Antonyms

Which of the following is nearly opposite in meaning to the phrase ‘against the grain’ as given in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering the question.

There was once a poor farmer who went to the money-lender's house and asked him the secret of becoming rich. The money-lender piously told the farmer that riches came from God and he should ask him.

The simple farmer set out to find God. On his way, he found a poor man sitting under a tree. The poor man asked him about his journey and the farmer told him that he was going to find God! The poor man smiled and said, "I am God! What do you want of me?" The farmer told him the whole story, and God, taking pity on him, gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular way, saying, “Just remember, whatever you wish for, you have only to blow the conch this way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against his wiles!"

The farmer went back to his village, rejoicing. The money-lender noticed his high spirits at once and went over to the farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune . The farmer told him the whole story—everything except the secret of blowing the conch.

Nevertheless, the money-lender was determined to have the conch by hook or by crook, and waited for a favorable opportunity and stole the conch.

He tried blowing the conch in every conceivable way but had to give it up as a bad job. So, he went back to the farmer, and said, "I've got your conch, but it is of no use to either of us. Everything is at a stand-still unless we make a bargain. I will give you back your conch, and never interfere with your using it, on one condition, which is this, whatever you get from it, I am to get double."

The farmer refused the bargain but the wily money-lender persuaded him; "You will have your share! What does it matter to you if I am rich or poor?" So, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield and the knowledge of this fact so preyed upon the farmer's mind day and night, that he had no satisfaction out of anything.

There came a very dry season, - so dry that the farmer's crops withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a well to water them, but the money-lender got two! This was too much for him to stand; and he brooded over it, till at last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it loudly, and cried out, "Oh, God! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so he was, in a twinkling. But the money-lender became completely blind. He fell into his new well and drowned.

Choose the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

Collective

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the given question:

There was a girl who sang beautifully at the temple every morning. The music master used to happily recall, "One day when I went into the woods to pluck flowers, I found this baby under a pipal tree." He picked her up carefully, raised her lovingly as if she was his own daughter and he taught her to sing before she spoke her first word.

The music master grew old and didn't see too well. The girl tended to him caringly. Many people including young men travelled from far and wide to hear her sing. This made the music master's heart quake with fear, "You will choose one of them as your husband. What is to become of me?" The girl replied, "I shall not be apart from you." But on a full moon night during the harvest festival, the master's chief disciple touched his feet reverently and said, "Master grant me your permission for your daughter has agreed to marry me." The master's tears flowed freely, "She has chosen well. Go and fetch her, let me hear you sing the first of many melodies that you will sing together." The two began to sing in harmony. But the song was interrupted by the arrival of the royal messenger. "Your daughter is very fortunate - the king has sent for her," the messenger said. At the palace, the Queen summoned the girl to her and said, "I place upon you the honour of making sure my daughter is never unhappy at her husband's home." There wasn't a single tear in the girl's eyes, but she thought of the master and her heart was heavy.