English Language Quiz for IBPS 2021 Mains Exams- 1st January

Table of Contents

Directions (1-5): In each of the following questions a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the five answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent (coherent means logically complete and sound).

Q1. The divisions among her followers and detractors are as much ideological as they are intergenerational. A number of Ms. Park’s party supporters continue to harbour sympathies for the daughter of South Korea’s moderniser, the military dictator Park Chung-hee. But younger generations see the severing of all links with this authoritarian past as a necessary guarantee for the consolidation of democracy, three decades after return to civilian rule. The chaebols — South Korea’s highly influential family-owned conglomerates — may have had economic motivations to lean heavily on political patronage during the country’s industrial ascendency and integration into the global market. But such cosy arrangements are proving to be untenable when exceptions of the past are sought to be institutionalised. The task of public cleansing in South Korea is far from over, as is evident from the ongoing criminal proceedings involving tycoons from its best-known corporations. (…………………………………………………) . It would be no surprise, therefore, if South Korea’s example becomes a model worthy of emulation elsewhere in the region.

(a) The removal of a sitting President in South Korea brings to a close one phase in the months-long popular mobilisation to enforce accountability among the high and mighty.
(b) The chief accusation is that they solicited contributions to promote dodgy non-profit organisations in return for clearing questionable corporate deals.
(c) They are seeking to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions.
(d) The recent assertion of the independence of the judiciary from political interference and the capacity of legislators to uphold their authority are notable.
(e) It has escalated regional tensions and China has retaliated with calls for the boycott of South Korean imports.

Q2. Ruling on a petition filed by the Congress, the Supreme Court asked the BJP government in Goa to prove its majority within 48 hours, instead of the 15 days’ leeway given by Governor Sinha. (…………………………………………………………………………).The court’s reluctance to uphold the principle of inviting the single largest party first and therefore, to stay Parrikar’s swearing-in on Tuesday, is controversial.

(a) In Goa the Governor ignored the established principle of inviting the single largest party in the wake of a fractured mandate
(b) The Justice laid down some guidelines to be followed in the appointment of a chief minister by a governor
(c) The premise of the decision is questionable.
(d) The gubernatorial decision in Goa reek of partisanship.
(e) But it was a half-measure.

Q3. Certain issues that required the government’s urgent attention continue to be neglected. (……………………………………………………………………………………………….) . For instance, the strategic sale of public sector undertakings, which Modi reintroduced in the reform lexicon by getting the Union cabinet to approve its broad modalities in October last, is yet to move ahead substantively. The bad loan problem has its origins in the UPA’s term when the private sector added huge capacities, built large infrastructure projects and borrowed a lot, hoping the economy would continue to grow rapidly.

(a) But this affirmation comes with enormous expectations, particularly of the youth
(b) The private sector continues to be saddled with excess capacity, and is unlikely to consider fresh investments.
(c) Much remains mired in bureaucracy even after the prime minister’s promises.
(d) Huge debt on the large non-performing assets in the balance sheets of state-owned banks have jammed the wheels of the economy
(e) The government cannot over-spend, given its responsibility towards the fisc.

Q4. Pakistani atheists – a broad term encompassing agnostics, the irreligious, deists, and humanists alike – have been lazily painted by the Islamists as “liberals and seculars,” despite the fact that many believing and practicing Muslims identify as such as well. Muslims openly identifying as atheist in Pakistan would be an open invitation to violence, (…………………………………………………………………..), coupled with the National Database and Registration Authority’s (NADRA) refusal to let citizens officially change Islam as their religion. Hence, the aforementioned “secular liberal” label also provides refuge to the atheists.

(a) Considering the state’s blasphemy laws are interpreted to outlaw apostasy
(b) as action against jihadist groups becoming inevitable.
(c) with the well-coordinated maneuver accused of being a state-backed operation by many quarters.
(d) Delineating the ideological divide
(e) The Islamists at the helm of state institutions have found the filter to sift atheists

Q5. India is not a signatory of the United Nation Refugee Convention; therefore it is not required to provide safe haven to people seeking asylum from persecution in other countries. No attempts have been made by the government to debate the issue of joining the United Nation Refugee Convention. That would have been the natural step to take if the government was indeed interested in formulating a humanitarian refugee policy. Further, the provisions of refugee protection cater to all minorities fleeing countries due to a humanitarian crisis but, in this bill, India is offering citizenship based on religious predilections. The bill, if passed in its current form, seeks to give preference to Hindu refugees over Muslim refugees migrating to India, which is unconstitutional as, the preamble of the Constitution confirms India as a secular state. The refugees who will actually benefit from this policy are living in abject poverty with no sanitation and infrastructure facilities. (……………………………………………………………)

