SBI PO Mains English Language Quiz- 9th July 2019 |

SBI-PO-Main-English-Language-Quiz-9th-July-2019

SBI PO Main- English Miscellaneous Quiz

Students gave the SBI PO preliminary examinations with great enthusiasm and now are preparing for the mains, whose date is already scheduled for 20 July this year. Here is a quiz on the English Language, provided by Adda247 for free so that you can practice the best of the latest pattern of English Questions for SBI PO Examination 2019-20. With this, we wish you all the very best for the results of prelims. Keep the preparation engines running.

Directions (1-10): Read the following passage, divided into a number of paragraphs, 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.

Paragraph 1: In recent research, we investigated the impact of rainfall shocks on educational outcomes for children aged in-utero to 16, in rural India (Drought of Opportunities: Contemporaneous and Long-Term Impacts of Rainfall Shocks on Human Capital, 2017). We obtained data on simple literacy and numeracy test scores for over two million children tested between 2005 and 2009 for the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by non-governmental organization Pratham. This data set has test scores on children who have never enrolled, who are currently enrolled, and who have dropped out of school.

Paragraph 2: We matched the ASER data to rainfall measures from weather stations all over India. We used rainfall as a proxy for agricultural productivity, which allowed us to separate the effects of productivity from other differences across places. Because we had observations of rainfall and test scores for each district over many years, we could measure within-district differences between good, bad and normal rainfall years. By accounting for both district-specific effects (some places just have higher test scores than others), and year-specific effects (test scores might be getting better or worse over time), we could be sure of isolating the effect of rainfall, and its underlying effects on productivity, on human capital investment.

Paragraph 3: We found that children who experienced droughts early in life score lower on tests and are less likely to be enrolled in school. This is consistent with previous literature (Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall by Sharon L. Maccini and Dean Yang, 2009, and Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis by Douglas Almond and Janet Currie, 2011). What we found next surprised us. For older children, when rainfall (and therefore, the prevailing wage) is higher, test scores, attendance, and enrolment decrease. A positive rainfall shock increases wages by 2% and decreases math test scores by 1-6%, decreases school attendance by 2 percentage points, and decreases the probability that a child is enrolled in school by 1 percentage point. This implies that a positive rainfall shock increases the urban-rural enrolment gap by 15% for 5-16-year-olds.

Paragraph 4: To look into what children are doing with their time, we turned to another large household survey in India, the National Sample Survey (NSS). Matching this survey to the rainfall data helped confirm our hypothesis—we observed that children are less likely to report school as their primary activity when rains are good, and more likely to do so during droughts. They are more likely to report wage labour, work at home (on farms or in other businesses) and domestic work as their primary activity when rainfall is abundant. It appears households are responding to higher wages by either having children work in agriculture themselves, or fill in for adults at home while they work. The increased opportunity cost of schooling affects the families’ decision to invest in education.

Paragraph 5: Taken together, the results for early life and older children make sense. The extra income and food supply generated during a good harvest is especially important during the in-utero period and for infants and young children whose brains are still developing. Babies and toddlers are also too young to be of help on the farm or at home, so the substitution effect is not relevant for them. Hence, the income effect dominates. As a child gets older, the relative benefits of nutrition for cognitive ability decrease, while schooling and other time-intensive activities like studying become important in overall test scores. Moreover, they can now be productive in agriculture and at home. Hence, wages increase and labour is in high demand, schooling may take a back seat to farm and/or domestic work for poor families.

Q1. How according to the author the recent research on impact of rainfall shocks would help in determining educational outcomes for children as mentioned in Paragraph 1?

(I)The
research would provide an exact report of long-term impacts of rainfall on
Human Capital.

(II)The
final data by Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) would provide test
scores on children who have never enrolled, who are currently enrolled, and who
have dropped out of school.

(III)The
report would help in obtaining data on simple literacy especially of children
up to 16 years of age in rural India.

