Dear Aspirants, Our IBPS Guide team is providing a new series of English Language Questions for SBI Clerk Prelims 2021 so the aspirants can practice it on a daily basis. These questions are framed by our skilled experts after understanding your needs thoroughly. Aspirants can practice these new series questions daily to familiarize with the exact exam pattern and make your preparation effective.
Cloze test
Directions (1-5): In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a letter. Find the suitable word from the options given against each letter and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningful.
A sunny midsummer day. There was such a thing sometimes, even in Coketown. Seen from a distance in such weather, Coketown lay _____(A)______ in a haze of its own, which appeared_____(B)_____ to the sun’s rays. You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such sulky______(C)_______upon the prospect without a town. A blur of soot and smoke, now confusedly tending this way, now that way, now aspiring to the vault of Heaven, now____(D)____ creeping along the earth, as the wind rose and fell, or changed its quarter: a dense formless jumble, with sheets of cross light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness:- Coketown in the distance was suggestive of itself, though not a brick of it could be seen.The wonder was, it was there at all. It had been ruined so often, that it was amazing how it had____(E)_______ so many shocks. Surely there never was such fragile china-ware as that of which the millers of Coketown were made.
1) Which of the following words should fill in the blank (A) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?Â
- tranced
- translucent
- silhouette
- crowded
- shrouded
2) Which of the following words should fill in the blank (B) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?
- impervious
- unburned
- pacified
- dazzling
- scintillating
Â
3) Which of the following words should fill in the blank (C) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?
- pasture
- slum
- blotch
- greenery
- monument
4) Which of the following words should fill in the blank (D) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?
- insanely
- murkily
- aimlessly
- beautifully
- eerily
5) Which of the following words should fill in the blank (E) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?
- withstand
- engraved
- born
- borne
- taken
Paragraph fillers
Directions (6-10):Â In the question given below, a short paragraph is given. Select the answer choice that provides the combination of sentences that completes the passage that is contextually most correct as they are in the options.
6) Around 1,000 prohibited items are recovered daily by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel from passengers travelling from airports in Mumbai and other cities._______________But the time-consuming process is set for a makeover soon.CISF personnel will receive palm-top devices, which will be connected to Automated Tray Retrieval System (ATRS), and will help them record the data quickly and efficiently. _______________.
- CISF, which is in charge of security at most of the major airports in the country, has around 10,000 personnel deployed at airports in Delhi and Mumbai/CISF personnel is also posted at Taj Santacruz, which is located within the premises of Terminal-1 of the ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj International Airport in Mumbai.
- The technology helps in entering and saving data of explosive trace detector (ETD) items removed electronically/The new mechanism will make it more convenient and faster than the existing manual entry of seized items in registers
- So far, CISF personnel has been keeping a manual record of the seized items along with the passengers’ details/ The new system will help CISF authorities to disengage their personnel in maintaining voluminous data and focus on their core responsibility of security mechanisms.
- Both A and C
- None of the above
7) After Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh said they are considering laws against interfaith marriages, Karnataka became the fourth BJP-ruled state to take a similar stand. ___________________He also said that anyone involved in conversion activity shall face swift and severe punishment. ______________________ .
- BJP president JP Nadda took to Twitter and denounced the arrest without mincing ay word/India never forgave him for his assault on press freedom.
- BJP’s national general secretary in-charge of South India, CT Ravi said Tuesday that the state government would bring a law to ban religious conversion for the sake of marriage/ Ravi recently resigned as the tourism minister of the state after being elevated as the national general secretary in the new team of BJP chief JP Nadda but the resignation is yet to be accepted formally by the Governor.
- On Monday, deputy CM Ashwath Narayan had also said that the state would examine similar legislation being proposed in Uttar Pradesh before taking any concrete decision on religious conversion/ Many experts reject these allegations and say that adult men and women are free to convert under the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
- Both A and B
- None of the above
8) Doctors at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have warned against overusing drugs such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in the absence of adequate evidence._________________ . Only about one-third were given the antiviral drug Remdesivir. Dr Manish Soneja, an additional professor from the department of medicine, AIIMS, while presenting the evidence on some of the experimental therapies being used in India, said that randomised control trials did not show benefits of anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir, or convalescent plasma therapy. ____________________________ .
