English Quiz IBPS RRB Clerk Mains 2019: 12th October 2019

IBPS RRB PO/Clerk Mains English Quiz

Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

Paragraph 1: It is now widely accepted that the future of work requires different set of talent and skills. It is also argued that the global economic ideology is shifting from Capitalism to Talentism—a new era where human capital would hold more influence than financial capital. From Washington DC to Zurich to Seoul to Delhi, we discuss, debate, and commit to act so that the education we provide today meets the demands of the future. It is no longer sufficient that students just memorize content in an era of “digital enlightenment” where content is at their fingertips. The goal today is to prepare these students to fulfill the jobs in 2050 by equipping them with skills such as the ability to use content to solve complex global problems, agile thinking to make critical and informed decisions at times of uncertainty and collaborating with cross-cultural and diverse teams in a borderless and global job market.

Paragraph 2: Today, it is quite ironic that globally, over 200 million, including those who complete secondary school, are unemployed while nearly 60% of employers report a shortage of skilled labor. On the one hand, in 2013, the global unemployment rate was at 12.6% out of which 73 million were youth between the ages 15-24. On the other hand, millions of jobs go unfilled due to the increasing skills mismatch with the U.S. alone accounting for 11 million unemployed people and 4 million unfilled jobs. The gap in some of the developing nations is far worse. This issue has become a global phenomenon that it became the theme of the World Development Report 2018 with the premise that it is the skills and competencies acquired through education, and not the time spent in school, that prepare our youth to meet the shifts in the global workforce.

Paragraph 3: Having realized the urgency, one part of the world is moving rapidly towards tackling these challenges that would determine their future global competitiveness. In contrast, another section of the world—the poor and the marginalized—both across countries and within countries—continue to lag behind. Today, while one section is preparing for the “post-employment” era where robots and artificial intelligence would replace their current jobs, 265 million between age 10 and 17, nearly 20% of the world’s population of that age group, are left out of school altogether. For the ones in school, not only are schools failing to equip them with the 21st-century skills they need for employment, but they also fail to provide even the basic literacy and competencies needed today. Globally, 250 million primary school students cannot read and write and another 200 million youth leave school without the skills they need to contribute in society and find jobs.

Paragraph 4: In developing countries, the gap in primary school completion rates between the richest and poorest children is more than 30%. Meanwhile, around 45% of public education resources are allocated to educate the top 10% most educated students. In low and lower-middle income countries, approximately 1 out of 4 young people is illiterate and only less than 10 percent of schools are connected to the internet. If we were to meet the changing demands of the future, these gaps need to be addressed through quick and effective mechanisms. Looking closely at the progression and the rate it was achieved over the last few decades, we need a significantly different approach to tackle this issue. Today, no longer can we afford to measure the poor with just basic literacy—ability to read and write a sentence—while we measure the rich with 21st-century skills and competencies. If status quo were to continue, by the time the poor leave school, their education would have already become obsolete—creating a recipe for a global crisis of talent and an increasing socioeconomic gap and polarization. The conversations and action of world’s best academia, think tanks, and policymakers need to shift from the “G20s” of the world to include all countries and all communities within each country down to each individual child to ensure that the advancement in learning outcomes is inclusive and equitable.

Paragraph 5: When empowering our youth with the talents and competencies of the future, we need a multi-stakeholder and collaborative approach to ensure that we create systematic changes that are inclusive and universal: Educating the poor and the marginalized has to be a global priority and should be integrated into every discussion and policy decision when designing the future of our education. The reforms and new approaches need to be innovative and should integrate digital and technology-enabled interventions so those populations who currently lag could leapfrog into the realities of tomorrow. Encourage, engage, and facilitate the business community, start-ups, non-profits, and social enterprises to transform these sections. The governments and policymakers have failed to deliver or meet the expectations in the past, so there’s no reason to believe that the governments by themselves would be able to solve this issue in the future.

Q1. On what basis has author placed his argument on why the millions of jobs go unfilled?
(a) Labor shortage is approaching epidemic proportions, and it could be employers who end up paying.
(b) Because of much competition in the global market.
(c) Due to the mismatch between the global skillsets and the requirements of the jobs.
(d) Because of inappropriate policy decisions.
(e) None of these.

S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. Option (c) is the correct choice. This can be deduced from paragraph 2 where it is mentioned that there are 11 million unemployed people and 4 million unfilled jobs and the theme of this is the skills and competencies acquired through education and not the time spent in school, that prepare our youth to meet the shifts in the global workforce.

Q2. “The gap in education some of the developing nations is far worse.” Cite the sentence(s) from the given options through which the author has explained this statement.
(a)The government will by themselves facilitate the social enterprises to help the weaker sections.
(b)G20’s must include some specific developing nations to ensure the advancement in learning outcomes
(c) Both (a) and (b).
(d) In developing nations a fewer young people are illiterate and a less percent of schools are connected to the internet.
(e) Both (b) and (d).

