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Verbal Ability - Online practice Test 12
Directions for questions 1 and 2: Each question has a sentence with two blanks followed by five pairs of words as choices. From the choices, select
the pair of words that can best complete the given sentence.
1. 2.
Previously, the universe, which was thought to be well-ordered and Although leprosy is not a/an _____ disease, those who contract it are
_____, is today considered to be _____. always _____ by others.
(1) peaceful . . . baffling (1) infectious . . . derogated
(2) harmonious . . . chaotic (2) endemic . . . eschewed
(3) balanced . . . intriguing (3) epidemic . . . avoided
(4) transient . . . disorganized (4) contagious . . . shunned
(5) alluring . . . awe-inspiring (5) pandemic . . . humiliated
Directions for questions 3 and 4: Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given
options choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
3. 4.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, penned the Bard, which, when taken A rags-to-riches story is irresistible. And the fact that there are so few of
at the flood leads to fortune. Consider steel. Now that Tata Steel has them around makes the isolated reports one gets to hear of people who
won the bid to acquire Anglo Dutch steel major Corus, would it leverage clawed their way up to the top with sheer grit and gumption even more
the fast changing micro energies to rev up synergies across the board? engaging. Though the IT boom has made entrepreneurs out of common
After all recent developments in steel making promise to deliver men and women the individuals you see here stand out simply because
substantial economic value and actually flatten and smoothen the they had neither the means to a good education nor secure financial
generally yo yoing steel price cycle. _______ cushions to fall back on._____
(1) The economics of steel making should change radically. (1) Every step they took was uncharted territory.
(2) Considering the fact that exports in steel would give a phenomenal boost to (2) Every decision they took was fraught with risk.
the economy, allocating more funds to produce better quality steel would be (3) Success is measured by the results more than the means.
worthwhile.
(4) Make it they did, in their own way.
(3) Now that India’s steel producers are globalising with gay abandon, what is
needed is world class policy to boost research. (5) The remained undeterred despite the obstacles that came their way.
(4) Carbon steels are giving way to micro alloyed steels, thanks to the
remarkable cost effectiveness of the latter.
(5) Much is at stake.
Directions for questions 5 and 6: The sentences given in each question when properly sequenced form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is
labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
5. 6.
(A) This really encourages new artists. (A) Such alliances are pretty common in the US.
(B) While there is a dedicated group of art collectors there is also a new (B) And the trend is now catching up in India.
group that might not understand art but is willing to buy it because it (C) Alaram bells are ringing over the likely shortage of knowledge
loves the play of colours. workers in India by 2010.
(C) For here there are no preconceived notions about which artist is (D) While demographics clearly weigh in the country’s favour the quality
good or is supposed to be so. of the work force does not.
(D) Sometimes that is what helps. (E) In this scenario, will industry-academia partnerships in higher
(E) A change that has come about in the art scene is the emergence of education bridge the demand supply gap?
first time buyers.
(1) ABCDE
(1) EBDCA (2) DCEAB
(2) ECDBA (3) CEDAB
(3) BEDCA (4) CEADB
(4) BDCAE (5) CDEAB
(5) BACED
Directions for questions 7 and 8: In each question the word at the top of the table is used in five different ways, numbered 1 to 5. Choose the option
in which the usage of the word is INCORRECT or INAPPROPRIATE.
7. 8.
NECK FACE
(1) The money lender kept breathing down the neck of the farmer. (1) She could not face the fact that their relationship had ended.
(2) He is risking his neck by buying all those shares now. (2) He stood up to face a large audience.
(3) In spite of being upto his neck in trouble, he is not worried. (3) He dealt the cards face down.
(4) The quarterly reports showed that the two companies were running neck to (4) The courage that she showed in the face of trying circumstances is worthy
neck. of emulation.
(5) She wore a string of pearls around her neck. (5) The whole plan blew up on their face.
Directions for questions 9 to 12: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow it.
Deontological Pacifism decrees that moral agents have an absolute duty to avoid aggression or waging war against others. Held as a duty, it is
incumbent on the pacifist never to aggress, use force, or support or engage in war against another. Duties are moral actions that are required or
demanded in all pertinent circumstances.
