Questions

The question below consists of a set of labelled sentences. Out of the four options given, select the most logical order of the sentences to form a coherent paragraph.

P- The starting point can be the experience of a minority within society generally or even the experience of a group of people within a progressive social movement
which does not live up to its progressive agenda in every respect.
Q- Within (or after) postmodernism a grand unifying theory no longer seems possible. This does not exclude the possibility or the necessity of dialogue.
R- The starting points of social criticism can be very different and the different forms of socialism never has a monopoly on Social Criticism.
S- Nevertheless most social critics still consider the Critique of capitalism to be central.

Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response in the Answer Sheet against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).

In the given question, an idiom/phrase highlighted in bold is given in a sentence. Choose the most suitable meaning of the idiom/phrase.

I hope you pardon my French that I used during the serious and intense discussion we were having yesterday.

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

The first working steam­ powered vehicle was designed and most likely built by Ferdinand Verbies, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65 cm long scale­ model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger. It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built. Nicolas- Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full­ scale, self ­propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he also created a steam­ powered tricycle. He constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. His inventions were however handicapped by problems of water supply and maintaining steam pressure. In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam ­powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods. Sentiment against steam ­powered road vehicles led to the Locomotive Acts of 1865. In 1807 Nicephore Niepce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called Pyreolophore.

The first full­scale, working steam ­powered tricycle was built by:

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward across the largest and northernmost state in the United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely complicated to operate. The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky crags, makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude oil can be pumped through it daily. Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents", long sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh demands of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost (permanently frozen ground). A little more than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground. The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and the properties of the soil. One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction project ever undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single business could raise that much money, so 8 major oil companies formed a consortium in order to share the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its holdings. Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply shortage, equipment breakdowns, labour disagreements, treacherous terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed and is operating.

Which of the following were not problems faced while constructing the pipeline?

In the following question, a sentence / a part of sentence is underlined. Below are given alternatives to the underlined part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is required, choose "No Improvement" option.

She was completely nonplussed by the erratic behaviour of her father.

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best express the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.

He said,"They will be using my car for the trip."

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

We have rich cultural _____ . Its roots go into _____. Ours has never been a closed ______. It has _______ just like a tree, ______ to external ______ but holding its roots _______. But one wonders today whether it will be able to hold its _____. The ______ of our cultural heritage has come under the _____ of western culture.

Ours has never been a closed ______