S2. Ans. (d)
Sol. The appropriate choice is option (d). The answer can be inferred from paragraph 4 where it is stated that in developing countries, the gap in primary school completion rates between the richest and poorest children is more than 30%. The text is quoted as “In low and lower-middle income countries, approximately 1 out of 4 young people is illiterate and only less than 10 percent of schools are connected to the internet.”

Q3. In what way the graph of poor be impacted if the approach of literacy in present situation is still primitive?
(a) Complex global problems and agile thinking.
(b) Fostering inequality in the political processes of democracy.
(c) It would result in an increased socioeconomic gap and polarization.
(d) Government will have to come out themselves and meet the expectations.
(e) none of these.

S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Option (c) is the correct choice. The answer can be deduced from paragraph 4 which talks about the progression and the rate at which the education has achieved over the last few decades and how quick and effective mechanisms are needed to tackle the palliating issue of poor students not receiving education. The text is quoted as, “If status quo were to continue, by the time the poor leave school, their education would have already become obsolete—creating a recipe for a global crisis of talent and an increasing socioeconomic gap and polarization.”

Q4. What other stratagem is mentioned in the passage so that the learning outcomes come out to be effective?
(a) Basic norms of literacy need to be taught to the poor.
(b) Increasing financial resources for poor thereby reducing the gap.
(c) An inclusive and equitable advancement.
(d) Both (a) and (b).
(e) Both (b) and (c).

S4. Ans. (c)
Sol. Only option (c) is correct. The answer can be deduced from paragraph 4 where the author has mentioned, “The conversations and action of world’s best academia, think tanks, and policymakers need to shift from the “G20s” of the world to include all countries and all communities within each country down to each individual child to ensure that the advancement in learning outcomes is inclusive and equitable.”

Q5. How could the population who currently lags, improve its position to enter into the real world of tomorrow? Answer only in context of the passage.
(a) By political parties setting a better framework policy for education.
(b) By determining appropriately the future global competitiveness.
(c) Inculcating the better economic policies to set them as a global priority.
(d) Reforms need to be innovative and should integrate digital and technology-enabled mediations.
(e) All of these

S5. Ans. (d)
Sol. The appropriate option here is option (d). Refer to paragraph 5 where it is given, “The reforms and new approaches need to be innovative and should integrate digital and technology-enabled interventions so those populations who currently lag could leapfrog into the realities of tomorrow. “

Directions (6-8): Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

Q6. Enlightenment
(a)Commotion
(b)Erudition
(c)Insanity
(d)Nescient
(e)Benightedness

S6. Ans. (b)
Sol. Enlightenment means the action or state of attaining or having attained spiritual knowledge or insight. Erudition means the same.
Commotion means a state of confused and noisy disturbance.
Nescient means lacking knowledge, ignorant.
Benightedness means lack of knowledge.

Q7. Agile
(a)Gawky
(b)Gauche
(c)Cloddish
(d)Clumsy
(e)Nimble

S7. Ans. (e)
Sol. Agile means able to move quickly and easily.
Nimble means quick and light in movement or action.
Gawky means nervously awkward and ungainly.
Gauche means unsophisticated and socially awkward.
Cloddish means foolish, awkward, or clumsy.
Clumsy means awkward in movement or in handling things.

Q8. Obsolete
(a)Extant
(b)Contemporary
(c)Modish
(d)Defunct
(e)Newfangled

S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Obsolete means outdated. Defunct means no longer existing or functioning.
Extant means still in existence; surviving.
Contemporary means living or occurring at the same time.
Modish means conforming to or following what is currently popular and fashionable.
Newfangled means different from what one is used to; objectionably new.

Directions (9-10): Choose the word which is the OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold used in the passage.

Q9. Equitable
(a)Egalitarian
(b)Prejudiced
(c)Honorable
(d)Scrupulous
(e)Conscientious

S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. Equitable means fair and impartial.
Prejudiced means biased. Hence it is the opposite of the given word.
Egalitarian means believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
Scrupulous means careful, thorough, and extremely attentive to details.
Conscientious means wishing to do one’s work or duty well and thoroughly.

Q10. Intervention
(a)Conciliation
(b)Interposition
(c)Arbitration
(d) Overlook
(e) Intercession

S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Intervention means the act or fact of becoming involved intentionally in a difficult situation.
Overlook means fail to notice.
Intervention and overlook are thus opposite in meaning.
Conciliation means the action of stopping someone being angry; placation.
Intercession means the action of intervening on behalf of another.

Directions (11-12): In the question given below an inference is given in bold which is then followed by three paragraphs. Find out the paragraph(s) from where it is inferred.

