SBI Clerk Main English Language Quiz
Is your DREAM to get selected in SBI Clerk 2019 recruitment? Well, then you must speed up your preparation as the Main exam which is the final step towards selection will take place on 10th August. The English Language is one of the subjects you’ll need to deal with and to help you keep your preparation up to the mark, here we provide you with a questionnaire of English Language to crack SBI Clerk Main. For other subjects, you can check the Dream SBI Clerk Selection Study Plan.
Directions (1-5): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
Paragraph 1: The recent increase in the minimum support prices (MSP) for major kharif crops has reignited the debate about food price policy. Some analysts believe that the increase has been excessive, that it will push up inflation, both directly and also indirectly via the fiscal burden of higher subsidies. Others maintain that the increase is not enough, that the government has not delivered on its promise of announcing MSPs that are 50% over cost, as had been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission). Who is right and who is wrong? Why do we need an agricultural price policy at all? And, most importantly, what does it all mean for the hapless farmer?
Paragraph 2: The question of why we need a food price policy is the one most easily answered. Foodgrains are basic necessities. Any sharp increase in their prices can be extremely stressful, especially for low income and poor households, leading in turn to heightened political tension. Conversely, any sharp drop in crop prices can cause widespread distress among the millions of small farmers for whom the proceeds of their marketed produce is the main source of their livelihood. Hence, the policy of maintaining relatively stable and reasonable prices has a long history going back to the Great Bengal Famine of 1943. The present food policy regime—consisting of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which procures rice and wheat, along with some state agencies, the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which recommends procurement prices, and the public distribution system (PDS), which distributes foodgrains and a few other essential items at subsidized prices—was established following two consecutive drought years that led to severe food shortages in the mid- 1960s.
Paragraph 3: Next, are the recently announced kharif procurement prices too high or too low? For an answer based on principles rather than rhetoric it is necessary go into some rather arcane issues about different ways of costing agricultural production. The government has in principle adopted the policy of fixing procurement prices at least 50% over what CACP calls cost A2 + FL. A2 includes the actual or imputed cost of all purchased or own inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, manure, bullock or machine labour + actual rent on leased in land + actual interest on working capital. FL is the imputed value of family labour. Thus A2 + FL excludes the imputed value of owned fixed capital, such as farm machinery, and the rental value of own land. Adding these components would give us cost C2, the cost on which the Swaminathan Commission had recommended a 50% markup for procurement prices.
Paragraph 4: In a recent article (“The Price Is Right”, The Indian Express, 6 July), Ramesh Chand has argued that using C2 rather than A2 + FL is illogical. In fact, the reverse is true. Imputed values are the opportunity costs of both inputs and factors of production, such as land, labour or capital, meaning the costs that the farmer would have incurred if s/he had acquired these from the market or what s/he would have earned if she had supplied these owned resources to the market. It defies logic as to why the imputed value of own inputs and own family labour should be included in the costing (A2 + FL) but not the rental value of own land or interest on own capital. Further, as Prabhat Patnaik has argued earlier this week (“Has There Been An MSP Hike For Kharif Crops?”), the cost of production computations are an average across farms. So, if the imputed rental value of owned land is not included in the reckoning then the average rental value factored into the costing would be less than the actual rental value paid by those who have leased their land, the large bulk of whom are marginal or landless farmers.
Paragraph 5: All that being said, it seems to me that the debate over different concepts of cost of production is largely an academic matter. Cost of production is only one of several considerations factored into the determination of MSPs, such as the estimated demand-supply balance, global prices, etc. Besides, announcing an MSP means nothing unless it is supported by public procurement at the announced MSP. Among food crops, FCI only procures wheat and rice along with some state agencies and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has now started procuring pulses. Moreover, my reading is that, as with many other fiscal and administered pricing policies, the actual determination of MSPs is driven by a “business as usual” practice of incremental increases in line with past trend combined with the political need for “look good” optics.
Q1. According to the paragraph 1, how does minimum support prices affect the economy?
leads rise to political tensions.
leads to rise in distress of farmers’ lives.
through rise in inflation.
both (B) and (C)
All
Solution:
It can be inferred from paragraph 1 that excessive increase in minimum support prices will push up inflation and low prices will hamper the livelihood of farmers, affecting the economy.
Sentence (a) is not mentioned in paragraph 1.
Hence both the option (b) and (c) are correct.
Refer the lines “Some analysts believe that the increase has been excessive, that it will push up inflation, both directly and also indirectly via the fiscal burden of higher subsidies.”
