Q1. (a) This query comes from a position
where news is almost omnipresent and hence context is the new requirement.
(b) While conceding space for some news
stories that require verification and fact-checking, I was asked whether it is
possible to do a clinical analysis of the daily copy, keeping in view the
readers’ requirements, and find out what was redundant.
(c) In this context, I am seeking
responses from the readers about what news they get before they get their
newspaper in the morning.
(d) In the age of instant news, it seems
that a lot of information that one reads in the newspaper in the morning has
already been read, seen, or heard elsewhere.
(e) If this is indeed possible, would it
be beneficial to skew more towards views than news in the daily newspaper?
Q2. (a) Two things set aside India’s
digital spaces from that of major powers such as the United States and China:
design and density.
(b) This would involve the development
of software designed to intrude, intercept and exploit digital networks.
(c) This is not a design flaw, but
simply reflects the popularity of social media platforms and the lack of any
serious effort by the Indian government to restrict the flow of data.
(d) India is a net information exporter.
(e) Its information highways point west,
carrying with them the data of millions of Indians.
Q3. (a) The Economist said, in an
article on the Tata-Mistry fight, that in India, “good corporate governance”
was simply a euphemism for “not crooked”.
(b) By that logic, both the Tata Group
and Infosys, and for that matter all the protagonists in the high-profile spats
in these groups are exemplars of “good corporate governance”.
(c) But that hasn’t stopped investors
from voting with their feet on how they viewed these tiffs.
(d) Clearly, when it comes to fighting
for “principles”, timing is as important as the issues one is fighting for.
(e) This is because of the manner in which these have been raised.
Q4. (a) The strengthening of the Election Commission and the deployment of
Central paramilitary forces have, to a large degree, overcome this legitimation
crisis.
(b) Legitimacy obtains when people
justifiably feel that enough is being done by the state to deliver what they
need and want.
(c)It is absent when the gap widens
between people’s own expectations and the actual benefits received by them.
(d) All democracies depend for their
survival on public approval and consent.
(e) To be sure, the Indian state
periodically suffers from an acute crisis of legitimacy (legitimation crisis).
Q5. (a) Each time an Indian city is hit
by a major urban crisis, we hear exasperated queries about why our cities are
so dysfunctional.
(b) For example, ideas have often circulated freely across the globe
often obscuring true origins.
(c) Our cities have a weak and
fragmented institutional architecture in which multiple agencies with different
bosses pull the strings of city administration.
(d) While there are multiple reasons for
India’s urban woes, one of the underlying problems is the absence of powerful and
politically accountable leadership in the city.
(e) Understandably, the most touted
urban governance reform is that of having a directly elected Mayor.
Directions (6-10): Which of the words/phrases (a), (b), (c) and (d)
given below should replace the words/phrases given in bold in the following
sentences to make it meaningful and grammatically correct? If the sentence is
correct as it is and ‘No correction is required’, mark (e) as the answer.
Q6. It’s almost like global markets woke
up at the end of last year, and decided that the despair and
gloom of the last few years was but a bad dream, disconnected from a more
buoyant future. Since then, global equities have been rising, repeatedly
setting new highs, and capital has been rushing back to emerging market benefits.
Indeed, India received $9 billion of foreign portfolio inflows in March alone —
the highest monthly portfolio inflow on record.
(a) by, euphoric, rushing, resources
(b) against, encouragement, growing,
liability
(c) about, melancholy, heaving, debts
(d) towards, despondency, surging,
assets
(e) No correction required
Q7. For even as the munificent
speaks endlessly about the end of free speech, India has changed. It remains
deeply concerned with uprightness and peace, but it is wise enough to
see whose peace is of a piece with a biased view. In this India, citizenship
isn’t just ahimsa over foie gras, drinks at the club bar, an exclusive seminar.
It is a circus — a website, a theatre, a metro, a mall. Here, as symbols and
cymbals clash, even the best fake accents aren’t revered. Here, just
because you can say it with elan, you can’t have your conjunct canape
and eat it too. No wonder some of “us” are feeling faint.