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The first problem for deontological pacifism is the potential collision of duties. What if force is to be used to halt an aggressor who endangers the
pacifist’s life, or the life of an innocent? Regarding the pacifist’s own life, it can be argued that he or she possesses no right of self-defense (and
must “turn the other cheek”), although this is typically the position of those who place not much value on living this life in favour of living in the
realms beyond. Among such adherents are absolute pacifists. Another example: does the duty to respect others outweigh the duty to respect
oneself? The aggressor obviously transcends any duty of respect he should have towards his victim but does that warrant the forfeiture of his life?
Those pacifists who admit the right to defend the self against a threat can admit the use of restraining or disabling force and even, if the threat is
deadly, the right to kill an assailant. Deontological pacifists can claim that others’ rights to life are of a higher order duty than the duty to intervene
to save oneself. But that hinges upon a moral evaluation of the self compared to others, and it is not clear why others should be accorded a higher
moral evaluation; for after all the self is in turn one amongst many others from a different subject’s point of view.
If the pacifist argues that his life is his own to lay down in the face of aggression (as a moral principle, as a moral example, as an example of
martyrdom, etc), the problem intensifies when the life of another is threatened, whom the pacifist is in a position to assist, and who, as a living
subject, may prefer life over death.
The pacifist who claims that he has no duty to intervene in saving others’ affairs treads a precarious moral path here; the immediate retort is why
should the moral life of the pacifist be morally more important than the life of threatened innocent? For the sake of his own beliefs, could the pacifist
consistently ignore the violence meted upon others? Yes, from two possible prespectives. The first is that the ideal of pacifism retains a supremacy
over all other ideals and is not to be compromised. The second is that the life of the pacifist is morally superior to the life of the threatened innocent,
even if that innocent happens to be a fellow absolute pacifist.
Deontologists argue that certain kinds of moral actions are good in themselves, hence deontological pacifists claim peace to be a duty to be
categorically upheld.
9. 10.
Which of the following, according to the passage, would the Which of the following is the author unlikely to agree with?
deontological pacifist consider idealistic?
(1) it is not incumbent on the pacificist to perform duties in all pertinent
(1) Resorting to self defence in the face of mortal danger. circumstances.
(2) Using a tool to save an innocent’s life. (2) The notion that there is a potential collision of duties is non-existant.
(3) Devaluing one’s life in favour of an ethical conduct. (3) Self also should be given the same moral evaluation as any other.
(4) Doing one’s duty as a soldier in times of war. (4) The ideal of pacifism should not gain supremacy over all other ideals.
(5) Eliminating the assailant, by using violence, if he is harmful to society. (5) The ideal of pacifism is not worth adhering to especially in modern times
when terrorism and extremis on have become the order of the day.
11. 12.
Which of the following does the statement “…self is in turn one amongst What according to the passage is NOT implied by ‘collision of duties’?
many others from a different subject’s point of view” support?
(1) Duty to protect others from an assailant or the virtue of pacifism
(1) It is logical for the pacifist to jeopardize the safety of self. (2) Being a passive recipient of aggression versus the duty to protect oneself
(2) It is logical to consider the aggressor to be of a higher moral order. (3) Duty to forfeit one’s life or the duty to respect another’s life
(3) Force may be used to halt an aggressor who endangers the pacifist’s life. (4) Duty to accord a higher moral value to the lives of others rather than to
(4) The pacifist can go to the assistance of a fellow pacifist. oneself
(5) It is rational for a pacifist to think that protecting the life of others is his (5) Duty to protect the life of the aggressor as against one’s own life
moral responsibility.
Directions for questions 13 to 15: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow it.
