Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Pick the word for a public statement strongly condemning something.

1. Denunciation = open, formal and strong public condemnation – fits a released statement.
2. Censure = official reprimand; accusation = charging with wrongdoing; conviction = being declared guilty by a court.

Yaad rakhein: Denounce = speak out against publicly; noun → denunciation (note: no 'o' after 'n').

Answer: (B) Denunciation

Concept: 'Utmost' (adjective) = greatest possible; it collocates with care.

1. 'Handled it with ___ care' needs an adjective before the noun 'care'.
2. utmost care is the standard phrase.
3. 'Almost' and 'mostly' are adverbs; 'most care' is unidiomatic.

Yaad rakhein: Common pairs: utmost care, utmost importance, utmost respect.

Answer: (A) utmost

Concept: Some verbs take a fixed preposition.

1. 'Delve' (to search deeply) is followed by into.
2. The treatise examined the essence of existentialism in depth → 'delved into'.

Yaad rakhein: Similar: probe into, look into, inquire into — all mean investigate.

Answer: (A) into

Concept: 'Than' signals the comparative degree.

1. Comparing two attempts → comparative needed.
2. Little – less – least: 'less' is the comparative.
3. 'Despite initial optimism' shows the result was worse → 'less successful than'.

Trick: See 'than' → reject positive (little, much) and superlative (least) forms at once.

Answer: (B) less

Concept: With neither…nor / either…or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

1. Nearer subject = 'the teacher' (singular).
2. So 'were ready' must become was ready.
3. Error is in part (2).

Trick: Proximity rule: look only at the noun just before the verb.

Answer: (B) (2)

Concept: The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, not with words in between.

1. Head noun: 'implications' (plural).
2. 'of the burgeoning quantum theories' and the comma phrase are only modifiers.
3. 'remains' → remain; error in part (2).

Trick: Strip the sentence: 'The implications … remain a contentious subject.'

Answer: (B) (2)

Concept: Present continuous passive = is/am/are + being + V3.

1. Active: 'is excavating' (present continuous).
2. Object 'an ancient Roman villa' becomes subject.
3. Passive: 'is currently being excavated by the renowned archaeologist'.

Trick: Continuous tense in active → look for 'being' in the passive; only B has 'is … being'.

Answer: (B) An ancient Roman villa is currently being excavated by the renowned archaeologist.

Concept: Identify the sense of the word in the given sentence, then find the odd use.

1. Given sentence: introit = the opening chant/hymn of a church service.
2. A, B, C – played, sung, composed → all musical sense.
3. D – 'gates guarded the introit' uses it as 'entrance' → different meaning.

Trick: Look at the verb attached: played/sang/composed go with music; 'guarded' goes with a place.

Answer: (D) Heavy iron gates guarded the introit to the private estate.

Concept: Keep the tense of each clause when changing voice.

1. 'It was being speculated by the media' = past continuous passive → active 'The media was speculating'.
2. Inner clause 'had been influenced by external lobbyists' (past perfect passive) → 'external lobbyists had influenced'.
3. B keeps both tenses; D wrongly changes to simple past.

Trick: Passive 'was being + V3' ↔ active 'was + V-ing'.

Answer: (B) The media was widely speculating that external lobbyists had unduly influenced the clandestine negotiations.

Concept: The answer must match the passage's own definition.

1. According to the passage, outside factors change how genes behave while the DNA code itself stays as it is.
2. So epigenetics studies changes in how genes work, not in the DNA sequence.
3. A contradicts this; C is the older model it goes beyond; D is never said.

Trick: Option A is the direct opposite of the key phrase – such 'reverse' options are classic traps.

Answer: (B) The study of gene expression without changing DNA.

Concept: Locate the line that names these two processes.

1. The passage compares these two chemical changes to switches inside the cell.
2. A switch controls a gene – it can activate it, silence it or tune how strongly it works.
3. They leave the DNA sequence itself untouched, so A is wrong.

Trick: The word 'switches' in the passage maps straight onto 'turn on or off'.

Answer: (B) They turn genes on or off.

Concept: Find what the passage says 'challenges' fixed destiny.

1. Inherited epigenetic tags show that ancestors' environments can affect descendants.
2. Nurture can decide which parts of our nature are expressed.
3. So environment can modify how inherited traits appear.

Trick: A (DNA always changes) and C (twins exactly alike) are contradicted by the passage itself.

Answer: (B) It shows the environment can change inherited traits.

Concept: Read the metaphor along with its contrast in the passage.

1. The passage sets a 'rigid blueprint' against a 'malleable score' re-orchestrated by life.
2. Malleable = flexible, able to be shaped; score = a plan (like music to be performed).
3. So our genetic inheritance is a flexible plan that experiences can change.

Trick: 'Malleable' = can be moulded – instantly removes the 'fixed/cannot be changed/strict' options A, B, D.

Answer: (C) A flexible genetic plan that life experiences can change.

Concept: For a NOT question, eliminate every point the passage supports.

1. New therapies, a new view of public health and effects on future generations are all mentioned as implications.
2. The passage argues that environment can shape gene expression – the reverse of 'genes are always stronger'.
3. So C is not learnt from the passage.

Trick: In NOT questions the answer is usually the option that contradicts the central idea.

Answer: (C) That genes are always stronger than environment.

Concept: A preposition is followed by a noun or gerund (V-ing), not the base verb.

1. 'Insist' takes the preposition 'on'.
2. After 'on' use the gerund: 'meeting'.
3. Correct: 'insisted on meeting the deadline'.

Trick: Insist on / object to / look forward to / be used to + V-ing.

Answer: (B) on meeting the deadline

Concept: Items joined by 'and' must be in the same grammatical form.

1. 'Instructed the patrons to return …' uses an infinitive.
2. The second action must also be an infinitive: 'to keep the noise levels down'.
3. 'keeping' breaks the parallel structure.

Yaad rakhein: After 'instructed somebody', always use 'to + verb'; then copy that form for every item.

Answer: (A) to return books on time and to keep the noise levels down

Concept: Past reporting verb → tenses go one step back; pronouns and time words change.

1. 'I' → 'she' (the speaker).
2. 'visited' (simple past) → 'had visited' (past perfect).
3. 'last week' → 'the previous week'.

Trick: Three checks: pronoun, tense back-shift, time word — only A passes all three.

Answer: (A) She remarked that she had visited … the previous week.

Concept: Yes/no questions are reported with if/whether and statement word order.

1. 'said to' → 'asked'.
2. 'you' → 'they'; 'will' → 'would'.
3. Order: if + subject + verb → 'if they would be attending'.

Trick: No question order ('will they', 'would they') in indirect speech — B and D are out at once.

Answer: (A) She asked them if they would be attending …

Concept: Follow the process order: set-up → data flow → analysis → result.

1. 3 introduces the sensors (installation) – opener.
2. 1 refers to 'these sensors' → must follow 3.
3. 2 analyses that data; 4 gives the outcome ('this system').

Trick: Demonstrative words like 'these' and 'this' always point back to an earlier sentence – they can't open the paragraph.

Answer: (A) 3-1-2-4

Concept: Topic sentence → method → detail → contrast.

1. 2 states the general problem (predicting eruptions) – opener.
2. 3 brings in sensor networks; 1 ('They monitor …') explains what those networks do.
3. 4 begins with 'However' – the limitation, so it ends the paragraph.

Trick: 'They' in sentence 1 needs a plural noun before it ('sensor networks' in 3) → 3-1 is a fixed pair.

Answer: (A) 2, 3, 1, 4