“Others maintain that the increase is not enough, that the government has not delivered on its promise of announcing MSPs that are 50% over cost, as had been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission). Who is right and who is wrong? Why do we need an agricultural price policy at all? And, most importantly, what does it all mean for the hapless farmer”
Sentence (a) is not mentioned in paragraph 1.
Hence both the option (b) and (c) are correct.
Refer the lines “Some analysts believe that the increase has been excessive, that it will push up inflation, both directly and also indirectly via the fiscal burden of higher subsidies.”
“Others maintain that the increase is not enough, that the government has not delivered on its promise of announcing MSPs that are 50% over cost, as had been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission). Who is right and who is wrong? Why do we need an agricultural price policy at all? And, most importantly, what does it all mean for the hapless farmer”
Q2. What is the need for food price policy to be implemented?
to consist all the classes of household under one umbrella.
to maintain the balance between procurement prices.
to prevent the political tensions.
to prevent food shortages in India.
to distribute the food grains evenly.
Solution:
Uneven distribution of prices will lead to stressful situation for low income and poor households including farmers, thereby increasing political tensions. Hence maintaining relatively stable and reasonable prices is needed to be implemented.
Hence option (c) is the most appropriate choice here.
Refer the lines “The question of why we need a food price policy is the one most easily answered. Foodgrains are basic necessities. Any sharp increase in their prices can be extremely stressful, especially for low income and poor households, leading in turn to heightened political tension”
Hence option (c) is the most appropriate choice here.
Refer the lines “The question of why we need a food price policy is the one most easily answered. Foodgrains are basic necessities. Any sharp increase in their prices can be extremely stressful, especially for low income and poor households, leading in turn to heightened political tension”
Q3. According to the passage, what does C2 refers to?
A2 + FL
Rental value of own land
Imputed value of owned fixed capital
both (B) and (C) together
All of them together
Solution:
Referring to paragraph 3, we can deduce that C2 refers to the added value of imputed value of owned fixed capital and rental value of own land to A2 + FL. Hence (e) is correct.
Refer the lines “Thus A2 + FL excludes the imputed value of owned fixed capital, such as farm machinery, and the rental value of own land. Adding these components would give us cost C2, the cost on which the Swaminathan Commission had recommended a 50% markup for procurement prices.”
Refer the lines “Thus A2 + FL excludes the imputed value of owned fixed capital, such as farm machinery, and the rental value of own land. Adding these components would give us cost C2, the cost on which the Swaminathan Commission had recommended a 50% markup for procurement prices.”
Q4. Suggest an appropriate title of the passage.
The present food policy regime
A “business as usual” practice
The actual determination of minimum support prices.
The different ways of costing agricultural production.
Reform agriculture marketing systems to address farm distress.
Solution:
‘Reform agriculture marketing systems to address farm distress.’ is the central theme of the passage.
Q5. Which of the following sentences cannot be inferred from the passage?
(I) The Food Corporation of India is responsible for procurement of wheat and pulses.
(II) The Food Price Policy deals with setting the price of agricultural product by the government to safeguard the poor households and farmers.
(III) Swaminathan Commission deals with boosting the livelihoods of farmers amounting MSP at 50 % over cost.
Only (I)
Only (II) and (III)
Only (I) and (III)
Only (I), (II) and (III)
All are correct
Solution:
We can infer that sentence (I) does not comply with the author’s perspective while both the other sentences are in accordance to the author’s viewpoint.
Sentence (I): Refer fifth paragraph “FCI only procures wheat and rice along with some state agencies and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has now started procuring pulses.”
Sentence (II): Refer second paragraph “: The question of why we need a food price policy is the one most easily answered. Foodgrains are basic necessities. Any sharp increase in their prices can be extremely stressful, especially for low income and poor households, leading in turn to heightened political tension. Conversely, any sharp drop in crop prices can cause widespread distress among the millions of small farmers for whom the proceeds of their marketed produce is the main source of their livelihood.”
Sentence (III): Refer first paragraph “Others maintain that the increase is not enough, that the government has not delivered on its promise of announcing MSPs that are 50% over cost, as had been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission).”
Sentence (I): Refer fifth paragraph “FCI only procures wheat and rice along with some state agencies and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has now started procuring pulses.”
Sentence (II): Refer second paragraph “: The question of why we need a food price policy is the one most easily answered. Foodgrains are basic necessities. Any sharp increase in their prices can be extremely stressful, especially for low income and poor households, leading in turn to heightened political tension. Conversely, any sharp drop in crop prices can cause widespread distress among the millions of small farmers for whom the proceeds of their marketed produce is the main source of their livelihood.”