Q11. A clampdown on the sale of oxytocin will have severe public health consequences
(I) The Union Health Ministry has decided to ban the retail sale and private manufacture of oxytocin. The drug, a synthetic version of a human hormone, is a life-saver for women. Doctors use it to induce labor in pregnant women and to stem postpartum bleeding. So critical is its role in maternal health that the World Health Organization recommends it as the drug of choice in postpartum hemorrhage.
(II) Because oxytocin stimulates lactation in cattle, dairy farmers inject the drug indiscriminately to increase milk production. This has spawned several unlicensed facilities that manufacture the drug for veterinary use. It is a problem that needs solving. The government has decided to put an end to the sale of oxytocin. But the right approach would have been to strengthen regulation and crackdown on illegal production.
(III) Even if the ill-effects of oxytocin are real, a ban is not the answer. Oxytocin is simply too important to Indian women, 45,000 of whom die due to causes related to childbirth each year. A parallel to the situation lies in the misuse of antibiotics in humans and poultry. So heavily are these drugs used that they are causing deadly bacteria to become resistant to them.
(a) Only I
(b) Both I and II
(c) Both I and III
(d) Only III
(e) All of these

S11. Ans. (c)
Sol. Option (c) is the correct choice for the given question. Both I and III are the paragraphs from which the inference is generated. Both the paragraphs talk about the major fields in which its impact is insurmountable (too great to overcome). If the government goes through the ban it may cause risk to the life of the people. II is incorrect as we are not talking about the public health consequence but instead it indicates that the government’s ban is motivated instead the misuse of the hormone in the dairy industry.

Q12. Article 35A was designed to take autonomy away from the state instead of giving the state a special status.
(I) The Article was introduced in May 1954 as part of a larger Presidential Order package, which made several additions to the Constitution. The overall gist of this Order was to give the Government of India enormously more powers over the State than it had enjoyed before. For the first time, India’s fundamental rights and directive principles were applicable to Jammu and Kashmir and the State’s finances were integrated with India. Importantly, the Order also extended the Indian Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over certain aspects of Jammu and Kashmir.
(II) Even before Article 35A, Kashmir initially was conceived as a State with “special status”. The controversial Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1947 which brought the State into the Union of India gave New Delhi control only over Kashmir’s defense, foreign policy, and communications. On all other matters, the State government retained powers. On the spectrum of autonomy, Jammu and Kashmir lay somewhere between, say, Bihar, a fully integrated State of India, and Bhutan, which enjoyed limited sovereignty under the protection of India.
(III) It took another 70 years of successive governments steadily chipping away at Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy to bring it to today when the only meaningful “special status” that it enjoys is Article 35A. Almost all of State’s other autonomous powers have been subsumed by New Delhi. Today’s debate over the Article should be seen as part of this larger decades-long process of the State’s integration into India, sometimes through legal means and sometimes through outright fiat.
(a) Only I
(b) Both I and II
(c) Both I and III
(d) Only III
(e) All of these

S12. Ans. (a)
Sol. Paragraph (I) is the correct choice as the given sentence is inferred from the paragraph. Refer to the second line of the paragraph (I) of the passage, “The overall gist of this Order was to give the Government of India enormously more powers over the State than it had enjoyed before”. From here we can infer that the taking the autonomy from the state and giving it back to the government was the motive of the article.

Directions (13-14): 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. In the questions where the fifth option is “all are correct” and all the given four options are correct choose option (e) as your choice.
Q13. (a) The inconvenient truth is that the underlying fundamentals have not changed.
(b) The boy asked his father why he was cutting down the tree.
(c) He has a scheme of his own which he thinks preferable than that of any other person.
(d) I began to tremble when I saw a sharp long knife in my enemy’s hand.
(e) A large number of patients in the country are illiterate and even many literate patients are not well-versed with medical terms.

S13. Ans. (c)
Sol. Use ‘to’ in place of ‘than’ as after ‘preferable’, preposition ‘to’ is used.

Q14. (a) Every leaf and every flower proclaim the glory of God.
(b) These kinds of shoes seem to be expensive but they are relatively easy to care for.
(c) In the absence of clear instructions, one cannot be expected to function effectively.
(d) How you eat is as important as what you eat.
(e) The short boy has seven rupees and the fat boy has only a rupee.

S14. Ans. (e)
Sol. Use ‘one’ in place of ‘a’; ‘seven’ is numeral adjective in ‘seven rupees’, therefore with ‘rupee’, numeral adjective ‘one’ will be used, not the article ‘a’.

Directions (15): 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.

Q15. Suffice it to certify that the patron-client relationship has benefited Trinamul, as it once did the CPI-M through the Panchayati raj and Operation Barga. For now, the dominion of the BJP, if on a limited scale, advance a new scope to West Bengal politics.

(a)File, reign, conceals, extent
(b)Report, sovereignty, withhold, purview
(c)Record, jurisdiction, presents, territory
(d)Register, ascendancy, lends, dimension
(e)No correction required.

S15. Ans. (d)
Sol. Ascendancy means occupation of a position of dominant power or influence.
Purview means the scope of the influence or concerns of something.

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