Verbal Ability

1. The president _______ for about half an hour when trouble started.

A. has been speaking

B. have been speaking

C. had been speaking

D. was speaking

2. She’s shocked because she _________ a terrible accident.

A. Saw

B. has seen

C. is going to see

D. Sees

3. Mishra ____ for Bombay before Praveen reached the station.

A. have left

B. has left

C. Left

D. had left

4. Children generally _____ quarrels easily.

A. Forgets

B. forget

C. Forgot

D. will forget

5.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence

Since the harvest was so ___, the tribe held a lavish feast and, after the _____, the tribe still had enough food left
over to preserve for the winter.
A. abundant, meal

B. meager, celebration

C. minute, festival

D. beneficial, mourning

6.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence

The coach was dismayed to find that his team was unable to get past its ____ start; rather than being ____ in the
second half, the team remained lethargic throughout.

A. slipshod ... enumerated

B. slow ... enervated

C. slapdash ... enraged

D. sluggish ... energized

7.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence

It became abundantly clear that there was nothing more that could be done to save the ____ business, as years
of irreversible and poor decisions had been contributing to its slow decay.

A. Myopic

B. Monumental

C. Moribund

D. Mutable

8.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence.

___ of the rainbow were ___ against the bright blue sky.

A. Textures, Clear

B. Hues, Vivid

C. Alabaster, Bright

D. Line, Dark

9. Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence.

The president has a ___ of ____ around him when he makes public appearances.

A. Catalyst, Individuals

B. Barrier, Contrast

C. Hedge, Protection

D. Derrick, Protection

10.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence:

They were seen __ to the kitchen just before I __ something burning in the kitchen.

A. to go,smelt

B. going,smell
C. going,smelt

D. to go,smell

11.What is the correct sequence of sentences:

A. Therefore keeping the walls warm can save heat.
B. Office managers who leave the heating on over weekends report lower annual fuel bills than if they turn the
heating off at these times.
C. This has been proven in several academic studies and is supported by considerable anecdotal evidence.
D. When heating is turned on in a cold building a lot of heat is first used to evaporate condensed moisture in the
walls.

A. D,A,B,C

B. D,C,A,B

C. D,A,C,B

D. D,C,B,A

12.What is the correct sequence of sentences:

A. The fairytale writer is its most famous adopted daughter.
B. She gave the world classics such as The Lost Teddy Bear and The Adventures of Young Tom.
C. The centenary of Lisa Smith approaches and the city of Leeds plans many celebrations.
D. Adopted because she was not born there but made it her home for over three decades.

A. C,A,B,D

B. C,A,D,B

C. A,C,D,B

D. A,C,B,D

13.What is the correct sequence of sentences:

A. Reformers want new laws that will make the owners of casinos act in socially responsible ways.
B. These tricks might include removing clocks from the gambling floor, simulating daylight and making the exit hard to find.
C. The new super casinos will be something completely new and some fear that they will deploy psychological techniques to maximize
gambling.
D. In particular, they want regulations that ban the casino operators from encouraging people to gamble or that increase the risk of
problem gambling

A. C,B,A,D

B. C,B,D,A

C. B,C,D,A

D. B,C,A,D

14.What is the correct sequence of sentences:

A. The home page is usually the first thing that you will see when you first access a site.
B. Each website has its own unique address which is called its uniform resource locator.
C. It is divided into millions of sites which are files made up of pages of information.
D. Perhaps the most significant service available on the internet is the World Wide Web.

A. D,B,C,A

B. D,C,B,A

C. D,C,A,B

D. B,C,A,D

15.What is the correct sequence of sentences:

A. The system is interactive.
B. A travel agency illustrates well how telecommunications and computers are used to improve customer service.
C. This means that when an employee wants to access the system he or she enters data and the system replies with further screens
until the desired outcome is realized.
D. The agency uses an online enquiry and booking service from a terminal in the office that is connected to a remote server by a
telecommunications link.

