English Language

Reading Comprehension

7,656 Questions
All Explicit Fact Retrieval 2427 Inference and Logical Deduction 1147 Contextual Vocabulary Meaning 845 Main Idea and Title Selection 781 Cause and Effect Extraction 699 Synonym and Antonym Identification 692 Sentence Structure and Discourse Function 336 Author Tone and Perspective 194 Interpretation of Figurative Language 190 Passage Style and Organization 173 Pronoun Referent Identification 49

Reading Comprehension Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: In the following passage, the opening statement has been deleted. Which of the statements given below the passage, should precede the passage?

Yet its safety has never been proven scientifically and it continues to be used routinely by many dentists to fill tooth cavities. As the second most toxic substance on this planet (second only to plutonium), mercury leaks out of dental fillings to enter the body. Mercury can interfere with virtually any process or organ in the body. Of considerable importance is the documented fact that mercury has an affinity for nerve tissue and the amount of mercury that concentrates in the brain is proportional to the number of mercury fillings one has in their mouth.

  1. Another major triggering factor that has come to light is the poisonous effects of mercury that leaks out of conventional dental filling.

  2. As an enzyme poison, mercury disrupts many bodily processes with the end result that its victims can suffer from a multitude of symptoms.

  3. It has been documented that as mercury travels along the nerve fiber it destroys the tubulin tracts within the nerve.

  4. Mercury has been traditionally used for dental fillings.

  5. Dental filling using mercury causes several health hazards.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The passage begins with the pronoun 'its' and a negation 'yet'. So the preceding sentence ought to have a noun as subject and something that is negated by 'Yet its safety has never been proven scientifically'. (4) is the best fit.

Multiple choice

Directions: The last sentence in the following passage has been deleted. Select the sentence, out of the available options, that best suits the end of the passage.

The discovery of DNA fingerprinting had huge implication for the non-criminal legal system and led to an overhaul of the UK's Immigration legislation. Current UK immigration legislation accepts results of DNA testing as the ultimate proof or relationship between a child and his or her relatives. Accordingly, DNA test results will normally (although not invariably) provide conclusive evidence as to whether a child is related, as claimed, to one or both of his alleged parents. Before January 1991, it was up to the applicant to decide whether or not to obtain DNA evidence in support of his or her application or appeal. In January 1991, a government scheme was introduced, which enables entry clearance officers (ECOs) to offer to arrange DNA tests in cases where

  1. the applicants are persistent even after the claim having been rejected on filial grounds

  2. the court has intervened in favour of the applicant, although the administration may have rejected the claim

  3. the UK sponsors are prepared to bear the costs

  4. they are not satisfied that persons seeking admission as children are related to their UK sponsor

  5. other genetic determination tests fail to prove conclusively the sponsorship claims
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

 (4) is grammatically and logically correct as the pronoun 'they' refers to ECOs and the test is needed only where parenthood is in doubt. 

Multiple choice

Directions: The last sentence in the following passage has been deleted. Select the sentence, out of the available options, that best suits the end of the passage.

Part of the natural human conditions is to be subject to suffering – to pain, loss, anxiety, sorrow, as well as times of joy, delight and fulfillment. Zen practice teaches that the ways in which we receive our sorrows, the way in which we understand what is happening and respond to anxiety, makes all the difference. What can turn into a long, convoluted time of anguish or depression can also be experienced differently, and instead becomes an accompaniment to a purposeful day. As we sit on the cushion we experience whatever arises. When pain comes, we receive that. When it is time for pain to dissolve, we allow it to go. When joy comes, we let it in. Then we give thanks for it all. As we practice we learn how to thoroughly experience what is happening moment by moment, and soon realize that if we are completely with each moment, the next breath will bring something new. When we do not reject our suffering, or add anything to it, pain is simply pain. It is what we add that turns it into suffering, makes it thick and solid, so that it can’t subside.

