English Questions

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

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none. This sculpture in the memory is not without pre-established harmony. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and has done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.

Which of the following does the author appear to highlight in this essay?

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

It goes without saying

The sentences given with blanks are to be filled with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. For each question, choose the correct alternative and click the button corresponding to it.

Few countries can __________ India in variety, colour and the richness of dance forms.

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.

What is 'sciatica'?

Improve the bracketed part of the sentence. The hapless kid (cut a sorry figure) in his first performance on the stage.

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.
Sow wild oats

A sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect Speech. Out of the four given alternatives, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct Speech.

The king said, “Alas! Our enemies are too strong.”

Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

It was for long the insurmountable peak for ODI batting, but one man might now have a template to score ODI double-centuries again and again. In Bengaluru, against Australia in 2013, Rohit Sharma reached 20 off 35th ball, 50 off the 71st, and the hundred in the 38th over of the innings. In Kolkata, against Sri Lanka in 2014, he was nearly caught for 4 off the 17th ball he faced, reached his 20th run off the 35th ball, but accelerated slightly earlier to bring up his century in the 32nd over of the innings. On a cold mid-week afternoon in Mohali this season, he was even slower to start, reaching 20 off 37 balls, 50 off 65 balls, and bringing up the hundred only in the 40th over. All three were ODI doubles. One time can be a charm, but to accelerate so crazily three times after having set up the innings and to make it look predictable is a perfect combination of skill, fitness and the right mental approach to ODI batting. You can be all amazed at how he manages to do it, but Rohit's reaction to it is typically relaxed. "That's my template, no?" he tends to ask. He remembers the innings clearly: reaching "50 off 70 balls", bringing up the hundred "near the 40th over", and then knowing that the bowlers can't get him out unless he makes a mistake. "That is my style of play," Rohit said. "You are set and seeing the ball nice and hard and you have understood what the bowlers are trying to do by then, and it's all about trying to play with the field once you get past 100. It's all about you not making a mistake and getting out. I am not saying it's impossible or difficult, but it's very unlikely the bowlers are going to get you out once you have scored a hundred. "So it was all about me not making a mistake and batting as long as possible. That's what I did. There is no secret or formula to it. You just have to bat and not make any mistake. The ground is good, the pitch is nice and hard, so you can trust the bounce and play the shots."

What does Rohit thinks of being bowled out after scoring a hundred in a match?