A. B,D,C,A

B. A,C,D,B

C. B,D,A,C

D. A,C,B,D

16. Insurance Company X is considering issuing a new policy to cover services required by elderly people who
suffer from diseases that afflict the elderly. Premiums for the policy must be low enough to attract customers.
Therefore, Company X is concerned that the income from the policies would not be sufficient to pay for the
claims that would be made. Which of the following strategies would be most likely to minimize Company X's
losses on the policies?

A. . Attracting middle-aged customers unlikely to submit claims for benefits for many years

B. Insuring only those individuals who did not suffer any serious diseases as children

C. Including a greater number of services in the policy than are included in other policies of lower cost

D. Insuring only those individuals who were rejected by other companies for similar policies

17.Championing objectivity in writing—and, more precisely, decrying solipsism, narcissism, and self-absorption—can of course have
legitimate uses.
In the era of Twitter and Facebook, when we are given an infinite supply of blank fields to fill with our thoughts, we are all encouraged
to think we are more interesting than we actually are. And yet there is a compelling argument to be made, more generally, that
journalism’s putative standards of objectivity are sometimes wielded to check not subjectivity, but unwanted subjectivity. The method
of testing information – the approach to evidence- is meant to be objective, not the journalist. The key is in the discipline of the craft,
not the aim.
Which of the following is the writer least likely to agree with?

A. By not taking sides in an argument a journalist can strive to be objective, a worthwhile aspiration even if it is
not perfectly achieved.
B. Objective journalism is not one that is without bias, but one in which bias has to stand up to evidence and
results.

C. All journalism has a point of view and a set of interests it advances.

D. Objectivity in writing is about making the story more than just about the writer.

18.In a recent study of responses to visual images, researchers found that women most frequently gave the rating "most attractive" to
images of male faces that were more feminine in contour, and rated more masculine faces, on average, "less attractive". The
researchers concluded that modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features.
The conclusion would be most severely weakened if which of the following were true?

A. Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.

B. The visual images were computer generated composites of photographs and not pictures of actual men.

C. The rating scale was a ten point scale with most attractive scoring 1-2 and least attractive scoring 8-10.

D. Most popular male actors have the features that the study allocated to the more masculine category.

19.Most citizens are very conscientious about observing a law when they can see the reason behind it. For instance, there has been
very little need to actively enforce the recently-implemented law that increased the penalty for motorists caught leaving a gas station
without paying for gas they had pumped into their vehicles. This is because citizens are very concerned about the high cost of gasoline
and they know that stealing gas will only further increase the price of gasoline for everyone.
With which of the following statements would the author of this passage be most likely to agree?

A. The increased penalty alone is a significant motivation for most citizens to obey the law.

B. There are still too many inconsiderate citizens in the local community

C. High gasoline prices can be brought down if everyone does his or her part and pays for the gasoline they use
at the pumps.

D. Society should make an effort to teach citizens the reasons for its laws.

20.In research designed to investigate the possibility of animals developing friendship with other, unrelated, members of their species,
a group of 29 chimpanzees were reared together for 15 years.
At the end of that time the chimps were presented with two options for obtaining food: press a lever and feed themselves, or press
another identical lever and feed themselves, and at the same time deliver food to the chimp next door. (The chimps were able to see
each other).
The researchers found that the chimps were no more likely to choose the lever that fed a neighbor. The researchers concluded that the
chimps had no concept of friendship. However, one critic has suggested that the animals were in an artificial environment from which
little can be concluded, and that, at the least, the test ought to have involved the animals being able to touch.
What role do the parts in boldface play in the argument above?

A.The first is a position that the critic opposes. The second is a position that the critic supports.

B.The first is an observation that supports the researcher's position. The second is an observation that opposes
the researcher's position.

C.The first is a finding on which the researchers base their conclusion. The second is a suggestion that might cast
doubt on that finding.

D.The first is an observation that supports the critic's conclusion. The second is the critic's conclusion.

21.Lora prepared for the worst in the debate but she doesn't forget the Murphy's law.
Choose the appropriate meaning for the highlighted.

