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

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (9). Babesiosis is a malaria-like illness that causes fever and _____ (5) and can prove _________ (6). It's one of a handful of diseases carried by ticks that are increasingly infecting people in the US. "Deer are very important in the life cycle of the ticks that _________ (7) the diseases because they provide a place for the ticks over winter to survive, to _________ (8) and to feed. And deer have markedly increased over the past 50 years in the northeast of the United States due to _________ (9).

  1. multiplication

  2. desertification

  3. reforestation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 3 is to grow the forest again.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (13). British universities offer a _________ (10) but independent approach. The __________ (11) is on creative and independent thought, which helps develop the skills you will need to compete in the __________ (12) job market. Tutors not only teach but also provide________ (13). As a result, international students have a very low drop out rate and a very high pass rate.

  1. fulcrum

  2. extension

  3. mechanics
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 1 is base support.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (11). British universities offer a _________ (10) but independent approach. The __________ (11) is on creative and independent thought, which helps develop the skills you will need to compete in the __________ (12) job market. Tutors not only teach but also provide________ (13). As a result, international students have a very low drop out rate and a very high pass rate.

  1. emphasis

  2. nemesis

  3. strain
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 1 is attention.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (1).

My friend Travis is a nervous guy. I've known him since preschool. We were like two peas in a pod back then. That was before the peanuts incident. K.T. came to school with a can of peanuts. The first person she _________ (1) to share them with was Travis. K.T. was as pretty as a pansy, but I didn't like the glimpse on her face. She looked as ________ (2) as a fox slipping up on a baby chick. Travis took the can and _______ (3) the lid. Instead of peanuts, he got a face full of springing snakes! He _______ (4) and dropped the can. K.T. fell back on a desk, laughing like a hyena.

  1. proffered

  2. abnegated

  3. ostracized
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 1 is offered up.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (2).

My friend Travis is a nervous guy. I've known him since preschool. We were like two peas in a pod back then. That was before the peanuts incident. K.T. came to school with a can of peanuts. The first person she _________ (1) to share them with was Travis. K.T. was as pretty as a pansy, but I didn't like the glimpse on her face. She looked as ________ (2) as a fox slipping up on a baby chick. Travis took the can and _______ (3) the lid. Instead of peanuts, he got a face full of springing snakes! He _______ (4) and dropped the can. K.T. fell back on a desk, laughing like a hyena.

  1. wary

  2. sneaky

  3. bonafide
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 2 is dishonest.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (4).

My friend Travis is a nervous guy. I've known him since preschool. We were like two peas in a pod back then. That was before the peanuts incident. K.T. came to school with a can of peanuts. The first person she _________ (1) to share them with was Travis. K.T. was as pretty as a pansy, but I didn't like the glimpse on her face. She looked as ________ (2) as a fox slipping up on a baby chick. Travis took the can and _______ (3) the lid. Instead of peanuts, he got a face full of springing snakes! He _______ (4) and dropped the can. K.T. fell back on a desk, laughing like a hyena.

  1. screamed

  2. refrained

  3. waited
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 1 is shouted.

Multiple choice

Directions: Complete the given paragraph by selecting the most appropriate answer from the given options and fill blank (3).

My friend Travis is a nervous guy. I've known him since preschool. We were like two peas in a pod back then. That was before the peanuts incident. K.T. came to school with a can of peanuts. The first person she _________ (1) to share them with was Travis. K.T. was as pretty as a pansy, but I didn't like the glimpse on her face. She looked as ________ (2) as a fox slipping up on a baby chick. Travis took the can and _______ (3) the lid. Instead of peanuts, he got a face full of springing snakes! He _______ (4) and dropped the can. K.T. fell back on a desk, laughing like a hyena.

  1. spiralled

  2. twined

  3. unscrewed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The meaning of Option 3 is opened.

Multiple choice

Directions: In the following question, a part of the sentence is given in bold letters. Five alternative meanings of the bold part of the sentence are given below. Choose the correct one.

