Table of Contents
Directions (1-8): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them, while answering some of the questions.
There are important differences in the situation models constructed for narrative and expository texts. A situation model for a narrative text is likely to refer to the characters in it and their emotional states, the setting, the action and sequence of events. A situation model for a scientific text, on the other hand, is likely to concentrate on the components of a system and their relationships, the events and processes that occur during the working of the system and the uses of the system. Moreover, scientific discourse is rooted in an understanding of cause and effect that differs from our everyday understanding. Our everyday understanding which is reflected in narrative text sees cause and effect in terms of goal structures. This is indeed the root of our superstitious behaviour – we (not necessarily consciously) attribute purposefulness to almost everything! But this approach is something we have to learn not to apply to scientific problems (and it requires a lot of learning). This is worth emphasising: science texts assume a different way of explaining events from the way we are accustomed to use – a way that must be learned.
In general, narrative text (and ‘ordinary’ thinking) is associated with goal structures and scientific text with logical structures. However, it’s not quite as clear-cut a distinction as all that. While the physical sciences certainly focus on logical structure, both the biological sciences and technology often use goal structures to frame their discussions. Nevertheless, as a generalisation, we may say that logical thinking informs experts in these areas, while goal structures are what novices focus on. This is consistent with another intriguing finding.
In a comparison of two types of texts – one discussing human technology and other discussing forces of nature, it was found that technological texts were more easily processed and remembered. Indications were that different situation models were constructed — a goal-oriented representation for the technological text and a causal chain representation for the force of nature text. The evidence also suggested that people found it much easier to make inferences (whether about agents or objects) when human agents were involved. Having objects as the grammatical subject was clearly more difficult to process.
There are several reasons why goal-oriented, human-focused discourse might be more easily processed (understood, remembered) than texts describing inanimate objects linked in a cause-effect chain and they come down to the degree of similarity to narrative. As a rule of thumb, we may say that to the degree that scientific text resembles a story, the more easily it will be processed. Inference making is crucial to comprehension and the construction of a situation, because a text never explains every single word and detail, every logical or causal connection.
In the same way that narrative and expository texts have different situation models, they also involve a different pattern of inference making, e.g. Narratives involve a lot of predictive inferences, expository texts typically involve a lot of backward inferences. The number of inferences required may also vary.
A study found that readers made nine times as many inferences in stories as they did in expository texts. This may be because there are more inferences required in narratives. Narratives involve the richly complex world of human beings, as opposed to some rigidly specified aspect of it, described according to a strict protocol. But it may also reflect the fact that readers don’t make all (or indeed, anywhere near) the inferences needed in expository text. And indeed, the evidence indicates that students are poor at noticing coherence gaps (which require inferences).
Q1. Which of these statements is not associated with the ‘situation models’?
(a) Situation model refers to characters and their emotional states
(b) Situation model refers to the setting, the action and the sequence of events
(c) Situation model concentrates on the components of a system and their relationships
(d) It does not show the events and processes that occur during the working of a system
(e) None of the above
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Q2. In the comparison of two types of texts-one discussing human technology and the other discussing forces of nature, which is the best statement to support the view?
(a) Logical thinking informs experts
(b) Goal-structured thinking may be done by the novices even
(c) Technological texts are processed easily and remembered
(d) Force of nature needs a causal chain
(e) None of the above
Q3. Which is the most optimal reason for easy processing of the scientific text?
(a) Scientific text deals with the phenomenon that are general to the normal course of life
(b) Scientific text when resembles with that of a story then it procures lot more sense to the processing
(c) Scientific texts involve a different pattern of inference making which is possessed by the experts only
(d) Predictive and backward inferences make the scientific text more processed
(e) None of the above
Q4. How does inference affect the processing of scientific text?
(a) Inference gives the readers an idea of the rich and complex human world
(b) It lets the readers away from the definite protocol of an expository text
(c) Inference arms you with the understanding of coherency
(d) All of the above
(e) None of the above
Directions (5 -6): Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage.
Q5. Expository
(a) uninstructive
(b)unspecified
(c) incognito
(d) explanatory
(e) vague
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Q6. Novices
(a) neophyte
(b) expert
(c) veteran
(d)doyen
(e)virtuoso
Directions (7 – 8): Choose the word which is opposite in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage.
Q7. Inference
(a)presumption
(b)reckoning
(c)contingency
(d)extrapolation
(e)guesstimate
Q8. Predictive
(a)oracular
(b)prognostic
(c)sibylline
(d)unprophetic
(e)foretelling
Directions (9–11) : In each question, four different ways of presenting an idea are given. Choose the one that conforms most closely to standard English usage. If none of the given options is correct, choose option (e) as an answer.
Q9. (a) Despite the vigorous efforts of the U.S. Secretary of State to seek to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians in a new effort to resolving an existential problem, American political compulsions are unlikely to lead to anything but a make-believe truce.
(b) Despite the vigorous efforts of the U.S. Secretary of State to seek to bring peace among Israelis and Palestinians in a new effort at resolving an existential problem, American political compulsions are unlikely to lead to anything but make-believe truce.
(c) Despite vigorous efforts of the U.S. Secretary of State to seek to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians in a new effort to resolve an existential problem, American political compulsions are unlikely to lead to anything but make-believe truce.
(d) Despite the vigorous efforts of the U.S Secretary of State to seek to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians in a new effort at resolving an existential problem, American political compulsions are unlikely to lead to anything but a make-believe truce.
(e)None of these
Q10. (a) Of all the various genres that inhabit the literary world, not one has captured readers’ imagination so much as the ‘whodunit’ murder mystery.
