2017 IBPS CLERKS -- ENGLISH with answers

PART III General English

Directions (Q. Nos. 101-110) 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.

The great sage once had a group of disciples. They were all very bright and eager students and the sage had all the reasons to be proud of them. One day, the sage realized that he had imparted enough knowledge to his disciples. Now they were all very learned. There was only one thing the sage had not taught them and that was the special verse that could bring the dead back to life. The sage knew that such knowledge was too wonderful and could prove to be a dangerous thing in the hands of someone, who was not very wise.

The sage pondered over this for a long time. But he also knew that if he did not pass on this secret verse, it could die with him. So, at last he called his cleverest disciple aside and said “I am going to teach you a very special verse. If you chant this you can bring to life a dead person or animal. Use only when you need it to and never misuse or test your powers vainly.” He then called all the disciples together and said, “I am sending you all into the forest for forty days. Go together and come back together. Each one of you has to guide one another and do good things.”

So the disciples started out together into the forest. They were all united. But the clever disciple, who knew the verse wanted to show he was better than the others. As they walked into the forest, they came across a dead tiger on the way. It was huge and looked wickedly fierce even when dead. The clever disciple stopped and said to the others, “Now I am going to show you what our teacher has taught me alone. He has taught me how to bring life back into the dead.” But other disciples said “do not do anything to prove your knowledge vainly. Moreover, if you put life into this tiger, it will only turn on us and kill us all. This will not be a wise thing to do.”

But the clever disciple had decided to prove himself and prepared to recite the verse. But before he did so, the other disciples scrambled up to the topmost branches of a big tree nearby. The disciple then recited to magical verse. The tiger slowly began to breathe. “Its working” cried the disciple in excitement and joy. The tiger opened its eyes and saw him jumping and shouting in front of him. Roaring loudly, the tiger pounced on the poor disciple and killed him.

The other disciples on the tree watched helplessly as the tiger threw down the dead body of the disciple and went away into the forest. After some time, the disciples came down, took the body and went to the sage. The sage looked at them and said, “Now you see what can happen if you don’t use your learning wisely. Let this be a lesson for you.” With that, the sage uttered the magic verse and brought the dead disciple back to life. The sage then taught the verse to all his disciples and sent them into the world to do good. He was sure that after such a lesson, they would be wiser and use their knowledge and learning only for doing good.

101. Why did the other disciples climb the highest branches of the nearby tree?

a) To save their lives from the tiger.

b) They disliked the clever disciple and were hiding away from him.

c) To enjoy watching the tiger kill the disciple from a safe distance.

d) Because the sage had not taught the other disciples the secret verse.   e) None of the above

102. Why did the sage send his disciples to the forest?

a) He wanted to get rid of them.

b) He had imparted all the knowledge, he had and was left with nothing to teach.

c) He wanted them to be killed by a tiger so that he could test his secret verse.

d) So that the disciples could practice his secret verse on the wild animals.   e) None of the above

103. Which of the following morals can be drawn from the above passage?

a) A teacher must pass on all his knowledge to others before he dies.

b) Advice of true friends should always be taken.

c) Teachers should always be impartial and should impart knowledge to all uniformly.

d) The knowledge and learning gained should never be misused.   e) None of the above

104. Why did the sage decide to pass on his secret verse to his disciples?

a) So that the cleverest of the disciples may teach other disciples as well.

b) He did not want the verse to die with him.   c) So that the tiger may eat the cleverest disciple.

d) So that he could prove his genius to his disciples.   e) None of the above

105. How did the other disciples react, when the clever disciple decided to bring the tiger back to life?

a) They felt jealous of him.   b) They all felt that it was a wise thing to do.

c) They felt sorry for the tiger.   d) They tried to stop him as he could put their lives in danger.

e) None of the above

106. Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?

a) The clever disciple was brought back to life by the sage.

b) The sage wanted his disciples to use their learning only for doing good.

c) The sage was biased towards the clever disciple and disliked others.

d) The sage ultimately taught the secret verse to all his disciples.   e) All are true

Directions (Q. Nos. 107-108) Choose the word which is most SIMILAR in meaning to the word as used in the passage.

107. Pondered

a) Guessed   b) Puzzled   c) Studied   d) Thought   e) Attended

108. Pounced

a) Climbed   b) Looked   c) Roared   d) Plunged   e) Jumped

Directions (Q.Nos. 109-110) Choose the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning to the word as used in the passage.

109. Bright

a) Dim   b) Soft   c) Dull   d) Faint   e) Vague

110. Fierce

a) Timid   b) Emotional   c) Civilised   d) Pleased   e) Domesticated

Directions (Q.Nos. 111-115) Which of the phrases (a), (b), (c) and (d) given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold in the sentence to make it grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is given and no correction is required, mark (e) as the answer.

