Dear Aspirants,
Welcome to Mentor for Bank Exams.
Here is the English Lanugage Quiz to help you practice with the best
of latest pattern questions for the upcoming IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk and other bank
and Insurance Exams.
Directions (1 – 10): Read the
following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
India is renowned for its diversity.
Dissimilitude abounds in every sphere -from the physical elements of its land
and people to the intangible workings of its beliefs and practices. Indeed,
given this variety, India itself appears to be not a single entity but an
amalgamation, a “constructs” arising from the conjoining of innumerable,
discrete parts. Modern scholarship has, quite properly, tended to explore these
elements in isolation. (In part, this trend represents the conscious reversal
of the stance taken by an earlier generation of scholars whose work reified
India into a monolithic entity – a critical element in the much maligned
“Orientalist” enterprise.) Nonetheless, the representation of India as a
singular “Whole” is not an entirely capricious enterprise; for India is an
identifiable entity, united by – if not born out of – certain deep and
pervasive structures. Thus, for example, the Hindu tradition has long
maintained a body of mythology that weaves the disparate temples, gods, even
geographic landscapes that exist throughout the subcontinent into a unified,
albeit syncretic, whole.
In the realm of thought, there is no
more pervasive, unifying structure than karma. It is the “doctrine” or “law”
that ties actions to results and creates a determinant link between an
individual’s status in this life and his or her fate in future lives. Following
what is considered to be its appearances in the Upanishads, the doctrine
reaches into nearly every corner of Hindu thought. Indeed, its dominance is
such in the Hindu world view that karma encompasses, at the same time,
life-affirming and life-negating functions; for just as it defines the world in
terms of the “positive” function of delineating a doctrine of rewards and
punishments, so too it defines the world through its “negative” representation
of action as an all but inescapable trap, an unremitting cycle of death and
rebirth. Despite – or perhaps because of- karma’s ubiquity, the doctrine is not
easily defined. Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty reports of a scholarly conference
devoted to the study of karma that although the participants admitted to a
general sense of the doctrine’s parameters, considerable time was in a “lively
but ultimately vain attempt to define karma and rebirth”. The base meaning of
the term “karma” (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem form, karma a neuter
substantive) is “action”. As a doctrine, karma encompasses a number of
quasi-independent concepts: rebirth (punafjanam), consequence (phala, literally
“fruit,” a term that suggests the “ripening” of actions into consequences), and
the valuation or “ethic-ization” of acts, qualifying them as either “good”
(punya or sukannan) or “bad” (papam orduskarman). In a general way, however,
for at least the past two thousand years, the following (from the well known
text, the Bhagavata Parana) has held true as representing the principal
elements of the harm a doctrine: “The same person enjoys the fruit of the same
sinful or a meritorious act in the next world in the same manner and to the
same extent according to the manner and extent, to which that (sinful or
meritorious) act has been done by him in this world.” Nevertheless, depending
on the doctrine’s context, which itself ranges from its appearance in a vast
number of literary sources to its usage on the popular level, not all these
elements may be present (though in a general way they may be implicit).
1. “Ethic-ization” in the passage means:
a) Process of making something
ethical
b) Converting unethical persons into
ethical
c) Judging and evaluation.
d) Teaching ethics
e) None of the above
2. Consider the following statements:
1. Meaning of
karma is contextual.
2. Meaning of
karma is not unanimous.
3. Meaning of
karma includes many other quasi-independent concepts.
4. Karma also
means actions and their rewards.
Which of the above statements are true?
a) 1,2,3
b) 2,3,4
c) 1,3,4
d) None of the above
e) All the four are true
3. As per the author, which of the following statements is wrong?
a) India is a diverse country.
b) Doctrine of karma runs across
divergent Hindu thoughts.
c) Doctrine of karma has a rich
scholarly discourse.
d) Scholars could not resolve the
meaning of karma.
e) Modern scholars have studied
Hinduism as a syncretic whole.
