English: Sentence Fillers — Set 51 (IBPS PO 2017 Pattern)

Directions: In each question a sentence is given followed by a blank. Each blank is followed by three options and you have to determine which option can be used in place of blank to make it a meaningful sentence and mark it as your answer.

1. The central bank has been buying dollars through 2017, in a bid to build its forex reserves. While the foreign exchange reserves at $423 billion are __________________ from the level in 2013, they are still not enough to shield the economy if there are sustained fund outflows; when the forex cover for external debt is considered.
   a. greatly softened
   b. much improved
   c. considerably refined
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only a
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

2. India crossed a historic milestone by reaching electricity cables to its last un-electrified village in Manipur on April 28. So, on paper, all of the 5.97 lakh villages have been electrified; of these, 18,453 were electrified between April 1, 2015, and now. To place this achievement in perspective, 1.25 lakh villages or a quarter of the total were without electricity, when the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana was announced in 2005, which __________________ to a rate of electrification of about 11,900 a year between 2005 and 2014.
   a. play by ear
   b. put into code
   c. works out
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only c
   All are Correct
   Option D
   

    

3. The policy focus needs to shift from supply-side solutions alone — since installed capacity has been created in __________________ over the last 15 years — to improving demand. Over 40 per cent of households use less than 50 units a month, owing to high tariffs at the lowest rung.
   a. substantial gauge
   b. sparse manoeuvre
   c. ample measure
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only b
   All are Correct
   Option C
   

    

4. Capitalism not only survived; it actually prospered despite its problems. Welfare states dulled the __________________ in the more developed economies. Absolute poverty receded in large parts of the world. Innovation helped capitalism escape not only the economic collapse that communists were told to prepare for, but even the stationary state that classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo had expected.
   a. rough edges
   b. loose ends
   c. ravages
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only c
   All are Correct
   Option A
   

    

5. Amidst all the __________________ on job data, and what they do and do not mean, we have perhaps lost sight of a more basic fact: that India, in many ways, remains a “dual” economy, with wide (and burgeoning) disparities between an urbanized modern sector and a lagging rural hinterland.
   a. former clamour
   b. latest outcry
   c. recent furore
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only a
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

6. There has been a deluge of opinion in recent days on how Marx is relevant once again, given the concerns about important issues such as __________________ , structural slowdowns and climate change. It is hard to see how classical Marxist thought or the experiences of communist regimes can provide a way forward past the challenges of this century.
   a. developing irregularity
   b. growing inequality
   c. flourishing disparity
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

7. Some would argue that Marx cannot be held responsible for the Stalinist meat grinder that killed millions of innocents in the name of historical progress. That may be true in a __________________ . However, several critics, such as the liberal philosopher Karl Popper, have pointed out that the cult of scientism in Marx himself ironically led to the religious belief that the laws of historical progress have been revealed to the believers.
   a. shallow sense
   b. frivolous insanity
   c. trivial confusion
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only a
   All are Correct
   Option D
   

    

8. The past decades have seen several innovative attempts to free Marx from the __________________ . The New Left of the 1960s went back to his humanist philosophical manuscripts of 1844. The Eurocommunists of the 1970s tried to reconfigure Marx for the needs of modern social democracies. Members of a school called the analytical Marxists stripped him of his Hegelian roots so that he could be reinterpreted using the tools of modern economics.
   a. authoritarian stuff
   b. totalitarian baggage
   c. electable equipage
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only c
   All are Correct
   Option A
   

    

9. Capitalism reformed since his death rather than collapsing in a sorry heap. The industrial proletariat moved into the middle class as real wages __________________ , while the nature of work was radically transformed in economies led by services.
   a. moved up
   b. climbed up
   c. went up
   Only a & b
   Only b & c
   Only c & a
   Only c
   All are Correct
   Option E
   

    

10. Electricity has transformed societies and economies the world over, be it post-Depression America, China or more recently South Africa. With “an additional 40 million people gaining access each year since 2011”, as __________________ by the International Energy Agency, the economic prospects and quality of life of millions of Indians have improved.
    a. acted for
    b. pointed out
    c. explained to
    Only a & b
    Only b & c
    Only c & a
    Only a
    All are Correct
    Option E