English Quizzes, for SBI/IBPS PO Mains 2021

Directions (1-5): Read each of the following four sentences to find out whether there is any grammatical mistake/error in it. Choose the sentence which is grammatically incorrect as the correct answer. If all the given sentences are grammatically correct then choose “All are correct”.

Q1. (a) The Nobel committee noted that the duo’s work “brought us considerably closer to answering the important question of how we can achieve sustained and sustainable economic growth”.
(b) In his 2005 bestselling novel “Bounce”, Matthew Syed talks about the power of practice and sacrifice that yields high performance.
(c) The book offers a compelling narrative of the hard work and sacrifice that goes on behind the scenes to nurture and create high performers in sport, art and science.
(d) Since decades, experts have advised us to take 10,000 steps a day for better health. The number is even coded into fitness trackers as a goal.
(e) All are correct

Q2. (a) Mr. Romer proposed the endogenous growth model where technological progress is seen as the outgrowth of businesses and other entities investing in research and development.
(b) I have lost count of the number of people I have met or read about here, who beaver around behind the scenes doing charity work at their own expense.
(c) While the principle of value investing began to gain traction in the U.S and created enormous wealth for its early adopters, the Indian example stood in stark contrast to its U.S counterpart.
(d) Rain Industries began as a cement company owned by a certain Radhakrishna Reddy and a few partners catering to the burgeoning demand of the Indian Infra sector.
(e) All are correct

Q3. (a) The writer mentioned in his speech, “If my grandfather would not have emigrated to the United States, I wouldn’t be living in Seattle.”
(b) Little has been done to fulfil what the Road Transport Ministry promises: that the Centre and the States will work to improve safety as a joint responsibility.
(c) The study found that States that were relatively better developed than the rest of the country were also host to more migrants.
(d) In a bold move, Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to merge his father’s business with his own and plotted an acquisition that can best be described as pure insanity.
(e) All are correct

Q4. (a) Apart from steps to arrest the violence against the migrants and stop the exodus, the Gujarat government must commit itself to a facilitating role for job-creation.
(b) The State must follow a more holistic policy of creating incentives for firms leading to greater employment, instead of merely dictating higher recruitment of locals.
(c) The Tamil Nadu Governor’s office had complained to the police, seeking to book Mr. Gopal under Section 124 of the IPC, citing some articles published in the magazine.
(d) By borrowing more than what his entire business was worth and acquiring a company in the U.S Jagan was venturing into territories seldom explored.
(e) All are correct

Q5. (a) The Centre has watered down the national bus body standards code in spite of a commitment given to the Supreme Court, by requiring only self-certification by the builders.
(b) Lee is an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts who focuses on how physical activity can promote health and prevent chronic disease.
(c) Yechury objected the issue of central monitoring of the development of aspirational districts, saying it was leaving the states out of the scheme of things.
(d) Along with several studies out this year, the results reveal the incredible power of simply doing what humans have done since we stopped swinging from trees.
(e) All are correct

Direction (6): In each of the given questions an inference is given in bold which is then followed by three paragraphs. You have to find the paragraph(s) from where it is inferred. Choose the option with the best possible outcome as your choice.

Q6. The imperativeness of virtual safety is paramount in today’s world.

(1)One of the most problematic elements of cyber security is the quickly and constantly evolving nature of security risks. The traditional approach has been to focus most resources on the most crucial system components and protect against the biggest known threats, which necessitated leaving some less important system components undefended and some less dangerous risks not protected against. Such an approach is insufficient in the current environment.
(2)Effective network security targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on the network. Network security components include: a) Anti-virus and anti-spyware, b) Firewall, to block unauthorized access to your network.
(3)A fixed-length hash value is computed as per the plain text that makes it impossible for the contents of the plain text to be recovered. Hash functions are also used by many operating systems to encrypt passwords.

(a)Only (1)
(b)Only (2)
(c)Both (1) and (2)
(d)Both (1) and (3)
(e)All (1), (2) and (3)

Direction (7): There are sets of four statements in question given below which when connected using the correct sentence structure forms a complete single sentence without altering the meaning of the sentences given in the question. There are four options given below the question, choose the sentence that forms the correct formation of single sentence which is both grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. If none follows, choose (e) as your answer.

Q7. The Economic Survey came out with a diplomatic statement; it stated that the TBS problem arose due to a combination of historical and psychological factors; it omitted to mention the real reason for the TBS problem; the problem being reckless borrowing by businesses and reckless lending by banks.

(a)The Economic Survey has come out with a diplomatic statement which stated that the TBS problem arose due to a combination of historical and psychological factors that omits to mention the real reason for the TBS problem that being reckless borrowing by businesses and reckless lending by banks.
(b)In a diplomatic statement, the Economic Survey stated that the TBS problem is arising due to a combination of historical and psychological factors which omits to mention the real reason for the TBS problem comprising of reckless borrowing by businesses and reckless lending by banks.
(c)The diplomatic statement given by the Economic Survey stated that the TBS problem arose owing to a combination of historical and psychological factors that were omitted to mention the real reason of the TBS problem of recklessly borrowing by businesses and reckless lending by banks.
(d)The Economic Survey diplomatically stated that the TBS problem arose due to a combination of historical and psychological factors omitting to mention the real reason for the TBS problem that is reckless borrowing by businesses and reckless lending by banks.
(e)None of the above is correct.