4. Which of the following, if true, would be required for the concept of
karma – as defined in Bhagavata Purana – to be made equally valid across different
space-time combinations?
a) Karma is judged based on the
observers' perception, and hence the observer is a necessary condition for its
validity.
b) Karma is an orientalist concept
limited to oriental countries.
c) Each epoch will have its own
understanding of karma and therefore there cannot be uniform validity of the
concept of karma.
d) The information of the past
actions and the righteousness of each action would be embodied in the
individual.
e) Each space-time combination would
have different norms of righteousness and their respective expert panels which
will judge each action as per those norms.
5. The base meaning of karma is:
a) reward and punishment.
b) only those actions which yield a
"phala".
c) any action.
d) ripening of actions into
consequences.
e) None of the above
6. Which of the following best characterizes the function of the final
sentence of the passage?
a) It is such as an alternative
explanation for phenomenon discussed earlier in the passage.
b) It provides data intended to
correct a common misconception.
c) It further weakens an argument
that is being challenged by the author.
d) It introduces a specific piece of
evidence in support of a claim made at beginning of the final paragraph.
e) It answers a question that is
implicit in the preceding sentence.
7. The passage suggests that organizations’ movement to the “new
paradigm” is based in part on the expectation that wrongful discharge suites
against employers are?
a) less likely to be filed by
non-managerial employees than by managers
b) less likely to be filed by leased
employees than by contract employees
c) less likely to be filed by
contract employees than by permanent employees.
d) more likely to be filed by
employees with a long history in the organization than by newer hirers
e) more likely to be filed in small
organizations than in large ones
8. Choose the word which is similar in meaning to the word given in bold
as used in the passage. Paradigm
a) Proclamation
b) Precept
c) Vogue
d) Apophthegm
e) Archetype
9. Choose the word which is similar in meaning to the word given in bold
as used in the passage. Euphemistic
a) Abstruse
b) Evasive
c) Diffiuse
d) Baroque
e) Obscure
10. Choose the word which is opposite in meaning to the word given in
bold as used in the passage. Engender
a) Repress
b) Procreate
c) Foment
d) Beget
e) Progenerate
Answers with Explanation:
1. Answer: C)
Explanation:
Read the line – ‘the valuation or
“ethic-ization” of acts, qualifying them as either “good” (punya or sukannan)
or “bad” (papam orduskarman).
As per the given context,
ethic-ization means valuation of acts, qualifying them as good or bad.
Qualifying or valuation here doesn’t mean making something ethical, converting
unethical to ethical or teaching ethics. It simply means judging or deciding or
evaluating whether the act is good or bad. So the right answer is (c).
2. Answer: E)
3. Answer: B)
4. Answer: D)
Explanation:
Refer to this sentence from the
passage: “the same person enjoys the fruit of the same meritorious or sinful
act in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent, according to
the manner and extent to which that act has been done by him in this world”.
The option that is best inferred from this paragraph is option (D).
5. Answer: C)
Explanation:
Answer can be found in line – The
base meaning of the term “karma” (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem
form, karma a neuter substantive) is “action”. So option (c) is the right
answer.
6. Answer: D)
Explanation:
Refer the last paragraph, especially
the first sentence of it, “At the same time, a lack of forthrightness on the
part of organizations has led to increased cynicism among employees about
management’s motivation and competence.”
7. Answer: C)
Explanation:
Refer the second paragraph, “The
enormous rights in wrongful discharge suites has created incentives for
organizations to use temporary, contract, and leased employees in order to
distance themselves from potential litigation problems.”
8. Answer: E)
Explanation:
Paradigm means a typical example or
pattern of something; a pattern or model. Archetype means a very typical
example of a certain person or thing. Hence both are similar in meanings.
9. Answer: B)
Explanation:
Euphemistic means using or of the
nature of a euphemism. Evasive means tending to avoid commitment or
self-revelation, especially by responding only indirectly. Hence both are
similar in meanings.
10. Answer: A)
Explanation:
Engender means cause or give rise to
(a feeling, situation, or condition). Repress means restrain, prevent, or
inhibit (the expression or development of something). Hence both are opposite
in meanings.
