RBI Assistant Prelims English Quiz : 23rd February – Cloze Test

TOPIC: Cloze Test

Directions (1-5): Read the passage given below and fill in the blanks with the suitable option.

The year was 1832, and ______ (1) an immense, cloud-filled sky, William Cullen Bryant guided his horse through rippling grasslands as he looked upon a land seemingly shaped by God. A former lawyer, an editor and a poet, Bryant was visiting his brothers, homesteaders who had set out for the Illinois frontier from Massachusetts two years before. He found himself stunned into ______ (2). After riding through the prairie’s “encircling vastness”, he wrote of an empty countryside whose ______ (3) could only have come from a higher power. But Bryant’s reading of the prairie could not have been more wrong.
The treeless ______ (4) that the poet saw had been shaped explicitly by humankind: For centuries, the region’s Native peoples had set low-intensity fires to these grasslands, mimicking the effects of lightning, to encourage game to graze on the new growth that followed. The species growing on these lands, fire-adapted and free of ______ (5) shade, were there because of humanity.

Q1.
(a) Against
(b) Beneath
(c) Despite
(d) Beyond
(e) Following

Q2.
(a) Vilification
(b) Slump
(c) Heretic
(d) Forbearance
(e) Rapture

Q3.
(a) Vantage
(b) Knave
(c) Majesty
(d) Consent
(e) Culmination

Q4.
(a) Peer
(b) Kudos
(c) Expanse
(d) Leisure
(e) Constraint

Q5.
(a) Tacit
(b) Arboreal
(c) Stringent
(d) Bleak
(e) Wretched

Directions (6-10): Read the passage given below and fill in the blanks with the suitable option.

Our vocal cords are folds in the throat made of tissue and muscle that ______ (6) sound when air is forcibly exhaled through them. This sound ______ (7) through the mouth and nose, resulting in speech, song and music. Minor inflections of pitch, tone and intensity in these sounds enable speech-making and ______ (8) expression. Damage to vocal cords results in various problems, such as hoarseness, inflammation, scarring, paralysis, formation of nodules and cancerous ______ (9). Each of these pathologies leaves a unique mark on the cords. The cords are also ______ (10) to infections, trauma, damage by smoking, environmental pollution and thyroid dysfunction. A person’s voice quality also declines with age.

Q6.
(a) centralise
(b) Produce
(c) Defile
(d) Jolt
(e) Expedite

Q7.
(a) Resonates
(b) Dooms
(c) Lures
(d) Detriments
(e) Dissipates

Q8.
(a) Grievous
(b) Dismal
(c) Unprecedented
(d) Artistic
(e) Nascent

Q9.
(a) Prospects
(b) Insularities
(c) Growths
(d) Drudgeries
(e) Adversaries

Q10.
(a) Bohemian
(b) Deceptive
(c) Diplomatic
(d) Susceptible
(e) Recalcitrant

Directions (11-15): Read the passage given below and fill in the blanks with the suitable option.

GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) are an excellent case study to ______ (11) the inner workings of policymaking in a democracy. Although the development of GMOs falls in the ______ (12) of biotechnology, Aniket Aga’s book shows how their actual adoption is impacted by multiple spheres of policy.
Their underlying science may ______ (13) the characteristics of a GMO. But cotton, for example, produces toxins that are ______ (14) to bollworms. This may lead farmers to spend less money on insecticides and still get a higher yield than if they had used non-Bt cotton.
The adoption of GMOs leading to greater cotton yield may seem simple in the ______ (15) of a lab – but in the field, the effectiveness of this toxin against bollworms depends on both the toxin and the bollworm.

Q11.
(a) Burnish
(b) Debilitate
(c) Slammed
(d) addict
(e) Scrutinise

Q12.
(a) Peril
(b) Brink
(c) Realm
(d) Spur
(e) Abatement

Q13.
(a) Dictate
(b) Dismantle
(c) Stagnate
(d) Lament
(e) Curtail

Q14.
(a) Gratuitous
(b) Harmful
(c) Efficacious
(d) Predominant
(e) Copious

Q15.
(a) Relishes
(b) Endures
(c) Annulments
(d) Confines
(e) Congruences

Solutions:

S1. Ans. (b)
Sol. Beneath (prep.): extending or directly underneath.
Against: in opposition to.
Despite: without being affected by; in spite of.
Beyond: at or to the further side of.
Following: coming after or as a result of.

