Directions (1-6): In each of the questions given below, a statement has been given with two words omitted. Following the statement are four set of words which may fit in the blanks in the similar sequence as given. Choose the most appropriate set of words to make the statement contextually correct and grammatically meaningful. If none of the given options make the statement complete and correct, mark ‘e’, none of these, as your answer.
Q1. It is now _________that the frontier politics of British India had failed to produce a single ________ and well-defined northern boundary separating the Indian subcontinent from Xinjiang and Tibet.
(a) epidemics, evolving
(b) incapacitated, signified
(c) dispute, advisory
(d) accepted , integrated
(e) none of these
Q2. The ___________ rationale for the British at the time was to _________ a buffer around an autonomous “Outer Tibet” that would eventually fall under its sway.
(a) criticising, downplaying
(b) entangled, formulating
(c) underlying, carve
(d) perpetrated, erroneous
(e) none of these
Q3. Between 1954 and 1956, Jawaharlal Nehru _________ in several long exchanges with Premier Zhou Enlai in Delhi and Beijing but the border issue was mostly __________ from their conversations.
(a) anticipated, concession
(b) scrambled, regards
(c) engaged, excluded
(d) recommendations, recast
(e) none of these
Q4. India’s ___________ decision of March 1959 to provide __________ to the Dalai Lama dramatically transformed India-China relations.
(a) negotiable, comparative
(b) fateful, asylum
(c) presidential, periodisation
(d) provisional, forced
(e) none of these
Q5. The primary responsibility of an elected government is __________ governance and __________ to its voters.
(a) preventive, accomplishment
(b) incumbent, consciousness
(c) efficient, accountability
(d) integrity, regretted
(e) none of these
Q6. MGR and other Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu did not have to rush to New Delhi to make the decision to ____________ a midday meal programme and __________ additional sales taxes to fund it.
(a) offset, diplomat
(b) analysed, initiated
(c) implement, impose
(d) despot, probe
(e) none of these
Directions (7-11): In the following questions, a paragraph is divided into five parts with one of the parts been omitted. You must choose the most suitable alternative among the five options that should fill the omitted part making the paragraph grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. If none of the given alternatives are appropriate to fill the blank, choose option (e) i.e. “none of these” as your answer choice.
Q7. A former U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Mr. Bolton inflicted (A)/ the greatest damage on multilateral institutions and agreements, as he advocated (B)/ the U.S.’s exit from the Human Rights Council and UNESCO, ________________________________ (C)/ nuclear deal with Iran, and informed Moscow that the (D)/ U.S. was pulling out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (E)
(a) evoke much sadness in most world capitals
(b) reverse many of the positions the U.S. had taken
(c) presided over the cancellation of the multi-party
(d) ensure that the U.S. deal with the Pakistan-backed
(e) preconditions on the sidelines of the UNGA
Q8. The emphasis on energy from Russia is as much a bid (A)/ to benefit from explorations and trade routes in (B)/ _______________________________, (C)/ as it is reflective of India’s desire to diversify(D)/ its energy sources away from an unstable West Asia. (E)
(a) despite their bitter territorial dispute in the region
(b) India’s attempt to not only keep a traditional friend close
(c) cooperation on prospecting for hydrocarbons and LNG in the
(d) the Arctic that are becoming accessible due to global warming
(e) including a specific MoU on cooperation on LNG supplies to India
Q9. From extending the available 100% FDI under the automatic route (A)/ in the coal mining sector to include those companies seeking to commercially sell (B)/ the commodity, to distinctly including contract manufacturing under the automatic 100% route(C)/ and _______________________________Single Brand Retail Trading(D)/ business, the changes in investment guidelines approved by the Cabinet have been touted as “FDI policy reform”. (E)
(a) widening reforms in coal mining, manufacturing and retail is
(b) easing local sourcing norms for overseas investors in the
(c) push to make India a more attractive destination to overseas investors
(d) has sought to provide a policy fillip to attract more foreign capital
(e) ensuring India becomes a $5 trillion economy to the next
Q10. Mr. Trump chose to go ahead and proclaim on May 31 (A)/ that he was _____________________________ (B)/ Delhi’s failure to assure the U.S. of “equitable and reasonable access to (C)/ its markets”, notwithstanding the fact that Prime Minister Narendra(D)/ Modi and his new Council of Ministers had just been sworn in the previous day. (E)
(a) kept delaying the imposition of retaliatory tariffs over the past 12 months
(b) including the new External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal
(c) threatening India with “consequences” were it to impose the retaliatory
(d) terminating India’s designation as a beneficiary developing country over
(e) made no bones about the administration’s perception of India being a “tariff king”
Q11. While the current India-U.S. trade ____________________________ (A)/ cooperation will take centre stage at the meeting, it is likely that the U.S.’s (B)/ specific demands on curbing defence deals with Russia, including on(C)/ the S-400 anti-missile system, and denying access to Chinese(D)/ telecom major Huawei for India’s 5G network bids will also come up. (E)
(a) alignments on issues such as energy security, connectivity with
(b) strategy of balancing and straddling the competing
(c) impasse and plans for Indo-Pacific military
(d) collective and the bilateral meetings in Bishkek are an important indicator
(e) cooperation and supporting the World Trade Organisation structure
Directions (12-15): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which one sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way
Q12. Corporate earnings data released as of now for the January-March quarter suggest that earnings might actually witness a significant fall from what they were a year ago. Growth has also been slowing down in core sectors as ______________________ across the economy. Still, investors may be hoping that things could get better in the coming years as a stable government at the Centre will be able to undertake economic reforms.
