English I · Quiz 1 · Jan 2026
English I · Quiz 1 · Jan 2026
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40 / 40 published solutions
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
In the sentence given below, the word in bold is used as _____.
In fact, considering their worldly **means**, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the
side of simplicity in the upbringing of their children.
A verb
A noun
An adjective
An adverb
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A word’s part of speech depends on its use. Means here denotes financial resources rather than the action means, as in signifies.
**2. Apply it:** Worldly modifies means, and their identifies whose resources they are; the head word is a noun.
**Answer: B — A noun.**
A: **Incorrect:** No action or predication is expressed by means here.
B: **Correct:** Means names the parents’ material resources.
C: **Incorrect:** Worldly, not means, is the modifying adjective.
D: **Incorrect:** Means does not modify a verb or adjective.
Question 3 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
In the sentence given below, the word in bold is used as _____.
In fact, considering their **worldly** means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the
side of simplicity in the upbringing of their children.
A verb
A noun
An adjective
An adverb
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** An adjective modifies a noun. Worldly means material or connected with earthly possessions in this phrase.
**2. Apply it:** It describes the noun means, so it is an adjective despite ending in -ly.
**Answer: C — An adjective.**
A: **Incorrect:** It does not function as a verb.
B: **Incorrect:** The resources are named by means, not worldly.
C: **Correct:** It modifies the noun means.
D: **Incorrect:** An -ly ending alone does not make a word an adverb.
Question 4 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Supercilious means _____.
Thinking or behaving as if you and your ideas are inferior to others and their
ideas/opinions
Thinking or behaving as if you and your ideas are better than others and their
ideas/opinions
To replace something that is old-fashioned or has gone out of use
To find a way out of a difficult situation
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Supercilious describes an attitude of arrogant superiority or looking down on others.
**2. Apply it:** The passage contrasts simple upbringing with a haughty mentality that luxury can encourage.
**Answer: B — Thinking or behaving as if you and your ideas are better than others and their .**
A: **Incorrect:** Feeling inferior is the reverse of the word’s meaning.
B: **Correct:** Acting as though one is superior captures the meaning.
C: **Incorrect:** Replacing something obsolete does not describe arrogance.
D: **Incorrect:** Escaping difficulty is unrelated to the word.
Question 5 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
In the sentence given below, the word in bold is used as _____.
At a time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
**pluck** to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career.
An adverb
An adjective
A noun
A verb
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** In plenty of pluck, pluck names a quality: courage. A quantity expression such as plenty of can precede this noun.
**2. Apply it:** The father needed courage to leave home and undertake a risky journey.
**Answer: C — A noun.**
A: **Incorrect:** It does not modify a verb here.
B: **Incorrect:** It is not describing another noun.
C: **Correct:** It names courage and is the complement of of.
D: **Incorrect:** Pluck can be a verb elsewhere, but not in this construction.
Question 6 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Fill in the blanks with fitting prepositions.
Fortune favours the brave even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a
position _____ himself and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
by…for…at…in
at…in…for…by
in…at…by…for
for…at…in…by
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Use by the time for something already achieved before a reference event, for himself for personal benefit, at the top for rank and in for a place.
**2. Apply it:** The completed sequence is by the time … a position for himself … at the top … in his new domicile.
**Answer: A — by … for … at … in.**
A: **Correct:** All four prepositions fit their respective constructions.
B: **Incorrect:** It produces inappropriate combinations such as a position in himself.
C: **Incorrect:** It fails the time phrase and the position-for-himself construction.
D: **Incorrect:** For the time and the remaining combinations do not express the intended relations.
Question 7 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
State true or false.
The narrator was the ninth son of his parents.
True
False
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The passage distinguishes birth order among sons from birth order among all children.
**2. Apply it:** The narrator identifies himself as the sixth son and ninth child, so ninth son is incorrect.
**Answer: B — False.**
A: **Incorrect:** It confuses ninth child with ninth son.
B: **Correct:** The narrator was the sixth son, not the ninth son.
Question 8 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Match the participles in List A to their fitting nouns in List B.
[1] Sea-going
Tradition
Vessels
Chiefs
Discomfort
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Match the compound adjective to the noun it modifies in the passage, not merely to any grammatically imaginable phrase.