111. He wants a start a new business but he did not have any money.

a) thought to start   b) want to started   c) wanted to start   d) wants for start

e) No correction required

112. As Rohan was already late, he had his breakfast, while walk down the road.

a) waking down the   b) walking at the   c) walked on the   d) walked down the

e) No correction required

113. The poor bullock do not move, since the cart was overloaded with heavy goods.

a) cannot move   b) unable to move   c) was not moved   d) could not move

e) No correction required

114. He covered the expensive furniture at sheet before, he started painting the ceiling.

a) with sheet ahead   b) with sheet before   c) in sheet prior   d) in sheet earlier

e) No correction required

115. The smoke if inhaled proves to be more fatal than the burn itself.

a) be most fatal   b) kill more fatal   c) be additional fatal    d) be greater fatal

e) No correction required

Directions (Q.Nos. 116-120) In each sentence below, four words have been printed in bold which are numbered (a), (b), (c) and (d). One of these words may be misspelt or inappropriate in the context of the sentence. Find out the wrongly spell or inappropriate word. The number of that word is the answer. If all the words are correctly spelt and are appropriate the answer is (e) i.e., All correct.

116. The importanse (a)/given to content-oriented (b)/approach has affected the methodology (c)/of this project. (d) All correct (e)

117. Almost all risk-taking (a)/work involve (b)/decision (c)/making under uncertainty. (d) All correct (e)

118. In developing (a)/countries there is increesing (b)/concern for fostering (c)/human potential. (d) All correct (e)

119. I want to express (a)/my appreciation (b)/of the help offered (c)/by my former colleages. (d) All correct (e)

120. The research (a)/reported (b)/in this valume (c)/assumes importance. (d) All correct (e)

Directions (Q.Nos. 121-125) Rearrange the following six sentences A, B, C, D, E and F in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph; then answer the questions given below them.

A. The Emperor was impressed with me and rewarded me suitable.

B. He then asked me to make it shorter without erasing its ends.

C. One fine day, the king decided to test my intelligence.

D. By doing so, I could make the line shorter without erasing the ends.

E. After thinking over it for some time, I drew longer lines on both the ends of the line that the Emperor had drawn.

F. He drew a line on the floor with the help of a chalk.

121. Which o the following should be the FIRST sentence after rearrangement?

a) A   b) B   c) C   d) D   e) E

122. Which of the following should be the SECOND sentence after rearrangement?

a) B   b) C   c) D   d) E    e) F

123. Which of the following should be the THIRD sentence after rearrangement?

a) A   b) B   c) C   d) D   e) E

124. Which of the following should be the FOURTH sentence after rearrangement?

a) B   b) C   c) D   d) E   e) F

125. Which of the following should be the SIXTH (LAST) sentence after rearrangement?

a) A   b) B   c) C   d) D   e) E

Directions (Q.Nos. 126-130) Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error or idiomatic error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence, the number of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (e). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any.)

126. She considered herself (a)/very fortunated to (b)/have had a (c)/very good education. (d) No error (e)

127. A lot number of people (a)/donate money to the organization (b)/at this time (c)/of the year. (d) No error (e)

128. The leader of the opposition (a)/is in the danger (b)/of lost his seat (c)/in the next elections. (d) No error (e)

129. He is the same (a)/ice-cream vendor (b)/which sold ice-creams (c)/when we were kids. (d) No error (e)

130. The police received (a)/tremendous support from (b)/the general public (c)/over that issue. (d) No error (e)

Directions (Q.Nos. 131-140) In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

 The visit to the planet eart museum is always exciting and teaches some interesting (131) about the world we live in.

Forests are home to nearly half of the world’s plants and animals. Trees clean the air and (132) oxygen for us to breathe. Everyday-we cut (133) trees and destroy more than 36 football fields of forests.

Rivers collect rainwater and (134) it to the oceans. Farms and factories pollute the rivers with pesticides and chemicals. This is harmful to the marine animals and the humans (135) drink it.

At the opposite ends of the world, Arctic and the Antarctic are freezing cold. So cold that they are (136) covered in ice. The fuel we use makes the climate (137) it melts the ice and the water level rises which (138) to floods. Our planet is (139). We must conserve it by using as much renewable sources of energy as possible. Every individual must play his part to (140) to the protection of the environment.

131. a) concept   b) observation   c) facts   d) experience   e) struggles

132. a) take   b) acquire   c) display   d) filter   e) produce

133. a) down   b) lots   c) much   d) through   e) thousands

134. a) throw   b) dispenses   c) merges   d) carry   e) combines

135. a) which   b) who   c) whom   d) that   e) those

136. a) never   b) once   c) most    d) equally   e) always

137. a) colder   b) uncomfortable   c) heated   d) warmer   e) burning

138. a) leads   b) results   c) leading   d) grows   e) develop

139. a) indestructible   b) intense   c) precious   d) expensive   e) lavish

140. a) help   b) contribute   c) afford   d) result   e) leading

101.(a)         102.(e)         103.(d)        104.(b)        105.(d)        106.(c)

107.(d)        108.(d)        109.(c)         110.(a)        

111.(c)         112.(a)         113.(d)   114.(b)    115.(e)        

116.(a)         117.(e)         118.(b)        119.(d)        120.(c)        

121.(c)         122.(e)         123.(b)        124.(d)        125.(a )        126.(b)

127.(a)         128.(c)         129.(c)         130.(c)        

131.(c)         132.(e)         133.(a )        134.(d)        135.(b)        136.(e)

137.(d)        138.(a)         139.(c )  140.(b)