  1. Pain is the cause of all human suffering.

  2. Pain gets dissolved when we relax ourselves.

  3. We can never avoid pain, even if put in sincere efforts to understand it.

  4. Suffering is suffering till it turns into pain.

  5. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

 The passage discusses that it is our attitude towards pain that can transform pain into suffering. It is our attitude, not relaxation that makes pain go away. When we learn the difference between pain and suffering, many fears, anxieties and sorrows will subside. As there is no appropriate or close option that fits our predication, (5) is the answer.

Multiple choice

According to McNeill, a Brahmin priest was expected to be able to recite at least one of the Vedas. The practice was essential for several centuries when the Vedas had not yet been written down. It must have had a selective effect, since priests would have been recruited from those able or willing to memorise long passages. It must have helped in the dissemination of the work, since a memorised passage can be duplicated many times.

Which one of the following can be inferred from the above passage?

  1. Reciting the Vedas was a Brahmin's obligation.

  2. The Vedic priest was like a recorded audio-cassette.

  3. McNeill studied the behaviour of Brahmin priests.

  4. Vedic hymns had not been scripted.

  5. Vedas were the most important scriptures of the Hindus.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Inference means something not stated, but implied. (1), (3) and (5) can be easily discarded. (4) is explicitly stated. Only (2) can be inferred.

Multiple choice

Developed countries have made adequate provisions for social security for senior citizens. State insurers (as well as private ones) offer medicare and pension benefits to people who can no longer earn. In India, with the collapse of the joint family system, the traditional shelter of family is not in a position to provide social security. So, it is advisable that the working population gives serious thought to building a financial base for itself.

Which one of the following, if it were to happen, weakens the conclusion drawn in the above passage the most?

  1. The investible income of the working population, as a proportion of its total income, will grow in the future.

  2. The insurance sector is underdeveloped and trends indicate that it will be extensively privatised in the future.

  3. India is on a path of development that will take it to the status of a developed country, with all its positive and negative implications.

  4. If the working population builds a stronger financial base, there will be a revival of the joint family system.

  5. Although the joint family system is on the decline, the value systems in India do not permit total abandonment of our elders, as is the case in certain developed countries.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

 If India were to become a developed country in foreseeable future, the social security system will be put in place automatically as stated in (3).

Multiple choice

Various studies have shown that our forested and hilly regions, and, in general, areas where biodiversity - - as reflected in the variety of flora - - is high, are the places where poverty appears to be high. And these same areas are also the ones where educational performance seems to be poor. Therefore, it may be surmised that, even disregarding poverty status, richness in biodiversity goes hand in hand with educational backwardness.

Which one of the following statements, if true, can be said to best provide supporting evidence for the surmise mentioned in the passage?

  1. In regions where there is little variety in flora, educational performance is seen to be as good as in regions with high variety in flora, when poverty levels are high.

  2. Regions, which show high biodiversity, also exhibit poor educational performance, at low levels of poverty.

  3. Regions, which show high biodiversity, reveal high levels of poverty and poor educational performance.

  4. In regions where there is low biodiversity, at all levels of poverty, educational performance is seen to be good.

  5. Regions with low bio-diversity, though having high levels of poverty, do not have such wide disparities in educational performance.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The argument links bio-diversity with education, irrespective of poverty status. It is quite likely that while a strong correlation exists between poverty and low level of education, there is no such direct relation between educational backwardness and bio-diversity. This relationship can be established only where we find that in regions with low bio-diversity there always is high level of education. Hence, (4).

Multiple choice

The changes made in the format of “Engineering Journal” are nothing but a myopic move by the management. By adding a new section “Books For Professional Readers,” opposite to the present section “Books For Your Enjoyment”, the editors think they will generate interest in the research and development that is taking place in industry and thereby increasing readership. This is not the case. The titles of the two sections suggest that research literature is not enjoyable reading, a suggestion that will repel the Monthly's readers from such literature. Thus, the audience will be less interested in research articles and literature and less able to distinguish serious research from some new offbeat ideas. The editors of the Monthly could have done better by maintaining status quo.

The author of the passage above assumes that the “Engineering Journal” readers will draw which of the following conclusions from the editors' change of the book-review format?