**2. Apply it:** Sea-going describes vessels capable of traveling on the sea.
**Answer: B — Vessels.**
A: **Incorrect:** Tradition is not the passage’s sea-going object.
B: **Correct:** Sea-going vessels is the stated phrase.
C: **Incorrect:** Chiefs are paired with ruling instead.
D: **Incorrect:** Discomfort is paired with accompanying instead.
Question 9 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Match the participles in List A to their fitting nouns in List B.
[2] Ruling
Tradition
Vessels
Chiefs
Discomfort
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Ruling describes people who exercise authority.
**2. Apply it:** The passage refers to ruling chiefs in the province, so chiefs is the matching noun.
**Answer: C — Chiefs.**
A: **Incorrect:** Tradition is paired with unbroken.
B: **Incorrect:** Vessels is paired with sea-going.
C: **Correct:** Ruling chiefs names the leaders exercising authority.
D: **Incorrect:** Discomfort is paired with accompanying.
Question 10 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Match the participles in List A to their fitting nouns in List B.
[3] Accompanying
Tradition
Vessels
Chiefs
Discomfort
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Accompanying means occurring together with something else.
**2. Apply it:** The narrator’s mother describes motion during the voyage and its accompanying discomfort.
**Answer: D — Discomfort.**
A: **Incorrect:** The text pairs tradition with unbroken.
B: **Incorrect:** The text pairs vessels with sea-going.
C: **Incorrect:** The text pairs chiefs with ruling.
D: **Correct:** Discomfort accompanies the rolling and pitching of the vessel.
Question 11 MCQ · 2.0 marks
**Read the following passage and answer the subquestions.**
My father, Janakinath Bose, had migrated to Orissa in the eighties of the last century and had
settled down at Cuttack as a lawyer. There I was born on Saturday, the 23rd January, 1897. My
father was descended from the Boses of Mahinagar, while my mother, Prabhabati (or rather
Prabhavati) belonged to the family of the Dutts of Hatkhola. I was the sixth son and the ninth child
of my parents.
In these days of rapid communication, a night’s journey by train southwards along the eastern
coast takes one from Calcutta to Cuttack and on the way there is neither adventure nor romance.
But things were not quite the same sixty years ago. One had to go either by cart and encounter
thieves and robbers on the road, or by sea and brave the wrath of the winds and the waves. Since
it was safer to trust in God than in brother man, it was more common to travel by boat. Sea-going
vessels would carry passengers up to Chandbali where transhipment would take place and from
Chandbali, steamers would get to Cuttack through a number of rivers and canals. The description I
used to hear from my mother since childhood of the rolling and pitching and the accompanying
discomfort during the voyage would leave no desire in me to undergo such an experience. At a
time when distances were long and journey by no means safe, my father must have had plenty of
pluck to leave his village home and go far away in search of a career. Fortune favours the brave
even in civil life and, _____ the time I was born, my father had already made a position _____ himself
and was almost _____ the top of the legal profession _____ his new domicile.
Though a comparatively small town with a population in the neighbourhood of 20,000, Cuttack
had an importance of its own owing to a variety of factors. It had an unbroken tradition since the
days of the early Hindu Kings of Kalinga. It was the de facto capital of Orissa which could boast of
such a famous place of pilgrimage as Puri (or Jagannath) and such glorious art-relics as those of
Konarak, Bhuvaneswar, and Udaigiri. It was the headquarters not only for the British
administration in Orissa, but also for the numerous ruling chiefs in that province. Altogether,
Cuttack afforded a healthy environment for a growing child, and it had some of the virtues of both
city and country life.
Ours was not a rich, but what might be regarded as a well-to-do, middle-class family. Naturally, I
had no personal experience of what want and poverty meant and had no occasion to develop
those traits of selfishness, greed, and the rest which are sometimes the unwelcome heritage of
indigent circumstances in one’s early life. At the same time, there was not that luxury and
lavishness in our home which has been the ruin of so many promising but pampered young souls
or has helped to foster a supercilious, highbrow mentality in them. In fact, considering their
worldly means, my parents always erred– and, I daresay, rightly too– on the side of simplicity in
the upbringing of their children.
Excerpted from: Bose, Subhas Chandra. An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Autobiography and
Collected Letters 1897-1921.
