Mixed English Questions for Mains Exam — Set 348

Directions(1-5): In the given question, five words are printed in bold and are numbered A, B, C, D and E. The positions of some highlighted words may be incorrect and need to be exchanged with another highlighted to make the sentence correct. Find the words that need to be exchanged.

1. The mayor urged(A) local devastation(B) to share photos and video footage of the businesses(C), which he said would be useful when requesting(D) financial help from the government.(E)
   B-C
   No exchange required
   A-D & C-E
   B-E
   A-E
   Option A
   The term “local devastation” does not make any sense. It can either be replaced by “businesses” or “government”. However, “devastation” will be contextually incorrect at (E). So, B and C must be exchanged to make the sentence correct.

    

2. While some countries have recently retreated(A) from the world stage amid nationalist(B) fervour(C), the ease of air travel has created a strong countercurrent(D) of travellers looking to learn from other cultures(E).
   A-E & C-D
   No exchange required
   B-D
   A-C & B-E
   C-E
   Option B
   

    

3. The scarcity of sand has spar(A) the construction industry as lucrative(B) and opposition parties paralysed(C) over who is to blame, highlighting allegations(D) of corruption and breaches of environmental rules in the ruling(E) sand mining industry.
   A-B
   A-C & B-E
   A-D & C-E
   No exchange required
   B-C
   Option B
   Spar- argue with someone without marked hostility
   The base form of the verb “spar” is incorrect at A. Since it is preceded by the helping verb “has”, the main verb must be in its past participle form. Of the other highlighted words, “paralysed” is a verb in its past participle form. Thus, A and C must be exchanged. A political party can’t be termed as lucrative, while a sand mining industry can be. Thus, the positions of the words at B and E must be exchanged to convey an appropriate sense.

    

4. The Indian creation(A) and the entrepreneurship(B) machinery that supports it do not encourage bureaucratic(C) and job economy(D) and there is a lot of red tape with crucial reforms still pending.(E)
   A-E & B-D
   A-D
   No exchange required
   A-D & B-C
   A-C & B-E
   Option D
   The phrase “Indian creation” renders the given sentence unclear. “Economy” and “creation” can clearly be exchanged to make the sentence correct.
   The word “bureaucratic” at C is incorrect as it is an adjective and requires a noun (which is missing) to modify. Thus, the positions of the words at B and C must be changed to make the sentence correct. So, option D is the correct answer.

    

5. Technology is the new friend in town for the insurance(A) industry as it strives(B) to add more customers in a country that still remains(C) largely under-insured(D).
   A-C
   C-D & B-C
   C-D
   A-B & C-D
   No exchange required
   Option E
   

    

Directions(6-8): Five statements are given below, labelled A, B, C, D and E. Among these, four statements are in logical order and form a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the option that does not fit into the theme of the passage.

6. The World Health Organization has called off a slumped surveillance to combat dengue.
   The outbreak can be controlled in two weeks if all necessary steps are taken to stop mosquitoes from breeding.
   Dengue is already the most widespread mosquito-borne disease among humans.
   In the past fifteen years, dengue outbreaks in the African and South-Asian countries have been rapidly rising mostly due to falling environment and public health standards during urbanization.
   Severe forms of dengue are putting more than 2.5 million people at risk worldwide each year.
   Option A
   All statements except ‘A’ talk about dengue in general, while A talks about dengue with a specific reference to WHO.

    

7. The performance of Indian agriculture is substantially dependent on amount of rainfall across the country.
   A predominant part of the cultivable land is dependent on irrigation which is directly related to monsoon.
   Agriculture and allied activities account for less than even one fourth of the total GDP but rainfall does affect the same.
   The component of manufacturing sector that depends on agriculture for the supply of intermediates in not very high.
   It is less likely that aggregate agricultural growth will be adversely affected if rainfall is scanty.
   Option D
   Every statement except D talks about agriculture and how it is affected by rainfall while option D talks about the manufacturing sector. Hence, D is the most suitable response.

    

8. Procurement of wheat is in full swing in the north-western states of India.
   By the end of this month, public agencies are likely to end up with surplus food grain stocks.
   This stock is more than ample to ensure that the country’s “food security” is not jeopardized even if the country has to face to subsequent draughts.
   But strangely enough, while the granaries inundate, there is still widespread poverty even without a draught.
   This coexistence of grain surpluses with large scale hunger should make the civic authorities think about the existing policy mix with a view to ensure faster economic growth and reduction in poverty.
   Option D
   The answer is D as it is the only statement out of context. It is talking about poverty whereas the passage is about hunger and surplus food.

    

Directions(9-10): In the following question, a sentence with a part of it missing and represented by a blank is given. Select the best out of the five answer choices given, to make the sentence complete and coherent (coherent means logically complete and sound).

9. Government programs that decide which public schools get adequate resources and which do not, _____________.
   can be responsible for financial winners and losers
   often forget how much it improved their lives
   strives to utilize suffering as an opportunity to face all dif􀁽culties that stand in the way
   give universal answers to universal questions,
   None of the above
   Option A
   The above sentence talks about the financial funding that the public schools get in order to run their management. Out of the given options, only option A speaks of the same context, if added to the blank as it states such government programs are responsible for distinguishing between financial winners and losers. Hence, option A is correct.

    

10. In Vedanta, all isolated goals, even the beautiful one you seek, are transcended in order to reach pure awareness, ______.
    the whole management and organisation of the farm
    that also becomes very powerful
    the source of the mind
    such as negative expectations of treatment or prognosis
    None of the above
    Option B
    The above sentence (as per the context) talks about a philosophy that makes our goals exceeding or outshining in order to achieve pure awareness of its source, i.e., the mind. Out of the given options, only option B seems to fit in the blank correctly. Hence, option B is correct.

     

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