Direction (1-5): 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.
“Nobody knows my name” is the title of one of James Baldwin’s celebrated books. Who knows the name of the old man sitting amidst ruins pondering over his hubble-bubble? We do not. It does not matter. He is there like the North Pole, the Everest, and the Alps but with one difference. The North Pole, the Everest, and Alps will be there when he is not there anymore. Can we really say this? “Dust thou art to dust returned” was not spoken of the soul. We do not know whether the old man’s soul will go marching on like John Brown’s. While his body lies moldering in the grave or becomes ash driven by the wind or is immersed in water, such speculation is hazardous. A soul’s trip can take one to the treacherous shoals of metaphysics where there is no “yes” or “no”. “Who am I?” asked Tagore of the rising sun in the first dawn of his life, he received no answer. “Who am I?” he asked the setting sun in the last twilight of his life. He received no answer.
We are no more on solid ground with dust which we can feel in our hands, scatter to the wind and wet with water to turn it into the mud. For this much is sure, that at the end, when life’s ceaseless labor grinds to a halt and man meet death, the brother of sleep, his body buried or burnt, becomes dust. In the form of dust he lives, inanimate yet in contact with the animate. He settles on files in endless government almirahs, on manuscripts written and not published on all shelves, on faces and hands. He becomes ubiquitous all-pervasive, sometimes sneaking even into hermetically sealed chambers.
Q1. What is the difference between the old man and the North Pole, the Everest and the Alps?

A. He ponders over his hubble—bubble while they don’t. B. They are known to all while he is known to none. C. They remain while he will soon become dust. D. They are not as old as he.

Answer - Option C
Explanation -Refer to, “He is there like the North Pole, the Everest and the Alps but with one difference. The North Pole, the Everest and Alps will be there when he is not there anymore.”
Q2. What, according to the passage, happens to a person’s soul after death?

A. The soul also dies with the body. B. The soul continues to live after the body is dead. C. The soul certainly becomes dust after death. D. It is dangerous to guess.

Answer - Option D
Explanation -According to the passage, it is dangerous to guess what happens to a person’s soul after death.
Q3. Which of the following statement is true?

A. The rising sun told Tagore who he was. B. The rising sun did not tell Tagore who he was. C. The rising sun advised Tagore to ask no questions. D. The rising sun told Tagore that he would become dust.

Answer - Option B
Explanation -Refer to, “”Who am I?” asked Tagore of the rising sun in the first dawn of his life, he received no answer. “Who am I?” he asked the setting sun in the last twilight of his life. He received no answer.”
Q4. What happens to a man after he becomes dust?

A. He disappears from the world forever. B. He appears in the form of man again. C. He meets death again. D. He becomes ubiquitous all pervasive.

Answer - Option D
Explanation -Refer to, “He becomes ubiquitous all pervasive, sometimes sneaking even into hermetically sealed chambers.”
Q5. What figure of speech is used in the expression “the brother of sleep”?

A. Simile B. Metaphor C. Oxymoron D. Irony

Answer - Option B
Explanation -Metaphor means a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. According to the passage here death is compared as brother of sleep.

Direction (1-3): In the following questions, sentences are given with blanks to be filed in with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four as your answer.
Q1. You will be __________ people who are every bit as good as you are.

A. stemming from B. striking down C. pitted against D. dwelling on

Answer - Option C
Explanation -Pit against: To set someone or something into direct conflict, opposition, or competition against someone or something else.
Q2. The size of the grants have been attacked by welfare groups as merely ___________.

A. drop in an ocean B. the drop in an ocean C. a drop in the ocean D. a drop in ocean

Answer - Option C
Explanation -A drop in the ocean (idiom): a very small amount compared with what is needed or expected.
Q3. The mayor and her deputy locked _________over plans for the new road.

A. chains B. doors C. hinds D. horns

Answer - Option D
Explanation -Lock horns (idiom): to begin to argue or fight.
Q4. Select the synonym of "Extrapolate".

A. deduce B. rejection C. scruple D. vacillate

Answer - Option A
Explanation -Extrapolate: estimate or conclude. Deduce: draw as a logical conclusion. Hence option A is the correct synonym
Q5. Select the antonym of “Mendacity”

A. dulcet B. falsehood C. honesty D. None of these

Answer - Option C
Explanation -Mendacity means untruthfulness

Direction (1-3): Improve the bracketed part of the sentence.
Q1. You must (accustom yourself with) new ideas.

A. accustomed with B. accustom to C. accustom yourself to D. No Improvement

Answer - Option C Sol. ‘Accustom’ takes preposition ‘to’ with it. Hence option ‘C’ fits in the context.
Q2. Being a handicapped youth, he (was put hard to) complete his military course.

A. was hard put to B. was put to it hard C. was hardly put to D. No Improvement

Answer - Option A
Explanation -Hard put to do (something) is an idiom which means struggling to do or accomplish something, Hence option A improves the sentence.
Q3. Uncle Johnson didn’t have much money, but he always seemed to (drop by) without borrowing money from relatives.

A. give in B. get by C. brush up D. No Improvement

Answer - Option B
Explanation -Drop by: visit without appointment. Get by: survive. Give in: To surrender; especially in a fight or argument. Brush up: To practice and review your knowledge or a skill that you haven’t used in a while.
Directions (4-5): In these questions some of the sentences have errors and some have none. Find out which part of a sentence has an error and indicate it corresponding to the appropriate letter. If there is no error, indicate corresponding to the last option.
Q4. This happened (A)/ just exactly (B)/ five years ago.(C) /No Error (D)

A. A B. B C. C D. D

Answer - Option B
Explanation -Usage of ‘just’ and ‘exactly’ together is superfluous. Hence, either ‘just’ or ‘exactly’ is to be used before ‘five years ago’.
Q5. Within an hour’s journey we (A)/ will approach (B)/ near Mumbai (C)/ No Error (D)

A. A B. B C. C D. D

Answer - Option C
Explanation -Use of ‘near’ is redundant here. As ‘approach’ means ‘to come near’.