Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Did the earth always____(i)_____ as it does today? No, __(ii)____ its origin about 4.8 billion year ago, our planet has ___(iii)____ a lot of changes. The initial ball of fire ___(iv)___ down and the surface slowly ___(v)__ solid. Today we know that the Earth’s crust is divided into several plates, which move continuously. Entire continents have been displaced and mountains, islands and new seas have been formed or have disappeared.

Fill the blank at (i).

You have eight brief passages with 10 questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives 

A farmer accompanied by his young son was driving his ass to the market in the hope of selling the ass for a good price. On the road, they met a bevy of girls who laughed and exclaimed, “See this pair of fools ? They are trudging along the dusty road, when they can be riding !” The man thought that there was sense in what they were saying. So he mounted his son on the ass and he walked at the side. Presently, they met some of his old friends, who greeted him and said, “You’ll spoil your son, by letting him ride while you toil along on foot! Make him walk. It’ll be good for him.” The farmer followed their advice and took his son’s place on the back of the ass while the boy trudged along behind. They would not have gone far, they were seen by women and children. The farmer heard them say, “What a selfish old man ! He rides in comfort, but lets his poor little fellow walk the distance.” So he asked his son to get up behind him. Further along the road, they met some travellers. They asked the farmer whether the ass was his property or was it hired for the purpose. The farmer told them that he was taking his ass to the market to sell it. The travellers said, “Good Heavens ! With the load like this, the poor beast will look exhausted and no one would like to purchase him. Why don’t you carry him.” Immediately, the farmer got off the ass, tied its legs with the rope and slung him on a pole and carried him in between them. This was such an absurd sight that people laughed at it. They called the farmer and his son lunatics. They had then reached a bridge over a river. Frightened by the noise around, the ass struggled, kicked, broke the pole, fell into the river and died. The farmer returned home vexed and ashamed. In trying to please all, he in fact, had pleased none and he had lost the ass in the transaction. 

The word trudged means  

In the question a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct and mark your answer in the Answer Sheet.

She said to her brother, “Who do you think will win the best all-rounder award this year?”

Select the word with the incorrect spelling.

In questions, sentences are given with blanks to be filled with an appropriate word four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct answer and mark.

You can see that Mike’s has a soft spa for dog. Whenever he sees one, he ________. 

Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
 Unable to speak distinctly or express oneself clearly

Directions: In the following questions, sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four as your answer.

Some verbs need a ______ to convey the full meaning. 

India and 25 other countries agreed to the Copenhagen Accord even as other developing countries accepted it as an irreversible decision later. The Accord came out of__(a)___ bargaining lasting almost 20 hours among ___(b)___ of governments of some of the most__(c)__ countries of the world. At the__(d)__of the day on Saturday, India___(e)__ to have given ground on some issues but blocked intrusion on other red lines. It had become evident within the first week of the talks that the best the emerging and praiseworthy economies of the developing world were going to do was to defend the existing economic resource sharing regimes.

Fill the blank at (b).