Direction (8): The following question consists of a sentence which is divided into three parts which contain grammatical errors in one or more than one part of the sentence. If there is an error in any part of the sentence, find the correct alternatives to replace those parts from the three options given below each question to make the sentence grammatically correct. If there is an error in any part of the sentence and none of the alternatives is correct to replace that part, then choose (d) i.e. None of the (I), (II) and (III) as your answer. If the given sentence is grammatically correct or does not require any correction, choose (e) i.e. No correction required as your answer.

Q8. One of the biggest strength of democracy is that (I)/potential correctives to government actions in the form of (II)/ peaceful movements of people should exist. (III)
(I)One of the biggest strengths of democracy is that
(II)potential correctness in government actions in the form of
(III)peaceful movements of people should be existent

(a)Only (I)
(b)Only (II)
(c)Both (I) and (III)
(d)None of the (I), (II) and (III)
(e)No correction required

Direction (9): In question given below there are two statements, each statement consists of two blanks. You have to choose the option which provides the correct set of words that fits both the blanks in both the statements appropriately and in the same order making them meaningful and grammatically correct.

Q9. (1) She glanced up sharply, but his ___________ tone and sober expression were _________ by the twinkle in those gray-green eyes.
(2) He gave them cryptic one word or one sentence answers, __________ as always. His nonchalance notwithstanding, his feeling _____________ his words.

(a)brusque, divulged
(b) terse, belied
(c) digressive, confuted
(d) coarse, disseminated
(e) effusive, contradicted

Direction (10): In each of the given questions an inference is given in bold which is then followed by three paragraphs. You have to find the paragraph(s) from where it is inferred. Choose the option with the best possible outcome as your choice.

Q10. Bad loans are crippling the Indian economy.

(1)One of the major factors that facilitated Kamco’s success was the existence of political will backed by a strong public interest in ensuring the right usage of public funds. India’s government to has demonstrated its political will for resolving the NPA crisis by putting in place a bankruptcy law. It must now follow up with reforms that address the imperfections in the market for distressed assets.
(2)In a bid to bring down the large pile of bad loans on its books, state-run lender Bank of India has put a large portfolio of non-performing assets on sale. Remember, the bank’s gross NPAs stood at over 13 percent of its book at the end of the June quarter.
(3)As India’s bankruptcy courts seek to resolve Rs 8 lakh crore worth of loan defaults, choking the banking system, it is clear that banks played a crucial role in the crisis by propping up ailing companies with fresh loans, even as firms struggled to repay old debts.

(a)Only (2)
(b)Only (3)
(c)Both (1) and (2)
(d)Both (1) and (3)
(e)All (1), (2) and (3)

Solutions

S1. Ans. (d)
Sol. Here, the error lies in the statement given in option (d), where “Since” will be replaced with “For”. Both “for” and “since” show an event that began in the past and continues into the present but “for” is used with a period of time and “Since” is used to refer to a specific point in time.
Eg: I have been walking for five hours.
I have been walking since 10 p.m.

S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here, the error lies in the statement given in option (b), where “beaver around” will be replaced with “beaver away”. The correct phrasal verb, “beaver away” means “to work hard at something”. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.

S3. Ans. (a)
Sol. Here, the error lies in the statement given in option (a), where, “would not have” will be replaced by “had not” because in case of unfulfilled desires, wishes, condition, the correct structure of the statement would be “If+ Subject+ had+ V3, Sub+ would/could/ might/ should+ have+ been V3.” Hence, option (a) is the most suitable answer choice.

S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. All the statements given above are correct and do not require any improvement. Hence, option (e) is the most suitable answer choice.

S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. Here, the error lies in the statement given in option (c) where, “objected” will be followed by a preposition “to”. Hence, option (c) is the most suitable answer choice.

S6. Ans. (c)
Sol. Passage (1) deals with the importance and the need of cyber security in mitigating the rising virtual threats in the current world. Similarly, passage (2) comes out with the effectiveness of cyber security mechanisms which is the need of the hour. It is to be noted that the inference so generated from both the paragraphs tally with the given statement. Whereas passage (3) talks about hash functions that can be used to encrypt secured passwords and thus it is totally out of context and in contrast to the required inference. Hence (c) is the correct choice.

S7. Ans. (d)
Sol. Among the given options, only (d) forms the correct sentence which is correct and meaningful both in terms of grammar and context. Options (a), (b) and (c) do not follow the correct grammar structure to come out with the contextually correct sentence. In all these options, there are grammatical errors that make the sentence contextually meaningless. Hence (d) is the correct choice.

S8. Ans. (a)
Sol. In the first part of the sentence, “strength” should be replaced by its plural “strengths” as the noun following the phrase “one of the” is always a plural noun. Other two parts of the sentence are grammatically correct. Hence (a) is the correct option.

S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. Terse means sparing in the use of words; abrupt. Terse is generally used in cases of speech and both structurally and grammatically it is fitting both the sentences.
Belied means fail to fulfill or justify (a claim or expectation). It also fits both the sentences perfectly as in first sentence ‘his’ terse tone and sober expression were belied (failed to justify) while in the second his feelings were belied (fails to justify) by his words.
Digressive means characterized by digression; tending to depart from the subject and therefore it deviates in the context of the sentence.

S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Passage (1) indicates that the problem of NPAs has already created unrest in the Indian economy which can well be inferred from the government’s decision to bring the bankruptcy law which further requires the aid in the form of better reforms in this sector to acknowledge the ailing economy of the country. Similarly, paragraph (3) have rightly pointed out to the disaster which is looming over the economy because of NPAs.