- The doctors have also reviewed the status of vaccine development/ However, two randomised control trials from France and Italy did not show any major benefits
- If you see the robust studies, it raises questions about the utility of these drugs/So, there has to be a judicious use and doctors have to consider when not to use these medicines
- Doctors cited data and said 300 patients with moderate to severe symptoms were given steroids – the only medicine to have shown benefits in reducing mortality/ Nonetheless, Remdesivir has since received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration
- Both B and C
- None of the above
9) The second batch of the Indian Air Force’s three Rafale fighter jets will arrive at the Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat directly from France on Wednesday as the air force prepares to form its first Rafale squadron at Ambala, officials familiar with the developments said on Tuesday.______________________  .An Indian Air Force team, led by a two-star officer, was in France last month to review the progress of the Rafale project ahead of the arrival of the second batch of fighters, as reported by Hindustan Times on October 16. _____________________ .
- The first batch of five Rafale jets of the 36 ordered by the IAF reached the Ambala airbase on July 29 after a stopover at the Al Dhafra airbase near Abu Dhabi, although a formal induction ceremony took place later on September 10/ The arrival of more fighters will further boost the IAF’s capability to rapidly deploy the advanced jets amid tensions with neighbouring China and Pakistan, the officials said.
- Under Article 171 of the Constitution, the Governor can nominate to the legislative council members having special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service/While the Shiv Sena and the NCP have finalised their respective lists, the Congress is still struggling to give final shape to its set of nominations and delayed the nominations.
- The jets were ordered from France in September 2016 under a government-to-government deal worth Rs.59,000 crore/It can carry almost 10 tonnes of weapons.
- Both A and C
- None of the above
10) Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius (C) till 8.30am on Wednesday. ___________________ .The Regional Meteorological Centre, Delhi, said cold wave-like conditions are prevailing in the national capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that under the influence of cold and dry north-westerly winds, cold-wave conditions are likely to occur in isolated pockets over Haryana and Delhi on Wednesday (November 4) and over Haryana, Punjab and north Rajasthan on Thursday (November 5). ______________________________.
- These winds are north-westerly, and cold air is blowing towards the plains from the Himalayas/The circulation features are such that there is more cold air intrusion into the northern plains.
- The national capital has recorded minimum temperatures of 11-10 degrees C for the past four days/ Scientists at the IMD said that the temperature is expected to remain around the 10-degree mark through the week
- Delhi Police busted the betting racket, which was run from a house at Sector-5 in Rohini, on Monday night/ The raid was conducted after a sub-inspector (S-I) of the BudhVihar police station received a tip-off about the betting racket being operated at Sector 5 in Rohini
- Both A and B
- None of the above
Answers :
1) Answer: E
The word ‘shrouded’ means to be covered in something or enveloped. The question can be answered by reading the sentence carefully. The author says that even in such a sunny midsummer day, Coketown remains covered in a haze of its own. The word suitable for this blank will be ‘shrouded’. Tranced means to be in a state of hypnosis or hallucination. Translucent means something that cannot be seen from outside. Now this may be relevant to the context, but the haze mentioned in the passage prevents it from being used. Silhouette means the dark outline of something. This can be eliminated because it is in present tense and also, it does not make any sense. Option D is absurd and irrelevant to the context. This makes option E the correct answer.
2) Answer: A
The question can be easily answered by reading he sentence carefully and understanding what the author is trying to tell us. The author implies that though it is a sunny midsummer day, Coketown remains covered in a haze of its own such that sun cannot penetrate it. The blank generally explains the sun being not able to penetrate. Option A seems to be perfect fit. Impervious means not allowing anything to go inside, here referring to sunlight. Unburned is a little aggressive and is absurd to the context of the sentence. Pacified means to quell the anger of something. This is also irrelevant in the context of the sentence. Option D and E are both words almost opposite to what should be used in the blank. Scintillating means dazzling and are synonyms. This makes option A the correct answer.
3) Answer: C
The blank is a little confusing. The author is using a metaphor to describe the town. Sulky in the sentence something that is bad, angered or tempered, always complaining. Now, the first part of the paragraph suggests an irregularity of the Coketown which was covered in haze even though it was a sunny day. Now, pasture cannot be sulky and is not irregular in metaphor, so is eliminated. Slum is absurd to use and there is no mention of it. Blotch means an irregular surface. Yes, this can be used as it is a metaphor describing the irregularity of the town. Option D and E are also absurd and out of context. This makes option C the correct answer.
