SBI Clerk English Daily Mock 13th February 2020 Cloze Test Based Practice Set

The Union Budget for 2020-21 has rightly received _________________ (1) for attempting to restore some transparency and credibility to the government numbers. The extra-budgetary borrowing has been explicitly accounted for in some respects and the revenue and expenditure numbers, at first glance, do not seem out of line with _______________ (2). Yet it is important to note that on closer analysis several aspects of the budgeting are, in fact, ________________ (3). Some have focused on the difficulty of raising ~2.1 trillion from the markets in 2020- 21, given that this disinvestment target is well above what has been achieved in previous years. But questions should also begin to be asked about the tax revenue assumptions for both the current and next year. As this newspaper has reported, when the tax revenue assumptions for the current fiscal year are reconciled with the as-yet unaudited provisional actuals for the nine months available, it appears the Budget hopes for 40 per cent of the full year’s tax collection to be obtained in the last quarter of the 2019-20 fiscal year. This is considerably more than what has been the case in previous years, other than in an exceptional year when there was an oil price windfall _________________ (4) by higher fuel taxes. For comparison, the equivalent proportion of the whole year’s tax revenue collected in the last quarter of 2018-19 was under 30 per cent. While it is possible that the government hopes that significant additional tax will ___________________ (5) through extra effort and a perceived revival in the economy, it is nevertheless the case that these assumptions appear hopeful.The implications for next fiscal year’s revenue and deficit targets are worrying. If historical patterns are met and the government falls short of its 40 per cent target in the last quarter, then the increase in tax revenue budgeted for 2020-21 over 2019-20 reaches ________________ (6) and unrealistic proportions of over 20 per cent. This is improbable, given that nominal growth is low at the moment. It would almost certainly lead to another climb down in terms of the Budget numbers. The finance ministry will be hoping for positive shocks to revenue to __________________ (7) for this probability. One such shock could be provided by the dispute settlement scheme for direct taxes proposed in the Budget. If the take-up for this scheme is large enough, then the Budgeted tax revenue would be more than sufficiently ___________________ (8).

Q1. 

(a) Assimilation
(b) afloat
(c) plaudits
(d) trivial
(e) none of these

Q2.
(a) flounder
(b) reality
(c) despair
(d) probable
(e) none of these

Q3. 

(a) optimistic
(b) decline
(c) across
(d) prosperity
(e) none of these

Q4.
(a) appreciate
(b) accompanied
(c) encrypt
(d) mystical
(e) none of these

Q5.
(a) intensified
(b) disgrace
(c) accrue
(d) evacuate
(e) none of these

Q6.
(a) entails
(b) deference
(c) punitive
(d) alarming
(e) none of these

Q7.
(a) compensate
(b) unambiguous
(c) related
(d) unfurled
(e) none of these

Q8.
(a) variable
(b) assistance
(c) protraction
(d) supplemented
(e) none of these

Directions (9-15): In the given passage several blanks are given and for each blank four alternatives are provided. Choose the option that can fill in the blanks to make a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful sentence. If none of the given options can fit the blank then choose option (e) ‘None of these’ as your answer.
EVER since the return of the several deputations to India, a most unedifying controversy has been going on in a section of the press as to which of the two _________________ (9) did more or better work for the Punjab during its ________________ (10) in England, the deputation of the Moderates’ conference or the deputation of the Congress. We, who have been spectators of the scene from a distance, and the most supremely interested of all spectators, have formed the _______________ (11) that both deputations did their very best for us and that to individual members of both deputations, as to the deputations collectively, our debt of gratitude is immense and such as can never be ________________ (12). All the greater, therefore, is our inability to make out with what object this controversy is being carried on. One of the points round which the controversy has been raging with special vehemence is as to whether the Moderates in their ___________________ (13) with the Secretary of State understand the importance of general amnesty, or whether the Congress deputation underrated the importance of an enquiry into the Punjab affairs. Knowing what we do of the members of the two deputations, we cannot for a moment believe that either of them would, if left to itself, have gone out of its way to separate the __________________ (14), and all that we have heard or read has only confirmed our original belief that the question in either case was only one of emphasis, that both deputations wanted the enquiry as well as the amnesty, and that it was only when they were confronted with the alternatives of having one of the two or none that each made its choice according to its predilections. In such a case, the attitude of either party is certainly open to misunderstanding and as a matter of fact, both have been misunderstood by one or other ________________ (15) of the community.

Q9.
(a) absolute
(b) deputations
(c) encouragement
(d) deluge
(e) none of these

Q10.
(a) sojourn
(b) strength
(c) archives
(d) vague
(e) none of these

Q11.
(a) sedate
(b) scruplous
(c) impression
(d) prone
(e) none of these

Q12.
(a) demolish
(b) vanish
(c) havoc
(d) repaid
(e) none of these

Q13.
(a) originate
(b) negotiations
(c) execute
(d) amid
(e) none of these

Q14.
(a) peaceful
(b) reduces
(c) inseparables
(d) challenging
(e) none of these

Q15.
(a) section
(b) stimulate
(c) recognize
(d) creditable
(e) none of these

Solutions

S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. Plaudits can fill in the blank (1) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.

S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. Reality can fill in the blank (2) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (b) is the right answer choice.

S3. Ans. (a)
Sol. Optimistic can fill in the blank (3) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (a) is the right answer choice.

S4. Ans. (b)
Sol. Accompanied can fill in the blank (4) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (b) is the right answer choice.

S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. Accrue can fill in the blank (5) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.

S6. Ans. (d)
Sol. Alarming can fill in the blank (6) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice.

S7. Ans. (a)
Sol. Compensate can fill in the blank (7) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (a) is the right answer choice.

S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Supplemented can fill in the blank (8) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice.

S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. Deputations can fill in the blank (9) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (b) is the right answer choice.

S10. Ans. (a)
Sol. Sojourn can fill in the blank (10) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (a) is the right answer choice.

S11. Ans. (c)
Sol. Impression can fill in the blank (11) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.

S12. Ans. (d)
Sol. Repaid can fill in the blank (12) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice.

S13. Ans. (b)
Sol. Negotiations can fill in the blank (13) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (b) is the right answer choice.

S14. Ans. (c)
Sol. Inseparables can fill in the blank (14) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.

S15. Ans. (a)
Sol. Section can fill in the blank (15) to make it a grammatically and contextually correct sentence. Hence, option (a) is the right answer choice.