a thing (b)/ than to do

it ourselves. (c)/ No error (d)

56. The doctor advised him (a)/ to give off smoking (b)/ buthe did not pay any heed. (c)/ No error (d)

57. Their father has left (a)/ behind a huge sum to be (b)/destributed among the two brothers. (c)/ No error (d)

58. No effort has been made (a)/ at all to cash on (b)/ therefurnished image of Indian tennis. (c)/ No error (d)

59. The elegantly designed collection (a)/ for ladies has an

emphasis (b)/ with style, veriety and colour. (c)/ No error

(d)

60. As soon as he reached the venue (a)/ he enquired from

the supervisor (b)/ about the closing time of the

examinaiton. (c)/ No error (d)

61. The table's wood (a)/ is infested with mite (b)/ and I amlikely to dispose it of (c)/ No error (d)

62. The finance Minister (a)/ boasts of improving (b)/ theeconomic condition of the country's. (c)/ No error (d)

14

Keep Practicing & Keep Learning63. He told her that (a)/ he had ever seen her (b)/ with his

mind's ege. (c)/ No error (d)

64. Unfortunately for me (a)/ the root cause of myfrustration (b)/ lies in the Government dubious policy.(c)/ No error (d)

65. I have read (a)/ many plays of Shaw's (b)/ who is calledthe Shakespeare of our age (c)/ No error (d)

66. We have carefully considered (a)/ the Impotence ofissues (b)/ raised in the report. (c)/ No error (d)

67. Every man, woman and Child (a)/ is now aware of theterrible consequences (b)/ of habit of smoking. (c)/ Noerror (d)

68. Ravi prefers self-employment (a)/ to job in (b)/ any office.(c)/ No error (d)

69. In a fit of temper (a)/ he tore up a sweet letter (b)/ whichhis wife had written to him. (c)/ No error (d)

70. He used very inaccurate (a)/ language for (b)/ he knewno better. (c)/ No error (d)

71. The gentleman (a)/ together with his wife (b)/ anddaughter were drowned. (c)/ No error (d)

72. It is in 1929 (a)/ that we first (b)/ flew to the UnitedStates. (c)/ No error (d)

73. Our country need (a)/ a number of self sacrificing (b)/devoted political leaders. (c)/ No error (d)

74. The issues are complex (a)/ and has been obscured (b)/by other factors. (c)/ No error (d)

75. He reminded me that (a)/ he has often told me (b)/ not toplay with fire. (c)/ No error (d)

76. The taxi driver who had come (a)/ to receive us at theairport (b)/ was speaking fluently French. (c)/ No error(d)

77. The only criteria (a)/ to judge (b)/ a person (c)/ is toobserve his behaviour (d)

78. We are confident enough (a)/ to earn our livelihood (b)/by toiling hardly. (c)/ No error (d)

79. The observers feel that the stronger team (a)/ has to facedefeat because (b)/ the players don't play whole hearted.(c)/ No error (d)

80. You seem to be (a)/ enough rich to buy (b)/ anything youlike. (c)/ No error (d)

81. Radha came (a)/ to the meeting much later (b)/ than Iexpect. (c)/ No error (d)

82. I have been working (a)/ for this organisation (b)/ for thelast ten years. (c)/ No error (d)

83. I know he is having (a)/ a lot of books on (b)/ how toimprove English. (c)/ No error (d)

84. If it snowed (a)/ tomorrow we'll (b)/ go for skating. (c)/ Noerror (d)

85. He told me that (a)/ he wrote a letter (b)/ to his superiorfor a certain reason. (c)/ No error (d)

86. Cattles were (a)/ grazing in the meadows (b)/ near ourfarm. (c)/ No error (d)

87. The infromation supplied to us (a)/ were not as useful as(b)/ we first thought it would be. (c)/ No error (d)

88. It was evident (a)/ to me that there (b)/ was any mistake(c)/ in that account (d)

89. The audience (a)/ are requested (b)/ to be in its seats. (c)/No error (d)

90. He says that (a)/ a two miles walk (b)/ always keeps him

healthy and fresh. (c)/ No error (d)

91. The guide told us that (a)/ where the island was (b)/ and

went on narrating its history. (c)/ No error (d)

92. How do you say that (a)/ neither he or Ramesh (b)/ has

qualified in the examinaion. (c)/ No error (d)

93. Unless you return (a)/ his book he will (b)/ not talk to

you. (c)/ No error (d)

94. He neither gave satisfaction (a)/ as a cook (b)/ nor as a

chauffeur. (c)/ No error (d)

95. Hardly had I reached (a)/ the airport where I learnt (b)/

about the powerful bomb explosion. (c)/ No error (d)

96. If you are good to people (a)/ you will be treated (b)/ well

by themselves. (c)/ No error (d)

97. This is one company who not only sells (a)/ its products

but also gives (b)/ good after sales service. (c)/ No error

(d)

98. I asked him (a)/ whom he thought would be (b)/ able to

get the first prize. (c)/ No error (d)

