English Questions: Fill in the Blanks 83

Direction (1-10): In each question below a sentence is given with two blanks in each. Each question is followed by four options with two words in each. You have to select that option as your answer which can fill both the blanks of the sentence.

1. The e-way bill rules have been rightly modified this time round, following representations from industry. For instance, the value of goods exempt from GST will not be considered in calculating _________________ value. It has now been clarified that the value of ₹50,000 will apply to a single consignment and not to an ________________ of goods from different parties.
   delivery, organize
   consignment, assortment
   shipment, support
   conveyance, conformity
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

2. The consumer will not be ________________ by the hike in the education cess either. However, the Budget is pro-actively producer-centric, whether it is boosting farm output, or sectors such as leather and toys that have been hurt by Chinese imports. It has chosen to reach out to sections that have hitherto been less _________________ than the urban middle class — the traditional support base of the BJP.
   amused, pampered
   afflictive, spoiled
   stuffy, luxurious
   melancholy, cuddled
   All are Correct
   Option A
   

    

3. In the event of an e-way bill ________________ if a vehicle breaks down in transit, there could be documentation challenges. The law does not focus on abandoned vehicles as goods are _______________ — they could head anywhere, carrying goods no one knows about. The e-way system is laudable but is not designed to check outright highway robbery.
   backsliding, straightened
   reverting, restored
   reversion, calmed
   lapsing, shifted
   All are Correct
   Option D
   

    

4. Rural development outlays have actually fallen in real terms over this year’s _________________ estimate, thanks to which MGNREGA outlays are stagnant. This _________________ the belief that the Modi government is biased towards infrastructure creation rather than distress schemes. It seeks to extend crop insurance and bank outreach to share-croppers and labour instead.
   edited, impair
   altered, enervate
   revised, bolsters
   rectified, abate
   All are Correct
   Option C
   

    

5. The ____________________ in global financial markets last week, including in India, is a measure of the level of the __________________ unease at the prospect of a trade war following the US administration’s proposal to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China.
   decline, universal
   slump, widespread
   descent, extensive
   slouch, mainstream
   All are Correct
   Option E
   

    

6. The _____________________ witnessed in most Asian and European markets on Monday was driven in large part by _________________ arising from the expectation of just such a back-from-the-brink deal. The drums of a global trade war will, in all likelihood, fall silent for now.
   rebound, relief
   bounce, disappointment
   ricochet, anguish
   backlash, abyss
   All are Correct
   Option A
   

    

7. The Budget does a _______________ walk by reconciling fiscal consolidation with the need to keep the economy growing. If the fiscal stimulus looks _________________— at 3.3 per cent for the next year, against 3.5 per cent for 2017-18, in money terms a rise in deficit of less than ₹30,000 crore — it is perhaps because the Centre is wary of rising bond market yields imposing future fiscal costs, besides crowding out private sector lending.
   stew, glitzy
   morass, gaudy
   mess, garish
   tightrope, muted
   All are Correct
   Option D
   

    

8. Even the threatened Chinese __________________ response, targeting specific US companies, represented a masterly wielding of a ______________, rather than an undiscriminating hacksaw. And yet, markets were disproportionately roiled by panic, which suggests that the real fears lie elsewhere — in the absence of economic wisdom in the policymaking process in the highest levels of the US administration, which translates into a marked lack of faith in the multilateral trade arrangements that are so critical to a global economic recovery.
   retributive, hatchet
   retributory, thing
   retaliatory, scalpel
   reciprocal, lancet
   All are Correct
   Option C
   

    

9. The Budget, in its __________________ and __________________, has been unveiled with an eye on the eight Assembly elections and the general elections in 2019. It reaches out to the rural sector, workers, small industries and senior citizens without, however, going overboard with freebies.
   bombast, bass
   rhetoric, tenor
   oratory, exterior
   verbosity, outside
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

10. When elephants fight, the grass gets ____________________. At a time when India’s export growth is barely recovering from the pronounced ____________________ of recent years, any possible grinding down of the levers of global trade will serve to transmit the shocks through specific sectors of the Indian economy.
    trampled, slump
    trodden, sag
    stomped, droop
    compressed, dip
    All are Correct
    Option A