Directions (1-5): The sentences given in each of the following questions, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labeled with a letter. From among the five choices given below each question, choose the most logical order of sentences that construct a coherent paragraph.
Q1. (A) This has come as a big setback to the principles of a participatory culture, disruption and innovation that characterize the internet as we know it.
(B) The level playing field that allowed start-ups to compete with established platforms—or new ideas to mushroom—will cease to exist.
(C) The repeal will now allow telecom operators in the US to favour certain platforms and services over others.
(D) A month after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) supported net neutrality and barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates for data services in India, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US decided to roll back net neutrality laws.
(E) While established platforms (read internet giants) will be able to pay high charges to pass on their services/content to users, start-ups and small businesses will suffer as they would not be able to cough up money to find the highway to people’s screens.
(a) ABCDE
(b) DBCAE
(c) CDEAB
(d) DACEB
(e) EDACE
Q2. (A) The expression “social network” has become common, but those who use it to refer to social media as Facebook or Instagram often ignore its origin and its true meaning.
(B) These include, for example, advice relationships between employees of a company, or friendship ties between students in a school.
(C) These networks can be represented as points (students) united by lines (links).
(D) The study of social networks precedes the advent of digital technologies.
(E) Since the 1930s, sociologists have been conducting surveys to describe the structures of relationships that unite individuals and groups: their “networks”.
(a) ADEBC
(b) DEBAC
(c) ACDBE
(d) EABCD
(e) DCBAE
Q3. (A) This is changing the way customers perceive and interact with organizations.
(B) Organizations, too, are trying to simplify and differentiate the way they manufacture and deliver their products and services.
(C) Therefore, customer experience (CX) is taking centre-stage in an era where superior products and services alone are no longer sufficient to attract and retain customers.
(D) The way consumers consume and interact with products and services is also undergoing a radical shift.
(E) India is witnessing a significant digital and technology transformation with e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), digital payments, mobile apps, etc. being adopted across different industries.
(a) CDABE
(b) EADBC
(c) EDCAB
(d) DCEBA
(e) DBECA
Q4. (A) About half of all the cropped area in the country is rain-fed and supports almost 40 percent of the population.
(B) Given the scale of the crisis, the role of the state in saving the lives of farmers and their families across the country cannot be understated.
(C) Drought is never too far in a country like India, which has an inadequate irrigation system and low public investment in agriculture.
(D) It is necessary, therefore, to examine factors that deliberately minimise this important responsibility of the state, especially towards women farmers.
(E) In 2015-16, over 266 districts in 11 states reported drought conditions and sought relief.
(a) BEDCA
(b) ACBED
(c) DABCE
(d) BAECD
(e) CAEBD
Q5. (A)The Battle of Bhima-Koregaon is read differently.
(B)It is not seen as a battle in which the British with 834 infantry men, of which over 500 were Mahar, defeated a numerically stronger Peshwa army.
(C)It marked not the continuity of the British but the end of Peshwa rule.
(D)For Mahar memory, the presence of the British shrinks and it becomes a story of Mahar courage and valour, a testimony to Mahar martial values in their struggle for equality against the Peshwas.
(E)The Koregaon Ranstambh (victory pillar) represents a different kind of memory and a different kind of solidarity.
(F)It is now part of a new genealogy, not part of a battle between Indians and the British, but a struggle for equality.
(a)DBECAF
(b)BDEFCA
(c)ABCDEF
(d)CBAEDF
(e)DEFACB
Directions (6-10): Which of the words/phrases (a), (b), (c) and (d) given below should replace the words/phrases given in bold in the following sentences to make it meaningful and grammatically correct? If the given words perfectly fit into the sentence and do not require any replacement, choose (e) i.e. ‘No replacement required’ as the answer.
Q6. The speed with which tension exhibit from Bhima-Koregaon, a village of the outskirts of Pune, on Monday to proffer cities across Maharashtra to a shutdown by Wednesday, is a pointer to multiple scarcity.
(a) fastening, by, regulate, dissolution
(b) spread, on, bring, failings
(c) relish, at, impose, waning
(d) promote, to, propagate, decline
(e) No replacement required
Q7. The country’s politics must conjoin differences by supporting anxieties holistically — instead of protecting new polarised constituencies by raising these fault lines.
