Directions (1-5): In each of the following sentences, there are two blank spaces. Below the sentences, there are five options with a pair of words each. Fill up the sentences with the pair of words that makes the sentence grammatically and contextually correct.
Q1. Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj also granted _______ bail till November 19 to Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the _______ scam.
(a) Primary; outstanding
(b) Interim; alleged
(c) Internet; extraordinary
(d) Paid; fodder
(e) All of these
Q2. On the recent ‘Gaurav Yatara’, the Jaipur High Court _______ the BJP on September 5 to stop organising government functions en route, and termed the holding of public functions during the ______ “abuse of power”.
(a) Directed; March
(b) Orders; Rally
(c) Asked; September
(d) Requested; parade
(e) None of these
Q3. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said there are some more steps on the ______ to narrow the current account deficit (CAD) and bolster forex ______.
(a) File; money
(b) Table; outflows
(c) Anvil; inflows
(d) Rise; inlets
(e) Thoughts; dollars
Q4. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced that the Centre and oil companies will take a _______ of Rs 1.50 per litre and Re 1 per litre respectively in their revenue. He also said he would write to all the states to ______ their respective taxes.
(a) Flop; Drop
(b) Down; Ease
(c) Beating; Eat
(d) Hit; Cut
(e) Blow; Suck
Q5. Nearly 1,000 people _______ evacuated yesterday from their homes on Costa Rica’s northern and central Pacific ______ due to flooding caused by heavy rain, officials said.
(a) Had; Boundary
(b) Were; Coast
(c) Have; Ocean
(d) Having; States
(e) None of these
Directions (6-10): In the following questions, a sentence is given in which one word is BOLDENED. Each question is then followed by five options. The word which is most SIMILAR OR OPPOSITE to the BOLDENED word is the correct answer.
Q6. If the guy does not perceive himself as disabled, nobody else should.
(a) regard
(b) belong
(c) respect
(d) preclude
(e) None of these
Q7. Despite all his flamboyancy in the college, Rohan had always been subservient to his parents.
(a) Lacklustre
(b) Maid
(c) Punctual
(d) Timid
(e) None of these
Q8. The director tried to wave aside these issues as trivial details that could be settled later.
(a) Strive
(b) Strange
(c) Trifle
(d) Bold
(e) None of these
Q9. Whenever in public life, one must take care of the basic decorum that one must always maintain.
(a) Embellishment
(b) Propriety
(c) Design
(d) Haste
(e) None of these
Q10. In the end it turned out to be an abstruse philosophical inquiry
(a) Vivid
(b) Opposite
(c) Absolute
(d) Nightmare
(e) Brilliant
Directions (11-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases/sentences have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors who had been good friends, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.
The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s part of land remained barren. After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.
Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing. Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”
“My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”
“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”
“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”
“He prayed that all your prayers be answered”
Q11. Which of the following prayers of the first man were fulfilled?
(a) A bungalow having all the pleasure facilities.
(b) All prayers of his friend must come true
(c) A boat to go back to his home
(d) A family with a beautiful wife and intelligent kids
(e) None of these
Q12. In the given passage, a line is given in BOLD. Whom does the word ‘companion’ refer to here?
(a) The second Man
(b) First man’s wife
(c) The Captain of the ship
(d) First man’s son and wife
(e) Not clear from the passage
Q13. Why did the woman survivor swim to the first man’s side of the island?
(a) Coincidently the first man was known to her.
(b) The first man was good looking and she was attracted to him.
(c) As the first man had a fruit tree on his side of the island, so she made a tactical choice for survival.
(d) The first man persuaded her to come and live with him.
(e) Not mentioned in the passage
Q14. According to the passage given above, which of the following statements is correct?
(a) The first man lived happily on the beach with his wife and kids while the second man barely made the ends meet.
(b) The last wish of the first man was to have a house, clothes and more food to eat.
(c) The first man believed that the second man was undeserving and unworthy of God’s blessings.
(d) After he got back home, the first man named his newborn boy after the second man because of his selfless friendship.
(e) All of these are correct.
Q15. What can be inferred from the story given in the passage?
(a) The bond of friendship is the strongest and most selfless.
(b) God is listening to our prayers and watching over our deeds.
(c) God knows who is good and who is bad at heart.
(d) Our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.
(e) None of these is implicit in the story mentioned in the passage.
Solutions
S1. Ans.(b)
Sol. ‘Interim’ means – in or for the intervening period; provisional; and ‘alleged’ means said, without proof, to have taken place; claim
Hence, option (b) makes the sentence grammatically correct and meaningful.
S2. Ans.(a)
Sol. ‘March’ means (other than being the name of a calendar month) – to walk along public roads in an organized procession; Also, no other pair of words fits grammatically in the given sentence.
Hence, option (a) is the correct answer choice.
S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘Anvil’ – It is a heavy iron block on which hot metals are beaten into shape; So, with its analogy it is often used for referring to things which are under preparations.
Hence, option (c) makes the sentence grammatically as well as contextually correct.
S4. Ans.(d)
Sol. Very clearly, ‘hit’ and ‘cut’ make the sentence grammatically correct and meaningful. Also, all the rest of the options are completely out of the context and grammatically incorrect.
S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. Here, ‘were’ and ‘coast’ are the correct choices for the two blanks. They make the sentence grammatically correct and fit in correctly in the context of the statement.
‘Evacuation’ is something which is not done by one person on his own. Always a person is evacuated by someone. Hence, usage of ‘had’ is incorrect unless it is used with ‘been’ – for ex, ‘1000 people had been evacuated…’
S6. Ans.(a)
Sol. PERCEIVE: interpret or regard (someone or something) in a particular way
REGARD: consider or think of in a specified way
S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. SUBSERVIENT: prepared to obey others unquestioningly
TIMID: showing a lack of courage or confidence
LACKLUSTER: lacking in vitality, force, or conviction
S8. Ans.(c)
Sol. TRIVIAL: of little value or importance
TRIFILE: a thing of little value or importance
S9. Ans.(b)
Sol. DECORUM: correct or proper behaviour that shows respect and good manners
PROPRIETY: behaviour that is accepted as socially or morally correct and proper
EMBELLISHMENT: to decorate something
S10. Ans.(a)
Sol. ABSTRUSE: Difficult to comprehend or understand;
VIVID: extremely clear or detailed
S11. Ans.(e)
Sol. Here, according to the passage none of the given prayers of the first man were fulfilled. The prayers that were fulfilled were as follows – having a wife (not a family); a house, clothes & more food (not a high facility bungalow); A ship (not a boat).
Further, the second man prayed that all the prayers of the first man must be fulfilled and not vice-versa.
S12. Ans.(a)
Sol. The last lines of the third paragraph clearly tell that the first man is talking about the second man when he decided to leave him behind considering him unworthy of God’s blessings.
S13. Ans.(e)
Sol. The given question is from the last lines of the second para and there is no reason mentioned in it behind the woman choosing to swim to the first man’s side of the island. Hence, option (e) is the correct answer choice for the given question.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. The last line of the 3rd para clearly says that the first man considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings since none of his prayers had been answered. Hence, (c) is the correct answer here.
S15. Ans.(d)
Sol. It is very clear from the story given in the passage that our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us, because the first man always thought that everything he got on the beach was a result of his prayers, but only later he came to know that the second man’s prayers also had a big role to play in his prayers being fulfilled.
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English Quizzes For SBI PO Mains 2023 - ...
