Direction (1-10): In each question below a sentence is given with three 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 the blanks of the sentence.
- Pay peanuts, get __________________ . Put crudely, that’s always been the excuse given for astronomical salaries at the top of corporate and public life: that good people will just leave, dragging the rest of the company down, if their mouths aren’t stuffed with gold. It’s rare to see this thesis tested live in front of our eyes, but by quitting his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show this week, for a relative __________________ of a station but a __________________ of a package, Chris Evans has provided a genuinely intriguing case study.
gibes, kipper, veritycuckoos, carp, mitemonkeys, minnow, whopperimitators, gnat, runtAll are CorrectOption C
- Trump indicated last week that he would fire Sessions after the midterm elections, a move some observers said might __________________ the firing of deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and the special counsel, Robert Mueller, whose work on links between Trump aides and Moscow has __________________ ever closer to Trump’s inner __________________ .
presage, circled, sanctumscheme, graded, shrinestructure, balanced, chancellayout, extent, bemaAll are CorrectOption A
- At this level, money isn’t just money, but __________________ . Chiselling away at it may not materially change anything much – Evans has already made his millions, and Mair was on between £300,000 and £350,000 – hardly chickenfeed – but emotionally it’s still a slap in the face, especially for men used to being __________________ . What balm for a __________________ ego it must be to hear that someone else still thinks you’re worth it.
gossip, abhorred, pristinecommitment, detest, unaffectedstatus, adored, bruisedquality, condemned, mintAll are CorrectOption C
- Sky-high pay is closely __________________ with the __________________ of personality, with salaries based on the assumption that the PM programme would be just another bog-standard drivetime news show without Mair’s extraordinary emotional range as an interviewer; or that a star executive can work miracles in a company that has lost its way. Highly paid individuals can be exceptionally good at creating their own __________________ , but the truth is surprisingly few people are genuinely so special that the world would end if they left.
interlaced, disbelief, denigrateknotted, despise, degradeentwined, cult, hypewreathed, creed, minimiseAll are CorrectOption C
- Steve Bannon is an __________________ bigot whose worldview is absent of intellectual or moral __________________ . Nevertheless, one has to admire the skill with which Donald Trump’s former chief strategist manipulates the media. The man is adept at deriding “liberal global elites” and the “mainstream media” while using them to __________________ and legitimise his repulsive ideas.
abhorrent, fibre, amplifyrepulsive, strand, downplayodious, thread, condenseobnoxious, cord, abbreviateAll are CorrectOption A
- Remnick would do well to listen to Bannon’s own statements about the dangers of amplifying people with abhorrent views. During a recent __________________ on ABC’s Four Corners, an Australian current affairs programme, Bannon noted that “[racists are] an __________________ percentage of people and they’re only made important because the left media gives them a __________________ ”.
departure, huge, cuntappearance, infinitesimal, microphonedissipation, gigantic, microphonesalubrious, colossal, cuntAll are CorrectOption B
- In our towns, villages and suburbs, they are now such a common sight as to be __________________ : boarded-up pubs, awaiting conversion to some new use or forlornly falling into __________________ . The current rate of closure is put at 18 a week. In rural areas, shuttered hostelries represent something particularly tragic: with churches reduced to silent visitor attractions and shops long since gone, they embody the demise of __________________ local assets in places where maintaining community life is an ongoing struggle.
mundane, dereliction, preciousromantic, caution, cheapheavenly, retention, outcastspiritual, observance, vileAll are CorrectOption A
- I last visited the ship two years ago, already long __________________ at its berth. Returning last week, Great Yarmouth had become a near-prison for its Indian captain and crew, waiting for their back pay that never came. The Malaviya Twenty is a silent __________________ of the sinking British shipping industry. Why was an Indian ship employed to __________________ to and from British ports, servicing the British oil industry and British wind farms?
accompanied, sign, concealowned, badge, stopjoined, indication, mufflemarooned, symbol, plyAll are CorrectOption D
- The __________________ of seafaring traditions on this __________________ isle was the leitmotif of Brexiteer nationalism. Our island story, they said, never truly belonged in Europe. Once free of Brussels, the nation of Sir Francis Drake will __________________ across the seven seas, bringing home untold new traded wealth from new worlds.
tragedy, empowered, piratefriendship, authorised, marauderromance, sceptred, buccaneerclassicism, reigned, privateerAll are CorrectOption C
- All these “technical” Brexit __________________ fall below the news __________________ , but once you lift the stone in any industry, myriad misfortunes appear. As all workforces are left dangling, seafarers too have no idea whether EU maritime health and safety standards will be upheld post-Brexit. Britain’s __________________ free-market attitude towards its shipping industry suggests more deregulation.
calamities, monitor, frugalmishaps, radar, cavaliercontretemps, radar, reticentdemises, sonar, demureAll are CorrectOption B