Sentence (III): Refer first paragraph “Others maintain that the increase is not enough, that the government has not delivered on its promise of announcing MSPs that are 50% over cost, as had been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan Commission).”
Directions (6-10): In each of the question given below a word is given in bold. This word is then used in each of the four sentences given below, Choose the sentence in which the word is used correctly (the word must be both grammatically and contextually correct).
Q6. DISGRUNTLE
He tried to disgruntle the guilt of wrongdoing by doing right.
He turned and climbed back down the stairs, obviously disgruntled, but not arguing further.
At a very early period, however, efforts were made to disgruntle the dissension.
His endeavours to disgruntle ecclesiastical panic, and to promote liberality of spirit, frequently required no ordinary moral courage.
none of these
Solution:
The word “disgruntle” is a verb which means make (someone) angry or dissatisfied. Only sentence (b) stands grammatically correct and contextually meaningful in reference with the given word. All the other sentences are either grammatically or contextually incorrect. Hence, option (b) becomes the most suitable answer choice.
Q7. DOCILE
When teaching a gifted class of students, you can expect your learners to be docile and eager to learn.
Although the little boy knew he was wrong, he was too docile to apologize to his parents.
Although I tried not to hold a grudge, I felt docile joy when I learned my mean supervisor had been fired.
The psychopath gets a docile sense of enjoyment from torturing animals.
none of these
Solution:
The word “docile” is and adjective which means ready to accept control or instruction; submissive. Only sentence (a) stands grammatically correct and contextually meaningful in reference with the given word. All the other sentences are either grammatically or contextually incorrect. Hence, option (a) becomes the most suitable answer choice.
Q8. FLUSTER
The inexperienced actor became fluster when he forgot his lines during his audition.
If the auditor finds an error in the accounting records, the treasurer will need to flustered the mistake.
It took the chemist a long time to fluster the chemical process to the group of financial investors.
The shouts of the crowd flustered the spokesman and he did not know how to deal with the situation.
none of these
Solution:
The word “fluster” is a verb which means make (someone) agitated or confused. Only sentence (d) stands grammatically correct and contextually meaningful in reference with the given word. All the other sentences are either grammatically or contextually incorrect. Hence, option (d) becomes the most suitable answer choice.
Q9. DESOLATE
It disturbed the most desolated traditions and the most sacred themes.
It was easy to desolate the ugly sweater after the movie star touched it.
My family has discovered the best time for us to enjoy a desolate beach is Sunday morning when most people are in church.
Southern part of the region is well desolated, and is covered with coffee and sugar plantations.
none of these
Solution:
The word “desolate” is an adjective which means (of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness. Only sentence (c) stands grammatically correct and contextually meaningful in reference with the given word. All the other sentences are either grammatically or contextually incorrect. Hence, option (c) becomes the most suitable answer choice
Q10. CONTENTTIOUS
The history is written in a contentious style and a spirit of impartiality, and gives evidence of a conscientious use of authorities.
After a contentious debate, members of the committee finally voted to approve the funding.
A few minutes later Mademoiselle Bourienne came into Princess Mary's room smiling and making cheerful remarks in her contentious voice.
The various shades of the sand are singularly rich and contentious, embracing the different iron colors, brown, gray, yellowish, and reddish.
none of these
Solution:
The word “contentious” is an adjective which means causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial. Only sentence (b) stands grammatically correct and contextually meaningful in reference with the given word. All the other sentences are either grammatically or contextually incorrect. Hence, option (b) becomes the most suitable answer choice.
Directions (11-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Shaw’s defense of a theater of ideas brought him up against both his great bugbears—commercialized art on the one hand and Art for Art’s Sake on the other. His teaching is that beauty is a by-product of other activity; that the artist writes out of moral passion (in forms varying from political conviction to religious zeal), not out of love of art; that the pursuit of art for its own sake is a form of self-indulgence as bad as any other sort of sensuality. In the end, the errors of “pure” art and of commercialized art are identical: they both appeal primarily to the senses. True art, on the other hand, is not merely a matter of pleasure. It may be unpleasant. A favorite Shavian metaphor for the function of the arts is that of tooth-pulling. Even if the patient is under laughing gas, the tooth is still pulled.