(a) unite, confronting, maturing, protracting
(b) equate, enticing, tendering, producing
(c) associate, reacting, stimulating, elevating
(d) bridge, addressing, nurturing, widening
(e) No replacement required
Q8. Global stocks kicked off the new year by rallying to reach new lifetime highs. Major indices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia witnessed significant gains in the year’s first two trading days; the Indian bourses were slower to gain traction.
(a) recovering, beyond, benefits, strength
(b) arousing, over, returns, tension
(c) impelling, facing, accomplishment, urgency
(d) inspiring, against, achievement, hardship
(e) No replacement required
Q9. The weakening of the U.S. dollar over 2017, along with the strengthening of issuing market currencies like the Indian rupee, raises further suspicion that the global stock rally may be about nothing more than excess liquidity.
(a) during, emerging, suspicion, liquidity
(b) between, radiating, certainty, invalidation
(c) since, fading, acceptance, realization
(d) while, exposing, concern, mutilation
(e) No replacement required
Q10. Although the return of higher economic growth in the U.S., inflation is linked to spike up and force the next Fed chair to raise rates at a faster speed. Apart from deflating the rally in domestic U.S. stocks, this is also likely to calibrate the yield on American assets and cause capital to flow out of emerging markets.
(a) Since, obligated, look, amend
(b) Though, limited, tread, alleviate
(c) Among, absconded, stuff, enhance
(d) With, bound, pace, improve
(e) No replacement required
Directions (11-15): Five statements are given below, labeled (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e). Among these, four statements are in logical order and form a coherent paragraph. From the given options, choose the option that does not fit into the theme of the paragraph.
Q11. (a) But the chances of adhering to those are very low.
(b) There are many reasons that contribute to one’s failure to self-regulate.
(c) People lose control of their behaviours in a wide variety of circumstances.
(d) This new year, many of us have made several resolutions to change our way of living.
(e) Studies have shown that these self-regulatory failures are an important cause of several societal problems like obesity, addictions, poor financial decisions, etc.
Q12. (a) Prior to the global economic crisis a decade ago, the Chinese economy was growing at a breakneck pace.
(b) Soon after, however, monetary tightening put economic growth back on a downward trajectory, spurring the government to loosen policy and introduce mini-stimulus packages in late 2011 and early 2012.
(c) Thanks to a $4 trillion stimulus package, growth soon reached its trough and began to climb again, reaching 12.2% year on year in the first quarter of 2010.
(d) China’s declining dependence on fixed-asset investment should be hailed as an achievement.
(e) But when the crisis hit, the growth rate fell relatively sharply.
Q13. (a) The country has witnessed long-running civil wars and is currently in the news for the Rohingya crisis.
(b) This weakens the country’s experiment with installing a popularly elected civilian government.
(c) Myanmar celebrates the 70th anniversary of its independence on 4 January.
(d) This unending turbulence is seen both as cause and consequence of weak political institutions—which explains why the generals were in command for so many decades after the military coup in 1962 that ended Myanmar’s first experiment with democracy.
(e) It’s a good occasion to examine its flawed legacies.
Q14. (a) A growing middle class, rising disposable incomes, declining prices of electronics and a number of government initiatives have led to a fast-growing market for electronics and hardware products.
(b) Of the country’s total demand for electronics, between 50-60% of the products and 70-80% of the components are imported.
(c) Instead of preserving our market for domestic manufacturers, the goal should be to capture a larger piece of this global market.
(d) India’s imports of electronic goods grew 31% between April and October 2017 to $29.8 billion.
(e) However, India’s weak manufacturing base has not been able to respond to this increasing demand, leading to a growing trade deficit.
Q15. (a) Vocational training, especially, will play an important role in this road map.
(b) The government has drafted an ambitious target of doubling farmer income by 2022.
(c) While the boost to the manufacturing segments through other initiatives will provide a collateral benefit to job creation, it is important to explicitly chart out a strong policy road map for job creation and adhere to it.
(d) A lot of effort has gone into making vocational training mainstream, but with limited success.
(e) Job creation remains a bugbear for the country, despite several efforts in this direction.
