English Questions

A passage is given with 5 questions following it. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

I had seen this road many years ago when my parents moved to Mundakotukurussi, our ancestral village. However, in those early years, I hadn't begun exploring the countryside. I stored the unknown road in my head under 'One Day I Will'. Ten years ago, when I recovered from a herniated disc, it was to discover that I had a useless left leg. Though I managed to lose the limp, I hated not being able to stride around as I used to. I needed a challenge to tell myself that I wasn't going to buckle to a creature called sciatica. Thus the 'One Day I Will' arrived. "Where does the road by the medical shop lead to?" I asked my parents while visiting them next. "Chalavara," they said. "It's not an easy road to walk on," my father added. "There are too many ups and downs." Chalavara was a superior grade of a village as compared to Mundakotukurussi, with a high school, a fine library, ATMs and several shops. But it also has two approach roads. The one I had chosen was a narrow back road used by the locals and that settled it for me. I needed to know for myself I could walk a road that wasn't going to be easy. And the next day, I would get up and walk that road again.

Where did the forefathers of the writer live?

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.

The children said, "They were busy playing thus they did not notice the stranger."

Select the synonym of
gregarious

In the question below, there is a word given in bold which is followed by five options. In each of the options, a pair of words is given which is either the pair of synonyms or antonyms or synonym & antonym of the word given in bold. Choose that pair as your answer.

Recalcitrant

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Another marvel on the far side of the lake was a little farm that felt like a secret in the city. Some of the gaunt Karnataka labourers even looked away when children came to dig and eat. But the greatest pleasure, this side of the lake, was the jamun tree. A few months back, Kalu and Sunil had a feast in the branches, shaking down a few berries for Mirchi.

That's when they came to know the second-coolest thing about the jamun tree : There were parrots nesting in it. Since then, some other road boys had been capturing the parrots one by one to sell at the Marol Market, but Sunil had brought Kalu around to the belief that the birds should be left as they were. Sunil listened for their squawks each morning, to make sure they hadn't been abducted in the night.

Kalu's expertise was in the recycling bins inside airline catering compounds. Private waste collectors emptied these dumpsters on a regular basis, but Kalu had mastered the trash truck's schedules. The night before pickup, Kalu would climb over the barbed-wire fences and raid the overflowing bins.

Kalu's routine had become known by the local police, however. He kept getting caught, until some constables proposed a different arrangement. Kalu could keep his metal scrap if he'd pass on information he picked up on the road about local drug dealers.

What was the second coolest thing about the Jamun tree?

A passage is given with 5 questions following it. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

My brother, David, was always close to our grandmother. Both of them shared a love of Mother Nature and of food that they had grown themselves. Whenever his schedule permitted, he would drop in for a short visit and a cup of coffee. One day, when he found no one home, he left a chunk of dirt on her porch. This started what was later to be known as his "calling card". Grandmother would come home occasionally and instantly know that Dave had been by when she spotted the chunk of dirt on her porch.

Although Grandmother had a poor upbringing in Italy, she managed to do well in the United States. She was always healthy and independent and enjoyed a fulfilling life. Recently she had a stroke and died. Everyone was saddened by her death. David was disconsolate. His life­long friend was now gone.

Grandmother's death made everyone

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Ants have been living on the earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20000 different species of ants. For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species. If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow. Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnels up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in a large groups searching for food. Ants are social insects which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

What is the purpose of male ants ?

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Modern civilization is completely dependent on energy, which has therefore to be abundant and also economical. About 85% of the world's energy is supplied by oil, coal and natural gas while nuclear, hydro, wind and solar power and biomass supply the rest. Coal, nuclear and hydro are used primarily to generate electricity while natural gas is widely used for heating. Biomass is used both for heating and cooking. The wind and solar power is the future's hope as they are sustainable energy sources. Oil powers almost all machines that move and that makes oil uniquely versatile. Oil powered airplanes carry 500 people across the widest oceans at nearly the speed of sound. Oil powered machines produce and transport food. Oil powered machines are ubiquitous. Clearly, we live in the age of oil but it is drawing to a close. According to data available if oil production remains constant until it's gone, there is enough to last 42 years. Oil wells will produce less as they become depleted, which will make it impossible to keep production constant. Similarly natural gas and coal will last another 61 years and 133 years respectively. Naturally, as they become scarce, they become expensive, leading to a worldwide energy crisis. If we are to survive on this planet, we have to make a transition to sustainable energy sources. The transition may be willy-nilly or planned - the choice is ours.

The dawning era of limited and expensive energy will be very difficult for everyone on earth but will be even more difficult if it is not anticipated. It is of utmost importance that the public and policymakers understand the global energy crisis and act in tandem to ensure that the species 'homo sapiens' does not become extinct.

Biomass is an energy source used in