English Practice Quiz for SBI PO Mains
Directions (1
– 5): The questions present a sentence, part
of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five
ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original;
the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the
first answer; otherwise choose one of the others. This question tests
correctness and effectiveness of expression. In choosing your answer, follow
the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to
grammar, choice of words, and sentence construction. Choose the answer that
produces the most effective sentence; this answer should be clear and exact,
without awkwardness, ambiguity, redundancy, or grammatical error.
1. The success rates of recent open offers seem to
have gone up as the stock markets fell from their high in January.
A) seem to have gone up as the stock
markets fell from their high in January.
B) seem to have gone up as the stock
markets fell from the high in January.
C) seem to has gone up as the stock
markets fell from their high in January.
D) seem to have gone up as the stock
markets fell from their high on January.
E) seems to have gone up as the stock
markets fell from their high in January.
2. Discarded human skin can be used to test new drugs and
cosmetics, a researcher has found, sparing animals much agony in test
laboratories.
A) a researcher has found, sparing
animals much agony in test laboratories.
B) a researcher had found, sparing
animals much agony in test laboratories.
C) sparing animals much agony in test
laboratories, a researcher has found.
D) researcher has found, sparing
animals much agony in test laboratory.
E) a researcher has found, spared
animals much agony in test laboratories.
3. Scientists have developed a “virtual reality” treadmill which
can trick people into believing that they are moving more slowly than they
actually are.
A) which can trick people into
believing that they are moving more slowly than they actually are.
B) who can trick people into
believing that they are moving more slowly than they actually are.
C) which can trick people into
believing that they are moving slowly than they actually are.
D) which can trick people to
believing that they are moving more slow than they actually are.
E) which can trick people into
believing that they are moving themselves more slowly than they actually are.
4. Organizational motivation refers to the basic
orientation of the organization towards creativity as well as supports
for creativity throughout the organization.
A) Organizational motivation refers
to the basic orientation of the organization towards
B) Organizational motivation refers
to the basic orientation for the organization towards
C) Organizational motivation refers
to the basics orientation of the organization towards
D) The basic orientation of the
organization towards organizational motivation refers to
E) The basic orientation of the
organizations towards organizational motivation refers to
5. The globalization that has swept across the world
appear to have been buoyed by the power that is with the youth of the
planet.
A) The globalization that has swept
across the world appear to have
B) The globalization that have swept
across the world appears to have
C) The globalization that has swept
across the world appears to have
D) The globalization that has swept
across the world appeared to have
E) The globalization that has sweep
across the world appears to have
Directions (6
– 9): Each of the following questions has a
paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given
options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most
appropriate way.
6. Library shelves groan under an insupportable mass of
volumes about the dreadful flea-borne pestilence that spread across Europe in
the middle of the 14th century — the number of books being equaled only by the
scores that deal with the very similar plague that killed thousands in London
three centuries later. The Black Death, the Awful Malady, the Vast Pestilence,
the Great Mortality, the plague has been called by many names, and is in many
senses a perfect topic for the lazy historian — the subject matter is adequately
horrifying, the known descriptions are vividly readable, the social
implications are sufficiently varied to allow for the kind of wild speculations
that make for a book publicist’s dream.
_____________________________________________
A) But the accounts that have
resulted in the past all seem to tell in essence much the same story, and in
the very same way.
B) Rumours are heard of distant
illness, neighbours appear with lurid tales, and then suddenly local people
become afflicted.
C) That is the Black Death as sound
bite, and rare is the account that manages to take it very much further.
D) Huge swellings appear in groins
and armpits, leaving thousands to be limed and buried, while stunned
communities try desperately to recover sanity and order.
E) No wonder that centuries after it
happened, the Black Death is still a bestseller.
7. In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what
makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than
anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a
great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one
is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never
creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You
denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is
not a response. Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end.
____________________________________
A) The political prisoner in his
cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their
plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to
exile them from human memory.
B) And in denying their humanity we
betray our own. Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.
C) And this is one of the most
important lessons of this outgoing century’s wide-ranging experiments in good
and evil.
D) We are on the threshold of a new
century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be?
E) And, therefore, indifference is
always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his
victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.
