www.ptindia.com  PT Education, All rights reserved.

English Usage
Reproduction of this material, in part or in whole, is prohibited.
Corporate Office: 214-17, Naurang House, Opp. Hindustan Times,
21, K.G. Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi-01.
Ph.: 011-51510891/92/93 Fax: 011-51518999
Registered Office: Race Course Road, Indore.
Set 20 Email: pthq@ptindia.com Web: www.ptindia.com
-

The sentences (four/five/four between 1 and 6) given in each question, when properly sequenced form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence in labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.

1. (A) So, while the so-called secularists, assorted anti-communal NGOs and peace activists raised the pitch, protesting
rightfully against the communal carnage that followed Godhra, the congress had to take the brunt of a two-
sided campaign–caught between a perceived soft Hindutva line and the aggression of the secularists.
(B) Secularism vs regional Chauvinism ?
(C) It ultimately slumped ignominiously between these two contradictory stools.
(D) The Gujrat election results proved a telling example of the anti-Narendra Modi lobby headed by an aggressive
media campaign played into the BJP hands–hook, line and sinker.
(1) ABCD (2) DCBA (3) BDAC (4) BDCA

2. (A) Even a COAI official agrees : “The new services may acquire a critical mass of subscribers, which will be difficult
to fight against.”
(B) Already, telecom minister had hinted that the WLL operator offering unlimited mobility may be asked to pay a
higher licence fee, perhaps in the range of Rs. 1000 crore per operator.
(C) Once the WLL operators manage a sizeable number of customers, it’ll be difficult for anyone to simply ask them
to stop their services.
(D) So the COAl official agrees : “The new services may acquire a critical mass of subscribers, which will be difficult
to fight against.”
(E) But if that doesn’t happen, some sort of a compromise will need to be worked out.
(1) CEDBA (2) CADEB (3) CEDAB (4) CDBAE

3. (A) An avid maker of aero-models as a child, she considered it her birthright to be a “resident of the Milky Way,”
becoming the second Indian after IAF officer Rakesh Sharma to cross the final frontier.
(B) Having slept under a canopy of stars in Karnal, a sleepy town in Haryana, Tagore Baal Niketan School’s most
famous student became the first woman to study aeronautical engineering at the decidedly unfashionable
Punjab Engineering College (PEC).
(C) In a field where India had no markers, Chawla winged it alone, without the benefit of the old school IIT tie or the
comfort of a well-hewn techie career path in Silicon Valley
(D) It was only the first of many glass ceilings she would break.
(E) For her scores of admirers in India, a number swollen by the tragedy of her death, 41-year-old Chawla’s life was
an epigraph of small-town, middle-class success.
(1) EBDCA (2) ABDCE (3) CBDEA (4) EABDC

4. (A) There are those who believe that a short and sharp war may actually help India.
(B) India’s unlimited supply of brawn could also help in the reconstruction of Iraq, apart from technical contracts
that could be thrown its way.
(C) This would depress global oil prices and boost India’s economy.
(D) If a US-controlled regime of the Hamid Karzai type is put into place quickly enough, then Iraq’s oil wells could
start pumping to pre-1991 levels.
(1) DABC (2) DCAB (3) ADCB (4) DCBA

5. (A) They said they had assembled at the Bangladesh village of Nazir Gomani, across the border from Satgachi, when
some officers of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) ordered them to gather at one place.
(B) Then they were told to march across the border, or be shot.
(C) It was a crowd of destitute rag-pickers.
(D) On enquiry, it was found that they were nomadic snake charmers, the sort who made a living by displaying their
performing snakes.
(1) DCAB (2) CDBA (3) DCBA (4) CDAB

IC : PTwebeu20 (1)
Choose the word or set of words for each blank in the following questions that best fits the meaning of the
sentence.