(a) things can take a turn for the worse if subsequent events fail to meet
(b) market fundamentals to warrant the kind of exuberance shown by investors on Monday
(c) consumer demand has failed to pick up and liquidity remains a concern
(d) easily cross the halfway mark required to form the next government
(e) China tries to find new markets for products
Q13. IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Ms. Gopinath, presciently warned that the world economy was poised at “a delicate moment”. Were tensions in trade policy to flare up again, it could result in_____________________, the IMF warned. Barely a month later, the world economy faces the very real risk of an escalation in this trade war where other countries, can largely only wait and watch as the U.S. and China raise the pitch.
(a) administration unambiguously signalled it was not going to be the first to blink
(b) large disruptions to global supply chains and pose downside risks to global growth
(c) latest escalation in trade tensions pans out for global demand
(d) when both sides were trying to negotiate a deal
(e) retaliatory action, but was yet to spell out the measures
Q14. Ecological economists have for years pointed to the extreme harm that humanity as a whole is courting by modifying terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems to suit immediate needs, such as raising agricultural and food output and extracting materials that aid ever-increasing consumption. Expanding agriculture by cutting down forests has raised food volumes, and mining feeds many industries, ____________________, pollination, maintenance of wild variants of domesticated plants and climate regulation.
(a) are endowed with greater biodiversity than others
(b) there is particular worry over the devastation occurring in
(c) but these have severely affected other functions such as water availability
(d) only a quarter of the land worldwide now retains its
(e) the current model of economic growth without factoring in environmental costs
Q15. India first published almost nine years ago the broad contours of a plan to fight antimicrobial resistance. The difficulty has been in implementing it, given the twin challenges of antibiotic overuse and underuse. On the one hand, many Indians still die of diseases like sepsis and pneumonia because they don’t get the right drug at the right time. On the other hand, a poorly regulated pharmaceutical industry_____________________________________.
(a) its effects began to wear off by 2011
(b) must appreciate that the only way to postpone resistance is through improved hygiene
(c) means that antibiotics are freely available to those who can afford them
(d) take it upon themselves to distribute drugs in a responsible manner
(e)phasing out critical human-use antibiotics in the animal husbandry
Solutions
S1. Ans. (d)
Sol. In the first blank, we cannot fit in ‘epidemics’, as it will make the statement contextually incorrect. Also, ‘dispute’ will not fit in grammatically. Therefore, we will eliminate options (a) and (c). Going further, ‘signified’ does not fit in contextually whereas, ‘integrated’ fits in contextually as well as grammatically. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
Epidemics: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.
Incapacitated: deprived of strength or power; debilitated.
Signified: be an indication of.
Integrated: combine (one thing) with another to form a whole.
S2. Ans. (c)
Sol. For the first blank, all the four words can fit in grammatically. Going further, for the second blank, no other word except ‘carve’ can make a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful statement. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
Downplaying: make (something) appear less important than it really is.
Entangled: cause to become twisted together with or caught in.
Underlying: be the cause or basis of (something).
Carve: produce (an object, inscription, or design) by cutting into a hard material.
Perpetrated: carry out or commit (a harmful, illegal, or immoral action)
S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Among the given set of words, only ‘engaged’ and ‘excluded fit in the blanks to make the statement grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
Excluded: remove from consideration.
Engaged: participate or become involved in.
Anticipated: regard as probable; expect or predict.