  1. The editors are attempting to stimulate the market for their magazine.

  2. Books reviewed in “Books for Professionals” will tend not to be enjoyable reading.

  3. A reader of serious literature has more discriminating tastes than other readers.

  4. A reader can enjoy serious literature as well as popular literature.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The 'alienation' that the author talks of is not from 'Engineering Journal' but from 'Books For Professionals Readers' The author's argument is that by naming the new column as Books For Professional Readers, reviewing serious literature in that column and printing it opposite the regular column 'Books For Your Enjoyment', the readers of the magazine will be forced to think that serious literature is not for enjoyment; and therefore they will refrain from reading the books reviewed in the new column. Choice (2) says that the new column, because of its name, will somehow or the other, will tend to repel readers as they will think that these are not for their liking. So choice (2) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

To be mentally healthy, people must have self respect. People can maintain self respect only by continually earning the respect of others they esteem. They can earn this respect only by treating these others morally.

Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?

  1. People who are mentally healthy will be treated morally by others.

  2. People who are mentally healthy will have treated morally those they esteem.

  3. People who are mentally healthy must have self respect in order to be treated morally by others.

  4. People can expect to be treated morally by others only if they do the same to others.

  5. Mental health and morality are irretrievably interlinked.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The last link in the chain will ultimately lead to the first. A (mentally healthy) results from B (self respect); B results from C (respect of others); and C results from D (treating others morally). Therefore, A results from D.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

During the last twenty years, eleven percent of those who received certification to practice in a particular profession were women and all those who received certification during those years obtained full time positions. Nevertheless, only five percent of the full-time positions in this profession are currently held by women. Which of the following, if true, could explain the difference in the percentage mentioned in the passage above?

  1. It was easier to obtain certification twenty years ago than it currently is.

  2. A majority of those currently in the profession were hired more than twenty years ago, when virtually every one in the profession was male.

  3. The women certified in the last twenty years have tended to choose different specialties within the profession than the men have tended to choose.

  4. Male and female members of the profession have had equal pay scales for the past twenty years.

  5. More women than men have had to resettle after marriage, at other locations and in other professions.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The obvious implication is that till 20 years back, only a miniscule number of women could have been in this profession.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

The new car to buy this year is the Santro. We had 100 randomly selected motorists drive the Santro and the other two leading sub-compact cars. Seventy-five drivers ranked the Santro first in handling. Sixty -nine rated the Santro first in styling. From the responses of these 100 drivers, we can show you that they ranked Santro first overall in our composite category of style, performance, comfort, and drivability.

The persuasive appeal of the advertisement's claim is most weakened by its use of the undefined word.

  1. Randomly

  2. Handling

  3. First

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

It is true that each of the answer choices is conceivably correct. But it is important to keep in mind that you are looking for the best answer, which will be the one word, which, more than all the others, is likely to be abused. As for (1), while there may be different ways of doing a random selection, we should be able to decide whether sample was in fact, selected fairly. Although the ad may be lying about the selection of participants in the study, we should be able to determine whether they are lying. In other words, though they may not have selected the sample randomly, they cannot escape by saying, “Oh by random we meant anyone who liked the Santo.” The same is true of (3), “first” that is a fairly clear term. You add up the answers you got, and one will be at the top of the list. Now, (2) is open to manipulation. By asking our question correctly, that is, by finagling a bit with what we mean by handling, we can influence the answers we get. For example, compare: “Did you find that Santro had a nice steering wheel?” “Did you find the wheel easy to turn?” We could keep it up until we found a question that worked out to give a set of “responses” from “randomly” selected drivers who could rank the Santro “first”. Now, if one category itself is susceptible to manipulation, imagine how much easier it will be to manipulate a “Composite” category. We have only to take those individual categories in which the Santro scored well, construct from them a “composite” category, and announce the Santro “first” in the overall category. There is also the question of how the composite was constructed.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

Ms. Aruna Khadiwala argued that money and time invested in acquiring a professional degree are totally wasted. As evidence supporting her argument, she offered the case of a man who, at considerable expense of money and time, completed his law degree and then married and lived as a house-husband taking care of his children.

