Directions (1-5): In each of the following sentences there are certain blank spaces. Below each sentence there are five options denoted by the numbers (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e). Find out which option can be used to fill up the blank (s) in the sentence in the same sequence to make it meaningfully complete.
Q1. Sikkim was __________ seriously by the September 2011 earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter _________.
(a)effected, range
(b)damaged, metre
(c)haunted, calibration
(d)affected, scale
(e)blemished, system
Q2. India has a vibrant publishing scene, thanks to not only the big publishers but also a lot of quality- ________ little publishing houses that _________ it going.
(a)conscious, keep
(b)responsive, put
(c)apprised, retain
(d)mindful, retain
(e)cognizant, enjoy
Q3. The staunch proponents of economic liberalisation have often __________ that the relaxation of state ___________ will lead to phenomenal growth of industries spurred by FDI.
(a)contended, neglect
(b)jumped, inability
(c)hassled, domination
(d)crossed, dominion
(e)argued, control
Q4. After a relationship __________ over one-and-a-half centuries, on July 14, Kolkata bid an emotional _________ to a mode of communication called the telegram.
(a)traversing, farewell
(b)traveling, relation
(c)spanning, adieu
(d)ranging, goodbye
(e)covering, hello
Q5. __________ the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo Mysore War (1798-99) in Srirangpatnam, the British army ___________ itself in the vicinity of the old city area of Bangalore.
(a)By, opened
(b)With, garrisoned
(c)To, guarded
(d)In, armoured
(e)For, left
Directions (6-10): In each of the following sentences there are two blank spaces. Below each sentence there are five pairs of words denoted by numbers (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e). Find out which pair of words can be filled up in the blanks in the sentence in the same sequence to make the sentence grammatically correct and meaningfully complete.
Q6. While war has never been absent from the ____ of man, there have been periods in History which appear remarkably ____.
(a) archives – ambivalent
(b) posterity – serene
(c) mind – desultory
(d) annals – pacific
(e) life – belligerent
Q7. While the world was ______ to the happenings in Washington and New york, America’s political class was _______ by the attacks.
(a) watching, worried
(b) alert, concerns
(c) averse, excited
(d) glued, devastated
(e) unaware, criticize
Q8. This biography we are given a glimpse of the young man ____ pursuing the path of the poet despite ____ and rejection slips.
(a) doggedly, disappointment
(b) tirelessly , encouragement
(c) sporadically , awards
(d) successfully , acclaim
(e) avidly , achievement
Q9. Archaeology is a poor profession; only ____ sums are available for excavating sites and even more ____ amounts for preserving the excavations.
(a) paltry – meager
(b) miniscule – substantially
(c) highest – augmented
(d) judicious – penurious
(e) rich- generous
Q10. An essential purpose of the criminal justice system is to enable purgation to take place; that is, to provide a _______ by which a community expresses its collective ________ the transgression of the criminal
(a) catharsis, outrage at
(b) disclaimer, forgiveness from
(c) procedure, distaste with
(d) document, disapprobation of
(e) source, action for
Directions (11-15): In each of the following questions there is a sentence with a pair of blank spaces, followed by five pair of words. Choose the pair that can fill up the blanks in the same order. The number of that pair is your answer.
Q11. Handicrafts constitute an important _____ of the decentralised sector of India’s economy and ______ employment to over six million artisans.
(a) factors — aims
(b) extension — plans
(c) segment — provides
(d) supplier — gives
(e) period — projects
Q12. Among a number of hobbies that one can ______, the hobby of reading is the most useful and ______
(a) develops — accumulative
(b) cultivates — enlightened
(c) nourish — cumulative
(d) absorbs — durable
(e) considers — appreciative
Q13. The quality of _____ between individuals and the organisation for which they work can be ____ to benefit both the parties.
(a) services — evaluated
(b) interaction — improved
(c) sophistication — developed
(d) resource — appreciated
(e) life — conceptualized
Q14. Part of the confusion in our societies _______ from our pursuit of efficiency and economic growth, in the _______that these are the necessary ingredients of progress.
(a) stems — conviction
(b) derives — evaluation
(c) emerges — consideration
(d) obtains — exploration
(e) extends — planning
Q15. The problem of housing shortage _______ with the population explosion has also been _______ by this policy.
(a) coped — highlighted
(b) dispensed — acknowledged
(c) compounded — addressed
(d) threatened — manifested
(e) projected — discussed
Solutions
S1.Ans.(d)
Sol. ‘affected, scale’ fits the sentence appropriately.
S2.Ans.(a)
Sol. ‘conscious, keep’ fits the sentence appropriately.
S3.Ans.(e)
Sol. ‘argued, control’ fits the sentence appropriately.
S4.Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘spanning, adieu’ fits the sentence appropriately where ‘spanning’ means to extend across (a period of time or a range of subjects) and ‘adieu’ means goodbye.
S5.Ans.(b)
Sol. ‘With, garrisoned’ fits the sentence appropriately where ‘garrisoned’ means a group of troops stationed in a fortress or town to defend it.
S6. Ans.(d)
Sol. ‘While’ here indicates that something opposite follows. So, while war has never been entirely absent, there have been some periods that appear remarkably peaceful. Hence, ‘serene’ or ‘pacific’ might suit the second blank. But serene is coupled with ‘posterity’, which means ‘future generations’ and so does not fit.
S7. Ans. (d)
Sol. Option A is incorrect because ‘watching’ is not followed by ‘to’.
S8. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘despite’ indicates something contrary. So, despite the rejection slips he pursues his path doggedly or tirelessly. But since the ‘and’ links similar things he is getting disappointment along with the rejection slips, not encouragement.
S9. Ans.(a)
Sol. The part after the semicolon expands upon the first part of the sentence.
So, since the first part tells us that there is no money in archaeology, then there will only be small (paltry) amounts for excavating. Also ‘even more’ indicates that another similar word is required. Thus, meager also means small.
S10.Ans. (a)
Sol. Here is the task is to determine the communal reaction to crime. The writer maintains that the criminal justice system of punishments allows the community to purge itself of its anger, its sense of outrage at the criminal’s acts. Thus, it provides a catharsis or purgation for the community.
Remember in double blank sentences, go through the answers, testing the first word in each choice and eliminating those that do not fit. In this case you can readily eliminate.
Choices B and D: it is unlikely that an essential purpose of the criminal justice system would be the provision of either a disclaimer (denial or disavowal, as in disavowing responsibility for a legal claim) or a document.
S11. Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘segment — provides’ is the correct use.
S12. Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘nourish — cumulative’ is the correct use where cumulative means increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions.
S13. Ans.(b)
Sol. ‘interaction — improved’ is the correct use where interaction means influence.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘emerges — consideration’ is the correct use where ‘emerges’ means move out of.
S15. Ans.(c)
Sol. ‘compounded — addressed’ is the correct use where ‘compounded’ means to make (something bad) worse and ‘addressed’ means to fix or solve an issue.