Only (I) is correct

Only (II) is correct

Both (II) and (III) are correct

Both (I) and (III) are correct

All are correct

Solution:

Read the first paragraph carefully, both the points (II) and (III) are clearly mentioned which helped in determining the impact of rainfall shocks on educational outcomes for children. Hence (c) is the correct option in context of the paragraph.

Q2. Why according to the passage the rainfall was used as a proxy for agricultural productivity as mentioned in Paragraph 2?

(I)It
allowed in separating the effects of productivity from other differences across
places in the country.

(II)Since
with help of observations of rainfall and test scores for each district over
many years it was easy to measure within-district differences between good, bad
and normal rainfall years.

(III)By
accounting for both district-specific effects and year-specific effects, it was
possible to isolate the effect of rainfall, and its underlying effects on
productivity, on human capital investment.

Only (I) is correct

Only (II) is correct

Only (III) is correct

Both (II) and (III) are correct

All are correct

Solution:

Read the second paragraph carefully, all the statements are nicely explained in the paragraph. Hence (e) is the correct option.

Q3. Which of the following statements is not true in context of the paragraph 3?

It was found that children who experienced droughts early in life score lower on tests and are less likely to be enrolled in school.

For older children, when rainfall (and therefore, the prevailing wage) is higher, test scores, attendance, and enrolment decrease.

A positive rainfall shock increases the urban-rural enrolment gap by 15% for 5-16-year-olds.

A positive rainfall shock increases school attendance by 2 percentage points, and decreases the probability that a child is enrolled in school by 1 percentage point.

All are true.

Solution:

Refer the sentence in the third paragraph, “A positive rainfall shock increases wages by 2% and decreases math test scores by 1-6%, decreases school attendance by 2 percentage points, and decreases the probability that a child is enrolled in school by 1 percentage point.” Hence sentence (d) is incorrect in context of the paragraph.

Q4. What are the major outcomes after tallying the rainfall data and survey conducted by National Sample Survey (NSS) as mentioned in Paragraph 4?

(I) It is
observed that children are less likely to report school as their primary
activity when rains are good, and more likely to do so during droughts.

(II) It is
observed that households are responding to higher wages by either having
children work in agriculture themselves, or fill in for adults at home while
they work.

(III) It is realized that the increased
opportunity cost of schooling affects the families’ decision to invest in
education.

Only (I) is correct

Only (II) is correct

Only (III) is correct

Both (I) and (II) are correct

All are correct

Solution:

Read the fourth paragraph carefully, all three statements are clearly mentioned there. Hence (e) is the correct option.

Q5. How according to the author income effect prevails over substitution effect as mentioned in Paragraph 5?

(I) During
the in-utero period and for infants and young children whose brains are still
developing are too young to be of help on the farm or at home.

(II) As a
child gets older, they can be productive in agriculture and at home and thus
there is an increment in wages and demand of labour for poor families.

(III) The
results for early life and older children have the desired effect of increasing
household income, but it may also change the opportunity cost of time-intensive
investments like schooling.

Only (I) is correct

Only (II) is correct

Both (I) and (II) are correct

Both (II) and (III) are correct

All are correct

Solution:

Read the last paragraph of the passage carefully, it can be easily inferred from there that only statements (I) and (II) explain the domination of income effect over substitution effect when the results are combined together. Hence (c) is the correct choice.

Q6. Which one of the following is the most appropriate title for the given passage?

Impact of rainfall shocks on education outcomes.

Why a good monsoon leads to bad test scores

Agricultural Volatility and Investments in Children

Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall

Collaboration of rainfall data, ASER and NSS

Solution:

Read the whole passage carefully, it can be inferred that the complete passage talks about the impact of rainfall shocks on education outcomes in rural India. Hence (a) is the most apt title for the given passage.

Directions (7-8): Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in passage.

Q7. Contemporaneous

Current

Existent

Incident

Coetaneous

Satellite

Solution:

Contemporaneous means existing at or occurring in the same period of time; contemporary. Coetaneous means having the same age or date of origin; contemporary. Hence both are similar in meanings.

