SBI PO Prelims English Quiz: 29th May |

English Quiz For SBI PO Exam 2019

The SBI PO Prelims Exam is scheduled to be held in a few days and to ace your preparations Bankersadda is launching a crash course of 18 days to help you excel the exams. Here is a quiz on English Language being provided by Adda247 for free to let you practice the best of latest pattern English Questions for SBI PO Examination 2019-20. Video Solutions will also be provided for the same for free.

Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

India has notoriously bad cellular connectivity, especially in terms of quality—call drops, for instance. Sure, prices are about the lowest in the world, and the overall footprint is reasonable, but even urban areas, especially Delhi, have worse than average quality. A simple “solution” would be to build more cell towers. This is technologically easy, but (1) it’s expensive; and (2) zoning would remain a challenge—getting permissions to put up cell towers. Instead, why not offload much of the traffic to “femtocells”—tiny, licence-free (and sometimes individual-user) “cell towers” installed by end consumers? Contrary to popular belief, we suffer poor connectivity not because existing towers are too far away (their reach is many kilometres)—but usually because they are overloaded. In a (say) kilometre radius, one may have hundreds of people whose signal is strong enough to connect, but the spectrum cannot handle that many simultaneous users owing to congestion.

Introducing femtocells and other disruptions: Unlike traditional cell towers, femtocells, are tiny. Being ultra-low power, these can be owned and installed by the end consumer, like a home Wi-Fi router. The analogy to a home router goes beyond size or rough cost as femtocells use the end user’s broadband or internet connection to back-haul traffic to the rest of the system. If you have a broadband connection, you could plug the ethernet cable into the femtocell and automatically use this for your cellphone instead of the overloaded neighbourhood cell tower. The telecom company could offload traffic to the femtocell and the consumer would get better connectivity, especially in overloaded or hard-to-reach areas: a win-win situation. Consumers might pay for the femtocell, but, in return, they could save minutes on their mobile plan, or get other rebates from the telecom carrier. The femtocell could be configured for one user as well as a restricted set of users.

In the same way that data traffic can use broadband instead of 3G/4G cellular, voice calls could directly use any available Wi-Fi signal with similar back-haul over broadband. Many advanced phones have VoWiFi built in (or it’s a software update away), but the carriers need to enable such features—none in India do, while all four major US carriers do. This is superior to WhatsApp or Skype calls, which use third-party apps. VoWiFi is direct and seamless and uses regular phone numbers, just like iMessage in an iPhone uses data for messaging parallelly with carrier texts/SMSes, based on what is available.

Buying the required hardware is only half the challenge. Both femtocells and VoWiFi need carrier coordination and configuration to work, else your phone won’t know which solution to use. Carriers must enable such change, and the good news is these need not reduce revenue since they can bundle this with their calling plans. Femtocells also require regulatory approval so that they are licence- and restriction-free (from an end user’s perspective). The actual power level is so low that it’s comparable to home Wi-Fi routers, or even less, and shouldn’t need zoning and city/municipality permissions. Thus, they are consumer-safe and should be allowed. As long as a cell tower isn’t illegally transmitting signals (radiation) that are too high, and you’re not too near one, a modestly nearby cell tower results in lower radiation than a distant one. This is counter-intuitive. But we forget about the other end of the pair—our cellphone. Trying to link to a weaker signal tower means the phone has to use more energy. A strong enough signal is actually not just safer, but also saves battery life.

Q1. According to the passage, what is/are the reasons behind the poor connectivity of the mobile phone service?

heavy traffic

limited cell towers

distant cell towers

both (a) and (b)

all

Solution:

According to the first paragraph of the passage, bad cellular connectivity is due to overloading of cell towers and limited cell towers.

Hence both the options (a) and (b) are correct.
Refer the lines “we suffer poor connectivity not because existing towers are too far away (their reach is many kilometres)—but usually because they are overloaded”

“A simple “solution” would be to build more cell towers.”

Q2. According to the passage, what are the benefits of using Femtocells?

(I) owned and installed by end consumer

(II) consumes low power and hence has tiny cell sizes.

(III) It’s a better alternative against high traffic areas for better connectivity.

(IV) Money expenses get reduced.

Only (II)

only (I), (III) and (IV)

only (II), (III) and (IV)

only (I), (II) and (III)

All are correct

Solution:

We can conclude from the second paragraph of the passage that all the given sentences are benefits of using femtocells.

Hence option (e) is the correct choice.

Q3. Why should we embrace the use of voice-over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi)?

It is less expensive than other sources

It is indirect and seamless and uses regular phone numbers.

It does not require any third- party apps.

It has strong signals.

All of the above

Solution:

Refer the third paragraph of the passage “This is superior to WhatsApp or Skype calls, which use third-party apps.”

Q4. Why we don’t have femtocells?

(I) needs carrier coordination and configuration to work

(II) requires hardware

(III) It requires regulatory approval.

Only (I)

Only (II)

both (II) and (III)

both (I) and (II)

All are correct

Solution:

Refer the last paragraph of the passage.