Match the participles in List A to their fitting nouns in List B.
[4] Unbroken
Tradition
Vessels
Chiefs
Discomfort
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Unbroken can mean continuous or maintained without interruption.
**2. Apply it:** The passage describes Cuttack’s unbroken tradition extending from earlier rulers.
**Answer: A — Tradition.**
A: **Correct:** Tradition is the explicitly matched noun.
B: **Incorrect:** The vessels are sea-going, not the intended unbroken noun.
C: **Incorrect:** The chiefs are ruling, not the intended unbroken noun.
D: **Incorrect:** Discomfort is described as accompanying.
Question 12 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Find the word that has a long vowel.
Aqueous
Acquiesce
Acute
Acquit
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The question distinguishes a long monophthong from a diphthong and short vowels in the intended pronunciation.
**2. Apply it:** Acute /əˈkjuːt/ contains the long vowel /uː/. Its preceding /j/ is a consonant glide.
**Answer: C — Acute.**
**Convention note:** The answer uses the phonetic distinction between long monophthongs and diphthongs, rather than school spelling labels such as “long a.”
A: **Incorrect:** Aqueous begins with /eɪ/, a diphthong rather than the long monophthong sought.
B: **Incorrect:** Acquiesce has short-vowel nuclei in the usual pronunciation.
C: **Correct:** Acute contains long /uː/.
D: **Incorrect:** Acquit /əˈkwɪt/ has short /ɪ/, not /uː/.
Question 13 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Look at the word given below and study the sound that is underlined in it. Choose the option
which has the same sound.
Thermometer
Ethos
Therefore
Theirs
Together
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The underlined th in thermometer represents the voiceless dental fricative /θ/.
**2. Apply it:** Ethos contains the same /θ/ sound; the other choices contain voiced /ð/ instead.
**Answer: A — Ethos.**
A: **Correct:** Ethos contains /θ/.
B: **Incorrect:** Therefore begins with /ð/.
C: **Incorrect:** Theirs begins with /ð/.
D: **Incorrect:** Together contains /ð/, not /θ/.
Question 14 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Find the word that rhymes with toe.
i. Low
ii. Now
iii. Stow
Only i
Only ii
Only iii
Both i and iii
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Rhyming depends on the vowel and following sounds, not matching letters. Toe ends with /əʊ/ in the British-style pronunciation used here.
**2. Apply it:** Low and stow share /əʊ/; now ends with /aʊ/ and does not rhyme.
**Answer: D — Both i and iii.**
**Convention note:** In a typical American transcription the shared vowel is written /oʊ/; the matching words remain the same.
A: **Incorrect:** Low qualifies, but stow qualifies as well.
B: **Incorrect:** Now has a different diphthong.
C: **Incorrect:** Stow qualifies, but low also qualifies.
D: **Correct:** Both low and stow have the matching rhyme.
Question 15 MCQ · 1.0 marks
The vowel sound between b and n in the word born is the same as:
That which occurs between w and n in the word win
That which occurs between b and n in the word bone
That which occurs between w and n in the word wean
That which occurs between th and n in the word thorn
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** In the intended British-style pronunciation, born has the vowel /ɔː/.
**2. Apply it:** Thorn has the same vowel. Win has /ɪ/, bone has /əʊ/, and wean has /iː/.
**Answer: D — The vowel in thorn.**
**Convention note:** Rhotic accents include an r sound in born and thorn; the matching pair is unchanged.
A: **Incorrect:** Win has short /ɪ/.
B: **Incorrect:** Bone has the diphthong /əʊ/.
C: **Incorrect:** Wean has long /iː/.
D: **Correct:** Thorn shares the vowel found in born.
Question 16 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which pair begins with the same consonant sound?
ship – sip
chair – choice
judge – duke
thin – then
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Compare initial phonemes: ship /ʃ/, sip /s/; chair and choice /tʃ/; thin /θ/, then /ð/.
**2. Apply it:** Chair and choice clearly share the same initial affricate /tʃ/. In the intended pronunciation duke begins with /d/ followed by /j/, or simply /d/ in many American accents.
**Answer: B — chair – choice.**
**Convention note:** Some speakers pronounce duke with an initial /dʒ/ through yod coalescence, making C match in that accent too. B is the stable intended answer across the pronunciation conventions used by this paper.