Q8. Proxy

Behest

Surrogate

Precept

Injunction

License

Solution:

Proxy means the authority to represent someone else, especially in voting. Surrogate means a substitute, especially a person deputizing for another in a specific role or office.
Hence both are similar in meanings.
Behest means a person's orders or command.
Precept means a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought.
Injunction means an authoritative warning or order.

Directions (9-10): Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in passage.

Q9. Abundant

Copious

Thorough

Competent

Sparse

Exact

Solution:

Abundant means existing or available in large quantities; plentiful. Sparse means scanty; in short supply. Hence both are opposite in meanings.

Q10. Cognitive

Subjective

Reasonable

Logical

Lucid

Physical

Solution:

Cognitive means concerning the mind; emotional. Hence ‘Physical’ is the word most opposite in meaning to it.
Lucid means expressed clearly; easy to understand.

Directions (11-15): In the following questions, a sentence is divided into five parts with one of the part of each sentence is highlighted in bold suggesting the grammatically correct part of the sentence. Out of the four other parts, choose the combination of parts of the sentence which contains grammatical or contextual errors in them. If the given sentence is both grammatically correct and contextually meaningful, choose option (E) i.e., “All are correct” as your answer.

Q11. He told us (A)/ he felt nervously (B)/ about the performance, (C)/ but he seemed perfectly composed (D)/ when he walked onto the stage. (E)

A-B

B-D

A-E

B-E

All are correct

Solution:

Parts (A) and (B) contain errors in them. In part (A) past perfect tense should be used as it indicates that an action was completed (told) at some point in the past before something else happened (walked onto the stage). Therefore part (A) should be “He had told us”. Moreover, in part (B), felt is an example of copula verbs which are is a special kind of verb used to join an adjective or noun complement to a subject; whereas nervously is an adverb. Hence, it should be replaced by nervous. Both the other parts of the sentence are grammatically viable. Hence, option (a) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q12. A currency will (A)/ tends to become (B)/ more valuable whenever (C)/ demand for it is greatest (D)/than the available supply. (E)

A-B

B-C

A-D

B-D

All are correct

Solution:

Parts (B) and (D) contain errors in them. In part (B) to comprehend a precise sentence structure of simple future tense the verb ‘tends’ should be replaced by its base form i.e. “tend”. In part (D) ‘greatest’ should be replaced by ‘greater’ as it is used for comparison between two objects (demand and supply). Other parts of the sentence are grammatically viable. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q13. To separate out the chaff, (A)/ early cultures tossed baskets (B)/ of grain into the air(C)/ and let the wind to blow (D)/ over the lighter chaff. (E)

A-C

D-E

C-D

A-E

All are correct

Solution:

The error lies in parts (D) and (E) of the sentence. In part (D) of the sentence, ‘to’ should be omitted as when an infinitive is used without the marker to it is called a bare infinitive. The infinitive is used without to after certain verbs like bid, let, make, see, hear, need, dare etc in active voice. In part (E) ‘over’ should be replaced by ‘away’ to form a contextually meaningful sentence. Both the other parts of the sentence are grammatically viable. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q14. If Hillary Clinton will(A)/ win the election (B)/ in 2008, (C)/ then she will become (D)/ the first female president.(E)

A-B

D-E

B-D

A-E

All are correct

Solution:

The error lies in parts (A) and (B) of the sentence. It is to be noted that the present tense is used in the if clause and the future tense in the main clause. Therefore the correct sentence would begin with “If Hillary Clinton wins the election…”. Both the other parts of the sentence are grammatically viable. Hence, option (a) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q15. After working an exhausting (A)/ 16-hour shift, (B)/ the dog-tired police officer (C)/ kicked off the boots (D)/ and crashed on the couch. (E)

A-B

D-E

B-D

A-E

All are correct

Solution:

All the parts of the sentence along with the highlighted part is grammatically correct and contextually meaningful and thus do not require any corrections. Hence, option (e) is the most viable answer choice.