English Practice Questions For IBPS SO Prelims 2017

Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are given bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.

Language is not a cultural artefact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains. Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develop in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more general abilities to process information or behave intelligently. For these reasons some cognitive scientists have described language as a psychological faculty, a mental organ, a neural system, and a computational module. But I prefer the admittedly quaint term “instinct”. It conveys the idea that people know how to talk in more or less the sense that spider know how to spin webs. Web-spinning was not invented by some unsung spider genius and does not depend on having had the right education or on having an aptitude for architecture or the construction trades. Rather, spider spin spider webs because they have spider brains, which give them the urge to spin and the competence to succeed. Although there are differences between webs and words, I will encourage you to see language in this way, for it helps to make sense of the phenomena we will explore.
Thinking of language as an instinct inverts the popular wisdom, especially as it has been passed down in the canon of the humanities and social sciences. Language is no more a cultural invention than is upright posture.
It is not manifestation of a general capacity to use symbols: a three-year-old, we shall see, is a grammatical genius, but is quite incompetent at the visual arts, religious iconography, traffic signs, and the other staples of the semiotics curriculum. Though language is a magnificent ability unique to Homo sapiens among living species, it does not call for sequestering the study of human from the domain of biology, for a magnificent ability unique to a particular living species is far from unique in the animal kingdom. Some kinds of bats home in on flying insects using Doppler sonar. Some kinds of migratory birds navigate thousands of miles by calibrating the position of the constellation against the time of day and year. In nature’s talent show, we are simply a species of primate with our act, a knack for communicating information about ‘who did what to whom’ by modulating the sound we make when we exhale.
Once you begin to look at language not as the ineffable essence of human uniqueness but as a biological adaptation to communication information, it is no longer as tempting to see language as an insidious shaper of thoughts, and, we shall see, it is not. Moreover, seeing language as one of nature’s engineering marvels—an organ with “that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which justly excites our admiration,” in Darwin’s words—gives us a new respect for your ordinary Joe and the much-maligned English language (or any language). The complexity of language, from the scientist’s point of view, is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school—as Oscar Wilde said, “Education admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” A preschooler’s tacit knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than the thickest style manual or the most state-of-the-art computer language system, and the same applies to all healthy human beings, even the notorious syntax-fracturing professional athlete and the, you know, like, inarticulate teenage skateboarder. Finally, since language is the product of a well-engineered biological instinct, we shall see that it is not the nutty barrel of moneys that entertainer-columnists make it out to be.


Q1. According to the passage, which of the following does not stem from popular wisdom on language? 
(a) Language is the cultural artefact.
(b) Language is the cultural invention.
(c) Language is learnt as we grow.
(d) Language is unique to Homo sapiens.
(e) Language is a psychological faculty.

Q2. Which of the following can be used to replace the “spiders know how to spin webs” analogy as used by the author? 
(a) A kitten learning to jump over a wall.
(b) Bees collecting nectar.
(c) A donkey carrying a load.
(d) A horse running a Derby.
(e) A pet dog protecting its owner’s property.

Q3. According to the passage, which of the following is unique to human being? 
(a) Ability to use symbols while communicating with one another.
(b) Ability to communicate with each other through voice modulation.
(c) Ability to communicate information to other member of the species.
(d) Ability to used sound as means of communication.
(e) All of the above.

Q4. According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because 
(a) Children instinctively know language.
(b) Children learn the language on their own.
(c) Language is not amenable to teaching.
(d) Children know language better than their teachers or parents.
(e) Children are born with the knowledge of semiotics.

Q5. Which of the following best summarizes the passage?
(a) Language is unique to Homo sapiens.
(b) Language is neither learnt nor taught.
(c) Language is not a cultural invention or artefact as it is made out.
(d) Language is instinctive ability of human being.
(e) Language is use of symbols unique to human beings.

Q6. Which of the following is most nearly similar in meaning of the word posture as used in the passage?
(a) perspective
(b) formidable
(c) position
(d) cowardice
(e) spurious

Q7. Which of the following is most nearly similar in meaning of the word manifestation as used in the passage?
(a) concealment
(b) demonstration
(c) vagueness
(d) obscurity
(e) bridge

Q8. Which of the following is most nearly Opposite in meaning of the word insidious as used in the passage?
(a) endemic
(b) entire
(c) kinship
(d) simplistic
(e) honest

Q9. Which of the following is most nearly Opposite in meaning of the word tacit as used in the passage?
(a) insomnia
(b) inferred
(c) insinuated
(d) explicit
(e) specializes


Q10. Which of the following is most nearly Opposite in meaning of the word inarticulate as used in the passage?
(a) unuttered
(b) expatiating
(c) disappeared
(d) resentful
(e) adolescents

Directions: (11- 15) Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is no error the answer is (e). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any.)

Q11. We were happy that a)/ the audience responded well b)/ and gave all the speakers c)/ a patiently listening. d)/ No error e).

Q12. He received timely support a)/ from his elder brother b)/ who is working abroad c)/ for the last six years. d)/ No error e).

Q13. The notorious gang opened a)/ the door quietly and b)/ escaped in the dark with c)/ whatever they would collect. d)/ No error e).

Q14. One of the security men a)/ rushed forward and asked b)/ me whether I c)/ had anything objectionable. d)/ No error e).

Q15. We could not a)/ believe that one b)/ of us was c)/ responsible with the act. d)/ No error e).