Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: 'At sea' = confused, not knowing what to do.

1. A sudden change in exam pattern leaves students puzzled — fits 'confused'.
2. Picture a ship with no land in sight: you have lost direction.

Yaad rakhein: Related: 'all at sea' = completely confused; 'out of one's depth' = beyond one's ability.

Answer: (C) Feeling confused or perplexed

Concept: Empiricism = belief that knowledge comes from experience/senses.

1. Built as empiric + -ism: E-M-P-I-R-I-C-I-S-M.
2. '-isim', '-alism', '-icm' endings are wrong.

Trick: Philosophy schools all end in plain '-ism': rationalism, empiricism, idealism.

Answer: (B) Empiricism

Concept: Perfidy = deliberate betrayal of trust; treachery.

1. Heresy = belief against accepted religious doctrine.
2. Apostasy = giving up one's religion or principles.
3. Duplicity = double-dealing/deceit in general; 'breach of faith' is precisely perfidy.

Trick: Per (through/away) + fides (faith) → going against faith = perfidy.

Answer: (C) Perfidy

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

1. 'reading novels', 'listening to music' are -ing forms (gerunds).
2. Third item 'to paint' breaks the pattern → should be 'painting landscapes'.
3. Correct: She enjoys reading novels, listening to music and painting landscapes.

Trick: 'Enjoy' always takes a gerund (enjoy doing), never 'enjoy to do'.

Answer: (C) (3)

Concept: Onomatopoeia = a word that sounds like what it names (buzz, hiss, tick-tock).

1. Split it: ONO-MATO-POE-IA.
2. Other options change 'mato' to 'moto' or reorder the 'oeia' vowels.

Trick: Remember 'POEt' inside it: onomato-POE-ia — poets love sound-words.

Answer: (D) Onomatopoeia

Concept: 'was/were + V3' (simple past passive) → active uses V2.

1. Doer 'the management' becomes subject; 'was made' → 'made'.
2. Active: The management made the decision to close the branch office.
3. 'makes' (present) and 'had made' (past perfect) change tense; (D) reverses the doer.

Trick: Find the doer after 'by' — it must start the active sentence.

Answer: (B) The management made the decision to close the branch office.

Concept: Past perfect (earlier action) + simple past (later action) in the 'by the time' clause.

1. Main clause 'had already left' is past perfect → whole sentence is in the past.
2. The later action (dinner) takes simple past: 'finished'.
3. So the blank takes V2 'finished' to pair with 'had left'.

Trick: Pattern to remember: By the time + V2, … had + V3.

Answer: (A) finished

Concept: 'a' for any one (first mention, consonant sound); 'the' for a specific known thing.

1. 'new dress' — any dress, starts with consonant sound → a.
2. 'party next week' — a particular party → the.

Trick: A phrase that specifies (next week, of my friend, in the box) usually needs 'the'.

Answer: (A) a, the

Concept: Homonyms: same spelling, different meanings.

1. In the given sentence 'bass' (pronounced 'base') = deep, low-pitched sound.
2. Options B, C, D use the same musical meaning.
3. Option A: 'sea bass' (pronounced 'bas') is a fish — the different word.

Trick: Pick the option whose meaning differs from the highlighted one; three musical uses cancel out.

Answer: (A) The fisherman caught a large sea bass.

Concept: Imperative → reporting verb (advised/told/ordered) + object + to + V1.

1. Gentle instruction → 'advised'.
2. 'Be attentive' → 'to be attentive'; 'said to' → 'advised the students'.
3. (C) 'said the students' is wrong; (A), (B) use 'that' clause needlessly.

Trick: Imperative sentences never take 'that' in indirect speech.

Answer: (D) The teacher advised the students to be attentive while solving the equations.

Concept: 'Cut the Gordian knot' = solve a tough problem by one bold stroke.

1. Legend: Alexander the Great simply cut the impossible knot of Gordium with his sword.
2. 'Taking a quick decision' in the sentence matches decisive solving.

Yaad rakhein: Gordian = complicated; cut = quick, forceful solution.

Answer: (C) To solve a complex problem decisively

Concept: Martinet = a very strict disciplinarian who insists on rules.

1. Maverick = independent, unorthodox person (opposite in spirit).
2. Iconoclast = attacker of traditions/beliefs; Bohemian = one with an unconventional lifestyle.

Yaad rakhein: Named after Jean Martinet, a strict French army drill-master under Louis XIV.

Answer: (A) Martinet

Concept: 'Harp on (the same string)' = keep talking about one thing again and again.

1. Like a harpist plucking one string repeatedly — tiresome repetition.
2. Fickle, change or new work are the opposite of 'same'.

Trick: The key word 'same' points to repetition — eliminate change-related options.

Answer: (A) To repeat a single action or topic endlessly

Concept: Reported question: asked + wh-word + subject + verb (statement order), tense backshift.

1. 'said to me' → 'asked me'.
2. 'have kept' → 'had kept'; 'my' → 'her'; 'you' → 'I'.
3. Word order: where I had kept (not 'had I').

Trick: No question mark and no inverted order in indirect speech — kills (A).

Answer: (B) She asked me where I had kept her notebook.

Concept: Topic sentence first; follow pronoun and linker clues.

1. 2: general statement — customer satisfaction matters.
2. 4 ('therefore') draws the need to understand customers.
3. 3 ('It often involves surveys…') explains how; 1 ('this feedback') uses the result → 2-4-3-1.

Trick: 'this feedback' in 1 must come after the methods in 3 → 3-1 at the end.

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

Concept: The central idea runs through the whole passage, not one line.

1. Passage repeatedly says language adapts, absorbs change and grows stronger.
2. It ends: language endures because it is adaptable → flexibility keeps it alive and relevant.
3. A and D argue against change; C says the reverse of the author's view.

Trick: Main-idea answers match the passage's last line/conclusion.

Answer: (B) The flexibility of language allows it to survive and stay relevant.

Concept: Factual question: locate the line on digital communication.

1. Passage: digital communication has sped up change by mixing written and spoken styles.
2. Examples given: abbreviations, emojis, informal expressions → option C.
3. B says 'more distinct' — the opposite; A and D are extreme claims not in the text.

Trick: In factual RC questions, prefer the option that echoes the passage's own key words (blending, abbreviations).

Answer: (C) It has blended written and spoken forms through new symbols and abbreviations.

Concept: Inference: what the author's statement suggests.

1. The human mind keeps finding new ways to express ideas; language copies this quality.
2. So language evolves because people are innovative and flexible → B.
3. C ('unchanging rules') and D ('without human involvement') contradict this.

Trick: 'Mirrors' = reflects → language changes because humans change their ways of expression.

Answer: (B) Language evolves because humans are capable of innovation and flexibility.

Concept: Read the phrase with its surrounding words.

1. The passage pairs 'grammatical purity' with critics who see modern shifts as a decline.
2. So purity = keeping traditional, standard forms and rejecting new variations.

Trick: 'Purity' in language debates always stands for tradition vs. change.

Answer: (A) Maintaining traditional forms and avoiding modern variations.

Concept: Judge tone from the author's own words, not from views he reports.

1. Author calls language 'stronger through innovation' and change a sign of vitality.
2. That is a positive, approving view → Appreciative.
3. Critical/Pessimistic belong to the critics he mentions; Indifferent does not fit his strong support.

Trick: Words like vitality, stronger, endures = positive tone.

Answer: (B) Appreciative