99. They visited the place (a)/ because they wanted to see

for themself (b)/ the damage caused by the floods. (c)/ No

error (d)

100. There should be (a)/ no misunderstanding (b)/ betweenyour father and she. (c)/ No error (d)

Spotting Errors 15

Keep Practicing & Keep LearningAnswers with Explanations

1. (b) Use ‘unless’ for ‘until’

2. (b) Use ‘as’ in place of ‘which’

3. (a) Neither he nor his

4. (a) Say ‘he believes not only’

5. (b) Use ‘than’ for ‘then’

6. (b) Use ‘to’ in place of ‘for’

7. (c) Say ‘with a can opener’

8. (b) Use ‘in’ for ‘with’

9. (b) Insert ‘to’ after ‘objected’

10. (a) Remove ‘to’

11. (c) Say ‘ the falling down of the wall’

12. (d) No error

13. (a) Say ‘son-in-law's’

14. (a) Say ‘somebody else's’

15. (c) Say ‘summer flower's’

16. (a) Insert ‘had’ after ‘sooner’

17. (b) Place ‘accept’ before ‘willingly’

18. (b) Remove ‘much’

19. (c) Say ‘correctly’

20. (c) Use ‘late’ for ‘lately’

21. (c) Use ‘took’ for ‘was taken’

22. (b) Use ‘have been’ in place of ‘have’

23. (c) Say ‘the situation was’

24. (a) Use ‘will talk’ for ‘talked’

25. (a) Say ‘we had got’

26. (b) Use ‘she’ for ‘her’

27. (a) Use ‘who’ in place of ‘which’

28. (a) Use ‘me’ for ‘I’

29. (b) Use ‘yourselves’ in place of ‘yourself’

30. (a) Say ‘Ramesh and me’

31. (b) Remove ‘the’

32. (b) Insert ‘a’ before ‘good’

33. (c) Insert ‘a’ before ‘singer’

34. (c) Remove ‘the’

35. (b) Say ‘the attention’

36. (b) Say 'four pieces of bread’

37. (a) Use ‘These’ for ‘This’

38. (b) Say ‘spectacle’

39. (a) Use ‘offspring’ for ‘offsprings’

40. (b) Say ‘a natural phenomenon’

41. (b) Use ‘was’ in place of ‘is’

42. (b) Place ‘is’ after ‘computer’

43. (a) Use ‘swum’ for ‘swam’

44. (b) Use ‘was’ in place of ‘were’

45. (b) Say ‘am leaving’

46. (b) Use ‘to’ for ‘than’

47. (c) Use ‘more’ in place of ‘much’

48. (b) Say ‘was worse’

49. (c) Remove ‘more’

50. (c) Put ‘from’ before being

51. (a) Say 'the first two’

52. (c) Use ‘to’ for ‘than’.

53. (b) Say ‘more than’

54. (b) Use ‘a little/ some’ in place of ‘few’

55. (a) Say ‘easier’

56. (b) Say ‘to give up’

57. (c) Use ‘between’ for ‘among’

58. (b) Say ‘cash in on’

59. (c) Use ‘on’ in place of ‘with’

60. (b) Say ‘enquired of’

61. (a) Say ‘The wood of the table’

62. (c) Say ‘country’

63. (d) No error

64. (c) Say ‘Government's dubious policy’

65. (b) Say ‘many plays of Shaw’

66. (b) Insert ‘the’ before ‘issues’

67. (c) Say ‘of the habit of smoking’

68. (b) Insert ‘a’ before ‘job’

69. (b) Say ‘the sweet letter

70. (a) Insert ‘a’ before ‘very’

71. (c) Use ‘was’ for ‘were’

72. (a) Say ‘It was’

73. (a) Say ‘needs’

74. (b) Use ‘have’ for ‘has’

75. (b) Use ‘had’ for ‘has’

76. (c) Say ‘French fluently’

77. (a) Chage Giteria to criterion, criteria singular criterion.

78. (c) Say ‘toiling hard’

79. (c) Use ‘heartedly’ in place of ‘hearted’

80. (b) Say ‘rich enough’

81. (d) Say ‘I had expected’

82. (d) No error

83. (a) Use ‘has’ for ‘is having’

84. (a) Use ‘snows’ in place of ‘snowed’

85. (b) Say ‘he had written’

86. (a) Use ‘Cattle’ for ‘Cattles’

87. (b) Use ‘was’ in place of ‘were’

88. (c) Replace ‘any’ by ‘some’ some is used in affirmative

89. (c) Use ‘their’ for ‘its’

90. (b) Say ‘a two-mile walk’

91. (a) Remove ‘that’

92. (b) Use ‘nor’ for ‘or’

93. (a) Say ‘Until you return’

94. (a) Place ‘neither’ after ‘satisfaction’

95. (b) Use ‘when’ in place of ‘where’

96. (c) Say ‘well by them’

97. (a) Use ‘which’ for ‘who’

98. (b) Use ‘who’ in place of ‘whom’

99. (b) Say ‘for themselves’

100. (c) Use ‘her’ for ‘she’

Thank you

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