English Test for NIACL AO Prelims Exam Set – 14

Directions(1-5): In the passage given below there are 5 blanks. Every blank has four alternative words given in options (A),(B),(C), and (D). You have to tell which word is APPROPRIATE according to the context. If all are appropriate then mark your answer as “E”.

The large-scale mobilisation of troops by the Syrian government and its allies around the northwestern Idlib province, the last major opposition-held ___1___, has led to speculation about an ___2___ attack as well as calls to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Russia, the Syrian regime’s main backer, has launched military manoeuvres in the Mediterranean region, while Syrian troops and Iran-trained militias have mobilised in the Idlib region. The government of President Bashar al-Assad says its forces will go “all the way in Idlib” to fight the jihadists. The regime, which had been on the ___3___ of collapse in September 2015, is now firmly in control of most of the territory. Only Idlib and the Kurdish-held eastern region are outside its ___4___. The Kurds, however, seek a political solution for autonomy and are not inclined towards an armed rebellion. This essentially makes the fight for Idlib the final battle of the Syrian civil war. But there are no easy solutions to the Idlib crisis. The province is mostly run by jihadists of the Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch. There is a high concentration of foreign fighters in Idlib, including an ___5___ 10,000 terrorists. An all-out attack against these groups inside the province, which is home to about three million people, including a million refugees displaced from war zones elsewhere in Syria, could well trigger another humanitarian crisis.

1. liberate
   dominion
   emancipate
   develop
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

2. extraneous
   detached
   imminent
   faint
   All are Correct
   Option C
   

    

3. essence
   crux
   interior
   brink
   All are Correct
   Option D
   

    

4. grasp
   sacrifice
   grope
   avoidance
   All are Correct
   Option A
   

    

5. computed
   estimated
   counted
   measured
   All are Correct
   Option B
   

    

Directions(6-10): In each of the following questions there are sentences. There is an 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.

6. (A) Of the six graphs – developed by Max Roser of Our World in Data – the first has been attracted the most attention by far. /(B) It shows that the proportion of people living in poverty has declined from 94% in 1820 /(C) to only 10% today. The claim is simple and compelling. And it’s not just Gates who’s grabbed on to it. /(D) These figures have been trotted out in the past year by everyone from Steven Pinker to Nick Kristof and much of the rest of the Davos set to argue that the global extension of free-market capitalism has been great for everyone.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option A
   has been = has

    

7. (A) This has created the demographic known as Generation Rent – young adults who are stuck renting, locked out of homeownership and, /(B) as we’re so often patronisingly told, are really into avocado-based brunches. /(C) In the 1990s someone aged between 25-34 had a two in three chance of owning their own home. By 2016, it was one in four. /(D) In a nutshell, your chances of buying a house of your own if you’re a young person on a middle income have more than halved over the past two decades.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option E
   

    

8. (A) It is the second and third parts that are almost certain to be non-acceptable to the EU. /(B) Technological solutions for the Irish border have been endlessly debated, /(C) but there is no border in the world outside of the EU where there are no physical checks, including the often cited Norway-Sweden and Switzerland-EU borders. /(D) Only where both countries are in a customs union and have more or less the same product regulations backed by a common court have checks been eliminated.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option A
   non-acceptable = unacceptable

    

9. (A) It doesn’t seem to have been updated since the 2015 general election, presumably because that represented peak misery, /(B) but I was reminded it on Tuesday when Clegg made his first outing as spin doctor for Facebook. /(C) He had been given some happy news to impart, including the creation of a centre for electoral integrity to try to fight political disinformation campaigns aimed at skewing elections. /(D) But the pained expression crept in when confronted on TV with examples of the kind of graphic Instagram posts that 14-year-old Molly Russell’s bereaved parents believe had a bearing on their daughter’s suicide, and asked whether he would want his own children to see them.
   A
   B
   C
   D
   NE
   Option B
   reminded of it

    

10. (A) Pretending not to know who celebrities are to seem clever is likely an age-old phenomenon (Spartacus? Never heard of him) but thankfully, /(B) you are no longer have to pretend. /(C) After makeup artist and YouTuber James Charles brought Birmingham to a standstill on Sunday – with traffic gridlocked as thousands of teenage fans flocked to see the 19-year-old at a shopping centre – /(D) many people are realising that they actually, genuinely haven’t the foggiest who 2019’s celebrities are.
    A
    B
    C
    D
    NE
    Option B
    Omit ” are ” after you