Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Separate the two lists of varieties given in the passage.

1. Early-maturity (80–90 days): JS 9560 and JS 2034.
2. Longer-duration (95–105 days): JS 20-69, NRC 86 and JS 97-52.
3. Only JS 9560 is in the short-duration list.

Yaad rakhein: Short duration → JS 9560, JS 2034; long → JS 20-69, NRC 86, JS 97-52.

Answer: (C) JS 9560

Concept: Compare the month-wise deviation from the average given in the passage.

1. June: $-25.6\%$ (below average).
2. July: $+31.2\%$; August: $+63.6\%$.
3. September: ‘a whopping $158\%$ more’ – the largest surplus.

Yaad rakhein: ‘Whopping’ signals the biggest figure.

Answer: (D) September

Concept: The main idea links all parts of the passage.

1. Para 1 gives the excess rainfall in western MP; para 2 onward says “The monsoon has taken its toll mainly on soyabean”.
2. The rest explains which varieties will be hit and the expected loss.
3. So it is about the impact of rains on soyabean – (A) and (B) are only parts.

Yaad rakhein: Rain + crop damage → ‘impact of rains on the crop’.

Answer: (C) the impact of rains on the soyabean crop in MP

Concept: Find Bhatia’s reason why early sowers take ‘the biggest hit’.

1. Farmers who sowed early-maturity varieties ‘just after mid-June will take the biggest hit’.
2. Reason: “Their crop would already have matured; the longer it remains in the field, the more the chances of the grain rotting.”
3. (D) is the opposite – they sowed early-maturing, not late-maturing varieties.

Yaad rakhein: Mature crop + continuous rain = rotting grain.

Answer: (A) Their crop would already be mature and could rot in the rain.

Concept: Check each figure and fact against the passage.

1. (A) True – longer-duration varieties ‘are unlikely to suffer major yield loss’.
2. (B) True – June rain was $25.6\%$ below average.
3. (D) True – ‘The crop in low-lying areas is the one that has been worst affected’.
4. (C) False – in July rain was $31.2\%$ above average; $63.6\%$ was August.

Yaad rakhein: In data-based passages, ‘NOT true’ usually swaps a number between months.

Answer: (C) In July, the rainfall was $63.6\%$ above average.

Concept: ‘Return to A from B’ – ‘from’ shows the place of starting.

1. “Two Pandas are expected to be returned to China ___ a zoo in Canada”.
2. They go from the zoo in Canada to China.
3. ‘with, in, for’ do not show movement away from a place.

Yaad rakhein: Movement: from (starting point) → to (destination).

Answer: (C) from

Concept: The reason for returning the pandas must be a lack of their food.

1. Pandas eat only fresh bamboo, which could no longer be imported because flights were grounded.
2. So there was a shortage of bamboo.
3. ‘surplus/excess’ give the opposite sense; ‘storage’ does not explain returning them.

Yaad rakhein: No flights → no imports → shortage.

Answer: (A) shortage

Concept: The noun must describe what bamboo is and be something that can be imported.

1. “Pandas only eat fresh bamboo ___ which the zoo had been importing”.
2. Bamboo is a plant, so ‘fresh bamboo plants’ correctly names the thing imported.
3. ‘food, nourishment, meal’ would be vague/redundant after ‘eat’ (‘eat … food/meal’).

Yaad rakhein: eat + fresh bamboo plants; avoid ‘eat … meal’ redundancy.

Answer: (B) plants

Concept: ‘Until’ marks the point at which a continuing action stopped.

1. “which the zoo had been importing from China ___ corona virus grounded most flights”.
2. The importing continued up to the time flights were grounded → until.
3. ‘unless’ (condition), ‘after’ and ‘while’ do not show an action ending at that point.

Yaad rakhein: had been + V-ing … until + past event = continued up to that moment.

Answer: (B) until

Concept: An earlier past action, told after later past events, is put in the past perfect.

1. The pandas arrived in 2014, before the bamboo imports stopped (also described in past perfect: ‘had been importing’).
2. The earlier completed past action → had arrived in Canada in 2014, and ‘were due to stay’ continues the past narration.
3. ‘have arrived’ cannot go with a past time ‘in 2014’; ‘arrive’ is present; ‘had been arriving’ wrongly shows a continuing action.

Yaad rakhein: Past time word (in 2014) never takes present perfect.

Answer: (C) had arrived

Concept: In a first conditional (a real, possible future), the if-clause takes the simple present and the main clause takes will + V1.

1. The main clause 'you will get another one free' is future, so the if-clause must be simple present.
2. 'If you will buy' is wrong – will is not used in the if-clause of a condition.
3. 'you have bought' (present perfect) and 'you would buy' (second conditional) do not match 'will get'.