6. Do not be ..... by that fiery formula which springs from the lips of so many ..... old gentlemen : “I shall write to ‘The
times’ about this outrage !”
(1) dissuaded, indefatigable (2) daunted, irresolute (3) intimidated, choleric (4) discredited, crochety
(5) exasperated, apathetic

7. Despite John’s somewhat ..... undergraduate career, as undistinguished by academic brilliance as by dissolute
excesses, nothing could convince his anxious though doting mother that her son was neither a genius nor a ..... .
(1) ordinary, prodigy (2) colourful, profligate (3) anomalous, zealot (4) lacklustre, libertine
(5) indifferent, miser

8. Surprisingly to those who view the ocean floor as a uniformly ..... waste, each vent in the floor, where sea water is
heated by the earth’s interior magma, has been found to be an island-like ..... with its own distinctive fauna.
(1) teeming, habitat (2) lifeless, enclave (3) barren, oasis (4) sunken, grotto
(5) hazardous, environment

9. A ..... of recent cases of scientific fraud in which gross errors of fraud and logic slipped past the review panels that
scrutinize submissions to journals suggests that the review system is seriously ..... .
(1) plethora, intended (2) lack, strained
(3) dearth, compromised (4) spate, taxed
(5) preponderance, substantiated

10. He was uneven in his approach to the problem, at once ..... and ...... .
(1) surly, unwilling (2) sincere, well-meaning
(3) harmonious, foolhardy (4) conscientious, frivolous
(5) careless, insouciant

Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly similar in meaning to the word in capital letters.

11. COHERE
(1) hold together (2) occur simultaneously (3) recollect (4) materialize
(5) understand.

12. EMENDATION
(1) correction (2) interpretation (3) exhumation (4) inquiry
(5) fault

13. MISDEMEANOUR
(1) felony (2) peccadillo (3) indignity (4) fiat
(5) illiteracy

14. REPUGNANCE
(1) belligerence (2) tenacity (3) renewal (4) pity
(5) loathing

15. TITILLATE
(1) hasten (2) fasten (3) stimulate (4) incorporate
(5) intentional

Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters.

16. UNWITTING
(1) clever (2) intense (3) sensitive (4) freezing
(5) intentional

17. PROTRACT
(1) make circular (2) shorten (3) further (4) retrace
(5) involve

(2) IC : PTwebeu20
18. IRREVERENT
(1) related (2) mischievous (3) respective (4) pious
(5) violent

19. HYBRID
(1) productive (2) special (3) purebred (4) oafish
(5) genial

20. EXTROVERT
(1) down (2) hero (3) octomorph (4) neurotic
(5) introvert

Select the lettered pair in the following analogy questions that best expresses a relationship similar to
that expressed in the original capitalised pair.

21. APOSTATE : RELIGION

(1) potentate : kingdom (2) traitor : country
(3) bureaucrat : government (4) jailor : law
(5) teacher : education

22. FOX : CUNNING

(1) dog : playful (2) hyena : amusing (3) beaver : industrious (4) vixen : cute
(5) colt : sturdy

23. EXCESSIVE : MODERATION

(1) extensive : duration (2) arbitrary : courage
(3) impulsive : reflection (4) distinguished : reverence
(5) expensive : cost

24. MENDICANT : IMPECUNIOUS

(1) critical : quizzical (2) complainer : petulant (3) physician : noble (4) liar : compulsive
(5) philanthropist : prodigal

25. ELISION : SYLLABLES

(1) contraction : letters (2) thesis : ideas (3) diagnosis : symptoms (4) almanac : facts
(5) abacus : numbers

Objective Key
1.(3) 2.(2) 3.(1) 4.(3) 5.(4) 6.(3) 7.(4) 8.(3) 9.(4) 10.(4)
11.(1) 12.(1) 13.(2) 14.(5) 15.(3) 16.(5) 17.(2) 18.(4) 19.(3) 20.(5)
21.(2) 22.(3) 23.(3) 24.(2) 25.(1)

IC : PTwebeu20 (3)