A: **Incorrect:** /ʃ/ and /s/ are distinct consonants.
B: **Correct:** Both begin with /tʃ/.
C: **Incorrect:** Judge begins /dʒ/, while the intended duke pronunciation begins /d/ or /dj/.
D: **Incorrect:** Thin uses voiceless /θ/ and then uses voiced /ð/.
Question 17 MCQ · 1.0 marks
The word steadfast has _____ consonant clusters in it. The word begins with a _____ cluster. The
word _____ begins with the same sound as the second consonant sound in the cluster at the
beginning of the word steadfast.
2; CC; self
3; CC; tepid
3; CCC; depot
2; CC; step
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** In /ˈstedfɑːst/, the uninterrupted consonant sequences are /st/ initially, /df/ medially and /st/ finally. The initial sequence contains two consonants, so it is CC.
**2. Apply it:** The second initial consonant is /t/. Tepid begins with /t/, giving 3 clusters; CC; tepid.
**Answer: B — 3; CC; tepid.**
**Convention note:** The course counts adjacent consonants across the internal syllable/morpheme boundary, so /df/ counts. A narrower definition counting only within-syllable clusters would treat that boundary differently.
A: **Incorrect:** It misses one sequence and self starts with /s/, not /t/.
B: **Correct:** It gives all three sequences, the CC onset and the matching initial /t/.
C: **Incorrect:** The onset is CC, not CCC, and depot starts with /d/.
D: **Incorrect:** It misses the medial sequence and step begins with /s/, not /t/.
Question 18 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Identify the sequence of consonant and vowel sounds in the word succeed.
CVCCVV
CVCVV
CVVCCV
CVCCVC
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Count consonant and vowel sounds, not letters. Succeed is commonly /səkˈsiːd/.
**2. Apply it:** Its phonemes are /s/ C, /ə/ V, /k/ C, /s/ C, /iː/ V, /d/ C. A long vowel is still one vowel sound.
**Answer: D — CVCCVC.**
A: **Incorrect:** It incorrectly puts two vowel slots at the end and omits the final consonant.
B: **Incorrect:** It omits sounds and does not match the medial /ks/ cluster.
C: **Incorrect:** It does not follow the actual phoneme order.
D: **Correct:** CVCCVC matches the six-sound sequence.
Question 19 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which among the following words carry the sound /z/ in them?
Xerox
Trips
Both Xerox and trips
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The initial x in Xerox is pronounced /z/. In trips, the plural ending follows voiceless /p/ and is pronounced /s/.
**2. Apply it:** Only Xerox contains the target /z/ in the intended pronunciations.
**Answer: A — Xerox.**
A: **Correct:** Xerox begins with /z/.
B: **Incorrect:** Trips ends in /ps/, with /s/ rather than /z/.
C: **Incorrect:** Trips does not qualify, so both is incorrect.
Question 20 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which semi-vowel occurs in the transition between the words do and it in the sentence ‘Do it
properly.’?
/w/
/y/
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** In connected speech, a rounded back vowel such as /uː/ can glide into a following vowel through a /w/-like transition.
**2. Apply it:** Do it can be linked as /duːwɪt/, so /w/ is the glide sought.
**Answer: A — /w/.**
**Convention note:** The strength or presence of a linking glide varies with speaker and carefulness of speech. /w/ is the conventional answer for a smoothly linked do it.
A: **Correct:** It matches the rounded transition after do.
B: **Incorrect:** The /j/ glide, written /y/ here, is more typical after front vowels.
Question 21 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Identify the part of speech of the underlined word.
She was honoured for her courage.
Adjective
Adverb
Noun
Verb
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The PDF underlines courage, which names an abstract quality.
**2. Apply it:** It is the head of the noun phrase her courage after the preposition for, so its part of speech is noun.
**Answer: C — Noun.**
A: **Incorrect:** Courage names a quality rather than modifying a noun.
B: **Incorrect:** It does not modify the action.
C: **Correct:** It is an abstract noun.
D: **Incorrect:** It is not used as a verb here.
Question 22 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which semi-vowel does the word puerile contain?
/y/
/w/
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Puerile commonly begins /pj/, with a palatal consonant glide between /p/ and the vowel.
