Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: 'Get about' means to travel or move from place to place.

1. During a vacation one travels around – Arunima gets about a lot.
2. 'Get on' = to progress/board; 'get along' = to have a friendly relationship.
3. 'Get after' = to scold or urge someone; none suit 'a lot during her vacation'.

Yaad rakhein: Get about = go around/travel; get along = be friendly.

Answer: (C) gets about

Concept: 'The best of both worlds' means enjoying the advantages of two different things at the same time – an ideal situation.

1. Example: working from home gives a job and family time – the best of both worlds.
2. Option (B) 'An ideal situation' matches.
3. Other options describe unrelated ideas.

Yaad rakhein: Best of both worlds = two benefits together, no compromise.

Answer: (B) An ideal situation

Concept: The art of producing beautiful (decorative) handwriting is calligraphy (Greek kallos = beauty, graphy = writing).

1. Calligraphy – beautiful handwriting (matches).
2. Lexicography – compiling dictionaries; Demography – study of population.
3. Graphology – study of handwriting to judge character, not producing it.

Yaad rakhein: Calli = beautiful + graphy = writing.

Answer: (C) Calligraphy

Concept: 'Haphazard' means lacking order or plan; done by chance – i.e. random.

1. Random – without method or pattern (same meaning).
2. Sociable – friendly; Aggressive – hostile; Confident – self-assured.
3. Only 'Random' matches.

Yaad rakhein: Haphazard ≈ random, careless, disorganised.

Answer: (A) Random

Concept: When the past perfect ('had eaten') is used for the earlier action, the later action must be in simple past.

1. 'It had eaten all the hay' – the earlier past action.
2. So the main action must be past: 'We fed the horse oats for a week'.
3. The error is in 'We feed the horse oats' – option (C).

Yaad rakhein: Had + V3 (earlier) … simple past (later) – never present with past perfect.

Answer: (C) We feed the horse oats

Concept: The fixed phrase is 'at the end of' + time/period; the definite article 'the' cannot be dropped.

1. 'Away at end of April' lacks 'the'.
2. Correct: as they're going away at the end of April.
3. The other segments are correct.

Yaad rakhein: at the end of / at the beginning of / in the middle of – always with 'the'.

Answer: (A) away at end of April.

Concept: A person who is indifferent to pain and pleasure and endures hardship without complaint is a stoic.

1. Stoic – calm and uncomplaining in pain or pleasure (matches).
2. Hypocrite – one who pretends to have virtues he lacks.
3. Versatile – having many skills; Amateur – a non-professional.

Yaad rakhein: Stoic → Stoicism: accept pain and pleasure calmly.

Answer: (B) Stoic

Concept: The highlighted word is 'access' – the means or way of reaching something. A synonym in this sense is 'avenue' (a way or means of approach).

1. 'Lack access to basic necessities' = lack a means/way to get them.
2. Avenue = a way of approaching or achieving something – fits.
3. Desist = stop; Disguise = hide identity; Apathy = lack of interest.

Yaad rakhein: Access ≈ avenue, approach, entry, way in.

Answer: (C) Avenue

Concept: 'Burn the midnight oil' means to work or study late into the night.

1. In old times people studied by oil lamps late at night.
2. Students preparing for exams study till late – option (C).
3. Option (A) is a literal reading; (B) and (D) are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Midnight oil = late-night study/work.

Answer: (C) work until late at night

Concept: 'On the breadline' means being very poor, having just enough money to survive.

1. Breadlines were queues for free bread given to the poor.
2. 'More people in Turkey are on the breadline' = more people are very poor – option (A).
3. Other options (educated, expensive, earning a lot) do not fit.

Yaad rakhein: Breadline = poverty line.

Answer: (A) Be very poor

Concept: 'Justifiable' means able to be shown to be right or reasonable.

1. Reasonable – fair and sensible (same meaning).
2. Indefensible – cannot be justified (antonym).
3. Neutral – impartial; Maintainable – able to be kept up (closest trap, but not 'justified').

Yaad rakhein: Justifiable ≈ reasonable, valid, defensible.

Answer: (D) Reasonable

Concept: 'Left out in the cold' means to be ignored or excluded from a group or activity.

1. The person is neglected while others are included.
2. Option (D) 'To be ignored' matches.
3. Options about cold food or weather are literal readings.

Yaad rakhein: Left out in the cold = neglected, excluded.

Answer: (D) To be ignored

Concept: 'Hydro' means water, and 'phobia' means fear – so fear of water is hydrophobia.

1. Hydrophobia – fear of water (matches).
2. Bibliophobia – fear of books.
3. Microphobia – fear of small things/germs; Botanophobia – fear of plants.

Yaad rakhein: Hydro = water, Biblio = book, Botano = plant.

Answer: (A) Hydrophobia

Concept: 'Lots of kids' is plural, so it takes a plural verb; the time clause 'when the bus arrived' is past.

1. Plural subject + past tense → 'were'.
2. 'Visualised' does not suit; the natural verb is 'seen' (passive).
3. Correct: Lots of kids were seen crossing the road when the bus arrived.

Yaad rakhein: Lots of + plural noun → plural verb (were/are).

Answer: (A) were seen

Concept: 'Dreadful' means extremely bad, causing fear or great unpleasantness.

1. Terrible – very bad or causing fear (same meaning).
2. Feeble – weak.
3. Auspicious and Propitious – favourable, lucky (opposite in tone).

Yaad rakhein: Dreadful ≈ terrible, awful, horrible.

Answer: (B) Terrible

Concept: 'Dodge a bullet' means to narrowly avoid a bad or dangerous situation.

1. By not believing the agents, they escaped a trap or loss.
2. Option (B) 'To narrowly avoid situation' matches.
3. Other options (try something, comfort zone, perform better) are unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Dodge a bullet = have a narrow escape.

Answer: (B) To narrowly avoid situation

Concept: A person who has no means of livelihood and is very poor is a pauper.

1. Pauper – a very poor person with no means of living (matches).
2. Worker – someone who works (has livelihood).
3. Unemployed – without a job, but not necessarily without any means; Mason – a builder in stone/brick.

Yaad rakhein: Pauper = penniless person; pauper → poverty.

Answer: (A) Pauper

Concept: 'Usage' refers to the habitual or customary way and extent in which something is used – suitable for describing the widespread application of chemicals in farming.

1. The sentence talks about the general, customary application of farm chemicals after the Green Revolution.
2. 'The usage of chemicals, insecticides and pesticides' expresses this established practice.
3. 'A practice of', 'the custom of' and 'consumption of' are unidiomatic with chemicals in this context.

Yaad rakhein: Usage = established manner/extent of using; Consumption = eating or using up.

Answer: (D) The usage of chemicals, insecticides and pesticides

Concept: 'Catastrophic' means causing sudden great damage or suffering – disastrous. Its opposite is something lucky or beneficial.

1. Fortuitous – happening by lucky chance, fortunate (opposite).
2. Calamity and Fiasco – disaster/failure (similar meaning).
3. Sabotage – deliberate destruction.

Yaad rakhein: Catastrophic ≠ Fortuitous (lucky).

Answer: (B) Fortuitous

Concept: '(Cost) an arm and a leg' means a very large amount of money.

1. Example: That car cost me an arm and a leg.
2. Option (B) 'A large amount of money' matches.
3. 'To ask for too much' is a tempting trap but the idiom refers to the price itself.

Yaad rakhein: An arm and a leg = very expensive.

Answer: (B) A large amount of money