4) Answer: B
The trick to answering such questions is to reading the sentence carefully and try to fill the blank with our own word and the choose from the options. This causes less confusion while choosing the answers. The creeping is referred to the flowing of soot and smoke mentioned earlier, also known as a smog. Now, the blank should be something dark and gloomy. Option A is vague and related to madness, is irrelevant to the context here. Option C is also dull and vague and if used does not tell us about the meaning of the sentence or stresses it. Option D, if used will give the exact opposite vibe and make the sentence cheerful which is not the intention of the author. Option B and E can be the probable correct answers. Now option E can be used as a metaphor for dark, but option B is much more fitting because ‘murkily’ means to be dark and gloomy because of being covered in thick fog, which is the exact meaning described in the sentence. This makes option B the correct answer.
5) Answer: D
The sentence implies that it was surprising as to how many shocks the city has endured or carried in spite of everything. Now, option A is correct in context of the sentence but, cannot be used as it would be grammatically wrong. Option B and C are absurd in the context of the sentence. Option D can also be thought of as the correct answer but when compared with option D, it stands vague. Borne means to carry with it and is perfect in the context of the sentence. This makes option D the correct answer.
Directions (6-10) :
6) Answer: C
Option A maybe tempting reading the first blank. The first blank can be used as mentioned in option A but the second blank does not make any sense when used as the concluding sentence. The second blank sentence mention in A should come sometime later in the passage or earlier because the second last sentence tells us about the new items checking system. So, the next sentence will be something related to the system and not about CISF. In option B, the sentence for the first blank tells us about a already explained technology. But when compared to the passage, no such mention of any technology was there before the blank, so we eliminate option B. Option C can be the answer because the first blank says about CSIF, which is apt and the second blank is an extension of the explanation of the system which is correct. So, option C is the correct answer.
7) Answer: B
Option A can be easily eliminated. The first blank in option A tells us about an arrest whereas, there is no mention of arrest in the passage or of any assault on press freedom. In option C, blank one is convincing to use but blank two should be used at a later part of the passage and is out of context because it talks about some allegations which are not mentioned previously in the passage. In option B, the first blank is an extension to the introduction of the passage explaining the law to ban religion conversion for the sake of marriage. Blank two is also apt and can be used as the concluding statement for the passage. This makes option B the correct answer.
8) Answer: C
Option A can be eliminated because the first sentence mentions the overuse of some drugs and the first blank in option A tells us about status of vaccine which had no mention in the passage. The first blank in option B can be used and seem correct, but the second blank is out of context and to be used at a later stage in the passage because though it is relevant it does not connect the previous statement. Option C is correct and easily connects its respective sentences. The first blank tells about giving steroids instead of the drugs mentioned in the previous line. The second blank explains that even though Remedesivir had no benefits, it was still approved by FDA. This makes option C the correct answer.
9) Answer: A
Option B can be eliminated because it is completely out of context of the passage. We may be confused between option A and C as both seems convincing but we may be able to answer if we read the sentences before and after carefully. The first sentence says that the second batch of Rafale will arrive on Wednesday from France to form a squadron. Now lets us look at the first blanks of both A and C. Both seems quite convincing. Where option A speaks about the first batch, option C speaks about the worth of the deal with the France government. Now, let us look at the second blank. The second last sentence in the passage says that special officer was appointed to review the progress of Rafale project before its arrival. Blank two of option A says that the arrival will boost IAF’s capabilities to rapidly deploy the advanced jets amongst tensions amongst neighbouring countries. Option C says that it can carry ten tonnes of weapons. Now, this statement is vague and option A speaks of arrival similar to the previous sentence to form its extension. This makes option A the correct answer.
10) Answer: B
Option C can be eliminated right away as it explains something out of context and irrelevant to the passage. The first blank of option A tells us about winds which are north-westly but there was no mention of such winds in the previous line. So, option A can be eliminated. The first sentence talks about the minimum temperature recorded in Delhi. Option B has the first blank which contains an extension of the previously mentioned sentence and is apt to use in the first blank. The second blank can also function as the concluding statement and is correctly used in the context of the passage. This makes option B the correct answer.