A. if anything can go right it will.

B. if anything can go wrong, it will.

C. Both 1 and 2

D. None of them

22. What do you understand by the phrase- "Cloven hoof"?

A. the evil intention

B. the nice intention

C. to do something religious

D. to help someone silently

23. What do you understand by the phrase- "Hornet's nest"?

A. A bee's house

B. A violent situation

C. A busy house

D. A dangerous place

24.The following sentences have to be rearranged to make one complete grammatically and logically correct paragraph.
A. During the 24-hour darkness of the austral autumn and winter, the South Pole Telescope operates nonstop under impeccable
conditions for astronomy.
B. The atmosphere is thin (the pole is more than 9,300 feet above sea level, 9,000 of which are ice), stable (due to the absence of the
heating and cooling effects of a rising and setting Sun) and the pole has some of the calmest winds on Earth, blowing almost always
from the same direction.
C. “The South Pole has the harshest environment on Earth, but also the most benign,” says William Holzapfel, a University of California
at Berkeley astrophysicist, the on-site lead researcher at the South Pole Telescope.
D. From an astronomer’s perspective, not until the Sun goes down and stays down—March through September— does the South Pole
get “benign.”

A. ABCD

B. CDBA

C. CDAB

D. ACBD

25.Which of the below options makes most sense with respect to the following question?
If your requests are met with repeated ___ , you should just leave him alone.

A. Hypotheses

B. Negatives

C. Rebuffs

D. blunts
26.Direction: Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the
sentence. The number of that part of the sentence is your answer. If there is no error, the answer is option (5).
Q: If(1) /I was a king(2) / I would (3)/, change the world(4)

A.1

B.2

C.3

D.4

E. No error

27.Direction: Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the
sentence. The number of that part of the sentence is your answer. If there is no error, the answer is option (5).
Q:At twelve years old(1) /my parents asked me(2) /,to be more responsible(3) / and handle my problems on my own(4)

A.1

B.2

C.3

D.4

F. No error

28. Shreyas was extremely ____, and did not enjoy activities that required effort to meet people.

A. Jaded

B. Bashful

C. Outspoken

D. Melancholic

29. Although his findings were initially greeted with _____, the unlikely hero was finally vindicated when the
French Academy acknowledged his work.

A. Accolades

B. Incredulity

C. Derision

D. Commendations

30. The newspaper's expose of the 2G scam was well received garnering many ____ from other news organizations.

A. Accolades

B. Bricbats

C. Calumnies

D. Eulogies
31. The Olympic Cycling Team took their ____ at the base of the mountain, hoping that the extra calories would sustain them during
the tortuous ascent.

A. Vows

B. Repast

C. Umbrage

D. Dander

32Since my sister loves the color pink, she made sure the hue was ubiquitous during her wedding.
Choose the appropriate synonym for the highlighted word.

A. Universal

B. Unique

C. Decorated

D. None of these

33."He accused the Government of being unbelievably niggardly"

Choose the appropriate synonym for the word "Niggardly"

A. Generous

B. Profuse

C. Covetous

D. None of the above

34. Enigmatic is most opposite to:

A. Healthy

B. Watchful

C. Disastrous

D. Obvious

35. Parsimony is most opposite to:

A. Generosity

B. Sinfulness

C. Verbosity

D. Tenderness

36.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence

Iodine deficiency is __ in these remote mountain regions; however, it is no longer __ in the lowlands where iodized salt is available.

A. recorded - unusual

B. rare - sporadic

C. endemic - prevalent

D. eradicated - common
37.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence
All of the features added to the new model of the automobile seemed totally ____ and did not add anything of import or practicality to
the car.

A. Obnoxious

B. Superfluous

C. Pretentious

D. Mundane

38Which of the following best completes the passage below?

In a survey of job applicants, two-fifths admitted to being at least a little dishonest. However, the survey may
underestimate the proportion of job applicants who are dishonest, because__.

A. some dishonest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey, to be honest

B. some generally honest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey to be

Dishonest

C. some people who claimed on the survey to be at least a little dishonest may be very

Dishonest

D. some people who claimed on the survey to be dishonest may have been answering

Honestly

39.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence:

I was sitting __ the bus when we saw David __ the back of the building.

A. on,in

B. on,at

C. at,on

D. on,on

40.Choose the correct answer and complete the sentence:

I was given __ ten __ notes for my three __ work.

A. a,pound,hour

B. two,pound,hours

C. two,pound,hour

D. a,pound,hours