Trick: If + present, will + V1. Never put will on both sides.

Answer: (B) you buy

Concept: too + adjective + (for someone) + to-infinitive shows an excess that makes something impossible.

1. The sentence has 'heavy … for that little child to carry' – the pattern too … to.
2. Meaning: the box was so heavy that the child could not carry it – 'too' gives this negative sense.
3. 'much heavy' and 'lot heavy' are ungrammatical; 'enough' comes after the adjective (heavy enough).

Trick: too … to = so … that … not.

Answer: (C) too

Concept: Present perfect passive = has/have + been + V3. In a negative question the helping verb 'Hasn't' stays at the start.

1. Object 'the air travel bridge to the Maldives' becomes the subject (singular → has).
2. Hasn't India established → Hasn't the bridge been established by India?
3. (B) changes to 'Shouldn't', (C) adds 'Why', (D) changes the tense to present continuous.

Trick: Keep the same helping verb and tense; just add 'been + V3' and 'by + doer'.

Answer: (A) Hasn't the air travel bridge to the Maldives been established by India?

Concept: To take pains means to make great efforts or to work very carefully to do something well.

1. Example: She took pains to make the project perfect.
2. 'Pains' here means effort/trouble, not physical pain – so 'punish', 'bear atrocities' are wrong.
3. 'Remain silent' has no link with the idiom.

Yaad rakhein: take pains = put in effort (मेहनत करना).

Answer: (B) To make efforts

Concept: Resolution means a firm decision to do or not to do something (also a formal decision of a meeting).

1. Example: a New Year resolution = a decision taken for the new year.
2. 'Apathy' = lack of interest; 'flexibility' = ability to bend/change; 'timidity' = lack of courage.
3. Only 'decision' carries the same meaning.

Yaad rakhein: resolve → resolution → firm decision.

Answer: (D) decision

Concept: To turn indirect speech back to direct: use inverted commas, change 'told' to 'said to', bring the tense one step back to the present, and restore first/second-person pronouns.

1. 'their school' (the teacher's own school) → our school; 'they' → we.
2. 'wanted' → wants; 'would need' → will need.
3. So: “If our school wants to start a sports club we will need to buy …”
4. (A), (C), (D) keep reported-speech pronouns or past tenses inside the quotes.

Trick: Inside quotes, the speaker speaks as 'I/we' in present tense.

Answer: (B) The sports teacher said to the Principal, “If our school wants to start a sports club we will need to buy some cricket kits, basketballs and footballs initially.”

Concept: Rise (rose, risen) is intransitive – it takes no object. Raise (raised, raised) is transitive – someone raises something.

1. Here the government acts on an object: 'the price of fuel'.
2. So the transitive verb is needed: did not raise the price.
3. 'is not rising' and 'has not risen' are intransitive and also break the past-tense sequence ('In spite of … hike … did not').

Trick: Prices rise by themselves; somebody raises prices.

Answer: (C) did not raise

Concept: A negative imperative ('Don't worry') becomes told … not to + V1. The joined statement changes pronouns and tense: will → would, meet → met.

1. 'Don't worry Frank' → David told Frank not to worry.
2. 'I will bring you' → he would bring him; 'when I meet you next' → when he met him next.
3. (B) keeps 'will/meets', (C) keeps 'I/you', (D) keeps 'don't' and 'you' – all wrong.

Trick: Don't + V1 → not to + V1; then shift every tense one step back.

Answer: (A) David told Frank not to worry as he would bring him up to date when he met him next.

Concept: A yes/no question is reported with asked + if/whether, in statement word order, with the tense shifted back (will → would).

1. said to → asked; join with if.
2. 'Will Mr. Vincent be coming' → Mr. Vincent would be coming (subject before verb).
3. (A) keeps 'is', (B) keeps the question form, (D) uses 'told … that' as if it were a statement.

Trick: Yes/No question → asked + if + subject + verb (no question mark).

Answer: (C) Pauline asked Cornelius if Mr. Vincent would be coming for dinner on Thursday evening.

Concept: Arrange the sentences as a chain of cause and time: setting → situation → action → problem → result.

1. A (cold day) → B: the cold explains why the ground was covered with frozen sleet.
2. D: in this setting the narrator takes the dog for a walk.
3. C begins with But – the difficulty of walking on the glassy surface must follow the walk.
4. E: the result of the glassy surface – the dog slipped, I fell; then F.

Trick: A sentence starting with 'But' needs an action before it to contrast with.

Answer: (C) ABDCEF