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

Which of the options can replace the word ‘adversely’ as used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions.

In the past 10, 000 years, biological diversity has entered a new era. Human activity has adversely affected diversity; the rate of human-induced extinctions is accelerating. The careless introduction of the Nile perch has threatened hundreds of fish species native to Lake Victoria. Decimated forests and excessive hunting have eliminated half of the bird species of Polynesia. The list of comparable disasters is substantial.

The history of global diversity, summarily explained, initiated after the incipient proliferation of multi-cellular animals. This gave rise to an increase in the species. The human species emerged at this seemingly optimal time of extreme biological diversity. Yet as human populations swell, they transform their environments, reducing biological diversity to its lowest level.

  1. in opposite direction

  2. to act unfavourably

  3. to place opposite

  4. in a rude way
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The contextual meaning is to act or serve opposite purpose or unfavourably. 

Multiple choice

Which of the options best fills the gap 9?

Directions: Read the passage and complete the gaps to make meaningful sentences.

Jane Austen’s novels ------9----- an exactness of structure and a symmetry of form. In Pride and Prejudice the plot is -----10----- chief interest, simple but pervasive. Austen’s later novels, Mansfield Park and Emma ------11-------  longer and more elaborate than other novels. The incidents happen so naturally out of the influence of character on character, that we ------12-----  that they are part of a design or scheme.

  1. have

  2. had

  3. are

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

The tense is present and the noun is plural. They have a certain structure.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 16?

Directions: Read the passage and find the correct form of the missing word or phrase to complete it.

Music industry executives -----13---- recently expressed concern that the easy access to free digital recordings will dampen the willingness of customers to purchase music, but this concern is unwarranted. As recorded music became widely available in the form of LP’s and later cassette tapes and CDs, people ----------14------- to attend concerts and live music venues. Given that other recorded formats ---------15------- people to stop paying for musical entertainment, it is unlikely that the availability of digital recordings------16-------- customers to cease making  music purchases.

  1. will encourage

  2. would encourage

  3. should encourage

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

When there is surety, we always use will. It is unlikely that something will happen.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 13?

Directions: Read the passage and find the correct form of the missing word or phrase to complete it.

Music industry executives -----13---- recently expressed concern that the easy access to free digital recordings will dampen the willingness of customers to purchase music, but this concern is unwarranted. As recorded music became widely available in the form of LP’s and later cassette tapes and CDs, people ----------14------- to attend concerts and live music venues. Given that other recorded formats ---------15------- people to stop paying for musical entertainment, it is unlikely that the availability of digital recordings------16-------- customers to cease making  music purchases.

  1. have

  2. has

  3. had

  4. (no auxiliary)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The tense is present perfect ('recently') and 'executives' is plural word.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 15?

Directions: Read the passage and find the correct form of the missing word or phrase to complete it.

Music industry executives -----13---- recently expressed concern that the easy access to free digital recordings will dampen the willingness of customers to purchase music, but this concern is unwarranted. As recorded music became widely available in the form of LP’s and later cassette tapes and CDs, people ----------14------- to attend concerts and live music venues. Given that other recorded formats ---------15------- people to stop paying for musical entertainment, it is unlikely that the availability of digital recordings------16-------- customers to cease making  music purchases.

  1. did not cause

  2. do not cause

  3. would not cause

  4. have not caused
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

We must use 'did not' while talking about past tense.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 14?

Directions: Read the passage and find the correct form of the missing word or phrase to complete it.

Music industry executives -----13---- recently expressed concern that the easy access to free digital recordings will dampen the willingness of customers to purchase music, but this concern is unwarranted. As recorded music became widely available in the form of LP’s and later cassette tapes and CDs, people ----------14------- to attend concerts and live music venues. Given that other recorded formats ---------15------- people to stop paying for musical entertainment, it is unlikely that the availability of digital recordings------16-------- customers to cease making  music purchases.

  1. have continue

  2. had continued

  3. continued

  4. would continue
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The tense is simple past.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 19?

Directions: Complete the passage by filling the gaps with the most suitable option.

In the past five years, there has been a --------17----- in the consumption of soft drinks sweetened -----18--- sugar. -------19------ the same time, there has been increasing publicity about the adverse effects of weight gain cause by the consumption of sugar-laden drinks. Clearly the public’s awareness of the harmful health effects of weight gained by consuming sugar-laden drinks caused the decline ------20----- the consumption of such drinks.