(b) Of all the various genres that inhabit the literary world, not one has captured readers’ imagination as much as the ‘whodunit’ murder mystery.
(c) Of all the various genres that inhabit the literary world, not one have captured readers’ imagination so much as the ‘whodunit’ murder mystery.
(d) Of all the various genres that inhabit the literary world, not one has captured readers’ imagination as much as the ‘whodunit’ murder mystery did.
(e)None of these
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Q11. (a) As the global and business profile of India increases, it is only natural that most Indians find themselves in legal and diplomatic crosshairs around the world.
(b) As the global and business profile of India increase, it is only natural that mostly Indians find themselves in legal and diplomatic crosshairs around the world.
(c) As the global and business profile of India increases, it is only natural that more Indians find themselves in legal and diplomatic crosshairs along the world.
(d) As the global and business profile of India increase, it is natural only that most Indians find themselves in legal and diplomatic crosshairs across the world.
(e)None of these
Directions (12-13): 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.
Q12. The Indian constitution provides for demarcation of functional responsibilities and finances between the Centre and the States. The provision of public services has been largely entrusted to the States. These mainly relate to law and order, public health, sanitation, water supply and agriculture. The States have to concurrently take certain functions in areas such as education, infrastructure. Their share in combined expenditure (Centre and States) on social services is about 85 per cent, while in the case of economic services; it is about 60 percent. Thus, the States have the primary responsibility to undertake tasks pertaining to developing social and economic infrastructure. However, their ability to undertake such development functions is critically determined by their financial position. The growing importance of state finances in the macro-economy is evident from the fact……………… The size of over all development expenditures of the states has always been higher than that of the Centre and the difference has got widened rather significantly in the 1990s.
(a) That the States has overrun their planned expenditures and lacking freedom of further development
(b) That the States has reached at the peak of their finances and overtaken Centres in revenues
(c) That Centre borrow money from the states for its expenditures on educational and social welfare programmes
(d) That the total expenditures of State governments have even undertaken those of the Centre
(e) That the total expenditures of State and Center has widened unprecedently in 1990s.
Q13. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the International Trade Organization were conceived at the Breton woods Conference in July,1944 as institutions to strengthen international economic cooperation and to help create a more stable and prosperous global economy. While the IMF and the World Bank come into existence and started functioning from 1946, the International Trade Organization could not be set up. Instead, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was set up in 1947.Through successive round of negotiations, the GATT got transformed into what has come to be known as the World Trade Organization (WTO) that started functioning from January 1,1995. The various institutions have setup to govern international economic relations. While all the institutions work in close coordination with each other……………..
(a) Each of the institutions is independent
(b) Each of the these institutions works with different focus in different direction
(c) Each of these institutions has its own specific area of responsibilities
(d) Each of these institutions has major role to play in each other’s work
(e) Each of these institutions has imprint of its work on other’s performance
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Directions (14 – 15): Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Q14. The organization ……… to popularize Indian classical music among the youth which has lost ……. with its cultural roots.
(a) endeavours, touch
(b) wishes, interest
(c) efforts, experience
(d) exerts, intrigue
(e) need, relation
Q15. One of the major critics of the examination system is that it ……….. to a spirit of ……. competition among the students.
(a) result, defective
(b) accompanies, adequate
(c) develops, intense
(d) takes, severe
(e) leads, unhealthy
Solutions
S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. As it is known that situation models show the events and processes that occur during the working of
a system, but option (d) has been opposing the idea. Hence, this is not associated with the model.
S2. Ans.(c)
Sol. Technological texts are processed easily and remembered easily too because these contain visual as -well as verbal means of description.
S3. Ans.(b)
Sol. After reading the passage, it is well understood that scientific text when resembles with story, then it has lot more sense to the processing.
S4. Ans.(d)
Sol. All of the above given options contribute to the processing of a scientific text
S5. Ans. (d)
Sol. Expository means intended to explain or describe something. Explanatory means serving to explain something.
S6. Ans. (a)
Sol. Novices means a person new to and inexperienced in a job or situation. Neophyte means a person who is new to a subject or activity.
S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. Inference means a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. Contingency means a future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Predictive means relating to or having the effect of predicting an event or result. Unprophetic means not prophetic, not seeing future events correctly
S9. Ans.(d)
S10. Ans.(b)
S11. Ans.(a)
S12. Ans.(d)
Sol. Passage is a comparison of Centre and State Government’s plans, finances and expenditures. In this particular portion of passage which have the blank part, it is mentioned that State finances are increasing at rapid rate and now they have more liberty for spending on expenditures mean while a comparison is also done with centre’s expenditures in part following the blank space so option (d) which encompasses this sense of part of passage is correct filler. Option(a) is opposite of what is being said in the passage. Option (b) and (c) discusses revenues and borrowing of centre’s which is not mentioned orintended in the passage so these are incorrect. Option(e) is repetition of what is given in statement after the blank space.
S13. Ans.(c)
Sol. It has been already given that all the institutes work in coordination so option (d) and (e) is redundant and repeating same thing in different manner. Sentence indicates that though these institutions work in coordination these are having different responsibilities to shoulder. But again there are two options which are nearly saying same thing -option (b) and Option (c).But in option (b)’different direction’ is not right. If they are working in different direction then what is the need of coordinating. Option (a) is not correct for the context.
S14. Ans.(a)
Sol. The organization wants to popularize Indian classic music so only endeavors fits correctly here which means try hard to do or achieve something. Also, “endeavors, touch” when used together makes correct sense.
S15. Ans.(e)
Sol. The unhealthy competition is the consequence of examination system thus, leads will be correct word. Unhealthy is used because sentence starts in a negative sense. Hence, ‘leads, unhealthy’ when used together makes correct sense.
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