**2. Apply it:** That glide is IPA /j/, represented by the question’s option /y/.
**Answer: A — /y/.**
**Convention note:** Standard IPA uses /j/ for the consonant at the beginning of yes. The paper’s /y/ is a teaching notation, not the IPA front rounded vowel [y].
A: **Correct:** The option /y/ denotes the English glide /j/ intended here.
B: **Incorrect:** The word does not contain the target /w/ glide.
Question 23 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which of the following is not a Collective Noun?
Fleet
Crowd
Family
Judgement
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A collective noun denotes a group as a unit.
**2. Apply it:** Fleet groups ships or vehicles, crowd groups people and family groups relatives. Judgement names an assessment or decision rather than a group in ordinary usage.
**Answer: D — Judgement.**
A: **Incorrect:** Fleet is a collective noun.
B: **Incorrect:** Crowd is a collective noun.
C: **Incorrect:** Family is a collective noun.
D: **Correct:** Select it: judgement is not a collective noun in the intended ordinary sense.
Question 24 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Choose the appropriate option.
The doctor gave me a prescription ________ my headache.
With
At
To
For
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A prescription for an ailment specifies the condition it is intended to treat.
**2. Apply it:** The natural completion is a prescription for my headache.
**Answer: D — For.**
A: **Incorrect:** With does not give the intended treatment relation.
B: **Incorrect:** At is not the usual preposition after prescription here.
C: **Incorrect:** To does not fit the ailment complement.
D: **Correct:** For identifies the condition being treated.
Question 25 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which one of the following words is an adjective?
Behind
Down
Ancient
Above
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** An adjective describes a noun’s qualities, age or other properties.
**2. Apply it:** Ancient describes something as very old, as in an ancient building. It is the straightforward adjective among the options.
**Answer: C — Ancient.**
**Convention note:** Words can belong to different categories in different contexts. C is the clear conventional adjective sought; the isolated list should not be read as proving that the other forms can never function adjectivally.
A: **Incorrect:** Behind is usually a preposition or adverb in its basic uses.
B: **Incorrect:** Down is commonly an adverb or preposition, although it has adjectival uses in context.
C: **Correct:** Ancient is an adjective describing age.
D: **Incorrect:** Above is commonly a preposition or adverb, with some attributive uses in special constructions.
Question 26 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Identify the adverb in the following sentence:
She was singing softly to the baby.
Baby
Singing
Softly
She
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** An adverb of manner explains how an action is performed.
**2. Apply it:** Softly describes how she was singing, so it is the adverb.
**Answer: C — Softly.**
A: **Incorrect:** Baby is a noun.
B: **Incorrect:** Singing is part of the verb phrase was singing.
C: **Correct:** Softly modifies singing.
D: **Incorrect:** She is a pronoun.
Question 27 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Identify part of speech of the underlined word:
I found a kitten hiding under my car yesterday.
Adjective
Adverb
Verb
Preposition
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The PDF underlines under. A preposition introduces a complement and expresses a relation such as location.
**2. Apply it:** Under my car gives the kitten’s location; under heads that prepositional phrase.
**Answer: D — Preposition.**
A: **Incorrect:** Under does not directly describe the noun kitten as an adjective.
B: **Incorrect:** It has the explicit complement my car, so the intended analysis is prepositional.
C: **Incorrect:** It is not the action word here.
D: **Correct:** It expresses the spatial relation and introduces my car.
Question 28 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Which of the following is NOT possible? (Hint: Adjective-noun collocations)
A rich company
A rich dessert
A rich car
A rich text file
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Collocations are customary word partnerships, not simply any adjective followed by a noun.
**2. Apply it:** Rich company means wealthy company; rich dessert means heavy or full-flavored dessert; rich text file refers to formatted text. An expensive car is not normally called a rich car.
**Answer: C — A rich car.**
**Convention note:** Not possible is too absolute: creative contexts can use unusual combinations. C is the nonstandard everyday collocation intended by the question.
A: **Incorrect:** A wealthy company can naturally be described as rich.
B: **Incorrect:** Rich commonly describes intense, creamy or substantial food.
C: **Correct:** Select it: expensive or luxurious car is the normal expression.
D: **Incorrect:** Rich text is an established computing expression for formatted text.
Question 29 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Choose the appropriate option.
