General English Practice Question and Answer

Q:

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions as directed.

We expect individuals (I) to take charge of their lives, to assume responsibility for their decisions. But when individuals group together, a problem arises. Groups can’t take charge of themselves, nor can every member simultaneously take charge of the entire group. Someone from the group is invariably asked to show the way, to become the primary agent, to lead. Yet, not everyone who occupies high office is a leader. A person who merely (II) or has management skills is not a leader. Moreover, not everyone who assumes the role of a leader is able to play it well. What qualities then make for a leader? Which (A)virtues are required to provide ethical leadership? I suppose there is little new (III). But let me still give it a shot in the hope that it serves as a good reminder. And in the election year, why not focus on qualities necessary for political leadership?

If a person is chosen to lead the group, it is her responsibility to take care of the interest of each person of the entire group. This often (B)____ putting collective interest before her own interest or that of her

preferred group. For this to happen, she must first be able to identify the common good, to have a grasp of what is acceptable to all, to have an inclusive vision. This requires an infinite capacity to listen to others, to learn from them, to have the intellectual ability to critically examine and evaluate what everyone wants and needs, and then put them all together. Since this intellectual formulation can only be the first step, an estimate of the real quality of a decision is not known until it is implemented; ______(C) _______.
 This requires him to keep his ear to the ground, listen patiently to criticism to judge if his policies are working. He must not be defensive when criticised, or evade uncomfortable questions, but face criticism head on and be able to sift the wheat from the chaff. It also necessitates that a leader show flexibility and an ability for course correction by admitting mistakes. He should know that one’s stature is not diminished by accepting fallibility. A leader must be a good communicator, and that is greatly helped if he has a way with words. But all the rhetorical flourish is of no avail if the speech lacks sincerity and conviction. Finally, a good leader knows that nothing can be achieved without the collective expertise and wisdom of a support team.
 It is equally tempting to pick those one has taken a fancy to, who are personally loyal. But such people often lack spine. (D)Fearful people with poor ability can never offer good advice to their leader and could allow bad decisions to prevail that push the country down a ruinous path. Besides, they are often among the first to backstab the leader once out of power. Thus, personal likes and dislikes too must be set aside.

Two sentences are given in italics on both sides of C. Which of the following statements can come in between the two sentences in place of C so as to maintain the continuity of the paragraph?

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    this means that our leaders must owe supreme loyalty to nothing
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 2
    understand the purpose of the job, can speak their mind, and are able, without fear
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 3
    such persons can be identified only by one who possesses these qualities
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 4
    Its deficiencies begin to show up only when put into practice.
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 5
    None of the above
    Correct
    Wrong
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Answer : 4. "Its deficiencies begin to show up only when put into practice."

Q:

The villagers _______ tongue. 

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    may
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 2
    can
    Correct
    Wrong
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    should
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 4
    with
    Correct
    Wrong
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Answer : 2. "can "

Q:

Two escaped prisoners were recaptured this morning when they were trying to cross the border to enter the neighbouring country.

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    got recaptured this morning
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 2
    are recaptured this morning
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 3
    could recapture this morning
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 4
    were recaptured on morning
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 5
    No correction required
    Correct
    Wrong
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Answer : 5. "No correction required"

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Answer : 3. "PRQ"

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Answer : 3. "can be of"

Q:

Direction: In the following question, out of the four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given sentence.

One who regards the whole world as his country-

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    Spartan
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 2
    Alien
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 3
    Stalwart
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 4
    Cosmopolitan
    Correct
    Wrong
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Answer : 4. "Cosmopolitan"

Q:

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them, while answering some of the questions.
Among those suffering from the global recession are millions of workers who are not even included in the official statistics : urban recyclers – the trash pickers, sorters, traders and reprocesses who extricate paper, cardboard and plastics from garbage heaps and prepare them for reuse. Their work is both unrecorded and largely unrecognized, even though in some parts of the World they handle as much as 20% of all waste.
The World’s 15 million informal recyclers clean up cities, prevent some trash from ending in landfills and thus, reduce climate change by saving energy on waste disposal techniques like incineration. In the developed countries they are the preferred ones since they recycle waste much more cheaply and efficiently than governments or private corporations can. In the developing World, on the other hand, they provide the only recycling services except for a few big cities. But as recession hits the markets Worldwide, the price of scrap metal, paper and plastic has also fallen. Recyclers throughout the World are experiencing a sharp drop in income. Trash pickers and scrap dealers saw a decline of as much as 80% in the price of scrap from October 2007 to October 2009. In some countries scrap dealers have shuttered so quickly that researchers at the Solid Waste Management Association didn’t have a chance to record their losses. In Delhi, some 80% of families in the informal recycling business surveyed by an organization said they had cut back on “luxury foods,” which they defined as fruit, milk and meat. About 41% had stopped buying milk for their children. By this summer, most of those children, already malnourished, hadn’t had a glass of milk in nine months. Many of these children have also cut down on hours spent in school to work alongside their parents. Families have liquidated their most valuable assets – primarily copper from electrical wires – and have stopped sending remittances back to their rural villages. Many have also sold their emergency stores of grain. Their misery is not as familiar as that of the laid-off workers of big name but imploding, service sector corporation, but it is often more tragic. Few countries have adopted emergency measures to help trash pickers. Brazil, for one, is  providing recyclers, or “catadores,” with cheaper food, both through arrangements with local farmers and by offering food subsidies. Other countries, with the support of non-governmental organizations  and donor agencies are following Brazil’s example. Unfortunately, most trash pickers operate outside official notice and end up falling through the cracks of programmes like these. In the long run,  though, these invisible workers will remain especially vulnerable to economic slowdowns unless they are integrated into the formal business sector, where they can have insurance and reliable wages. This is not hard to accomplish. Informal junk shops should have to apply for licences, and governments should create or expand doorstep waste collection programmes to employ trash pickers. Instead of sorting through haphazard trash heaps and landfills, the pickers would have access to the cleaner scrap that comes from households.

The need of the hour, however, is a more immediate solution. An efficient but temporary solution would be for governments where they’d have to pay a small subsidy to waste dealers so they could purchase scrap from trash pickers at about 20% above the current price. This increase, if well advertised and broadky utilized, would bring recyclers a higher price and eventually bring them back from the brink. Trash pickers make our cities healthier and more liveable. We all stand to gain by making sure that the work of recycling remains sustainable for years to come.

Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Cracks

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    Breaks
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 2
    Collapse
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 3
    Fractures
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 4
    Loopholes
    Correct
    Wrong
  • 5
    Fragments
    Correct
    Wrong
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Answer : 4. "Loopholes"

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