8. When Paru Jaykrishna was elected president of the
Gujarat Chambers of Commerce earlier this year, it was more than a personal
achievement for this 64-year-old lady. This was the first time a woman had
entered a male bastion in a state that has spawned hundreds of entrepreneurs
and innovators. But importantly it was symbolic of the coming of age of Indian
women in enterprise. “I knew that where I was venturing has been a male
bastion. But that didn’t deter me. Women in India are today equal partners in
business, aren’t we?” she says. __________________________________________
A) Even as the corporate world
celebrates the rise of women in its ranks, thousands of women entrepreneurs are
working hard to prove that they are second to none.
B) When it comes to success, women
are as good as men, if not better.
C) It isn’t an easy journey, as any
entrepreneur will tell you.
D) But for these women, it has also
been about breaking tradition and overcoming long-held sociocultural mindsets.
E) They feel life is not worth it if
you have not unleashed the entrepreneur within you.
9. Sports psychologists have found that losing does indeed
make fans unhappy, just as winning brings joy. While little work has been done
to assess the durability of these emotions, they can be quite powerful – one
survey, for example, found that West Germans professed themselves more pleased
with the national economy and their own jobs after their national soccer team
won a game at the 1982 World Cup. But what is particularly striking is the
almost comical extent to which fans appropriate the successes and failures of
their team.____________________________________
A) Along with their mothers they see
their accomplishments rise and fall with the fortunes of the team
B) Accomplishments of their team are
seen as fulfillment of personal goals of the stage moms.
C) Like a stadium full of stage moms,
they see the accomplishments of their team as reflections of themselves
D) Winning teams are always
accompanied by their moms to help accomplish the desired goals.
E) The stadium reverberates with the
tempo of the triumphant team celebrating the accomplishment of their dreams.
Answers with Explanations:
1. A) Only option
1 uses the correct forms of the verb as well as the preposition. Choice 2 is
incorrect as it incorrectly uses ‘the’ to describe ‘high’, choice 3 is
incorrect as it uses the singular present tense ‘has’ instead of present plural
‘have’, choice 4 is incorrect as it uses the incorrect preposition ‘on’. Choice
5 is incorrect as it uses the singular form ‘seems’ which is incorrect as the
subject is ‘success rates’ which is plural.
2. A) Choice 1
uses the correct forms of the verb and phrases making it flawless. Choice 2 is
incorrect as ‘had found’ is in the past tense and is incongruous with the
present tense of the sentence. Choice 3 is incorrect as the phrase ‘a
researcher has found’ has been used incorrectly and seems to dangle. 4 is
incorrect as the indefinite article is missing before the word ‘researcher’ and
the singular form of ‘laboratory’ is incorrect as it used without a word
symbolizing its singularity. Choice 5 is incorrect, since the sentence is in
the present tense, ‘sparing’ which is in present tense, should be used.
3. A) Choice 2 is
incorrect as who is used for people and which for inanimate objects, choice 3
is incorrect as there should be a degree of comparison as ‘slowly’ is followed
by ‘than’, choice 4 is incorrect as the correct phrase is ‘more slowly’ or
could be even ‘slower’. Choice 5 is incorrect as ‘themselves’ is redundant and
it seems as if somebody is physically carrying something. Only 1 is correct and
flawless.
4. A) Choice 2 is
incorrect as the preposition ‘for’ has been incorrectly used, use ‘of’ to refer
something which belongs to someone or something. 3 is incorrect in the usage of
the word ‘basics’, instead of ‘basic’, the use of the plural renders the
meaning different. 4 is incorrect, it seems as though the organization is
oriented, 5 is incorrect as the word ‘organizations’ has been incorrectly
used, in case of plural, the definite article is redundant. Choice 1 is correct
as it uses the correct form of the preposition as well as the forms of the
words.
5. C) Choice 1 is incorrect as it is an
error of subject verb agreement, the subject is ‘the globalization’ so the verb
should be in the singular. 2 is incorrect as it uses ‘have’ in conjunction with
a singular subject incorrectly, 4 is incorrect as it uses the past tense of
‘appear’ in a sentence which is in the present tense. 5 is incorrect as it uses
the base form of the word ‘sweep’. 3 is the correct and flawless option.
