Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Lucid = clear and easy to understand.

1. Obscure = unclear, hard to understand – the opposite.
2. Clear, understandable, evident are synonyms of lucid.

Trick: When three options mean the same as the word, the remaining one is the antonym.

Answer: (B) Obscure

Concept: 'Cut to the chase' = skip the extra talk and come to the main point.

1. Meaning: avoid unnecessary details and get to the point.
2. Delaying, complicating or speaking vaguely are the opposite.

Yaad rakhein: Similar idiom: 'beat around the bush' – the opposite, i.e. avoid the main point.

Answer: (A) Avoid unnecessary details and get to the point

Concept: Study of ancient inscriptions = Epigraphy.

1. Numismatics = study of coins; Cartography = map-making.
2. Archaeology covers all material remains, not just inscriptions.

Yaad rakhein: Palaeography = study of ancient handwriting/scripts – often confused with epigraphy.

Answer: (B) Epigraphy

Concept: Immune system science = immuno + logy.

1. Correct: I-M-M-U-N-O-L-O-G-Y (double m, single l, single n).
2. Others drop the 'o', double the 'l' or put the double letter on 'n'.

Trick: Start from 'immune' (double m, one n) and add '-ology'.

Answer: (A) Immunology

Concept: Nycto- = night; nyctophobia = fear of darkness/night.

1. Photophobia = fear of/sensitivity to light.
2. Chronophobia = fear of time passing; Hydrophobia = fear of water.

Yaad rakhein: Acrophobia – heights, claustrophobia – closed spaces, agoraphobia – open/crowded places.

Answer: (A) Nyctophobia

Concept: 'Arrive at' is used for reaching a decision, conclusion or result.

1. The committee arrived at a decision – correct.
2. 'Arrive in' suits cities/countries; 'arrive to' and 'arrive on' are wrong here.

Yaad rakhein: Arrive in + city/country; arrive at + building/small place or decision/conclusion.

Answer: (B) arrived at

Concept: Total business turnover of a company is 'sales' (plural).

1. 'Boost its sale' is wrong → 'boost its sales'.
2. 'Sale' (singular) means one transaction or a discount event.

Yaad rakhein: Similar fixed plurals in business: earnings, proceeds, savings, goods.

Answer: (C) (3)

Concept: Present perfect passive: has/have + been + V3.

1. 'They have completed' → 'The project has been completed'.
2. 'They' (vague agent) is dropped; 'successfully' stays.
3. (B) past perfect, (C) simple past, (D) simple present – tense changed.

Trick: Keep the helping verb's tense: 'have' in active → 'has/have been' in passive.

Answer: (A) The project has been completed successfully.

Concept: Homonym = same spelling/sound but a different, unrelated meaning.

1. In the sentence, 'seal' = a closure/stamp on an envelope.
2. (B) seal a deal and (D) official seal stay close to 'close/stamp'.
3. (A) seal = a sea animal – totally different meaning, so it is the homonym.

Trick: Pick the option whose meaning is unrelated (often an animal or object) to the given use.

Answer: (A) The zookeeper showed a seal at the aquarium.

Concept: When the passive gives no doer, the active uses a general subject like 'someone'.

1. 'was thought' → 'someone thought'.
2. Perfect infinitive 'to have produced' → earlier past: 'had produced'.
3. (C) is still passive; (D) changes the tense.

Yaad rakhein: 'To have + V3' always shows an action earlier than the main verb – use past perfect in the active.

Answer: (B) Someone thought the experiment had produced significant results.

Concept: 'Time' modified by an adjective in the sense of a period takes 'a': in a short time.

1. Correct: He completed the task in a short time.
2. (A) changes tense; (D) wrongly places the adverb between verb and object.

Yaad rakhein: Similar fixed phrases: in a hurry, at a loss, in a nutshell, for a while.

Answer: (C) completed the task in a short time

Concept: Never use 'more' with an '-er' comparative.

1. 'Faster' is already comparative → 'more faster' is wrong.
2. 'Fastest' is superlative and cannot take 'than'.
3. Correct: He runs faster than his brother.

Trick: Short words (fast, tall) take '-er'; long words (beautiful) take 'more' – never both.

Answer: (A) faster than

Concept: Past perfect in reported speech can come from a past perfect in the original, so it may stay unchanged.

1. Keep the reporting verb 'explained' and the word 'already' – (A) and (C) change them.
2. The quoted part keeps 'had already submitted the report before the deadline'.
3. (D) changes the tense to present perfect and drops 'already'.

Trick: Match key words first – reporting verb + 'already' – and the field narrows to (B) at once.

Answer: (B) The manager explained, "The team had already submitted the report before the deadline."

Concept: With a past reporting verb, present perfect → past perfect.

1. 'have completed' → 'had completed'.
2. 'I/my' → 'he/his' (pronoun matches the speaker).
3. He said he had completed his homework.

Yaad rakhein: Backshift chain: is → was, has done → had done, did → had done, will → would.

Answer: (A) He said he had completed his homework.

Concept: General statement → what it does → who uses it → concerns.

1. 1 introduces AI's impact (opener).
2. 2 explains AI's abilities; 3 shows businesses investing for those benefits.
3. 4 ('Its development raises…') adds the concerns at the end: 1-2-3-4.

Trick: Sentence 4 begins with 'Its', so it needs AI already named, and a caution usually closes – rule out (C) and (D) instantly.

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

Concept: Identify the main verb and who performs it.

1. Main verb 'demonstrated' = V2 with no helping verb → simple past.
2. The Wright brothers are the doers → active voice.

Trick: No 'had', 'was/were + V3' or 'has/have' = simple past active.

Answer: (B) Simple Past Active

Concept: A past-participle phrase placed after a noun describes that noun.

1. 'epitomized by Concorde in 1976' comes right after 'supersonic transport'.
2. It tells which/what kind of supersonic transport → works as an adjective phrase.

Trick: Ask 'which one?' – if the phrase answers it for a noun, it is adjectival; 'when/how?' would make it adverbial.

Answer: (A) Adjective phrase modifying "supersonic transport"

Concept: 'Usher in' = to begin or bring in something new.

1. The 1903 flight began the era of modern aviation.
2. So 'ushering' = introducing; 'halting' is the opposite.

Yaad rakhein: An usher is a person who leads guests in – the verb keeps that idea of bringing in.

Answer: (B) Introducing

Concept: Transformative = causing a major change.

1. In the passage, each 'transformative innovation' changed flight and society.
2. So it means highly significant and altering, not ordinary, temporary or repetitive.

Trick: Root 'transform' = change completely – choose the option with the idea of change.

Answer: (C) Highly significant and altering

Concept: Tone = writer's attitude shown through word choice.

1. The passage traces stages of aviation in an orderly way → analytical.
2. Words like 'ingenuity', 'marvels', 'mastery over the skies' praise progress → celebratory.
3. No criticism, fear or indifference appears.

Trick: Check one positive and one negative word in each option – passage is fully positive, so any option with 'critical', 'alarmist' or 'indifferent' goes.

Answer: (B) Analytical and celebratory