Microsoft Sample Verbal Questions

DIRECTIONS for questions 1-4:Study the passages below and answer the questions that follow the passage.
Passage-1
Twenty-first-century readers can be broadly divided into two categories: those who read e-books (in an electronic, digital format) and those like me who prefer to curl up with the original printed version. And so what if the world's largest online retailer Amazon announced that it was selling 105 e-books for every 100 print books? Amazon also announced that sales of print books were going up. Going to bed with a paperback or hardcover may be old-fashioned, but you can fall asleep while reading without worrying about the battery life on the e-reader. "As we get older, we get honester," goes the first line of Yevgeny Yevtushenko's 1956 Russian poem, Zima Junction. As we get older, we also get more sleepless. And for those who like to read, nothing can be as soothing as a book that makes you forget the problems that keep you awake and takes you away to a different world until you fall asleep. Even the most sophisticated e-reader is not as user-friendly as a paperback or a hardcover that you can carry in all kinds of weather (from snowstorms to tsunamis) and wherever you go (from the office, the park and the zoo, to the hospital or even the metro that has just started rolling in India's pensioner's paradise-turned-Silicon Plateau). You can even take a book to war. A copy of Three Men in a Boat (one of the funniest books in English literature, first published in 1889) was found in the knapsack of a British soldier who was killed at Spion Kop during the Boer War of 1900. Watch a telecast of any cricket match anywhere in the world and the camera invariably zooms in on that one male or female spectator who is reading a printed book, with the cameraman voyeuristically trying to give the viewers a glimpse of the cover and title. Maybe, one day, someone will publish a book titled 'What to read at the match!' In the very first summer after World War-II ended and cricket resumed in England, the poet-turned-sports commentator John Arlott wrote a book, 'Off for the cricket', which perhaps explains why Arlott was called the voice of summer. Books remain the ideal gift for all occasions and festivals. I have forgotten much of what they taught me at schools, but I remember the books presented to me at annual prize distribution functions.
  1. Which of the following statements could be inferred from the passage?
    1. Sales of books is increasing, although sales of print books is declining.
    2. E-books are surely going to phase out print books in the not-too-distant future.
    3. Sale of e-books is higher than the sale of print versions.
    4. All these
    Answer:  Option C.
    As per lines "world's largest online retailer Amazon announced that it was selling 105 e-books for every 100 print books?"
    option 3 can be rightly inferred.
  2. The author believes that books make the ideal gifts because
    1. they are inexpensive and affordable.
    2. they could be presented on all occasions including festivals.
    3. books remain with you forever even though memories may fade away with time.
    4. they could be on a myriad of topics.
    Answer: Option  B.
    In the concluding lines the author asserts that books are ideal gifts for all festivals and occasions
  3. Where all do people possibly carry books to read, as per the author ?
    A. To war B. To cricket matches C. To office
    1. B only
    2. B & C
    3. C only
    4. A, B and C
    Answer: Option  D.
    The authors mentions all the given choices in the context
  4. What are the advantages offered by print over e-books, as outlined in the passage ?
    I. These help you forget the worries that make you sleepless.
    II. These are more portable.
    III. These cost less money than buying an e-reader.
    1. II only
    2. II & III
    3. I & II
    4. I, II & III
    Answer: Option  C .
    Statement A is mentioned in lines - As we get older, we also ........ different world until you fall asleep. And Statement B is mentioned in line
    - Even the most sophisticated ......can even take a book to war. Hence Option C is correct.
  5. Choose the odd man out.
    1. defendant
    2. Prosecutor
    3. Trial
    4. Judge
    Answer:  Option  C.
    Apart from trial, which is an action, all the other three mentioned denote human beings. The answer therefore, is option C
  6. Agreement: Dissent:: ______
    1. Touch down: Penalty
    2. Schism: Diverge
    3. Latitude: Resistance
    4. Impasse: Concede
    Answer: Option  C.
    Opposites among the options are latitude and resistance
    DIRECTIONS for the question 7-10: Which of the phrases given against the sentence should replace the word/phrase underlined in the sentence to make it grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it given and no correction is required mark No correction requiredas the answer
  7. Top managers are often stymied by the difficult of managing conflict.
    1. Difficulties of managing
    2. Difficulty of managing
    3. Difficult for management
    4. Difficult of management
    5. No correction required
    Answer: Option  A.
    Option 1 is the correct answer as the subject is plural
  8. Reaching collective decisions based on individual preferences is an imperfect science
    1. Based for
    2. Based
    3. Basis in
    4. Based in
    5. No correction required
    Answer: Option E
    This sentence is correct.
  9. Hollywood bare escaped being totally sidelined by the rise of television
    1. Bare escapism
    2. Barely escapism
    3. Bare escapes
    4. Barely escaped
    5. No correction required
    Answer: Option  D.
    We need an adverb to modify a verb. Hence, 'barely' must be used here.
  10. Taking good decisions and implement those quickly are the hallmarks of high performing organizations.
    1. Implementation quickly
    2. Implementing quick
    3. Implementing them quickly
    4. Quick implementing those
    5. No correction required
    Answer: Option C.
    As per Parallelism of a sentence 'Taking' should be accompanied by another grund, hence 'implementing' is correct here. Also we need an adverb to modify verb, therefore 'Quickly' is to be used.
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