Solutions
S1. Ans. (d)
Sol. The sequence of sentences after rearrangement is DACEB. Here the sentences discuss the issue regarding restoring net neutrality laws in the U.S, making the sentence (D) as the starting sentence of the paragraph. The effects of this issue should be followed in the following sentences, as discussed in the sentence (A).
S2. Ans. (a)
Sol. Here the theme of the sentences revolves around understanding the social network. Hence the starting sentence must be the introduction of ‘social network’ as in the case of sentence (A) and following sentences must explain how it should be understood which can be seen in the sentences (D) and (E). Hence the sequence of the sentences can be ADEBC.
S3. Ans. (b)
Sol. We can easily point out that the sentence (E) should be the first sentence as other sentences are supporting sentences and this sentence is giving the brief description of the transformation that India is undergoing and followed up by its outcome that has been described in sentence (A). Sentence (C) must be the last sentence as it is providing the conclusion of this shift. Hence sentences in the sequence of EADBC form a coherent paragraph.
S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. The correct sequence of the sentences is CAEBD. Here the sentences talk about the Drought situation in India. The sentence (C) talks about the introduction of Drought situation in India making it the first sentence, while the sentence (D) talking about the factors to minimize this situation is giving us the last sentence of the paragraph. Hence option (e) is the right choice.
S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. From the given statements, it can be made out that the paragraph is about the recent social events related to the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon. Thus, the statement (A) forms the first choice of being the starting sentence of the paragraph. It should be followed by the statement (B) which continues and supports the first statement. The last two statements i.e. (E) and (F) form a complementary combination following one after the other. Thus, sentences in the sequence of ABCDEF form a coherent paragraph. Hence among the given options, (c) is the correct choice.
S6. Ans. (b)
Sol. ‘spread, on, bring, failings’ is the correct set of words that makes the sentence meaningful.
Proffer means hold out or put forward (something) to someone for acceptance.
Dissolution means the action of formally ending or dismissing an assembly, partnership, or official body.
S7. Ans. (d)
Sol. ‘bridge, addressing, nurturing, widening’ is the correct set of words that makes the sentence meaningful and complete.
Protracting means prolong.
Entice means attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage.
Conjoin means join; combine.
S8. Ans. (e)
Sol. No correction is required here.
Traction means grip; fiction.
Impel means drive, force, or urge (someone) to do something.
S9. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘during, emerging, suspicion, liquidity’ is the correct set of words.
Mutilation means the infliction of serious damage on something.
Liquidity means the availability of liquid assets to a market or company.
S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. ‘with, bound, pace, improve’ is the correct set of words that makes the sentence meaningful.
Absconded means leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to escape from custody or avoid arrest.
Obligate means require or compel (someone) to undertake a legal or moral duty.
Calibrate means carefully assess, set, or adjust (something abstract).
Amend means make minor changes to (a text, piece of legislation, etc.) in order to make it fairer or more accurate, or to reflect changing circumstances.
S11. Ans. (b)
Sol. Sentences in the sequence of DACE form a coherent paragraph talking about not being resolute to the new year resolutions; while sentence (b) which is about reasons behind this failure, is not forming a part of the coherent paragraph. Hence option (b) is the correct choice.
S12. Ans. (d)
Sol. As we read the sentences, we find that sentences in the sequence of AECB form a coherent paragraph talking about ups and downs of Chinese economy whereas sentence (d) talks about factor responsible for the China’s achievement, making it unassociated to the other sentences. Hence option (d) is the correct choice.
S13. Ans. (b)
Sol. The Sentences forming coherent paragraph (CEAD) talks about examining the flawed legacies like weak political institutions of Myanmar on account of its 70th Independence Day, while the sentence (b) talks about country’s experiment with civilian government, making it unrelated to the other sentences. Hence option (b) is the correct choice.
S14. Ans. (c)
Sol. Sentence (c) is not the part of the coherent paragraph as the paragraph is talking about the growing demands of electronic products and the imported products but the sentence (c) is about the aim to increase the global market, which fails to connect with the other sentences. Hence option (c) is the correct choice.
S15. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here sentence (b) talking about the ambitious target of government regarding doubling the farmer income, is making it unrelated to other sentences as the other sentences discuss the unsuccessful attempt by the government in the field of job creation, making sentences in the sequence of ECAD a coherent paragraph. Hence option (b) is the correct choice.