English Language

English Reading Comprehension

3,503 Questions

English reading comprehension questions assess the ability to understand, analyze, and interpret written passages. Formats include paragraph rearrangement, cloze tests, and fact finding from text. Regular practice is essential for scoring well in the English sections of banking, SSC, and railway exams.

Passage based inferenceParagraph rearrangementCloze test fillingVocabulary replacementReading accuracy tests

English Reading Comprehension Questions

Multiple choice

The expression “winning the day” refers to the fight between

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

The ground was full of seeds that cannot rise into seedlings: they rob one another of air, light and water, the strongest robber winning the day and extinguishing his competitors. Year after year, the wild animals with which man never interferes are, on the average, neither more nor less numerous than they were; and yet we know that the annual produce of every pair is from one to perhaps a million young; so that it is mathematically certain that, on the average, as many are killed by natural causes as are born every year, and only those escape which happen to be a little better fitted to resist destruction than those that die. The individuals of a species are like crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land.

  1. man and animals

  2. seeds and seedlings

  3. natural calamities and wild animals.

  4. seeds and seeds
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the fight for survival, the strongest seed survives by destroying other seeds. Hence, the fight is between seeds.

Multiple choice

Who were the competitors who got extinguished?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

The ground was full of seeds that cannot rise into seedlings: they rob one another of air, light and water, the strongest robber winning the day and extinguishing his competitors. Year after year, the wild animals with which man never interferes are, on the average, neither more nor less numerous than they were; and yet we know that the annual produce of every pair is from one to perhaps a million young; so that it is mathematically certain that, on the average, as many are killed by natural causes as are born every year, and only those escape which happen to be a little better fitted to resist destruction than those that die. The individuals of a species are like crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land.

  1. Seedlings

  2. Robber

  3. Seeds

  4. Wild animals
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The first sentence tells about seeds and how the seeds compete with each other for air, light and water and how the strongest of them extinguishes others of their species.

Multiple choice

The “robber” in the first sentence most likely would mean

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

The ground was full of seeds that cannot rise into seedlings: they rob one another of air, light and water, the strongest robber winning the day and extinguishing his competitors. Year after year, the wild animals with which man never interferes are, on the average, neither more nor less numerous than they were; and yet we know that the annual produce of every pair is from one to perhaps a million young; so that it is mathematically certain that, on the average, as many are killed by natural causes as are born every year, and only those escape which happen to be a little better fitted to resist destruction than those that die. The individuals of a species are like crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land.

  1. wild animals

  2. individuals of a species

  3. seedlings

  4. ground
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

“Robber” in the first sentence refers to seeds who rob each other of essentials like air, light and water and do not allow other seeds to germinate into seedlings. Hence, it means ‘individuals of a species'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill in the blanks with appropriate words. The problem of _______ another war has assumed great urgency because of the _______ of nuclear weapons.

  1. winning, growth

  2. preventing, invention

  3. stopping, need

  4. precipitating, disarmament
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Invention of nuclear weapons is the reason why we should prevent another war. This is because of the consequences of what could happen should a nuclear war happen. Hence, preventing war is important because of the invention of nuclear weapons.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (2) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

Direct democracy is the oldest form of democracy. Athens was a direct democracy because with only 50,000 citizens, it had (1) diversity and was manageably small. But even there, since it was not practical for all citizens to vote every day, a few voted on a given day. These few were elected and picked (2) by lot. Socrates and Plato, on the other hand, (3) direct democracy and had no faith in the mob's wisdom. They thought that direct democracy is (4) to demagoguery and the (5) of the mob.

  1. haphazardly

  2. randomly

  3. prudently

  4. casually

  5. impetuously
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; as the representatives were chosen by lot, so there was no question of making the decision consciously.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (3) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

Direct democracy is the oldest form of democracy. Athens was a direct democracy because with only 50,000 citizens, it had (1) diversity and was manageably small. But even there, since it was not practical for all citizens to vote every day, a few voted on a given day. These few were elected and picked (2) by lot. Socrates and Plato, on the other hand, (3) direct democracy and had no faith in the mob's wisdom. They thought that direct democracy is (4) to demagoguery and the (5) of the mob.

  1. favoured

  2. condemned

  3. repudiate

  4. detested

  5. derided
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; the two philosophers did not like democracy because they did not have faith in the wisdom of the mob.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (1) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

A bot is a software that ___ (1) ___ human behaviour on the internet. Bots can be used to create ___ (2) ___ accounts on social media, provide numerous likes on a particular page, send tweets or visit various websites without any human involvement. Bots already constitute a significant percentage of Non-Human Traffic (NHT) online and have, according to some estimates, ___ (3) ___ human traffic. Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses slow down the internet and ___ (4) ___ legitimate traffic and services. Used to target systems, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics. One of the ___ (5) ___ of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

  1. enact

  2. caricatures

  3. mimics

  4. personates

  5. assumes
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; the word correctly explains that a bots mimic the clicks very expertly and they pass off as real clicks.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (2) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

A bot is a software that ___ (1) ___ human behaviour on the internet. Bots can be used to create ___ (2) ___ accounts on social media, provide numerous likes on a particular page, send tweets or visit various websites without any human involvement. Bots already constitute a significant percentage of Non Human Traffic (NHT) online and have, according to some estimates, ___ (3) ___ human traffic. Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses slow down the internet and ___ (4) ___ legitimate traffic and services. Used to target systems, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics. One of the ___ (5) ___ of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