Let’s _______ the old toy. We don’t need it.
Throw in
Throw away
Throw up
Throw on
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Throw away means discard something that is no longer wanted.
**2. Apply it:** The statement We don’t need it supplies the reason for discarding the old toy.
**Answer: B — Throw away.**
A: **Incorrect:** Throw in means add something, often as an extra.
B: **Correct:** Throw away expresses discarding.
C: **Incorrect:** Throw up commonly means vomit.
D: **Incorrect:** Throw on usually means put clothing on quickly.
Question 30 MCQ · 1.0 marks
State whether the given meaning of the phrase is true or false.
Getting a second wind
Meaning: Having energy again after being tired.
True
False
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The idiom getting a second wind describes renewed energy after tiredness.
**2. Apply it:** The given definition states that meaning accurately.
**Answer: A — True.**
A: **Correct:** The definition matches the idiom.
B: **Incorrect:** The supplied meaning is not false.
Question 31 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Select the most appropriate idiom of the given meaning.
To accept a difficult or unpleasant situation.
Two peas in a pod
Bite the bullet
Cold fish
Lone wolf
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Bite the bullet means face or endure an unpleasant necessity with determination.
**2. Apply it:** It fits accepting and dealing with a difficult or disagreeable situation.
**Answer: B — Bite the bullet.**
A: **Incorrect:** Two peas in a pod describes two very similar people or things.
B: **Correct:** Bite the bullet expresses accepting an unpleasant necessity.
C: **Incorrect:** A cold fish is an emotionally distant person.
D: **Incorrect:** A lone wolf prefers acting alone.
Question 32 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Select the separable phrasal verb.
Go over
Count on
Call for
Sum up
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A separable phrasal verb permits its object between the verb and particle. With a pronoun, that placement is normally required.
**2. Apply it:** Sum the argument up and sum it up demonstrate separation of sum and up.
**Answer: D — Sum up.**
A: **Incorrect:** Go over meaning review normally keeps its object after over.
B: **Incorrect:** Count on someone keeps the complement after on.
C: **Incorrect:** Call for something keeps the complement after for.
D: **Correct:** Sum it up demonstrates that sum up is separable.
Question 33 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Fill in the blank with the correct phrasal verb.
The lady-in-waiting _____ the queen.
Waited on
Drew up
Touched on
Passed on
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Wait on someone means attend to or serve that person.
**2. Apply it:** A lady-in-waiting attends a queen, so waited on matches the role.
**Answer: A — Waited on.**
A: **Correct:** Waited on means served or attended to.
B: **Incorrect:** Drew up means prepared something such as a document.
C: **Incorrect:** Touched on means briefly mentioned a subject.
D: **Incorrect:** Passed on means transmitted or, in another sense, died.
Question 34 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Fill in the blank with the most suitable modal verb.
You _____ take them somewhere else for a change.
Hint: To advise someone about what is desirable in a situation.
Will
Ought to
May
Might
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Ought to expresses advice about desirable or appropriate conduct.
**2. Apply it:** You ought to take them somewhere else gives the recommendation requested by the hint.
**Answer: B — Ought to.**
A: **Incorrect:** Will normally expresses futurity or willingness, not this advisory meaning.
B: **Correct:** Ought to supplies explicit advice.
C: **Incorrect:** May expresses permission or possibility.
D: **Incorrect:** Might can soften a suggestion, but ought to is the direct advisory form specified by the hint.
Question 35 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Choose the word that is opposite in meaning to the word in bold.
His **meanness** is proverbial.
Aggression
Kindness
Ambition
Pragmatism
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** Meanness can denote unkind or ungenerous conduct. An antonym should reverse that quality.
**2. Apply it:** Kindness is the closest opposing quality among the choices.
**Answer: B — Kindness.**
A: **Incorrect:** Aggression is not the opposite of unkindness.
B: **Correct:** Kindness contrasts with being mean or unkind.
C: **Incorrect:** Ambition concerns goals and achievement.
D: **Incorrect:** Pragmatism concerns practical judgment, not generosity or kindness.
Question 36 MCQ · 1.0 marks
Choose the option which can replace the word printed in bold without changing the meaning of
the sentence.
He was warned at the **outset** of his career.