(a) A closer look at the provisions indicates that the current government is attempting to increase its Hindu voter count.
(b) The government, instead of using a blanket policy, has made this a communal issue with a veiled political agenda, which would be counterproductive to the seemingly humanitarian goal of the bill.
(c) The bill at first glance seems like a humanitarian effort to help persecuted minorities but it only seeks to help Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from the neighboring Muslim countries.
(d) This policy in the Indian context would be contrary to the ideals of secularism and pluralism and thus unconstitutional.
(e) If the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is passed, in its current form, then the border regions would face an influx of Hindu migrants, which would change the voter demographics in the region.

Directions (6-7): Each statement has a part missing. Choose the best option from the four options given below the statement to make up the missing part:

Q6. Archaeologists believe that the pieces of red-ware pottery excavated recently near Bhavnagar ___________ shed light on a hitherto dark 600-year period in the Harappan history of Gujarat.

(a) estimated with a reasonable certainty as being about 3400 years old.
(b)are estimated reasonably certain to be about 3400 years old
(c) estimated at about 3400 years old with reasonable certainty.
(d) estimated with a reasonable certainty to be about 3400 years old.
(e) None of these.

Q7. The ancient Egyptians believed _____________ so that when these objects were magically reanimated through the correct rituals, they would be able to function effectively.

(a)that it was essential that things they portrayed must have every relevant feature shown as clearly as possible,
(b) it was essential for things they portray to have had every relevant feature shown as clearly as possible,
(c) it was essential that the things they portrayed had every relevant feature shown as clearly as possible,
(d)that when they portrayed things , it should have every relevant feature shown as clearly as possible.
(e)None of these

Directions (8-9): After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.

A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system – that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “radically-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter people was not inspired by capitalists, he has no reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers

Q8. According to the passage, the Marxist sociologist’s chain of reasoning him to assert that prejudice toward Oriental people in California was

(a)Non racial in character
(b)Similar in origin to prejudice against the Jews.
(c) Understood by oriental people as ethnic competition
(d)Provoked by workers.
(e)None of these.

Q9. The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions.

(a) What accounts for the prejudice against the Jews in Medieval Europe?
(b) What conditions caused the discrimination against the oriental people in California in the early twentieth century?
(c) Which groups are not in ethnic competition with each other in USA.
(d) What explanation did the Marxist sociologist give for the existence of the racial prejudice?
(e) None of these.

Directions (10–11) : 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 sentence is correct as it is and ‘No correction is required’, mark (e) as the answer.

Q10. India has rarely witnessed a campaign conformation of the order witnessed in the last two phases of the poll. Mr.Modi spent three days in and around Varanasi alone, endeavoring to both retain the votes that amassed to him in his Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, and throw his voice longer in the election’s home empire.

(a) Onslaught, opting, emanated, demesne
(b) Endeavour, eschewing, implored, territory
(c) exertion, aspiring, beseeched, domain
(d) blitz, seeking, accrued, stretch
(e)No improvement

Q11. A reassuring explanation could be that with rising incomes, women have the opportunity to escape harsh labour in farms and on construction sites, and focus on their families. But a more pessimistic and comprehensible realistic explanation might be that with declining farm sizes, rising mechanisation, and consequently inflating labour demands in agriculture, women are being forced out of the venture.

(a) invigorating, conceivable, aggravating, industries
(b) pragmatic, perhaps, diminishing, camaraderie
(c)heartening,possibly,dwindling,workforce
(d) rational, plausible, plummeting, profession
(e) No improvement

Directions (12): In the following questions, a related pair of words or phrases is followed by the five lettered pair of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.

PERTINENT: RELEVANCE

(a) OBSCURE: INGENIOUS
(b) INCOMPETENCE: CREDULITY
(c) PERSECUTION: IMBECILE
(d) INANE: LUDICROUS
(e) RENDEZVOUS : ASSIDUOUS

Directions (13-15): In each of the following questions, five options are given and you have to choose the one which has some or any grammatical error in it.

