English Test for IBPS PO 2018 Prelim Exam Set – 1

Directions(1-5): In each of the following questions there are sentences. There is error in one of the parts. Mark the option which contains error parts as your answer. If no part contains error mark option E as your answer.

1. (A) A new and unhinged American president orders a pre-emptive nuclear strike against North Korea. /(B) The senior officials who surrounded him are terrified, desperate to thwart his will, resorting to subterfuge /(C) to prevent the man they serve from wreaking havoc. They are the resistance from within. Two of them have a hushed conversation about the 25th amendment /(D) of the US constitution, which allows for a president to be declared incapacitated.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option B
   surround him. Sentence is in Present Simple tense.

    

2. (A) The debate triggered by both the mystery op-ed and the Woodward book suggests that most /(B) anti-Trumpers prefer the former option. The secret author has been roundly denounced, /(C) with the president’s own word, “gutless”, becoming the insult of choice. How cowardly to hide behind anonymity. How feeble to serve every day as an enabler of Trump, even when you have concluded that he is an amoral admirer of dictators, /(D) an “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” man whose decisions are “half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless”.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option C
   “even as” As a conjunction when is at what time.

    

3. (A) What happens when a newspaper’s star writer – today that tends to mean a columnist – /(B) decides to jump off the ship for more money or more interesting work? So far as the newspaper /(C) he or she leaves behind is concerned, almost nothing at all. Even in the days when big circulations made print journalists more consequential figures, the most /(D) that could be expected was a farewell party in a pub a speech by a colleague naming the 10 things the departing writer was never heard to say.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option B
   “jump ship” means. to quit something

    

4. (A) This week the UK’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, along with the charity KeshetUK, released /(B) a report on how Orthodox Jewish schools should relate to LGBT+ children. Surprise: /(C) it’s excellent. It’s the first such guidance to be issued by any chief rabbi in the world, and will probably become a template for tackling gender and sexual /(D) identity in religious communities – which, if you’ve followed recent stories about Orthodox Jews, may be a pleasant shock.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option E
   

    

5. (A) I haven’t always been a fan of Mirvis – I’ve written critically about his wishy-washy stance on /(B) women issues. But I have to applaud this. One might imagine that beleaguered British Jews have had only /(C) one issue on their minds during the past few weeks. I feel proud of the community I come from that, during uproar and distress, /(D) hardworking and thoughtful people have carved out this patch of compassion, pragmatism, peace and good sense.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option B
   women’s issues

    

Directions(6-10): Complete the following sentences with the appropriate phrases. One or more than one phrase can fill in the blank. Choose the options accordingly.

6. Oh frabjous day, if reports are to be believed, the wife of Boris Johnson finally kicks him out for good. A statement announces their divorce. Marina Wheeler is only ever described as “long-suffering” or as a “high-flying lawyer”. She may well be these things and a lot more besides. She is certainly a very clever woman who is said to advise her husband politically. Together they have four children. The marital arrangements of our elected representatives are their own business. _____________________ .
   i. To some extent
   ii. a definite post
   iii. Up to a point
   Both i & ii
   Both ii & iii
   Both i & iii
   Only i
   All are correct
   Option C
   

    

7. In Shrek Forever After, the eponymous ogre ___________________ to the arch-schemer Rumpelstiltskin. Tired of family obligations, Shrek wants to live just one day as a footloose, scary, bachelor ogre. “Back when villagers were afraid of me,” he says. “And I could take a mud bath in peace. When I could do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it! Back when the world made sense!”
   i. tells him everything
   ii. opens his heart
   iii. donated his money
   Both i & ii
   Both ii & iii
   Both i & iii
   Only iii
   All are correct
   Option A
   

    

8. September is the first month of spring in Zimbabwe. The jacaranda trees that line Harare’s avenues will soon flower into a sea of purple. Last November their blossom formed the backdrop to the people taking to the streets and demanding change. This year, following our democratic election in July, it shall welcome a _____________ in Zimbabwe.
   i. new era
   ii. new phase
   iii. new month
   Both i & ii
   Both ii & iii
   Both i & iii
   Only i
   All are correct
   Option D
   

    

9. I’ve dealt with men from ___________________, ranging from members of the clergy to lawyers, teachers and those who are unemployed, all of them grappling with their abusive sexual behaviour. Some of them have been single; many others have been married with children of their own.
   i. all classes
   ii. all groups
   iii. all walks of life
   Both i & ii
   Both ii & iii
   Both i & iii
   Only ii
   All are correct
   Option E
   

    

10. I come not to praise Senator John McCain nor to bury him – plenty of people are taking care those things – but to describe him and our problems with complex people and complex descriptions. I found McCain a fascinating, frustrating character who often expressed high ideals and as often betrayed them. That is something quite different than, say, the ruthlessly mercenary _________________ Mitch McConnell or the transparently self-serving amorality of Paul Ryan.
    i. belief of
    ii. behaviour of
    iii. instincts of
    Both i & ii
    Both ii & iii
    Both i & iii
    Only iii
    All are correct
    Option E
    A subconscious urge, behavior, or intuition directed by primeval, animalistic, self-serving, and/or ignoble motivations.