Questions

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

The man who is perpetually hesitating which of the two things he will do first, will do neither. The man who resolves, but suffers his resolution to be changed by the first counter-suggestion of a friend, - who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, from plan to plan, and veers like a weather-cock to every point of the compass, with every breath of caprice that blows-can never accomplish anything great or useful. Instead of being progressive in any thing, he will be at best stationary, and more probably retrograde in all. It is only the man who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then executes his purpose with flexible perseverance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which daunt a weaker spirit that can advance to eminence in any line. Take your course wisely, but firmly; and having taken it, hold upon it with heroic resolution, and the Alps and Pyrenees will sink before you.

What is the meaning of "retrograde" in the passage?

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.
Rajesh ordered his driver to do as he was told.

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter (for that matter: so far as that is concerned), established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both "normal" and having a valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customers.

What does not seem as not good or normal in the context of this essay?

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

_______________ the course of the development of different life-forms heredity—which, in plain English, is unconscious memory generated in the first life-form and ______________ through all the different species—is the sole factor in the ____________ of the parent properties; while adaptation to surrounding conditions and circumstances, natural selection in the struggle _____________ existence, and partner selection in the struggle of the males for ____________ are the principal factors in the differentiation of species.

natural selection in the struggle _____________ existence, and partner selection

All this does not bode _______________ for even the loosest definitions of cosmopolitanism. A city by definition is a space, as ________________ historians and sociologists have already told us, which ideally privileges and _________________ the unexpected encounter, and calls on its citizens to be able to respond humanely even to those _______________ are not linked to us in familial, ethnic, nationalist or caste ___________________.

respond humanely even to those _______________ are not linked to us in familial

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which is the best substitute of the words/sentence.

Be appropriate or applicable

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

Without habit, personality could not exist; for we could never do a thing twice alike, and ___________ would be a new person each succeeding moment. The acts which give us our own peculiar _____________ are our habitual acts--the little things that do themselves moment by moment without care or attention, and are the truest and best expression of our real selves. Probably _______ one of us could be very sure which arm he puts ________ the sleeve, or which foot he puts into the shoe, first; and yet each of us ____________ formed the habit long ago of doing these things in a certain way.

and yet each of us ____________ formed the habit

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

Although it has been felt necessary to devote much space to ________ attempt to find principles that may be said to be at the basis ________ the art of all nations, the executive side of the question has not been neglected. And it is hoped that the __________ method for the study of drawing from the two opposite points of view ofline and mass here advocated may be useful, and help students to avoid some of the _____________ that results from attempting simultaneously the study of these______________ qualities of form expression.

much space to ________ attempt to find principles