The soldiers were in captivity for a long time. When at last they were let out, they painted the town red.

  1. Ran about wildly trying to kill people

  2. Decided to shun fighting and shedding blood

  3. Indulged in noisy merry-making

  4. Were asked to be ready for war

  5. Were advised not to land in trouble by thoughtless actions
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The idiom 'paint the town red' means to celebrate boisterously, enjoy oneself flamboyantly in public, often with drinking and partying. 'Indulged in noisy merry-making' captures this meaning perfectly. The other options incorrectly suggest violence, avoiding conflict, or war preparation.

Multiple choice
Directions: In the following question, four statements are provided between an opening statement 1 and a closing statement 6. The 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. Figure skating is primarily a sport of amateurs.
A. For years the singles competitions was judged according to two categories.
B. The compulsory-figures category required each skater to perform 3 or 6 repetitions of 3 figures drawn from a possible 41 patterns.
C. Contests are held for singles and for pairs.
D. The free-skating category judged a skater's ability to perform jumps, spins, spirals, and skating coordinated with music.
6. All figures are based on a figure-8 pattern or variations thereof.

  1. CADB

  2. BCAD

  3. ADCB

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

It is an easy question. Sentence 1 introduces to us the sport called figure skating and sentences A, B, D describe various types of figure skating competitions. Only sentence C is quite general to suit in with sentence 1 and also it is sentence C, which introduces the different types of competitions. Therefore, 3 should begin the order of sentences. This choice of order is available only in option (1), therefore, the correct answer is 1.

Multiple choice
Directions: In the following question, four statements are provided between an opening statement 1 and a closing statement 6. The 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. The four- act drama 'The Iceman Cometh', written by American playwright Eugence O' Neil in 1939 and first produced in 1946 (film 1973) is one of the greatest plays.
A. The play observes the inhabitants of a seedy saloon-hotel in New York City.
B. The barflies in turn reveal the 'pipe dreams' sustaining them in their defeated lives, goaded by a 'reformed' salesman, Theodore Hickman (“Hickey”) whose arrival they had been awaiting.
C. Hickey at last reveals that his own 'conversion' is illusory, and policemen lead him away for his wife's murder, to which he has confessed.
D. It is based on a short story from 1917.
6. The barflies return to their pipe dreams.

  1. CABD

  2. DABC

  3. ACBD

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

Both the sentences D and A talk about the play and C, B along with 6 talk about its characters. Therefore, D, A should come before B, C. As A introduces the 'inhabitants of seedy saloon-hotel' therefore, after this sentence B and C should come. Thus, among given answer choices, only option (2) is suitable enough to provide us with the correct answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: Answer the following question with the appropriate information given in the passage. Choose the correct option 1 - 4 from the given options.

We understand from the passage that the name “Sandwich” became a favorite in Europe

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

Time for Snacks

A sandwich is, in its basic form, slices of meat, cheese, or other food placed between two slices of bread. This way of eating must be as old as meat and bread. But the name was used only in the 18th century for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who had sliced meat and bread brought to him at the gaming table so that he could continue to play as he ate. He was a gambler who did not want to be disturbed even for eating. His famous name was easy to remember and it was given to the slices of bread with a stuffing in between.
Soon it was fashionable to serve sandwiches in the European continent, and the word was introduced into the French language. Since that time the sandwich has been included in every cuisine of the West because of its simplicity of preparation, endless variety, and the ease with which it could be taken anywhere.
Any type of roll or bread and any type of food that can be conveniently so eaten can go into a sandwich, hot or cold. British tea sandwiches are made with thin-cut bread filled with fish paste, cucumber, watercress, or tomato. Scandinavian smorrebrod are served open-faced, with skillfully prepared toppings of fish, sliced meats, and salads. In France, hollowed-out rolls are a popular base.

The United States made complex sandwich formulas, two of the most successful being the club sandwich of sliced chicken or turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato, and the Reuben of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing served grilled on black bread. Hot sandwiches, notably the hamburger on a bun, now found everywhere, are a very important food of the American diet, and with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the mainstay of the American schoolchild.

