Mixed English Questions for Mains Exam — Set 334

Directions(1-3): In the given question, four words are given of which two are most nearly the same or opposite in meaning. Find the two words and indicate your answer by marking the option which represents the correct combination.

1. A) Protracted
   B) Bushy
   C) Interminable
   D) Goad
   A-C
   A-D
   A-B
   C-D
   B-C
   Option A
   The word ‘Protracted’ means lasting for a long time or longer than expected or usual. The word ‘Interminable’ means endless or apparently endless (often used hyperbolically).Thus, both the words are synonyms to each other. The word ‘Bushy’ means growing thick. The word ‘Goad’ means provoke or annoy (someone) so as to stimulate an action or reaction.

    

2. A) Concoction
   B) Creep
   C) Bulwark
   D) Combination
   A-C
   A-D
   A-B
   C-D
   B-C
   Option B
   The word ‘Concoction’ means a mixture of various ingredients or elements. The word ‘Combination’ means ‘a joining or merging of different parts or qualities in which the component elements are individually distinct’. Thus, both the words are synonyms to each other.
   The word ‘Creep’ means ‘move slowly and carefully in order to avoid being heard or noticed’. The word ‘Bulwark’ means a defensive wall.

    

3. A) Cretin
   B) Disavow
   C) Acknowledge
   D) Astir
   A-C
   A-D
   A-B
   C-D
   B-C
   Option E
   The word ‘Disavow’ means deny any responsibility or support for. The word ‘Acknowledge’ means accept or admit the existence or truth of. Thus, both the words are antonyms to each other.
   The word ‘Cretin’ means ‘a stupid person’. The word ‘Astir’ means ‘in a state of excited movement’.

    

Directions(4-8): In the following question, multiple sentences have been given. Each sentence has been divided into a few parts which may or may not carry an error. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number corresponding to that part and the sentence in which it is will be your answer. If the given sentences carry no error, mark ‘All are correct’ as your answer. Ignore the errors of punctuation if any.

4. A) With national income going down, (1)/ and prices going up under triple-digit inflation (2)/ in Venezuela, (3)/ this complaints are by no means frivolous. (4)
   B) It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, (1)/ and start looking at hard facts, (2)/ that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, (3)/ if not a disaster. (4)
   C) In 2015, the 400 richest people in the world (1)/ had net losses of $19 billion(2)/ and if they have rigged the system, (3)/ surely, they could have rigged it better than that. (4)
   B-2 & A-1
   A-4 & C-3
   B-3 & C-4
   A-3 & C-2
   All are correct
   Option B
   Among the given sentences, A and C carry error.
   In sentence A, the error lies in part 4. Instead of ‘this’ which is used with singular or uncountable nouns, we need to use ‘these’ which is used with plural nouns (complaints).
   In sentence C, the error lies in part 3. ‘rigged the system’ is past tense and hence the auxiliary verb ‘had’ should be used.

    

5. A) A fourth video, which submerged on Monday, (1)/ provided more elaborate footage of security personnel (2)/ indiscriminately beating students even as they (3)/prayed for mercy, and smashing property. (4)
   B) While the police and government supporters (1)/ have use the second and third video to suggest (2)/ that rioters entered the library, it still does not justify (3)/ the behaviour of the security personnel. (4)
   C) For justice, accountability and its own credibility, (1)/ the police must initiate strict action (2)/ against those who committed excesses, end the culture of impunity, (3)/ and reform its mode of functioning. (4)
   B-2 & A-1
   A-4 & C-3
   B-3 & C-4
   A-3 & C-2
   All are correct
   Option A
   Among the given sentences, A and B carry errors.
   In sentence A, the error is in the usage of the word ‘submerged’ in part 1. ‘submerged’ means to be immersed in liquid. But the context of the sentence points towards the emergence of another video in a series of such occurrences.
   In sentence B, instead of the present tense ‘use’, the present perfect tense ‘have used’ should be used in part 2.