Middle
Entrance
End
Beginning
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** At the outset means at the start or beginning.
**2. Apply it:** At the beginning of his career preserves the sentence’s meaning.
**Answer: D — Beginning.**
A: **Incorrect:** Middle changes the stage of the career.
B: **Incorrect:** Entrance is less appropriate than beginning for this temporal meaning.
C: **Incorrect:** End reverses the timing.
D: **Correct:** Beginning is the direct synonym.
Question 37 MCQ · 1.0 marks
**Complete the telephonic conversation given below with most polite and correct responses.**
Professor: Good afternoon, this is Professor Patel. (1)__________________________
Jyothi: Good afternoon, sir. Yes, this is Jyothi.
Professor: Jyothi, I wanted to remind you about the upcoming deadline for the research report.
Have you made progress on it?
Jyothi: Yes, sir. I've completed the research and started drafting the report. (2)
_______________________________________________
Professor: (3)___________________________ Remember to review it thoroughly before submission. The
quality of your analysis is crucial.
Jyothi: (4) ___________________________________
Professor: Excellent. If you encounter any challenges or need further guidance, don't hesitate to
reach out to me.
Jyothi: (5) __________________________________________
Professor: You're welcome, Jyothi. I look forward to reading your report. Good luck!
Jyothi: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Professor: You too, Jyothi. Bye.
Jyothi: Bye, sir.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Complete blank (1) with an appropriate response.
Am I speaking with Jyothi?
Jyoti!
Bye, Jyoti!
Who’s this?
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A telephone caller should politely verify whom they have reached.
**2. Apply it:** Am I speaking with Jyothi? fits her immediate reply Yes, this is Jyothi.
**Answer: A — Am I speaking with Jyothi?.**
A: **Correct:** It politely asks for confirmation of identity.
B: **Incorrect:** Calling out the name is abrupt and does not form a clear polite question.
C: **Incorrect:** A farewell is inappropriate at the start.
D: **Incorrect:** The professor has already introduced himself; the specific identity-check question is more courteous.
Question 38 MCQ · 1.0 marks
**Complete the telephonic conversation given below with most polite and correct responses.**
Professor: Good afternoon, this is Professor Patel. (1)__________________________
Jyothi: Good afternoon, sir. Yes, this is Jyothi.
Professor: Jyothi, I wanted to remind you about the upcoming deadline for the research report.
Have you made progress on it?
Jyothi: Yes, sir. I've completed the research and started drafting the report. (2)
_______________________________________________
Professor: (3)___________________________ Remember to review it thoroughly before submission. The
quality of your analysis is crucial.
Jyothi: (4) ___________________________________
Professor: Excellent. If you encounter any challenges or need further guidance, don't hesitate to
reach out to me.
Jyothi: (5) __________________________________________
Professor: You're welcome, Jyothi. I look forward to reading your report. Good luck!
Jyothi: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Professor: You too, Jyothi. Bye.
Jyothi: Bye, sir.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Complete blank (2) with an appropriate response.
I might manage to submit the report by the end of the week, if I feel like it!
I should be able to submit the report by the end of the week
No! I haven’t made any progress!
I don’t feel like submitting the report!
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** A progress report should connect completed work with a reasonably confident submission plan.
**2. Apply it:** I should be able to submit … by the end of the week reports an expected timeline without sounding dismissive.
**Answer: B — I should be able to submit the report by the end of the week.**
A: **Incorrect:** If I feel like it makes submission sound optional and careless.
B: **Correct:** It gives an appropriate expected completion date.
C: **Incorrect:** It contradicts the preceding claim that research and drafting have begun.
D: **Incorrect:** It rejects the task instead of reporting progress.
Question 39 MCQ · 1.0 marks
**Complete the telephonic conversation given below with most polite and correct responses.**
Professor: Good afternoon, this is Professor Patel. (1)__________________________
Jyothi: Good afternoon, sir. Yes, this is Jyothi.
Professor: Jyothi, I wanted to remind you about the upcoming deadline for the research report.
Have you made progress on it?
Jyothi: Yes, sir. I've completed the research and started drafting the report. (2)
_______________________________________________
Professor: (3)___________________________ Remember to review it thoroughly before submission. The
quality of your analysis is crucial.