(a) generous, corruption, artificial,
common
(b) thriftly, integrity, bogus, conjoint
(c) liberal, justice, faux, communal
(d) generous, equity, genuine, joint
(e) No correction required
Q8. The generic medicine industry will
also have to draw up its socks. Last year, 27 commonly-used medicines in
the country failed quality experiments. The drugs were found wanting on
several counts, including false labelling and insufficient quantity of
ingredients. Ensuring quality of drugs is a problem in the absence of adequate rules
and shortage of drug inspectors and lab facilities to check drug quality.
(a) pull, tests, inadequate, regulations
(b) shove, probes, scant, method
(c) drag, measurements, ample, laws
(d) pull, trials, abundant, control
(e) No improvement required
Q9. Europe is healing but is peppered
with political risk in the coming year, starting as soon as this weekend. China
has settled but at the cost of much-needed re-balancing: The can has
simply been kicked down the road. Finally, many rising markets —India
included — need to undergo a painful deleveraging and asset resolution procedure.
So, the underlying structural malaise around the world is simply being papered
over by a temporary cyclical lift exuding in advanced economies.
(a) balanced, fading, technique,
radiating
(b) supported, developing, action, terminating
(c) stabilized, emerging, process, emanating
(d) adjusted, diminishing, system, deriving
(e) No improvement required
Q10. Making it compulsory on the
doctor to prescribe a generic drug would mean that the prescription will detail
the medicine’s composition — the salts — leaving the selection of the
brand on the patient. However, for such a choice to be powerful, the
proposed law needs to go over the doctor-patient binary and target each
link in the pharma industry’s chain of corruption.
(a) emeritus, option, operative, on
(b) incumbent, choice, effective, beyond
(c) necessary, option, feeble, above
(d) obligatory, necessity, efficient, on
(e) No improvement required
Directions (11-15): In each of the following questions, five options are given and
you have to choose the one which has some or any grammatical error in it.
Q11.
(a) If black money can arouse so much ire, tackling the
tangible problem of unaffordable healthcare, will get more public support.
(b) They exclaimed with delight that it was a very
beautiful picture and said that they have never seen such a beautiful picture
before.
(c) The March quarter’s financial results should give a
glimpse of the impact of price controls on coronary stents.
(d) Only in recent years have some airlines started
plugging punctuality as their unique selling proposition, turning it into a
bone of contention.
(e) All are correct.
Q12.
(a) The group claims that it has identified large assets
in diverse sectors including power, steel, infrastructure and logistics for
operational turnaround that may entail, in specific cases, a change in
management.
(b) This time around, what is more disconcerting is the
expansion of the jurisdictional domain of the commission from competition to
issues of data security, risk and financial liability.
(c) Failing to appreciate that networks and the use of
data are not inherently negative, the current debate that data-rich companies
often use their resources to tailor products or services and to improve the
services perhaps once again needs reaffirmation.
(d) If all their conversations in the three months he had
been coming to the diner were put together, it was doubtful whether they would
make a respectable paragraph.
(e) An earlier attempt at highlighting the benefits to
consumers of networks found few takers despite a well-reasoned minority order
of the Commission
Q13.
(a) Amarinder said in case Sidhu’s work on TV was as per
law, he may have to divest him of the culture portfolio lest it would involve a
conflict of interest.
(b) This is the man that Lilian Wangui would meet and
together they created one of the biggest and most complicated real estate scam
schemes by any standards.
(c) A recording of a virtual conference meeting with the
sales team of Simple Homes in December last year which we have obtained depicts
him as a man with a desire to make money through whichever means.
(d) Those who have dealt with him say he is a smooth
talker who likes dropping names of public figures he ‘knows’ while reminding
everyone of his famous family name in every sentence he utters.