Scrambled: make one’s way quickly or awkwardly up a steep gradient or over rough ground by using one’s hands as well as one’s feet.
Recast: present or organize in a different form or style.
S4. Ans. (b)
Sol. Among the given set of words, only ‘fateful’ and ‘asylum’ fit in the blanks to make the statement grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.
Fateful: having far-reaching and often disastrous consequences or implications.
Asylum: the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee.
Negotiable: open to discussion or modification.
Comparative: involving the systematic observation of the similarities or dissimilarities between two or more branches of science or subjects of study.
Presidential: relating to a president or presidency.
Provisional: arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later
S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. Among the given set of words, only ‘efficient’ and ‘accountability’ fit in the blanks to make the statement grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
Preventive: designed to keep something undesirable such as illness or harm from occurring.
Accomplishment: something that has been achieved successfully.
Incumbent: necessary for (someone) as a duty or responsibility.
Consciousness: the state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings.
Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
S6. Ans. (c)
Sol. Among the given words, ‘analysed’ makes the statement grammatically incorrect whereas, ‘despot’ does not fit in contextually. Therefore, we will eliminate the options (b) and (d). Going further, for the second blank, only ‘impose’ makes the statement grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. Among the given phrases, we will eliminate the phrase given in option (d) because on filling it in the given blank, the phrase “he advocated the U.S.’s exit from the Human Rights Council and UNESCO ensure that” will be incorrect. The given blank must be filled in with a phrase that could basically denote the action taken by Mr. Bolton which has damaged multilateral institutions and agreements. Here, “presided over the cancellation of the multi-party nuclear deal with Iran” will make a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful statement. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Here, we will eliminate the phrase given in option (b) because the phrase has the conjunction “not only” which will be followed by “but also” in the next part of the sentence, which isn’t the case. Also, option (e) will make the statement superfluous. Here, the phrase given in option (a) will not fit in contextually and grammatically. Among all the given options, only the phrase given in option (d) fits in contextually and grammatically and thus conveys exploring the routes of trade in Arctic. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here, we will eliminate options (b) and (c) as they will form grammatically incorrect statement. Here, the placement of option (a) is correct as per the phrase preceding the blank but it will not connect with the latter part of the sentence, the part that follows the blank. We will also eliminate the phrase given in option (e) as it is grammatically incorrect. Here, if it would have been “within the next” then, it could have fit in grammatically. Here, only the phrase given in option (b) makes a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful statement. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.
S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Here, we will clearly eliminate options (a) and (e) as they will form a grammatically incorrect statement. Also, the statement given in option (c) may seem to follow the former part of the statement- “that he was threatening India with”, but it will make the statement incomplete when joined with the latter part of the sentence, following the blank. Similar is the case with option (b). Among all the options, only the statement given in option (d) forms a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful statement. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S11. Ans. (c)
Sol. Here, the writer has discussed the issues that will likely to be considered during the upcoming meeting. The phrase given in option (e) will be omitted because the phrase “World Trade Organisation structure cooperation’ will make the statement grammatically incorrect. Also, the phrase “India-US trade collective” will be an incorrect phrase. Therefore, option (d) will also be eliminated. Here, the phrase given in option (c), will connect well with the former and latter part of the statement. “Trade impasse” which means a stagnant/ deadlock and “plans for Indo- Pacific military cooperation” are the possible issues to be considered. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
S12. Ans. (c)
Sol. Here, we can omit option (a) as it is contextually different and fails to be a coherent part of the paragraph. Also, options (b) and (d) will make a grammatically incorrect statement when fit in the blank. Here, from the former part of the sentence, we can infer that we will need to mention a reason for slowed growth, and the phrase given in option (c) completely justifies the reason. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
S13. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here, we will omit option (a) as it is grammatically incorrect for the given blank. The former part of the sentence indicates that the blank the phrase which will fill in the blank will mention the result of tensions in trade policy. Here, the phrase given in option (b) will perfectly fit in the given blank. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.
S14. Ans. (c)
Sol. The passage given above discusses how the growing economic activities have affected the ecology. In the given blank, apart from phrase given in option (c), no other phrase makes a grammatically correct statement. Therefore, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
S15. Ans. (c)
Sol. Here, we can clearly omit the phrase given in option (d) as from the former part of the sentence [“poorly regulated pharmaceutical industry”] we can infer that the blank will be filled with a phrase which can support the drawback of the pharmaceutical industry. Here, only option (c) fits in the blank to make the statement contextually meaningful and grammatically correct. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.
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