Jyothi: (4) ___________________________________
Professor: Excellent. If you encounter any challenges or need further guidance, don't hesitate to
reach out to me.
Jyothi: (5) __________________________________________
Professor: You're welcome, Jyothi. I look forward to reading your report. Good luck!
Jyothi: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Professor: You too, Jyothi. Bye.
Jyothi: Bye, sir.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Complete blank (3) with an appropriate response.
That’s such bad news!
That's good to hear
I am sorry to hear about this!
Okay, I guess!
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The professor has just heard that research is complete and drafting has begun. A positive acknowledgment should precede the review reminder.
**2. Apply it:** That’s good to hear responds appropriately to the reported progress.
**Answer: B — That's good to hear.**
A: **Incorrect:** The progress described is not bad news.
B: **Correct:** It positively acknowledges the student’s work.
C: **Incorrect:** An expression of sympathy does not match the favorable update.
D: **Incorrect:** I guess sounds reluctant and less supportive.
Question 40 MCQ · 1.0 marks
**Complete the telephonic conversation given below with most polite and correct responses.**
Professor: Good afternoon, this is Professor Patel. (1)__________________________
Jyothi: Good afternoon, sir. Yes, this is Jyothi.
Professor: Jyothi, I wanted to remind you about the upcoming deadline for the research report.
Have you made progress on it?
Jyothi: Yes, sir. I've completed the research and started drafting the report. (2)
_______________________________________________
Professor: (3)___________________________ Remember to review it thoroughly before submission. The
quality of your analysis is crucial.
Jyothi: (4) ___________________________________
Professor: Excellent. If you encounter any challenges or need further guidance, don't hesitate to
reach out to me.
Jyothi: (5) __________________________________________
Professor: You're welcome, Jyothi. I look forward to reading your report. Good luck!
Jyothi: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Professor: You too, Jyothi. Bye.
Jyothi: Bye, sir.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Complete blank (4) with an appropriate response.
Sure, buddy. I’ll ensure it meets all the requirements and is well-structured
Sure, sir. I'll ensure it meets all the requirements and is well-structured
No, sir!
I might review it if I have time!
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** An appropriate student response acknowledges the professor respectfully and commits to careful work.
**2. Apply it:** Sure, sir … meets all the requirements and is well-structured does both.
**Answer: B — Sure, sir. I'll ensure it meets all the requirements and is well-structured.**
A: **Incorrect:** Buddy is overly familiar in this formal professor-student exchange.
B: **Correct:** It combines respectful address with a relevant commitment.
C: **Incorrect:** It refuses the request without explanation.
D: **Incorrect:** It makes the required review conditional on spare time.
Question 41 MCQ · 1.0 marks
**Complete the telephonic conversation given below with most polite and correct responses.**
Professor: Good afternoon, this is Professor Patel. (1)__________________________
Jyothi: Good afternoon, sir. Yes, this is Jyothi.
Professor: Jyothi, I wanted to remind you about the upcoming deadline for the research report.
Have you made progress on it?
Jyothi: Yes, sir. I've completed the research and started drafting the report. (2)
_______________________________________________
Professor: (3)___________________________ Remember to review it thoroughly before submission. The
quality of your analysis is crucial.
Jyothi: (4) ___________________________________
Professor: Excellent. If you encounter any challenges or need further guidance, don't hesitate to
reach out to me.
Jyothi: (5) __________________________________________
Professor: You're welcome, Jyothi. I look forward to reading your report. Good luck!
Jyothi: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Professor: You too, Jyothi. Bye.
Jyothi: Bye, sir.
Based on the above data, answer the given subquestions.
Complete blank (5) with an appropriate response.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate your support
Thanks!
See ya soon!
Take care!
Published solution
**1. Identify the rule or evidence:** The professor offers further help, so the student should express appreciation for that support.
**2. Apply it:** Thank you, sir. I appreciate your support is explicit, respectful and consistent with the professor’s You’re welcome.
**Answer: A — Thank you, sir. I appreciate your support.**
A: **Correct:** It directly thanks the professor and acknowledges the help.
B: **Incorrect:** Thanks is not inherently rude, but is less complete and formal than A.
C: **Incorrect:** See ya soon is too casual and does not express the relevant appreciation.
D: **Incorrect:** Take care is a farewell rather than thanks for support.