  1. after the 18th century

  2. before the 18th century

  3. even during the stone age

  4. in the 18th century
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

But the name was used only in the 18th century. 

Multiple choice

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

In the past, businesses got away with poor execution by pleading for patience. “The business environment is tough right now” is one typical excuse; or “Our strategy will take time to produce results”. But the business environment is always tough, and success is no longer measured over years. A company can win or lose serious market share before even it realises what has hit it.

  1. Business environment today has evolved dramatically warranting prompt execution.

  2. Business environment today hard presses employees to get positive results.

  3. Time had never in the past been as important and determinant in the business environment as it is today.

  4. The excuses of the past have lost both their relevance and significance in today’s tough business environment.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation
  1. Not true. Business environment has not evolved and become tough. It was always tough.
    1. True, however, the emphasis here is on employees; their role is not the essence of the paragraph.
    2. True. The last line makes it clear that time is of great importance and no longer can patience be an excuse.
    3. Not true. The business environment had always been tough. Only the result or success has become a thing that doesn’t take much time to unfold or realise as it was in the past.
Multiple choice

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

Many addictions aim to increase arousal. This is the all-powerful feeling that might come from cocaine, amphetamines, the first few drinks of alcohol, shoplifting, sexual acting out, videogames, or gambling. This omnipotent feeling, however, is eventually undermined when the addict realizes that a dependency has been formed. A feeling of fear replaces the feeling of being all powerful – fear of losing the source of addiction and fear that others will find out how powerless the person actually is. Negative experiences always accompany the positive feelings the addict is seeking.

  1. An addict’s intention is only stimulation and not dependency.

  2. The falseness in the potency of some substances and activities reflects on an addict.

  3. An addict’s dependency is derived from his misunderstanding of the hidden potential of an addictive substance.

  4. The potentate is eventually enfeebled by indulgence in addictive substances or activities.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation
  1. Neither stimulation nor dependency is the intention; it is the sense of feeling all-powerful. This power may come through stimulation or arousal. The last sentence makes it clear that an addict seeks positive feelings, i.e. power.
    1. True. An addict eventually comes to realise the falseness in the induced power by anything that stimulates. This eventually takes a toll on the addict, as the addict becomes fearful.
    2. The author does not talk about the hidden potential of addictive substances.
    3. It is not correct to say that a powerful person gets weakened by indulging in addictive substances. Instead, a person thinks that he has become powerful by indulging in addictive substances.
Multiple choice

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

In a world where social place was still determined largely by birth, the idea that political leadership and social pre-eminence should derive from an individual’s talents and virtues was in many ways revolutionary. Nevertheless, demands to create a thoroughly egalitarian society or democratic government, perhaps by eliminating private property or selecting rulers by law, were few. Instead, eighteenth century debate about civil society, and political governance focussed principally on balancing the claims of rights and privileges of merit, and thus, the competing pulls of equality and difference. It was this debate that pushed questions concerning the nature of virtues and talents to centre stage.

  1. The revolutionary ideas of the eighteenth century could gather but little appeal in face of a clear bias for inherited privileges.

  2. The eighteenth century was a significant evolving phase that led to a total disconnect of merit with privileges of birth.

  3. An egalitarian society can be said to have been founded in the eighteenth century in the backdrop of debates about balancing claims of rights and privileges of merit.

  4. Eighteen century was no less revolutionary in encouraging shift of focus on merit.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation
  1. Not correct. The revolutionary ideas had few takers, however, there was no bias for inherited privileges.
    1. Not correct. Nowhere has it been said that there was a total disconnect. There was a balance instead.
    2. Not correct. An egalitarian society was not formed in the eighteenth century. This century was more of an evolutionary phase or a run up to such society.
    3. Correct. Eighteenth century did shift focus on merit, and it was no less revolutionary having done that.