Aspiring Minds Sample Verbal Questions

DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 4: Study the passages below and answer the questions that follow each passage.
Passage 1
Like most teenagers, I dreamed of one day having my name in lights. And perhaps an interview in National Geographic for my work with Rwanda's apes. Maybe an Oscar for my portrayal as a feisty heroine in an epic drama, preferably set in India. Or a Nobel Prize for poetry, which I'd collect in Stockholm wearing a black turtleneck. Suffice to say, none of these has come true. I prefer dogs to gorillas. My poetry is used to line the bottom of my drawer. And I've never been to India. Sure, as a writer, I get my name in the occasional glow of a nine-point byline, but the difference between Oscars and Nobels and Helvetica type face is that the former are all about me; the latter is by me. With the advent of the internet, all that has changed. Like most users, I am a gratuitous googler, squandering valuable work time looking up invaluable topics such as how to clean my dog's teeth, how to cook Risotto, and myriad medical ailments, including tough heels (definitely cancer), lumps on elbows (certainly cancer) and easy bruising (absolutely cancer). But among these endless searches will be a valuable constant: my own name, Helen Walne. In the great scheme of things I am not very important. I have never been medically paroled from jailed, I haven't gone to rehab and I am not about to marry a famous celebrity. My husband has gently suggested that I seek psychological help for my addiction. I google myself every day. And yes, there are times when, like a bulimic digging into a second bucket of Kentuky Fried Chicken, I feel out of control, gorging on blogs, images and news and glimpses of myself. In cyber space, there is no such thing as big fish in little ponds, or little fish in big ponds. Instead, it's one swirling, bubbling swamp of amoebae all gasping for their own gulp of air. And for ego surfers, it's important we float on the surface. Research has found that 47% of internet users have performed self googling more than double the number from 5 years ago. I have realized that like wine, watching soap operas and eating pizza, moderation is the key to virtual vanity - and keeping it to yourself paramount. When you start dabbling in the competitive realms of rival surfing you are sure to start sinking under the flotsam of self doubt. There is always someone out there with a higher ranking, a better picture, a bigger job.
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  1. According to the passage, the author
    1. received an Oscar for her portrayal as a feisty heroine in an epic drama.
    2. feels that moderation is the key to well being in cyber space.
    3. feels that she is the centre of all she checks in the net.
    1. I, II and III are correct
    2. I and II are correct.
    3. II and III are correct
    4. I and III are correct.
    Answer: Option C
    First is factually incorrect.
  2. It can be inferred from the passage that
    1. you have gone too far when you start googling your name multiple times daily.
    2. competitive rival surfing is the best way to increase your self esteem.
    3. being addicted to self googling is the way forward in the 21st century.
    4. the advent of the internet has helped in creating 'a somebody' out of 'a nobody'.
    Answer: Option D
    We can’t infer that somebody has gone far if one starts googling one’s name multiple times.
    Nothing can be inferred about increasing self esteem.
    Option C is out of scope.
  3. According to the passage,
    1. Helen Walne is a patient of cancer.
    2. Helen Walne is a megabyte megalomaniac.
    3. Helen Walne thinks that constant rival surfing is the best way to improve self worth.
    4. Helen Walne is a conscientious worker.
    Answer: Option B
    Megalomania is an obsession with doing extravagant or grand things.
    Helen Wayne is also obsessed with this.
    The other options are out of scope.
  4. According to the passage, all of the following are not true, except
    1. Helen Walne received a prize wearing a turtle neck.
    2. Helen Walne's husband feels she needs help to get out of her addiction.
    3. In reality there is very little difference in the number of internet users today and five years ago.
    4. Rival surfing gives a better job.
    Answer: Option B
    Refer to 1st para line "My husband has gently…..addiction."
DIRECTIONS for questions 5: The question has a group of sentences marked A, B, C, D and E. Arrange these to form a logical sequence.
    1. The upsurge of public activism against the setting up of Special Economic Zones, which eventually forced the State government to announce the scrapping of all 15 such projects, is an impressive case in point.
    2. Early last year, a similar agitation coerced the government into calling for a revision of the Goa Regional Plan 2Q11, a controversial document that opened up large swathes of land, including green belts and coastal stretches, for construction.
    3. The broad-based agitation against SEZs has demonstrated the power of popular protest in the State.
    4. Those opposed to the projects had questioned the propriety of the government acquiring large tracts of land and then selling them to promoters at low prices.
    5. A coastal State with an area of 3,700 square kilometers and a population of about 1.4 million, Goa has always been extremely sensitive to the impact of unrestrained economic development.
    1. BCDEA
    2. CDEAB
    3. EABCD
    4. DABCE
    Answer: Option C
    Sentence E introduces 'Goa that has been extremely sensitive to the impact of unrestrained economic development'.
    A exemplifies on 'the upsurge.
    B carries the idea forward with 'a similar agitation'
DIRECTIONS for questions 6 to 7: Choose the option which gives the best way of writing the sentence ensuring that the message is correctly conveyed.
    1. There were great stable, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servant cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
    2. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
    3. There are great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and order array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
    4. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servant's cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouse, long grape arbor, green pasture, orchard, and berry patch.

    Answer: Option B
    In the 1st sentence- 'stable' does not agree with 'were', so a subject verb agreement error.
    2nd sentence-correct.
    3rd sentence- there 'are', the rest of the sentence is in past tense, so there is a tense mismatch.
    4th sentence- servant's, should be servants'.
    1. Then there is the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.
    2. Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.
    3. Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank were Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and keep cool in the hot afternoon.
    4. Then there was the pumping plant though the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.

    Answer: Option C
    1st sentence- there is a tense mismatch.
    2nd sentence- correct.
    3rd sentence- ‘keep’ cool should be kept.
    4th sentence – ‘through’ the artesian well is incorrect.
DIRECTIONS for questions 8-9: Choose the option to fill in the blanks.
  1. We _______________ to inform you that we cannot include your thesis in our library, on the ________________ of not receiving permission from your supervisor.
    1. saddened, reason
    2. lament, pretext
    3. repent, justification
    4. regret, grounds
    Answer: Option D
    'regret' is a feeling of disappointment.
    repent is feeling remorse for one’s own wrong doings.
    lament is to mourn.
    Hence the option D is the best fit.
  2. When her illness took a turn for the worse, the doctors took _____________ to ____________ the situation.
    1. steps, ameliorate
    2. approaches, better
    3. modes, improve
    4. measures, enhance
    Answer: Option C
    'Ameliorate' – to make better, improve.
    Modes do not fit the first blank so option 3.
DIRECTIONS for question 10: A sentence has been broken into four parts with an error in one of the parts. Identify the part that has an error.
    1. A temple was erected to him
    2. at the foot of the Capitoline Hill,
    3. in which were deposited the
    4. public treasury and the laws of the state.

    Answer: Option D
    A temple was erected in his honour.
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