S2. Ans. (e)
Sol. Rapture (noun): a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
Vilification: abusively disparaging speech or writing.
Slump: undergo a sudden severe or prolonged fall in price, value, or amount.
Heretic: a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.
Forbearance: patient self-control; restraint and tolerance.

S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Majesty (noun): impressive beauty, scale, or stateliness.
Vantage: a place or position affording a good view of something.
Knave: a dishonest or unscrupulous man.
Consent: permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
Culmination: the highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long time.

S4. Ans. (c)
Sol. Expanse (noun): a wide continuous area of something.
Peer: be just visible.
Kudos: praise and honour received for an achievement.
Leisure: time when one is not working or occupied; free time.
Constraint: a limitation or restriction.

S5. Ans. (b)
Sol. Arboreal (adj.): living in trees-relating to trees
Tacit: understood or implied without being stated.
Stringent: (of regulations, requirements, or conditions) strict, precise, and exacting.
Bleak: (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements.
Wretched: (of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state.

S6. Ans. (b)
Sol. Produce (verb): create or form (something) as part of a physical, biological, or chemical process.
Defile: damage the purity or appearance of; mar or spoil.
Jolt: push or shake (someone or something) abruptly and roughly.
Expedite: make (an action or process) happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.

S7. Ans. (a)
Sol. Resonates (verb): produce or be filled with a deep, full, reverberating sound.
Dooms: condemn to certain death or destruction.
Lures: tempt (a person or animal) to do something or to go somewhere, especially by offering some form of reward.
Detriments: the state of being harmed or damaged.
Dissipates: disappear or cause to disappear.

S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Artistic (adj.): having or revealing natural creative skill.
Grievous: (of something bad) very severe or serious.
Dismal: causing a mood of gloom or depression.
Unprecedented: never done or known before.
Nascent: (especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.

S9. Ans. (c)
Sol. Growths (noun): something that has grown or is growing.
Prospects: the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.
Insularities: ignorance of or lack of interest in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one’s own experience.
Drudgeries: hard monotonous routine work
Adversaries: one’s opponent in a contest, conflict, or dispute.

S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Susceptible (adj.): likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.
Bohemian: a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts.
Deceptive: giving an appearance or impression different from the true one; misleading.
Diplomatic: of or concerning diplomacy.
Recalcitrant: having an obstinately uncooperative attitude towards authority or discipline.

S11. Ans. (e)
Sol. Scrutinise (verb): examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.
Burnish: polish (something, especially metal) by rubbing.
Debilitate: make (someone) very weak and infirm.
Slammed: shut (a door, window, or lid) forcefully and loudly.

S12. Ans. (c)
Sol. Realm (noun): a field or domain of activity or interest.
Peril: serious and immediate danger.
Brink: the extreme edge of land before a steep slope or a body or water.
Spur: a thing that prompts or encourages someone; an incentive.
Abatement: the action of abating or being abated; ending or subsiding.

S13. Ans. (a)
Sol. Dictate (verb): control or decisively affect; determine.
Dismantle: take (a machine or structure) to pieces.
Stagnate: cease developing; become inactive or dull.
Lament: a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.
Curtail: reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on.

S14. Ans. (b)
Sol. Harmful (adj.): causing or likely to cause harm.
Gratuitous: done without good reason; uncalled for.
Efficacious: (of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective.
Predominant: present as the strongest or main element.
Copious: abundant in supply or quantity.

S15. Ans. (d)
Sol. Confines (noun): the borders or boundaries of a place
Relishes: great enjoyment.
Endures: suffers (something painful or difficult) patiently.
Annulments: the act of annulling something.
Congruences: agreement or harmony; compatibility.