English Language

Writing and Communication Skills

1,426 Questions

This hub tests writing techniques, essay structuring, and effective communication skills. It includes practical exercises on vocabulary replacement, drafting passages, and formatting reports. These English language questions appear in most competitive exams.

Essay structureVocabulary replacementDrafting techniquesLegal writing formatsReport formatting

Writing and Communication Skills Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following is the best way to conclude the passage?

Direction for questions 19 to 24: The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answers for the questions that follow. Some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask you to consider organization and development. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.

My Laptop
(1)In the Stone Age, our ancestors used tablets to organize important thoughts, keep track of daily activities, and pass on their knowledge to future generations. (2) Their method of writing was inefficient as much effort was being put into carving and preserving the tablet, while the end result contained little information relative to its size. (3) As technologies evolve, we have refined our methods of writing and have come up with newer, cheaper, and more efficient ways to communicate. (4) Living in the age of information escalation, my most intimate experience with writing technologies comes from the use of my royal blue VAIO.

(5) In this essay, I will first describe how I have been shaped by my laptop, then provide nuanced detail about my use of it, and finally explain why my relationship with it is interesting.

(6) First, my laptop has shaped my style of living for the better. (7) Throughout my undergraduate years, I have taken the opportunity to travel and try many new things. (8) Specifically, I have participated in a few three to six month internship / cooperative education program in order to learn more about my own career aptitude. (9) During temporary relocations to Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Taipei, my laptop has always accompanied me and provided great mobility to wherever destination. (10) In this, through the use of Outlook Express and AIM, my VAIO helped me communicate with colleagues during the day, and family and friends at night. (11) Beyond that, I believe the convenience of relocation that is implied in laptop ownership has vastly broadened my world views and has allowed me to become more independent as a young adult.

(12) Other than being a necessary traveling companion, my laptop has also become an integral part of my life while at school. (13) For instance, I use it to manage mutual fund investments, organize lecture notes and homework, read the news (I spend a lot of time at cnn.com), edit video clips, etc.

(14) I cannot live without my laptop, it's quite simple. (15) Throughout the years, I have become increasingly dependent on it for day-to-day activities such as corresponding with professors, keeping in touch with families, and friends, as well as organizing personal documents such as music, pictures, and the like. (16) I still make a habit of carrying it wherever I go, and probably spend more time with this so-called writing technology than any other object or person.(17) In the event of an emergency evacuation, it would definitely be the first thing I take and the last thing to let go.

  1. Leave it as it is

  2. Insert 'Truly' at the beginning of the sentence.

  3. Change 'take' to carry'

  4. Change, 'to let go' to 'I will leave behind'

  5. Add the sentence 'My Laptop is royal blue and it is a part of me'.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

Option (E) is the answer as it reflects the theme of the passage and would form the appropriate concluding sentence.

Multiple choice

Which one of the following has not been mentioned in the definition of “Documents” as the means by which any matter is expressed or described upon any substance?

  1. Letters

  2. Figures

  3. Symbols

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

Section 3 of the Evidence Act defines 'document' as any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures, or marks. The Act enumerates letters, figures, and marks explicitly but does not mention symbols as a separate category. While symbols might conceivably fall within a broad interpretation, the statutory definition specifically lists only letters, figures, and marks. Option C is correct because 'symbols' is not explicitly mentioned in the definition.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate pair of words to make the sentence a meaningful one. Each sentence is followed by five pairs of words. Choose the correct pair.

By reflective reading, which includes ______ of the content of the text and the language used, the reader is able to discern the _____ of the author.

  1. application, bearing

  2. analysis, perspective

  3. altercation, delineation

  4. inquiry, inference

  5. dissecting, hypothesis
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Reflective reading means thoughtful reading. It would involve examination of the content and language to understand the viewpoint of the author. So, application, or altercation (angry dispute), or inquiry or dissecting are ruled out. Similarly, main purpose is to understand the viewpoint, i.e. perspective of the author not the bearing or delineation (rough sketch or draft) or the hypotheses.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose the most logical order of sentences to construct a coherent paragraph.

(A) When a follower copies a leader, it is not covering at all, it’s better described as a me-too response. (B) What works for a leader doesn't necessarily work for a follower. (C) But followers are not in the same position to benefit from a covering strategy. (D) Leaders can often cover a competitive move and retain their leadership.

  1. ACDB

  2. DCBA

  3. DBCA

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

D opens the conversation by talking about the leader. C follows it as it talks about follower. B makes a statement and A explains the same.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose the most logical order of sentences to construct a coherent paragraph.

(A) You need to carefully check the background. (B) Evaluate the features. (C) Buying a printer is more like a marriage.
(D) And see if it's compatible with your needs.

  1. ACDB

  2. BCDA

  3. CDAB

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

Buying a printer is more like a marriage. You need to carefully check the background and evaluate the features, and see if it's compatible with your needs.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose the best option to fill in the blanks.

The purpose of this quick, ________ synthesis between research, thinking and writing is to attain the three prime qualities of historical composition – clarity, ________ and objectivity.

  1. cold; virility

  2. rawness; complexity

  3. empathetic; apathy

  4. warm; vigour

  5. irascible; vehemence
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

'Purpose' gives a clue for the first blank, which gives a positive feel to the first blank. 'Cold' and 'rawness' infer negative connotations. Hence, options (1) and (2) are ruled out. 'Irascible' (meaning easily angered; quick-tempered) implies emotions. Therefore, it is not cogent with 'synthesis'.