Q5. How is it correct to say that “weaker signals pose a bigger health risk than stronger ones”?

weaker signals require additional hardware for its accessibility

strong signals produces lower radiation than weaker signals.

Phone requires more energy to access weaker signals.

In weaker signals, phone battery gets used up very easily.

All of the above.

Solution:

According to last paragraph, we can infer that sentence (b) is correct as weaker signals

results in high radiation that affect health. All other sentence are not appropriate reasons.
Refer the lines “As long as a cell tower isn’t illegally transmitting signals (radiation) that are too high, and you’re not too near one, a modestly nearby cell tower results in lower radiation than a distant one.”

Q6. The appropriate title of the passage

unavailability of necessary hardware

Building cell towers

Use of femtocells and vowifi.

Distorting signals

Improving India’s mobile phone service

Solution:

“Improving India’s mobile phone service” is an appropriate title of the passage as the author has provided the means to tackle the poor cellular connectivity i.e. voice over Wi- fi and femtocells.

Q7. Choose the word which is most similar in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.

Footprint

surfeit

ravenous

quench

impact

dearth

Solution:

Footprint means the impact or impression of something. Hence it has same meaning as impact.

Surfeit means an excessive amount of something.

Ravenous means very great; voracious.

Dearth means a scarcity or lack of something.

Quench means extinguish.

Q8. Choose the word which is most similar in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.

Distant

stubborn

vestige

ubiquitous

remote

plausible

Solution:

Distant means far away in space or time. Hence it has same meaning as remote.

Plausible means seeming reasonable or probable.

Ubiquitous means being present everywhere at once.

Vestige means an indication that something has been present.

Q9. Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.

Offload

elite

refrain

preserve

portent

rescind

Solution:

Offload means to rid oneself of (something) by selling or passing it on to someone else.

Hence it has opposite meaning as preserve.

Rescind means revoke, cancel, or repeal.

Portent means a sign or warning that a momentous or calamitous event is likely to happen.

Q10. Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.

Notoriously

incognito

admonish

adverse

abate

pertinent

Solution:

Notoriously means used to emphasize that a quality or fact, typically a bad one, is well known. Hence it has opposite meaning as incognito.

Admonish means advise or urge (someone) earnestly.

Abate means make (something) less intense.

Pertinent means relevant or applicable to a particular matter; apposite.

Directions (11-15): In each of the following questions, a sentence is given with a blank. There are five phrases given below each sentence, one out of which can be used in the blank to form a meaningful sentence. Choose the most appropriate phrase among the five options that makes the sentence grammatically and contextually meaningful.

Q11. They ___________________ our objections and carried on with the plan to detain the accused.

add on

waved aside

agree with

called back

chewed up

Solution:

The correct phrase which can make the sentence meaningful is “waved aside”. The phrasal verb “wave aside” means to refuse to consider what someone says. Hence option

(b) is the correct choice.

Add on means to include an extra thing or amount.

Agree with means to think that something is morally acceptable.

Call back means to return to a place in order to see someone or collect something.

Chew up means cut into small pieces with your teeth.

Q12. Most students have to __________________ their income because they have so little money to live on.

fall out

mix up

eke out

move ahead

nose out

Solution:

The correct phrase which makes the sentence meaningful is “eke out”. The phrasal verb “eke out” means to obtain or win something only with difficulty or great effort. Hence option (c) is the correct choice.

Fall out means (of an object) to drop from a place where it was attached or contained.

Mix up means a mistake that causes confusion.

Move ahead means make progress, often after a pause or delay.

Nose out means narrowly beat someone.

Q13. We have to __________________ what the court says regarding the case.

abide by

bring off

cast up

dig in

drop off

Solution:

The blank should be filled up with the phrase “abide by” to form a meaningful sentence. The phrasal verb “abide by” means to accept or obey an agreement, decision, or rule. Hence option (a) is the correct choice.

Bring off means to succeed in doing something difficult.

Cast up means be left on the shore by the sea.

Dig in means to start eating.

Drop off means to begin to sleep.

Q14. It took them six months to ___________________ the house before they could actually move in.

aim at

freeze up

go around

do up

head out

Solution:

The phrase “do up” gives a meaningful sense to the sentence. The phrasal verb “do up” means repair and renovate. Hence option (d) is the correct choice.

Aim at means to produce something for a particular purpose or a particular group of people.

Freeze up means stop working because the parts of a machine won't move.

Go around means to be enough for everyone.

Head out means go out.

Q15. She will be back in a minute- she has just __________________ to the shops.

nipped out

noted down

pass by

poke around

ran after

Solution:

The phrase ‘nipped out” makes the sentence meaningfully correct. The phrasal verb “nip out” means go somewhere quickly. Hence option (a) is the correct choice.

Note down means to write something so that you do not forget it.

Pass by means go past without stopping.

Poke around means move things around or search in a casual way to try to find something.
Run after means chase, pursue.