(e) Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said there is no
provision in the Constitution to disqualify an MLA or Minister if he engages in
a private business but added that there is a moral and ethical responsibility
as per which a public servant must disassociate from any commercial activity.
Q14.
(a) The decision, though long in the works, comes within
weeks of a landslide win for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh polls—in which OBCs
played a key role for the party.
(b) The commission has powers to examine requests for
inclusion of any community in the list of backward classes and hear complaints
of over-inclusion or under-inclusion, following which it advises the Union
government.
(c) Ozil took a day’s leave to attend a dear departed
friend’s funeral service which was to be conducted by his family priest.
(d) This provision empowers the government to make
reservations in appointments in favour of “any backward class of citizens.
(e) All are correct.
Q15.
(a) However, he was known to police and has a range of
previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm),
possession of offensive weapons and public order offences.
(b) Indian companies kept their eyes on the ball and did fairly
well in the December quarter, despite the upheaval caused by the November ban
on old, high-value banknotes.
(c) A government minister was widely praised for trying
to resuscitate Palmer, walking away from the scene with blood on his hands and
face
(d) The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle
used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham,
which is located in the West Midlands.
(e) Somebody reported to the contractor that his partner
had only died a week before.
SOLUTIONS:
S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. The paragraph is about the lost
charm of newspapers due to technological advancement and the urgent need of
revival in this particular field. It can be viewed in the sequence of DBEA
which forms the coherent paragraph. Option (c) doesn’t fit in this sequence and
hence is the correct choice of elimination.
S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. ADEC forms a coherent paragraph as
it talks about India’s rise in information technology and social media
platforms and the possible threat related to the data sharing. Among the given
options, only option (b) has no connection with any of the other sentences of
the paragraph as it is referring towards the development of certain software
which is not mentioned in any other options. Hence (b) is the correct choice.
S3. Ans. (e)
Sol. ABCD forms a coherent paragraph as
it talks about the good corporate governance issues of Tata Group and Infosys.
Read the sentence given in option (e) which brings out some reason which has no
connection with any other sentences of the paragraph. Hence (e) is the correct
choice.
S4. Ans. (a)
Sol. EDBC forms a coherent paragraph as
it talks about the crisis of legitimacy. Except option (a), all other options
talk about the prospects of the legitimacy and the sufferings related to its
crisis. Option (a) points out the important step or measure that helped in
overcoming this crisis. Hence it can be easily eliminated from this particular
paragraph. Hence (a) is the correct choice.
S5. Ans. (b)
Sol. The paragraph is about the India’s
urban crisis and the reasons behind such woes. ADCE forms a coherent paragraph
whereas option (b) has no role to play in this particular paragraph. It talks
about some ideas which fail to connect with any other sentences among the given
options. Hence (b) is the correct choice.
S6. Ans. (d)
Sol. Despondency means hopelessness.
Melancholy means feeling of sadness.
Euphoric means characterized by intense feeling of excitement and
happiness.
S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. Munificent means characterized by or displaying great generosity.
Uprightness means honesty, honour.
Thriftly means quality of using resources.
Faux means artificial.
S8. Ans. (a)
Sol. Shove means push.
S9. Ans. (c)
Sol. Exuding means discharged slowly.
S10. Ans. (b)
Sol. Incumbent means necessary for someone as a duty.
Emeritus means having retired but allowed to retain their title as an
honour.
Obligatory means compulsory or mandatory.
S11. Ans.(b)
Sol. In reported speech we use past perfect tense in
place of present perfect tense, therefore use ‘had’ in place of ‘have’.
S12. Ans.(d)
Sol. Use ‘that’ in
place of ‘whether’ as in the sentences which are either ‘interrogative’ or are
assertive negative we use ‘that’.
S13. Ans.(a)
Sol. Use ‘should’ in place of ‘would’ as after ‘lest’ we
use ‘should’.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. The use of ‘service’ is superfluous as funeral is
already a service.
S15. Ans.(e)
Sol. Use ‘only’
before ‘a week ago’.
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