    

6. A) Green sentiment [extreme environmental policies] (A)/ has beaten back the timber industry, (2)/ which might have put life-saving (3)/ access roads into wild areas. (4)
   B) It’s not climate change that’s burning up the forests, (1)/ killing people, and destroying hundreds of homes; (2)/ it’s decades of environmental mismanagement those has created (3)/ a tinderbox of unharvested timber, dead trees, and thick underbrush. (4)
   C) If federal and state environmental policies (1)/ continue to make it difficult and costly (2)/ to harvest timber and manage the fuel load, (3)/ then the wildfires will continue and they will be biggest and deadlier. (4)
   B-2 & A-1
   A-4 & C-3
   B-3 & C-4
   A-3 & C-2
   All are correct
   Option C
   Among the given sentences, B and C carry errors.
   In sentence B, the demonstrative pronoun ‘those’ cannot be used to refer to the singular ‘environmental mismanagement’. It needs the pronoun ‘that’ to make it correct.
   In sentence C, when two adjectives (biggest, deadlier) are used to describe the same thing, they have to be either in their comparative forms or in their superlative forms. Thus, using one superlative form (biggest) and one comparative form (deadlier) is incorrect.

    

7. A) The coronavirus epidemic erupted (1)/ when the slowdown of the Chinese economy (2)/ had already accelerated (3)/ because of the trade war with the United States. (4)
   B) This combined stress on China’s economy (1)/ is poised to dilute the strategic geo-economic (2)/ Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), (3)/ a prestige project of the Chinese President Xi Jinping. (4)
   C) This revised programme (1)/ was described as being (2)/ of great significance for (3)/ recruiting more high-quality soldiers. (4)
   B-2 & A-1
   A-4 & C-3
   B-3 & C-4
   A-3 & C-2
   All are correct
   Option E
   

    

8. A) Over the past 30 years, more than a billion people (1)/ climbed out of extreme poverty, (2)/ and thanks to capitalism, much than a billion people (3)/ no longer struggle to survive on a few pennies a day. (4)
   B) Economists at Harvard and Berkeley (1)/ crunched the numbers and found (2)/ most people born to the richest fifth of Americans (3)/ fell out of that bracket within 20 years. (4)
   C) Progressives like to point out that (1)/ in Scandinavian countries, people say (2)/ they are happier than Americans as Scandinavians (3)/ have much equal incomes than Americans. (4)
   B-2 & A-1
   A-4 & C-3
   B-3 & C-4
   A-4 & C-4
   All are correct
   Option D
   Among the given sentences, A and C carry errors.
   In sentence A, in part 3‘much’ is incorrect when used for countable nouns like ‘billion people’. The correct determiner here is ‘more’. Similarly, for sentence C, in part 4, instead of ‘much’ we should use more.

    

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. On the consumer protection front, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Child Safety Act ____________________________.
   for cities to receive the funds, they had to establish minimum housing standards.
   were created to develop consumer product safety rules to make sure products were safe for both children and adults.
   although it focused on reuniting families and still placed limits on immigrants per country and total immigration.
   administration passed laws to protect wildlife and rivers and form a network of scenic trails among historic landmarks.
   None of the above.
   Option B
   The given sentence mentions the Child Safety Act which is obviously concerned with the safety of children. Further, it mentions the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Both are related to protecting the consumers. Keeping this in mind we can deduce that the both are involved in ensuring safety of product made for children and possibly other consumers. In reference to it, option B states that they were created to ‘develop consumer product safety rules to make sure products were safe for both children and adults.’ Thus, option B is the correct answer.

    

10. Inequality is more acceptable in countries where mobility across generations is high, ________ .
    So that where you are born does not completely determine your state of domicile
    So that it is more acceptable in countries where mobility across generations is high
    As microcredit schemes have been presented as a panacea
    So that where you are born does not completely determine your path in life
    None of the above
    Option D
    The given fragment says that inequality is more acceptable in countries with high mobility in generations. Thus, the following part should add the reason or justification for this claim. Fragment D describes how this mobility can help people in their lives and thus fits here. Other options don’t fit in the context contextually.

     

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