Q13.
(a) A 25 basis points rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, which was already priced-in, plus a dovish stance augurs well for risk assets and for emerging markets.
(b) Since the beginning of this year, as the dollar has weakened against the rupee, the benchmark Sensex has soared.
(c) With Fed chair Janet Yellen being her usual dovish self, the market is now convinced it has the best of both worlds
(d) The key to risk appetite for emerging market assets such as Indian equities, therefore, lies in the strength of the dollar.
(e) Rameshwaram informed me that he had gone to one of the Minister’s residences and stayed there all night.

Q14.
(a) The instances of theft and destruction of distributed renewable energy appliances has been very prevalent in programs especially run by aid agencies as part of corporate social responsibility or where the government provides a subsidy
(b) When the first solar units were installed in Bhamana in 2010, most houses got a small photovoltaic panel connected to a battery that could power a light for five to six hours.
(c) If any proof was needed to show that the United Nations have lately become a policy tool in the hands of the U.S.A. and that the world’s sole might has a subservient international body, it was provided by President Bush’s angry comment.
(d) Before the floor test began, Rane told reporters that the delay caused by the Congress leadership in staking claim to form the government had demoralized the people of Goa.
(e) Interestingly, while cricket still accounts for much of this, other sports are beginning to make their presence felt.

Q15.
(a) The asset management firm was keen on investing in Sohan Lal because of its fully integrated and process-driven business model.
(b) If we had Mohan in our team, we would have won the match against your team.
(c) These products are expected to help cash-strapped developers get easier access to funds while also creating new investment avenues for institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
(d) A broken solar panel is all that the 35-year-old farmer has to remind him of the government’s promise to bring electricity to all of India’s villages.
(e) Many of the young people studying abroad agreed that returning home was always an attractive option.

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Solutions

S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. Option (d) is correct as it is making the argument in the previous sentence even more stronger by giving an evidence of how public cleansing is far from over and the action against the prominent figures is just one of the phase as the sentence talks about the capacity of the judicial authority.

S2. Ans.(e)
Sol. Option (e) is correct and is in harmony with the theme of the passage as in the passage/ paragraph we are talking about the court’s decision and why it is controversial. Option (e) points out how the decision is only a half- measure and the incompetence of the court in taking a full measure is what that makes it controversial.

S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. Option (c) is giving emphasis upon the stagnancy of many issues even after Modi’s promises and the sentence after the blank completely justifies it by giving one more examples of one such issue.

S4. Ans.(a)
Sol. Option (a) fits the paragraph/passage most appropriately and is in complete harmony with the theme of the passage. Other options are out of context and are irrelevant.

S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. The passage/ paragraph is talking about how ignorant our government has been in catering to the needs of the refugees and how the proposed bill is not secular as it is giving preference to the hindu refugees. The last line of the question which is not the concluding line is talking about the pathetic condition of the poor and option (b) is continuing with the theme of the passage as it is criticizing the government’s effort in making this issue a communal one.

S6. Ans.(d)
Sol. Option (d) fits into the blank. In option (a) the usage of the indefinite article is erroneous. Options (b) and (c) are erroneous due to the incorrect ordering of words.

S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. The tense in options (a) and (b) is not consistent. Moreover, option (a) uses both ‘essential’ and ‘must’, thus rendering either one of these words redundant. In option (d) ‘things’ the plural form cannot take ‘it’. Hence option (d) is the answer.

S8. Ans.(a)
Sol. In last line of the passage, the tone of author is such that this theory is not able to explain the occurrence of racial discrimination in other communities such as Jews and Chinese, therefore options (b), (c) and (d) are out of the question. Hence the answer is option (a).

S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. The answer is option (d), which would answer the information in the passage as the explanation of racism is given in the 1st line of the passage. All other options are sub-parts of the passage which the author has talked about. Hence the answer is option (d).

S10. Ans.(d)
Sol. Blitz means a sudden concerted effort to deal with something.
Seeking means attempt or desire to obtain or achieve (something).
Accrued means (of a benefit or sum of money) be received by someone in regular or increasing amounts over time.
Stretch means to extend or spread over an area or period of time.

S11. Ans.(c)
Sol. Workforce means the people engaged in or available for work, either in a country or area or in a particular firm or industry.
Dwindling means to diminish gradually in size, amount, or strength.
heartening means to make more cheerful or confident.
venture means to undertake a risky or daring journey or course of action.

S12. Ans.(d)
Sol. Pertinent means relevant or applicable to a particular matter; apposite hence is the synonym of relevance. Only Inane and ludicrous are the synonyms and have the same relationship hence option (d) is the correct choice for the given question.

S13. Ans.(e)
Sol. Use “the residence of one of the ministers” in place of “one of the Minister’s residences”.