Multiple choice

Which of these is a paper that is a work of synthesis?

  1. Proceedings

  2. Academic journal

  3. Survey article

  4. Persuasive writing

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

In academia, a survey article is a paper that is a work of synthesis, published through the usual channels (a learned journal or collective volume, such as conference proceedings or collection of essays). It stands outside the usual run of research papers, for two reasons: it is not presented as the author's original research, but as a survey or summary of a field; and it is not necessarily subject to the same degree of peer review. Sometimes, short survey articles appear in the guise of book reviews, where the context of the book is summarised first, often at greater length than is devoted to the book.

Multiple choice

By saying ‘the unity of a paragraph is or ought to be protected by the theme’, the writer strongly advocates that

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

Unity is as necessary in a paragraph as in a sentence, and has practically the same meaning for the one as for the other. It means that the paragraph must deal with one subject at a time. It implies a sustained purpose and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter. The unity of a paragraph is or ought to be protected by the theme; for the paragraph ought not to go beyond what the scope of the theme allows. The sentence embodying the theme holds the same kind of relation to the other sentences of the paragraph that the principal clause of a complex sentence holds to the subordinate clauses. As the several clauses of a complex sentence are combined together in construction by conjunctions and relative pronouns, so it frequently happens that the several sentences of which a paragraph is composed are combined together in sense (though they are separated in construction), by words of reference, demonstrative phrases, collateral allusions, and the various other devices of sentence-arrangement.

  1. there is no sense in staying within the scope of the theme

  2. there are no hard and fast rules about sticking to the theme

  3. there is no scope for digression and irrelevant matters

  4. paragraph writing is a complex matter best left to experts

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

The writer makes out a strong case for avoiding all irrelevant matters in a paragraph.

Multiple choice

What is the central idea of the passage?

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

Unity is as necessary in a paragraph as in a sentence, and has practically the same meaning for the one as for the other. It means that the paragraph must deal with one subject at a time. It implies a sustained purpose and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter. The unity of a paragraph is or ought to be protected by the theme; for the paragraph ought not to go beyond what the scope of the theme allows. The sentence embodying the theme holds the same kind of relation to the other sentences of the paragraph that the principal clause of a complex sentence holds to the subordinate clauses. As the several clauses of a complex sentence are combined together in construction by conjunctions and relative pronouns, so it frequently happens that the several sentences of which a paragraph is composed are combined together in sense (though they are separated in construction), by words of reference, demonstrative phrases, collateral allusions, and the various other devices of sentence-arrangement.

  1. Selection of theme in paragraph writing

  2. Irrelevance of theme and unity in a paragraph

  3. Paragraph must deal with one subject at a time

  4. Sentence-arrangement is a futile exercise
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Paragraph must deal with one subject at a time and that there is no scope for digression or use of irrelevant matters in paragraph writing.

Multiple choice

In the sentence ‘It implies a sustained purpose and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter’, what does the word ‘digression’ mean in the given context?

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

Unity is as necessary in a paragraph as in a sentence, and has practically the same meaning for the one as for the other. It means that the paragraph must deal with one subject at a time. It implies a sustained purpose and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter. The unity of a paragraph is or ought to be protected by the theme; for the paragraph ought not to go beyond what the scope of the theme allows. The sentence embodying the theme holds the same kind of relation to the other sentences of the paragraph that the principal clause of a complex sentence holds to the subordinate clauses. As the several clauses of a complex sentence are combined together in construction by conjunctions and relative pronouns, so it frequently happens that the several sentences of which a paragraph is composed are combined together in sense (though they are separated in construction), by words of reference, demonstrative phrases, collateral allusions, and the various other devices of sentence-arrangement.

  1. Nothing that is not connected with the theme should be used.

  2. Digression can be permitted so long as it remains relevant.

  3. Relevant matter and digression can go together in a paragraph.

  4. Digressions and irrelevant matters make for healthy reading material.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

There is total intolerance of digression and irrelevant matter in paragraph writing. Unity of purpose must be maintained at any cost in paragraph writing and anything that is not related with the subject should not be included in a paragraph.

Multiple choice

A paragraph is well-written if it has followed the principles of

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

Unity is as necessary in a paragraph as in a sentence, and has practically the same meaning for the one as for the other. It means that the paragraph must deal with one subject at a time. It implies a sustained purpose and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter. The unity of a paragraph is or ought to be protected by the theme; for the paragraph ought not to go beyond what the scope of the theme allows. The sentence embodying the theme holds the same kind of relation to the other sentences of the paragraph that the principal clause of a complex sentence holds to the subordinate clauses. As the several clauses of a complex sentence are combined together in construction by conjunctions and relative pronouns, so it frequently happens that the several sentences of which a paragraph is composed are combined together in sense (though they are separated in construction), by words of reference, demonstrative phrases, collateral allusions, and the various other devices of sentence-arrangement.

  1. detailed writing

  2. controlled writing

  3. paragraph writing

  4. digressive writing
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The principle of writing paragraph is fully explained in the passage. The emphasis is following the same. So, a paragraph is said to be well-written if it has followed the principles of paragraph writing as explained by the author.

Multiple choice

Which of these is a large and structured set of texts?

  1. Corpus

  2. Annotation

  3. Semantics

  4. Pragmatics

  5. Lexis
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

A corpus (plural corpora) or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts (nowadays usually electronically stored and processed). They are used to do statistical analysis and hypothesis testing, checking occurrences or validating linguistic rules within a specific language territory.