  1. phony

  2. artificial

  3. genuine

  4. pseudo

  5. authentic
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; the word describes how the tweets or likes are not done by real human beings, but by a software as the humans do.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (5) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

A bot is a software that ___ (1) ___ human behaviour on the internet. Bots can be used to create ___ (2) ___ accounts on social media, provide numerous likes on a particular page, send tweets or visit various websites without any human involvement. Bots already constitute a significant percentage of Non Human Traffic (NHT) online and have, according to some estimates, ___ (3) ___ human traffic. Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses slow down the internet and ___ (4) ___ legitimate traffic and services. Used to target systems, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics. One of the ___ (5) ___ of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

  1. benefits

  2. perils

  3. travails

  4. probabilities

  5. blessings
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; it is really difficult to distinguish between human traffic and artificial traffic for which the clients have to pay unnecessarily.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (3) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

A bot is a software that ___ (1) ___ human behaviour on the internet. Bots can be used to create ___ (2) ___ accounts on social media, provide numerous likes on a particular page, send tweets or visit various websites without any human involvement. Bots already constitute a significant percentage of Non Human Traffic (NHT) online and have, according to some estimates, ___ (3) ___ human traffic. Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses slow down the internet and ___ (4) ___ legitimate traffic and services. Used to target systems, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics. One of the ___ (5) ___ of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

  1. blocked

  2. encouraged

  3. regulated

  4. eclipsed

  5. underestimated
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; the artificial clicks and accounts by bots have surpassed the human traffic on the web.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill blank (5) with the appropriate word from the given choices.

Direct democracy is the oldest form of democracy. Athens was a direct democracy because with only 50,000 citizens, it had (1) diversity and was manageably small. But even there, since it was not practical for all citizens to vote every day, a few voted on a given day. These few were elected and picked (2) by lot. Socrates and Plato, on the other hand, (3) direct democracy and had no faith in the mob's wisdom. They thought that direct democracy is (4) to demagoguery and the (5) of the mob.

  1. wisdom

  2. outrage

  3. passion

  4. sagacity

  5. reason
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Correct; the democracy is influenced by the passion and feelings of the mob which can be easily aroused by an eloquent speaker.

Multiple choice
Directions: In the following question, four statements are provided between an opening statement 1 and closing statement 6. The four statements are jumbled up and form a coherent paragraph when properly arranged. Select the alternative representing the proper and logical sequencing of these six taken together.
1. Richard Owen had exaggerated and misinterpreted the structural difference between apes and humans, referring to the 'last link in the chain of changes' between them, a link he couldn't find.
A. According to this notion, all creatures were arrayed as a chain of creation that proceeded step by step, toward perfection.
B. This was a play on the Great Chain of Being, a medieval concept, with origins dating back to Aristotle.
C. This metaphorical chain linked the lowest beast to the highest, mankind, which was in turn linked to angles, archangels, and the Divine Being himself.
D. The chain did not represent evolution, Darwin's 'descent with modification'.
6. It represented instead a static differentiation, a sequence or orderliness to the objects of creation, not change.

  1. CDAB

  2. ABDC

  3. ABCD

  4. <div align="justify">BACD
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

This para jumble talks about vague existence of the concept of missing link, before Darwin released his 'origin of species'. Looking at the options carefully, only statement B is in continuation with statement 1. A is to follow B as it explains latter i.e. B.

Multiple choice
Directions: In the following question, four statements are provided between an opening statement 1 and closing statement 6. The four statements are jumbled up and form a coherent paragraph when properly arranged. Select the alternative representing the proper and logical sequencing of these six taken together.
1. If the Indian national movement did not express the interests of the Indian people vis-a-vis imperialism, then whose interests did it represent?
A. Thus, the elite groups, and their needs and interests, provide the origin as well as the driving force of the idea, ideology and movement of nationalism.
B. But in each case, these groups had a narrow, selfish interest in opposing British rule or each other.
C. The national movement assert the writers of the imperialist school that it was not a people's movement but a product of the needs and interests of the elite groups who used it to serve either their own narrow interests or the interests of their prescriptive groups.
D. These groups were sometimes formed around religious or caste identities and sometimes through political connections built around patronage.
6. Nationalism, then, is seen primarily as a mere ideology which these elite groups used to legitimize their narrow ambitions and to mobilize public support.

  1. CADB

  2. ADCB

  3. CDAB

  4. BCDA
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

C follows statement 1 as it seeks to answer the question in 1. A follows C as A elaborates C further. 'These groups' in D refers to 'elite groups' in A, thus, D follows A. 'But' in B provides a contrary view to D, thus, B follows D. Hence, (1) is the answer

Multiple choice

Directions: A story is given with blanks. Read the story and choose the option that suits it.

A very long time ago, there were no gold or silver coins used for money. Men used to _(1)_ for the things they wanted. Shells were used by North American Indians for money. These shells were called wampum. On a string of skin, these shells were strung. Purple colored clam shells _(2)_ than white shells. A great many years ago, there lived a king named Croesus. He had a gold field in his kingdom. His people used coins to buy their food and clothing. Years ago, coins were made by hand. But now, they are made by machines.

Fill blank (1).

  1. buy things they had

  2. trade things they had

  3. sold things they had

  4. trading things they had

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Trade is the correct word here and with 'to', we use 1st from of verb. Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.