Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: An idiom's meaning is fixed; match the key idea 'bearing the result of what you did'.

1. Face the music = to meet and accept the punishment/criticism for your own actions.
2. Bell the cat = take a dangerous job for a group; bite the bullet = endure something painful but necessary; take the bull by the horns = tackle a problem boldly.
3. Only (A) talks about consequences of one's own deeds.

Trick: Look for the word 'consequences' → think 'music' you must face after the show is over.

Answer: (A) face the music

Concept: A passive verb (was + V3) cannot take a direct object; also subject–verb agreement must hold.

1. Subject 'The constant interruptions' is plural, and it is the doer of the action.
2. 'was deeply annoyed the manager' wrongly mixes passive form with an object.
3. Correct: 'The constant interruptions by the workers deeply annoyed the manager.'

Trick: If a noun follows 'was/were + V3' directly, the part is almost surely wrong.

Answer: (C) was deeply annoyed the manager

Concept: Recondite = obscure, understood only by a few experts.

1. Esoteric = meant for or understood by a small group with special knowledge – same sense.
2. Jargon is a noun (technical language), not a describing word for 'terminology'.
3. Plain is the opposite; confidential means secret, not hard to understand.

Trick: 'Even researchers struggled' = hard-to-grasp → pick the 'difficult/obscure' word.

Answer: (B) esoteric

Concept: Ceaseless = never stopping, continuous.

1. Perpetual = lasting forever, without end – synonym.
2. Transient, Ephemeral and Short all mean 'brief' – these are antonyms.

Trick: Three options share one meaning (short-lived) → the odd one is the answer.

Answer: (C) Perpetual

Concept: Check homophone-type spellings carefully.

1. Part B has 'palete' – wrong.
2. Correct: palate = roof of the mouth (fits 'surgeon' and 'speech').
3. Palette = artist's colour board; pallet = wooden platform for goods.

Yaad rakhein: Palate – 'ate' with the mouth; palette – 'ette' for a painter's board.

Answer: (B) B

Concept: Double letters are a common spelling trap.

1. Part B: 'questionaire' is wrong.
2. Correct: questionnaire – double 'n' + 'aire'.
3. Participants, dietary, routines are spelt correctly.

Yaad rakhein: Questionnaire: 'question' + 'naire' – keep both n's.

Answer: (B) B

Concept: For position on a slope/mountain, English uses 'up' (higher) or 'down'.

1. 'Further into the mountain' suggests inside the rock – not meant here.
2. A spring behind a ridge is higher on the slope → further up the mountain.
3. 'ahead the mountain' and 'on the mountain' are unidiomatic with 'further'.

Yaad rakhein: Mountains, hills, stairs, roads → 'up/down' collocates naturally.

Answer: (A) further up the mountain

Concept: For the whole duration of an event, use 'throughout' / 'during'.

1. 'Among' is for 3+ people/things, not time.
2. Audience stays seated from start to end → throughout the performance.
3. 'Between' needs two points; 'around' shows place/approx.

Yaad rakhein: Time span from beginning to end = 'throughout'.

Answer: (B) throughout the performance

Concept: Imperative → Let + object + be + V3; a that-clause object takes 'it'.

1. 'Always remember that…' → Let it always be remembered that…
2. Inside the clause: discipline (subject) shapes career (object) → 'a successful career is shaped by discipline'.
3. (B) misses 'it', (D) misses 'be', (C) reverses the meaning.

Trick: Check three things fast: 'it', 'be', and who shapes whom.

Answer: (A) Let it always be remembered that a successful career is shaped by discipline.

Concept: Question → 'asked'; statement word order; tense one step back.

1. said to → asked; 'you/your' → she/her (Kavita).
2. didn't tell (past) → had not told; were making → had been making.
3. Order: 'why she had not told' (not 'why had she') → (C).

Trick: Reject 'told' for questions and any option with question order after 'why'.