  1. During

  2. At

  3. Before

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

We need a word which talks about a period of time. 'At' would have been appropriate only to set up a contrast which is not there.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 24?

Directions: Complete the passage by filling the most suitable option from each list.

Human to human blood transfusions in the nineteenth century were plagued by two major problems: first, the necessity of transfusing blood as soon as it was drawn and second the occasionally fatal reactions, often accompanied by fever or nausea, which afflicted many patients. Rudimentary anticoagulants were developed as early as 1860, solving the first obstacle. Later advances in the blood analysis revealed not only that there are blood groups with which donors may be incompatible but also that white blood cells-----------24------ new blood from even seemingly suitable donors.

  1. may attack

  2. might attack

  3. must attack

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

In case of a distinct possibility, we always use 'may'.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 20?

Directions: Complete the passage by filling the gaps with the most suitable option.

In the past five years, there has been a --------17----- in the consumption of soft drinks sweetened -----18--- sugar. -------19------ the same time, there has been increasing publicity about the adverse effects of weight gain cause by the consumption of sugar-laden drinks. Clearly the public’s awareness of the harmful health effects of weight gained by consuming sugar-laden drinks caused the decline ------20----- the consumption of such drinks.

  1. in

  2. by

  3. for

  4. of

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

When we talk about rise or fall in something, we always use 'in'.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 17?

Directions: Complete the passage by filling the gaps with the most suitable option.

In the past five years, there has been a --------17----- in the consumption of soft drinks sweetened -----18--- sugar. -------19------ the same time, there has been increasing publicity about the adverse effects of weight gain cause by the consumption of sugar-laden drinks. Clearly the public’s awareness of the harmful health effects of weight gained by consuming sugar-laden drinks caused the decline ------20----- the consumption of such drinks.

  1. markedly rise

  2. marked decline

  3. marked rise

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

We need an adjective in the past tense. The 'decline' becomes apparent later in the text.

Multiple choice

Which of the following options best fits gap 18?

Directions: Complete the passage by filling the gaps with the most suitable option.

In the past five years, there has been a --------17----- in the consumption of soft drinks sweetened -----18--- sugar. -------19------ the same time, there has been increasing publicity about the adverse effects of weight gain cause by the consumption of sugar-laden drinks. Clearly the public’s awareness of the harmful health effects of weight gained by consuming sugar-laden drinks caused the decline ------20----- the consumption of such drinks.

  1. by

  2. with

  3. in

  4. without
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

We are talking about sweetening and that is best done with sugar and not without.

Multiple choice

Which of the options best fills the gap 10?

Directions: Read the passage and complete the gaps to make meaningful sentences.

Jane Austen’s novels ------9----- an exactness of structure and a symmetry of form. In Pride and Prejudice the plot is -----10----- chief interest, simple but pervasive. Austen’s later novels, Mansfield Park and Emma ------11-------  longer and more elaborate than other novels. The incidents happen so naturally out of the influence of character on character, that we ------12-----  that they are part of a design or scheme.

  1. the

  2. a

  3. having

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

The talk is about a particular thing, i.e. the plot; so we use 'the'. The chief interest is the plot, simple but pervasive.

Multiple choice

In context of the passage what is the meaning of 'conflict'?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Graham Greene was one of the most outstanding novelists after the Second World War. His remarkable novels are mainly concerned with evil and its endless conflict with righteousness. He saw action as a series of moral dilemmas and he depicts fundamental good and fundamental evil. His famous novels are Power and the Glory, The End of the Affair, Brighton Rock.

  1. Debate

  2. Opposition between ideas

  3. Argument

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

The novels depict strong opposition between good and evil.

Multiple choice

The elephant in the passage can be said to be

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill large animals.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking people who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.

  1. defensive

  2. offensive

  3. violent

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

The last sentence of the passage makes it clear that the elephant would attack only if he it felt threatened.

Multiple choice

The author was reluctant to shoot the elephant because he

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill large animals.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking people who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.

  1. was afraid of it

  2. did not have the experience of shooting big animals

  3. did not wish to kill a harmless animal

  4. did not find the elephant to be ferocious
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The author was neither afraid of the tusker nor is there any indication that he was inexperienced. He was a considerate man who thought that it would be murder to kill a harmless creature.