The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at
something better than customary, which is called, according to circumstances, the spirit of liberty, or that of progress or improvement. The spirit of
improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on an unwilling people; and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it
resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but the only unfailing and permanent source of
improvement is liberty, since by it there are as many possible independent centers of improvement as there are individuals. The progressive
principle, however, in either shape, whether as the love of liberty or of improvement, is antagonistic to the sway of custom, involving at least
emancipation from the yoke; and the contest between the two constitutes the chief interest of the history of mankind. The greater part of the world
has, properly speaking, no history, because the despotism of Custom is complete. This is the case over the whole East. Custom is there, in all things,
the final appeal; justice and right mean conformity to custom; the argument of custom no one, unless some tyrant intoxicated with power, thinks of
resisting. And we see the result. Those nations must once have had originality; they did not start out of the ground populous, lettered, and versed in
many of the arts of life; they made themselves all this, and were then the greatest and most powerful nations of the world. What are they now? The
subjects or dependents of tribes whose forefathers wandered in the forests when theirs had magnificent palaces and gorgeous temples, but over
whom custom exercised only a divided rule with liberty and progress. A people, it appears, may be progressive for a certain length of time, and then
stop: when does it stop? When it ceases to possess individuality. If a similar change should befall the nations of Europe, it will not be in exactly the
same shape: the despotism of custom with which these nations are threatened is not precisely stationariness. It proscribes singularity, but it does
not preclude change, provided all change together. We have discarded the fixed costumes of our forefathers; everyone must still dress like other
people, but the fashion may change once or twice a year. We thus take care that when there is a change, it shall be for change’s sake, and not from
any idea of beauty or convenience; for the same idea of beauty or convenience would not strike all the world at the same moment, and be
simultaneously thrown aside by all at another moment. But we are progressive as well as changeable: we continually make new inventions in
mechanical things, and keep them until they are again superseded by better; we are eager for improvement in politics, in education, even in morals,
though in this last our idea of improvement chiefly consists in persuading or forcing other people to be as good as ourselves. It is not progress that
we object to; on the contrary, we flatter ourselves that we are the most progressive people who ever lived. It is individuality that we war against;
we should think we had done wonders if we had made ourselves all alike, forgetting that the unlikeness of one person to another is generally the
first thing which draws the attention of either to the imperfection of his own type and the superiority of another, or the possibility, by combining the
advantages of both, of producing something better than either. We have a warning example in China – a nation of much talent and, in some respects,
even wisdom, owing to the rare good fortune of having been provided at an early period with a particularly good set of customs, the work, in some
measure, of men to whom even the most enlightened European must accord, under certain limitations, the title of sages and philosophers. They are
remarkable, too, in the excellence of their apparatus for impressing, as far as possible, the best wisdom they possess upon every mind in the
community, and securing that those who have appropriated most of it shall occupy the posts of honour and power. Surely the people who did this
have discovered the secret of human progressiveness and must have kept themselves steadily at the head of the movement of the world. On the
contrary, they have become stationary – have remained so for thousands of years; and if they are ever to be further improved, it must be by
foreigners. They have succeeded beyond all hope in what English philanthropists are so industriously working at – in making a people all alike, all
governing their thoughts and conduct by the same maxims and rules; and these are the fruits. The modern regime of public opinion is, in an
unorganized form, what the Chinese educational and political systems are in an organized; and unless individuality shall be able to assert
successfully itself against this yoke, Europe, notwithstanding its noble antecedents and its professed Christianity, will tend to become another China.
13. 14.
According to the passage, the paradox of tradition versus progress lies in The author cites the example of China to show that
which of the following statements?
(1) it is a nation of much talent and wisdom.
(1) The spirit of improvement is not always the spirit of liberty. (2) it must have been at the head of the movement of a progressive world.
(2) Custom is antagonistic to change. (3) conformity can lead to stagnation.
(3) Progress cannot happen without change and custom is imperiled by change. (4) Chinese customs are the basis for the remarkable progress it has made.
(4) It is the spirit of liberty that leads to a break from custom. (5) it is a nation which fosters wisdom.
(5) Adherence to custom precludes changes.
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15.
According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
(1) The East has not progressed because custom is deeply entrenched there.
(2) European culture with its noble antecedents can never become stagnant.
(3) The East must have been original at one time.
(4) The West considers itself morally superior to the East.
(5) The people of the West are not receptive to change.
Triumphant Institute of Management Education Pvt. Ltd. (T.I.M.E.) HO: 95B, 2nd Floor, Siddamsetty Complex, Secunderabad – 500 003. Tel : 040–27898194/95 Fax : 040–27847334 email : [email protected] website :
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Solutions for
Verbal Ability - Online practice Test 12
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Triumphant Institute of Management Education Pvt. Ltd. (T.I.M.E.) HO: 95B, 2nd Floor, Siddamsetty Complex, Secunderabad – 500 003. Tel : 040–27898194/95 Fax : 040–27847334 email : [email protected] website :
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