Answer: (C) Rohan asked Kavita why she had not told her brother about the mistake she had been making in the project.

Concept: Joint = connected, joined together; the blank needs its opposite.

1. She 'lived alone in a remote cabin' → cut off from society.
2. Isolated = separated from others – opposite of joint.
3. Linked, Attached, Concomitant (going together) all mean 'connected'.

Trick: Three options are 'together' words → choose the one 'apart' word.

Answer: (B) Isolated

Concept: Active: agent after 'by' becomes subject; tense stays the same.

1. Agent 'the principal' → subject; 'the award' → object.
2. 'was presented' = simple past passive → active 'presented'.
3. So: The principal presented the award.

Trick: Tense match: was/were + V3 → V2 only.

Answer: (B) The principal presented the award.

Concept: Reverse the backshift: would → will; that → this; he (speaker) → I.

1. 'would have been teaching' → will have been teaching.
2. 'he' (the teacher himself) → 'I'; 'that chapter' → 'this chapter'.
3. (A) drops 'have been', (C) wrong tense, (D) keeps 'he' → (B).

Trick: In direct speech the speaker refers to himself as 'I' – remove options with 'he'.

Answer: (B) The teacher said, 'By the end of the week, I will have been teaching this chapter for three days."

Concept: Active voice: subject does the action; no 'be + V3' form.

1. (A) was gathered, (C) is caused, (D) is being replaced – all be + V3 → passive.
2. In (B) the doer 'People' comes first and the verb 'consume' is a plain V1 → active.

Trick: Scan for 'is/was/being + V3' – the option without it is active.

Answer: (B) People often consume only headlines or snippets of information.

Concept: Agent after 'by' → subject; 'is + V3' → V1(s/es).

1. Agent: 'bite-sized information' → subject.
2. 'is created' → creates (simple present, singular).
3. Object: 'a fragmented understanding of issues' → (A).

Trick: Keep tense and keep meaning – (B) reverses roles, (C)/(D) change tense.

Answer: (A) Bite-sized information creates a fragmented understanding of issues.

Concept: Fragment = small broken piece; fragmented = in disconnected bits.

1. Passage links it to reading only headlines and 'bite-sized' snippets.
2. Such knowledge is incomplete and in disconnected pieces.
3. It is not called false (D) or deep (A).

Yaad rakhein: Root word 'fragment' gives the meaning instantly.

Answer: (B) It is incomplete and consists of disconnected pieces.

Concept: Prefix 'hyper-' = excessive/over.

1. The passage pairs the term with a 'non-stop stream of articles, videos, and opinions'.
2. So it means being constantly linked to a non-stop flow of data.

Yaad rakhein: Hyper (too much) + connectivity (being linked) = always connected.

Answer: (C) The state of being constantly linked to a non-stop stream of data.

Concept: Direct-detail question: find the line with 'experts recommend'.

1. Experts recommend information filtering.
2. It means choosing a few high-quality sources and limiting time on news feeds.
3. More sources (A), faster reading (B), or ignoring all digital info (D) are not suggested.

Trick: Search the keyword from the question ('experts') in the passage – answer sits next to it.

Answer: (C) Practice "information filtering" by selecting a few high-quality, reliable sources.

Concept: Poised = calm, composed and self-controlled.

1. The sentence pairs 'poised' with 'calm'.
2. Equanimous = mentally calm and even-tempered, especially under stress – closest.
3. Anxious is opposite; coarse = rough; quiet = silent (not composure).

Trick: Equ-animous: 'equal mind' – a balanced, steady mind.

Answer: (B) Equanimous

Concept: Find the word that does NOT mean 'special benefit/advantage'.

1. Privilege = special right; Favour = special kindness/preference; Advance = a benefit or gain.
2. Discriminate = to treat unfairly or to distinguish – a verb, not a benefit.

Trick: Three are nouns of advantage; the verb with a negative tone is the odd one.

Answer: (A) Discriminate