Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Check every bold part for preposition and tense agreement.

1. (A) Months take in: 'is to shut in January', not 'on January'.
2. (B) The leasing is already done and reported now, so use present perfect: 'has leased it', not the future perfect 'will have leased it'.
3. (C) 'to a group of developers' and (D) 'on the plot' are fine.

Trick: on + day/date (on Monday, on 5 January); in + month/year/season (in January, in 2025).

Answer: (A) AB

Concept: Fixed phrase: on behalf of = as the representative of.

1. The spokesperson acts as the company's representative in talks.
2. So the phrase needed is 'act on behalf of the company'.
3. 'for/upon behalf' are not standard; 'in behalf of' (old use) means 'for the good of', which does not fit here.

Yaad rakhein: on behalf of = someone's agent (the lawyer spoke on behalf of the client).

Answer: (D) on

Concept: Insightful = having deep, clear understanding.

1. Sagacious = wise, with sharp judgement – same idea.
2. Unaware (not knowing), Naïve (innocent, inexperienced), Careless (not paying attention) all show a lack of understanding.

Trick: Three options are 'negative' qualities; only one is a 'positive mind' word – pick it.

Answer: (B) Sagacious

Concept: Spot the standard spelling of the military/police rank.

1. Correct form: S-E-R-G-E-A-N-T.
2. Seargent (extra 'a' early), Sargant ('a' for 'e'), Sergant (missing 'e' after 'g') are wrong.

Trick: Split it as 'SERGE + ANT' – serge (cloth) + ant.

Answer: (A) Sergeant

Concept: 'found' can be the past of find or a separate verb found (to establish).

1. (A) found a mineral, (B) found her wallet, (D) found the solution → all mean discovered/located.
2. (C) a university is set up, so it means 'establish'. (Correct form would be 'was founded in 1991'.)

Trick: find → found → found; found → founded → founded. 'was found in 1991' for an institution signals the 'establish' sense.

Answer: (C) The university was found in 1991.

Concept: 'On a collision course' = heading towards a conflict that seems certain.

1. Weeks of disagreement point to a coming fight, not peace.
2. (A), (B), (D) all suggest cooperation or avoiding conflict – opposite of the context.

Trick: Picture two trains on the same track – a crash is coming.

Answer: (C) Moving towards an unavoidable clash

Concept: The idiom means getting information directly from the most reliable/original source.

1. 'so I know it's true' confirms the source is dependable.
2. Rumours and guessing are unreliable; a written report is not what the idiom says.

Yaad rakhein: Opposite idea – 'hearsay' or 'through the grapevine' = from rumours.

Answer: (D) From a trustworthy source

Concept: A large, strongly built place made for defence = fortress.

1. Barracks = living/training quarters of soldiers – ruled out by 'not training'.
2. Bunker = small shelter, often underground; Citadel = fort guarding a city, usually on high ground.
3. The general term for a strong defensive building is fortress.

Yaad rakhein: Armoury = store of weapons; Garrison = troops stationed in a town.

Answer: (C) Fortress

Concept: Pretty = pleasant to look at; its opposite must mean ugly.

1. Monstrous = hideous, frightful in appearance.
2. Beautiful, Attractive, Lovely are synonyms of pretty.

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

Answer: (A) Monstrous

Concept: Vague = unclear, not definite; antonym must carry 'make clear'.

1. Elucidate = to explain, make clear.
2. Fuzzy, Obscure, Foggy all mean unclear – synonyms of vague.

Trick: 'Lucid' (clear) hides inside e-LUCID-ate.

Answer: (B) Elucidate

Concept: In direct speech, undo the tense back-shift and restore question form.

1. 'whether' → drop it; use inverted question: 'Is the train expected…?'
2. was → is (back-shift removed); the second idea needs its own verb: 'or will it be delayed further?'
3. (B) changes the words ('shortly', 'more'); (C) has broken grammar; (D) keeps past 'Was'.

Trick: Reverse indirect → direct: past becomes present, 'whether/if' disappears, add '?' with helping verb first.

Answer: (A) They asked, "Is the train expected to arrive on time or will it be delayed further?"

Concept: Check each listed word against the sentence.

1. 'cruicial' has an extra 'i'; correct spelling: crucial (very important).
2. medicine and patient are correct; 'serious' appears as 'seriously' and is spelt correctly.

Trick: crucial = CRU + CIAL (like 'cru-cial', no 'i' before the first 'c').

Answer: (B) cruicial

Concept: Past reporting verb → change pronoun, tense and time words.

1. Pronoun: 'we' (the colleagues) → they.
2. Tense: will organize → would organize.
3. Time: next weekend → the next weekend (the following weekend).
4. Only (C) makes all three changes.

Trick: Check the three P-T-T changes – Pronoun, Tense, Time word; eliminate any option missing one.

Answer: (C) My colleagues told me that they would organize a trip the next weekend.

Concept: 'had been being + V3' (passive) ↔ 'had been + V-ing' (active).

1. No doer is named, so use the general subject they.
2. Keep the question form: Had + they + been carrying out + object…?
3. (B) is not a question, (C) makes the library the doer, (D) changes the tense.

Trick: In voice change, tense and sentence type (question) never change – only check the option that keeps both.

Answer: (A) Had they been carrying out the renovation work on the old library for weeks before she arrived?

Concept: After a preposition we need a noun: breath (noun), not breathe (verb).

1. The fixed expression is 'out of breath' = panting, short of air.
2. 'out of air', 'out of breathing', 'out of breaths' are not idiomatic.

Trick: breath (noun, short 'e' sound) – take a breath; breathe (verb, ends in 'e') – breathe deeply.

Answer: (C) out of breath

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

1. Object 'the keys' (plural) becomes the subject → have been.
2. V3 of misplace = misplaced; 'by someone' is dropped.
3. (A) past, (C) present, (D) past perfect – wrong tenses.

Trick: Find the tense of the active verb first ('has misplaced' = present perfect), then pick the option in the same tense.

Answer: (B) The keys have been misplaced.

Concept: An abstract noun names an action, process, state or idea that cannot be touched.

1. 'Deforestation' = the act/process of cutting down forests.
2. It is not a physical object (concrete), not a specific name (proper), not a group (collective).

Trick: Nouns ending in -tion, -ness, -ity, -ment are usually abstract (education, kindness, equality).

Answer: (B) Abstract noun

Concept: A clause starting with who/which/that and describing a noun is a relative clause.

1. 'which once functioned as … species' begins with the relative pronoun which.
2. It gives extra information about the noun 'Forests' and is set off by commas (non-defining).
3. So the keyed name is relative clause; it is not an adverb or noun clause.

Yaad rakhein: Commas around a 'which' clause = non-defining relative clause; it can be removed without breaking the sentence.

Answer: (D) Relative clause

Concept: Find the passage word meaning 'to make worse'.

1. Para 1: deforestation 'exacerbates the fragile ecosystem's vulnerability' – makes it worse.
2. Alleviates and Mitigates mean reduce/ease (opposite); Initiates = begins.

Trick: Alleviate/Mitigate = lighten; Exacerbate/Aggravate = worsen – learn them as pairs.

Answer: (B) Exacerbates

Concept: Break the phrase into words: sanctity = sacredness/purity that must not be harmed.

1. 'ecological' = of the natural environment; so ecological sanctity = purity and inviolability of nature.
2. The passage ends by saying the imbalance endangers the region's ecological sanctity.
3. Other options name problems, places or people – not purity.

Trick: 'Sanctity' comes from 'sanct' = holy (sanctuary, saint) – it alone carries 'purity'.

Answer: (A) ecological sanctity