- Traffic problems in Bombay are as serious as in any other city in India; and they are complicated by digging of roads by the corporation on this or that ____.
(a) aspect (b) pretext
(c) intention (d) instance
Answer: (b) A pretext is a reason which you pretend has caused you to do something. That is, you tell people that X is the reason, but in fact it is not.
- Nowadays there exists a spirit of___ among the various departments of the University. This has led to a number of interdisciplinary research publications due to interaction of various research groups.
(a) co-operation (b) education
(c) casteism (d) favouritism
Answer: (a) The words “interdisciplinary” and “interaction” point to the working together (co-operation) of the various departments.
- The stock market is very_____ at the moment.
(a) sensible (b) sensitive
(c) intensive (d) remunerative
Answer: (b) If something is sensitive to a physical force, it is easily affected by it. A sensitive “stock market” implies that there are chances of big changes in the stock market index due to government changes or certain governmental decisions; etc.
- Man is still a____in the labour market.
(a) guilt (b) possibility
(c) endemic (d) commodity
Answer: (d) A commodity is something that is sold for money. “Man is still a commodity” implies that he is treated as a thing; the human touch is missing.
- Survival of mankind itself is in danger due to__________of atomic weapons.
(a) perpetuation (b) regularisation
(c) provocation (d) proliferation
Answer: (d) If you are even moderately interested in news, you must have heard of the NPT. It stands for Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty — a treaty which aims at halting the proliferation (increasing in number very quickly) of nuclear (atomic) weapons.
- His remarks were filled with _____ , which sounded lofty but presented nothing new to the audience.
(a) aphorisms (b) platitudes
(c) bombast (d) adages
Answer: (b) An aphorism is a short witty sentence (not lofty) which expresses a general truth or observation. Bombast is the use of long, important sounding words with little meaning in an attempt to impress others. (Note that the definition is silent on presented nothing new”.) An adage is something which people often say and which expresses a general truth about some aspect of life. (It need not be lofty.)
- When indecision grips a nation, free men feel the need for an _____ruler and are prepared to throw democracy overboard.
(a) optimistic (b) autocratic
(c) eccentric (d) energetic
Answer: (b) Autocratic is the adjective from autocracy (autos = self + kratos = power). An autocratic ruler concentrates all power in himself. He makes decisions without asking anyone else’s advice.
- India has the_______ of high saving and low growth rates.
(a) irony (b) similarity
(c) difference (d) paradox
Answer: (d) Common sense tells us that high saving rates should lead to (greater investment and therefore) “high” growth rates. But here it is “low”. This is a paradox.
- Few countries can____India in variety, colour and richness of dance-forms.
(a) rival (b) depict
(c) parallel (d) fight
Answer: (a) If A rivals B, both A and B are of the same standard or quality. In other words, A matches B. “Few countries can rival India” means there is hardly any country that can match India. India is almost unique.
- The entire village condoled ____ the jawan’s widow in her bereavement.
(a) in (b) for (c) to (d) with
Answer: (d) You condole with a person on/over his or her great misfortune.
- The battalion operating from the mountain was able to tie____ three enemy divisions.
(a) up (b) down (c) on (d) with
Answer: (b) If you tie down someone, you restrict his freedom in some way.
- His attitude to his boss was so_____ that it caused a good deal of repulsion.
(a) refulgent (b) arrogant
(c) sycophantic (d) hybrid
Answer: (c) Easy
- His fears were explicitly betrayed by his______ voice.
(a) phonetic (b) tremulous
(c) tenuous (d) malodorous
Answer: (b) “Fear” makes your voice tremble. In other words, it becomes tremulous.
- The influence of the environment on man is revealed by an_____ study.
(a) anthropological (b) ecological
(c) epigraphic (d) numismatic
Answer: (b) Ecology is the pattern of relations of plants, animals and people to each other and their surroundings (environment). Anthropology is the scientific study of the human (Greek anthropos = man) race, including its different types and. its beliefs, social habits and organisation, etc. Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions.
An inscription is writing carved into something made of Stone or metal, for example, a gravestone, monument, or medal. Numismatics is the study of coins or medals. ‘Ecumenical activities, ideas, and movements try to unite different Christian Churches.
- She had a terrible night caused by a(n)_____ during her sleep.
(a) incubus (b) debility
(c) obsession (d) delusion
Answer: (a) An incubus is a male devil supposed to have sex with a sleeping woman. Broadly, incubus means a very worrying problem. In literary usages, as in the given sentence, it means a bad dream and is synonymous with incubus.
- Alexander Solzhepitsyn’s works will be_______ by every lover of liberal thought and they will bring home to him how restrictive freedom is in the Russian system.
(a) rejected (b) skimmed
(c) compiled (d) perused
Answer: (d) Peruse means to read. A perusal (reading) of “Solzhenitsyn’s works” will “bring home to him” (make him understand) the truth about “Freedom” in Russia — that freedom is only nominal; it is, in fact, “restrictive”. Note that Russia here is a part of the USSR, not the post-6996 Russia. (c) gives the sense of reading hurriedly”.
- A great literary or artistic work is known as______.
(a) par excellence (b) bete noire
(c) peccadillo (d) magnum opus
Answer: (d) Magnum means ‘big’ (or great). (Hence a magnifying glass makes things appear big.) Opus means ‘work’. (When you operate something, a computer for example, you make it work.) Combining the two, we get magnum opus great work. But it is used only in the sense of “a great literary or artistic work”.
- ____ at the major ports has led planners to develop satellite ports near them.
(a) density (b) containment
(c) transportation (d) congestion
Answer: (d) If there is congestion in a place, the place is extremely crowded and blocked with traffic or people. The problem of congestion is thus essentially a problem of space. It could be got rid of through addition of space (by developing “satellite ports”).
Blockade is slightly different. It is the action that is taken to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving it. The problem here is political – blockades are the creation of strikers or political groups. And the problem could persist even at the newly-developed satellite ports.
- The carriage foundered in a snowdrift and it took two hours to_____ it.
(a) exert (b) pillage
(c) exacerbate (d) extricate
Answer: (d) When a ship founders, it fills with water and sinks. Similarly the carriage foundered (that is, sank) in the snowdrift (deep pile of snow formed by the wind). The trapped (sunk) carriage then had to be freed from the snowdrift. In other words, it had to be extricated.
- Since the British were masters of the seas, no ____ power could venture into Indian waters under British rule.
(a) territorial (b) continental
(c) maritime (d) geo-political
Answer: (c) Maritime is used to describe things relating to the sea and to ships.