The history of aesthetics affords more examples of a didactic than of a hedonist view. But Shaw’s didacticism takes an unusual turn in its application to the history of arts. If, as Shaw holds, ideas are a most important part of a work of art, and if, as he also holds, ideas go out of date, it follows that even the best works of art go out of date in some important respects and that the generally held view that great works are in all respects eternal is not shared by Shaw. In the preface to Three Plays for Puritans, he maintains that renewal in the arts means renewal in philosophy, that the first great artist who comes along after a renewal gives to the new philosophy full and final form, that subsequent artists, though even more gifted, can do nothing but refine upon the master without matching him. Shaw, whose essential modesty is as disarming as his pose of vanity is disconcerting, assigns to himself the role, not of the master, but of the pioneer, the role of a Marlowe rather than of a Shakespeare. “The whirligig of time will soon bring my audiences to my own point of view,” he writes, “and then the next Shakespeare that comes along will turn these petty tentatives of mine into masterpieces final for their epoch.”
“Final for their epoch”—even Shakespearean masterpieces are not final beyond that. No one, says Shaw, will ever write a better tragedy than Lear or a better opera than Don Giovanni or a better music drama than Der Ring des Nibelungen; but just as essential to a play as this aesthetic merit is moral relevance which, if we take a naturalistic and historical view of morals, it loses, or partly loses, in time. Shaw, who has the courage of his historicism, consistently withstands the view that moral problems do not change, and argues therefore that for us modern literature and music form a Bible surpassing in significance the Hebrew Bible. That is Shaw’s anticipatory challenge to the neo-orthodoxy of today.
Q11. It can be inferred from the passage that Shaw would probably agree with all of the following statements about Shakespeare EXCEPT:
He wrote out of a moral passion.
All of his plays are out of date in some important respect.
He was the most profound and original thinker of his epoch.
He was a greater artist than Marlowe.
His Lear gives full and final form to the philosophy of his age.
Solution:
Refer the last sentence of the second paragraph, “…and then the next Shakespeare that comes along will turn these petty tentatives of mine into masterpieces final for their epoch…” and the first sentence of the third paragraph, “Final for their epoch—even Shakespearean masterpieces are not final beyond that.” Thus in Shaw’s point of view, the adjective mentioned in the option (c) would be applicable for Marlowe. Hence (c) is the correct choice.
Q12. Which of the following does the author cite as a contradiction in Shaw?
Whereas he pretended to be vain, he was actually modest.
He questioned the significance of the Hebrew Bible, and yet he believed that a great artist could be motivated by religious zeal.
Although he insisted that true art springs from moral passion, he rejected the notion that morals do not change.
He considered himself to be the pioneer of a new philosophy, but he hoped his audiences would eventually adopt his point of view.
On the one hand, he held that ideas are a most important part of a work of art; on the other hand, he believed that ideas go out of date.
Solution:
Refer the second paragraph of the passage, “Shaw, whose essential modesty is as disarming as his pose of vanity is disconcerting, assigns to himself the role, not of the master, but of the pioneer, the role of a Marlowe rather than of a Shakespeare.” Thus option (a) is the correct choice.
Q13. The ideas attributed to Shaw in the passage suggest that he would most likely agree with which of the following statements?
Every great poet digs down to a level where human nature is always and everywhere alike.
A play cannot be comprehended fully without some knowledge and imaginative understanding of its context.
A great music drama like Der Ring des Nibelungen springs from a love of beauty, not from a love of art.
Morality is immutable; it is not something to be discussed and worked out.
Don Giovanni is a masterpiece because it is as relevant today as it was when it was created.
Solution:
Refer the latter half of the first paragraph, “True art, on the other hand, is not merely a matter of pleasure. It may be unpleasant. A favorite Shavian metaphor for the function of the arts is…” It can be inferred from the paragraph that the option (c) is the correct choice for the answer.
Q14. The passage contains information that answers which of the following questions?
I. According to Shaw, what is the most important part of a work of art?
II. In Shaw’s view, what does the Hebrew Bible have in common with Don Giovanni?
III. According to the author, what was Shaw’s assessment of himself as a playwright?
I. According to Shaw, what is the most important part of a work of art?
II. In Shaw’s view, what does the Hebrew Bible have in common with Don Giovanni?
III. According to the author, what was Shaw’s assessment of himself as a playwright?
I only
III only
I and II only
II and III only
I, II, and III
Solution:
Option (II) is valid because both the works despite being masterpieces were surpassed later on and the option (III) is valid because he regards himself as a pioneer, not a master. In the passage, Shaw’s opinion regarding art’s transition and relevance is discussed and not the constituents of a creation. Hence option (d) is the correct choice.
Q15. According to the author, Shaw’s didacticism was unusual in that it was characterized by
idealism
historicism
hedonism
morality
religious zeal
Solution:
According to the author, Shaw’s didacticism was unusual in that it was characterized by historicism. Hence (b) is the correct choice.
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