Directions (1-5): In each question, a sentence is given with a phrase highlighted. Choose the option that best replaces the highlighted portion in the sentence. If the highlighted phrase makes the contextual and grammatical sense in the sentence, mark option (a) .i.e. “No correction required” as your answer.
Q1. As the shrill, piercing sound of the sirens approached, several of my neighbors’ dogs start to howl.
(a) No correction required
(b) approached, several of my neighbors’ dogs started
(c) approach, several of my neighbors’ dogs starts
(d) approach, several of my neighbors’ dog start
(e) approaches, several of my neighbors’ dogs started
Q2. After reconsidering my original judgments, I feel obliged to reread the book I maligned and which initially seemed so inconsequential.
(a) No correction required
(b) the book in which I maligned what first seemed so inconsequential
(c) the maligned book which I initially deemed inconsequential
(d) the book I malign initially and inconsequentially
(e) the book which I malign inconsequentially
Q3. On arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, his friends met him and took him immediately to his wedding.
(a) No correction required
(b) Arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, his friends who met him immediately took him to his wedding.
(c) When he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, his friends met him and took him immediately to his wedding.
(d) When he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, he was waiting and they immediately to his wedding.
(e) On his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, his friends took him to his wedding.
Q4. Among the members of the legal profession there are many who try to keep their clients out of court and save their clients’ money.
(a) No correction required
(b) ones who try to keep their clients out of court
(c) they who try to keep their clients out of court
(d) many of whom try to keep their clients out of court
(e) many of those who try to keeping their clients out of court
Q5. Because she worked the night shift, arriving at 10 p.m. and leaving at 6 a.m.
(a) No correction required
(b) having arrived at 10 p.m. and leaving at 6 a.m.
(c) her arrival at 6 p.m. departure at 10 a.m.
(d) with an arrival at 6 and a departure at 10.
(e) she arrived at 10 p.m. and left at 6 a.m.
Directions (6-10): There are two blanks in each of the following sentences. From the pairs of words given, choose the one that fills the blanks most appropriately. The first word in the pair should fill the first blank.
Q6. The British retailer, M & S, today formally __________ defeat in its attempt to __________ King’s, its US subsidiary, since no potential purchasers were ready to cough up the necessary cash.
(a) admitted, acquire
(b) conceded, offload
(c) announced, dispose
(d) ratified, auction
(e) declare, call
Q7. Early __________ of maladjustment to college culture is __________ by the tendency to develop friendship networks outside college which mask signals of maladjustment.
(a) treatment, compounded
(b) detection, facilitated
(c) identification, complicated
(d) prevention, helped
(e) curing, irritated
Q8. The __________ regions of Spain all have unique cultures, but the __________ views within each region make the issue of an acceptable common language of instruction an even more contentious one.
(a) different, discrete
(b) distinct, disparate
(c) divergent, distinct
(d) different, competing
(e) differing, powerful
Q9. A growing number of these expert professions __________ having to train foreigners as the students end up __________ the teachers who have to then unhappily contend with no jobs at all or new jobs with drastically reduced pay packets.
(a) resent, replacing
(b) resist, challenging
(c) welcome, assisting
(d) are, supplanting
(e) requires, scolding
Q10. Companies that try to improve employees’ performance by __________ rewards encourage negative kinds of behavior instead of __________ a genuine interest in doing the work well.
(a) giving, seeking
(b) bestowing, discouraging
(c) conferring, discrediting
(d) withholding, fostering
(e) delivering, furnishing
Solutions
S1. Ans.(b)
Sol. Use the same simple past tense for actions happening together — ‘approached. . . . . . started’. Parallelism error.
S2. Ans.(a)
Sol. (b) makes no sense, (c) does not say who maligned the book and (d) is grammatically wrong.
S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. (a) and (b) imply that ‘his friends’ arrived at the airport. (d) does not show make sense. (c) is most accurate.
S4. Ans.(a)
Sol. (b) may have been considered if ‘ones’ had been replaced by ‘once’. (c) with ‘they’ is too specific. (d) cannot be accepted on grammatical terms. (d) is not correct.
S5. Ans.(e)
Sol. The comma should be followed by the subject ‘she’.
S6. Ans.(b)
Sol. conceded and offload are the most appropriate pair of words to fit here. Announced do not go with formally, so (c) is out. Nor does ratified, so (d) is out. Acquire does not go logically with purchasers, so (a) is out.
S7. Ans.(c)
Sol. If you have friends outside college, they tend to mask adjustment problems with college colleagues. treatment cannot be compounded, so (a) is out. If signals are masked, nothing is facilitated, so (b) is out. For similar reasons, helped in (d) cannot fill the second blank. Identification and complicated is thus the right pair.
S8. Ans.(a)
Sol. In the first blank the confusion could be between “different” and “distinct”. However, once you know that certain regions of Spain are unique, only then can you call them distinct, not before. Which is why the first blank can’t be distinct. So, the first blank should be different. Now between (a) and (d) the correct answer is (a) because discrete means distinct and so we are carrying forward the thought of difference between regions and then in the regions themselves.
S9. Ans.(a)
Sol. resent and replacing is the most appropriate pair of words to fit here. Welcome cannot go with the implication in unhappy so (c) is out. Resist is too extreme to fit in a teacher’s situation, so (b) is out. are in (d) also indicate a compulsive situation which is not evident in the sentence, so (d) is out.
S10. Ans.(d)
Sol. Negative reinforcements foster negative behavior. (a), (b) and (c) are easily ruled out as giving, bestowing or conferring rewards cannot possibly encourage negative behavior. Withholding and fostering thus presents the right situation here.
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