Ms. Aruna makes the unsupported assumption that

  1. a qualification in law is useful only in pursuing law-related activities

  2. what was not acceptable twenty-five years ago may very well be acceptable today

  3. wealth is more important than learning

  4. professional success is a function of the quality of one’s education

  5. the main area of operation of a male lies essentially outside the house
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The example of the man having degree in law hints at 1 as the correct choice. That is what Aruna thinks.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

The recent decline in the value of rupee was triggered by a prediction of slower economic growth in the coming year. This prediction would not have adversely affected the rupee but for the government's huge budget deficit. Budget deficit should, therefore, be decreased to prevent future currency declines.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion about how to prevent future currency declines?

  1. The government has made little attempt to reduce the budget deficit.

  2. The budget deficit has not caused a slowdown in economic growth.

  3. The value of rupee declined several times in the year prior to the recent prediction of slower economic growth.

  4. Before there was a large budget deficit, predictions of slower economic growth had frequently caused decline in rupee value.

  5. Similar predictions of slower economic growth in a previous year did not result in currency decline.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The argument assumes that a particular prediction can cause a currency decline only if accompanied by a large budget deficit. Since (4) states that this prediction can cause a currency decline without a large budget deficit, it is the best answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

A study published by the Department of Education shows that children in the central parts of cities lag far behind students in the suburbs and the rural areas, in reading skills. The report blamed this differential on the overcrowding in the classrooms of city schools. I maintain, however, that the real reason that city children are poorer readers than non-city children is that they do not get enough fresh air and sunshine.

Which of the following would LEAST strengthen the author's point in the argument above?

  1. Medical research showing a correlation between air pollution and learning disabilities.

  2. A report by educational experts demonstrating that there is no relationship between the number of students in a classroom and a student's ability to read.

  3. A notice released by the Department of Education retracting that part of their report which mentioned over-crowding as the reason for the differential.

  4. A proposal by the federal government to fund emergency programs to hire more teachers for central city schools in an attempt to reduce overcrowding in the classrooms.

  5. Another study with findings almost contrary to the aforesaid study.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The question stem asks us to find the one item, which will not strengthen the author's argument. That is (4). Remember, the author's argument is an attempt (to be sure, a weak one) to develop an alternative causal explanation. (1) would provide some evidence that the author's claim - which at first glance seems a bit farfetched - actually has some empirical foundation. While (2) does not add any strength to the author's own explanation of the phenomenon being studied, it does strengthen the author's overall position by undermining the explanation given in the report. (3) strengthens the author's position for the same reason that (2) does: It weakens the position he is attacking.

Multiple choice

Literary historians today have rejected conventional analysis of the development of English Renaissance drama. They no longer accept the idea that the sudden achievement of Elizabethan playwrights was a historical anomaly, a sort of magical rediscovery of ancient Greek dramatic form applied to contemporary English subject matter. Instead, most students of the theatre now view Elizabethan drama as being organically related to traditional local drama, particularly medieval morality plays.

Which of the following is not consistent with the passage above?

  1. England had a dramatic tradition before the Renaissance period.

  2. Elizabethan drama, once thought to be a sudden blossoming forth of creativity, is now seen as part of a historical continuum.

  3. Historians' views of the antecedents of English Renaissance drama have changed considerably.

  4. Although English Renaissance drama treats English subject matter, its source of form and method is classical Greek drama.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

We have to look for an option that directly contradicts this. We find this in (4): It is not a “magical rediscovery of ancient Greek dramatic form applied to contemporary English subject matter”

Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

Nineteenth-century art critics judged art by the realism of its method of representation. It was assumed that the realistic method developed from primitive beginnings to the perfection of formal realism. It is one of the permanent gains of the aesthetic revolution of the twentieth century that we are rid of this type of aesthetics.

It can be inferred from the above passage that the artistic revolution of the twentieth century had which of the following effects?

  1. It de-emphasized realistic representation as an evaluative consideration for judging works of art.

  2. It permitted modern critics to appreciate the simplicity of primitive art.

  3. It repudiated the realistic representation found in the art of the past.

  4. It reinforced traditional ways of looking at and judging great art.

  5. It discouraged exhibitionism and emphasized visual aestheticism.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Earlier perfection meant being closer to reality. The twentieth century got rid of this.