VERBAL ABILITY

VA – 5
Vocabulary / Reading Comprehension
Activity : Extempore

Directions for questions 1 to 8:  Each question given below, identify the word which is similar in meaning
(synonym) to the question word.

1. INCLINATION 5. DEXTEROUS
a) Penchant a) Adroit
b) Favour b) Assiduous
c) Skill c) Avaricious
d) Delight d) Clumsy
e) Fame e) Insightful

2. TRIBUTE 6. OUTFIT
a) Declaration a) Organization
b) Anger b) Employment
c) Accolade c) Career
d) Assertion d) Avocation
e) Criticism e) Behavior

3. ACCLIMATIZE 7. ACCREDIT
a) Develop a) Undermine
b) Accustom b) Legalize
c) Appease c) Authorize
d) Placate d) Believe
e) Appeal e) Enlighten

4. CONFEDERATE 8. CAUSTIC
a) Friend a. Rude
b) Enemy b. Polite
c) Companion c. Acrimonious
d) Abettor d. Imposing
e) Guide e. Brazen

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Directions for questions 1 to 7:

Each of the following questions has a paragraph followed by four options. Choose the option which summarizes the
paragraph most appropriately.

1. Many patients with Parkinson’s and other neurological syndromes can benefit from the loss of the crippling
paralysis and life changing inconvenient symptoms that can render them, at times, tragically helpless. Drug
treatment for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease exist, but drugs don’t heal people’s diseases., such
is not their function. Drugs only combat symptomatic issues, never their direct causes. While there are natural
remedies, controlled substance laws, the lack of widespread public education on alternative medicine, and the lack of
reliable resources for many results in this option being less reliable than it might seem at a first glance.
 A. Parkinson’s disease and various other neurological syndromes can be treated by various methods besides
drugs.
B. Drug treatments don’t always help in getting rid of disease like Parkinson’s. Alternative treatments are also
available.
C. A detailed awareness on alternative treatments is necessary to tackle Parkinson’s disease and the like, and
drugs are not a solution.
D. Parkinson’s disease renders patients helpless and drugs are not the only solution to treat it.

2. With so much social action taking place from behind the computer screen, adults and teachers are concerned about
the loss of social skills among young people. In other words, the ability to communicate up-close and personal with
friends and family is becoming extinct. Young people simply don’t know how to hold a conversation. Take away a
kid’s cell phone or computer and they tend to withdraw, don’t know what to do with their hands, become sullen. A
lack of exercise isn’t the only physical problem. Many young people who spend a great amount of time in front of
computer are beginning to show symptoms of disease and illness not usually seen until someone reaches middle are
or senior citizenship.

A. Kids generally become sullen in the absence of their gadgets or computers.

B. Computers and technology help children in connecting socially and, in the process adversely affecting their
health.
C. Personal interactions are being quickly taken over by interactions via devices, which is vastly seen in today’s
generation.
D. Personal communication has been taken over by interactions over devices and this use is adversely affecting
children’s health due to the long hours being spent on the devices.

3. For most sportsmen and women, even in an era when money is a major incentive for sporting success,
representing the nation remains important. It is not inconceivable that they might represent more than one nation,
with neither ethnic origin nor even well-established civic connections being necessary for a move from one to
another. However, for the overwhelming majority of athletes engaged in an international sport, the matter is still
relatively clear cut. For fans, things are arguably even simpler. In the modern era, following one’s “proxy warriors”
into international competition is one of the easiest and most passionate ways of understanding one’s sense of national
identity, one’s nationality or both.

A. Sports persons are modern-day ambassadors to promote their national interests.

B. The victory of a ‘proxy warrior’ is the true representation of the capability of that country.
C. Nationalistic feelings are best represented y sporting performance in an international arena.
D. Sports are an expression that is tinged with nationalistic feelings.

4. The Kudremukh National Park in the Western Ghats is a part of the world’s 38 ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological
diversity, a UNESCO world heritage site. It is more than 630 sq.km area of montane grasslands and tropical
rainforests form the largest protected block within the Western Ghats. The park is home to unique, threatened and
endangered biodiversity including lion-tailed macaques (monkey), tigers, Malabar civets (stinking cat) and great pied
hornbills. The river Tunga, Bhadra, and Netravati, which originate from the heart of the part, sustain millions of
rural people in south India. The park provides invaluable ecosystem services, such as water security, nutrient
recycling, climate regulation and carbon sequestration – all of which are issues of global concern.

A. The Kudremukh National Park’s contribution to addressing issues of global concern cannot be
underestimated.
B. The Kudremukh National Park has the distinction of finding a place in the world’s 38 ‘hottest hotspots’ of
biological diversity, a distinction conferred on it by the UNESCO.
C. The Kuderemukh National Park is unique in its services to biodiversity and ecosystems.
D. The park is South India’s heart and sould of rain forests.
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Why do leaders of our nation’s liberal arts colleges find it so difficult to define liberal education clearly and so
challenging to communicate its benefits?

After reading Roth’s economical and nearly jargon-free historical account of liberal education in America, I think the
answer may be this: There are many distinct threads of liberal education in America that have been woven and
rewoven over time in many different ways. As a result, nearly every college now existing can legitimately lay claim
to a distinctive sort of liberal education.

The book’s supporting framework is the idea that two distinct traditions of liberal education have “uneasily
coexisted” in America. The first is a philosophical tradition emphasizing preparation for inquiry; its aim is freeing
the mind to investigate the truth about things physical, intellectual and spiritual. The second is a rhetorical tradition
emphasizing initiation into a common culture through the study of canonical works; its aim is learning to participate
in the culture, to appreciate its monuments and to create new monuments inspired by the old.

Both traditions are necessary for raising free and autonomous individuals who must also participate with others in
society. It is next to impossible to attain independence alone, precious little can be learned without a common
culture and the society of others, and it is the special task of education to offer the tools required to understand both
oneself and the world in which one lives.

Roth fills out the two-part framework with a third thread that enters the tapestry as an explicit critique of the two
main traditions – namely, a utilitarian strand insisting that higher education must generate useful knowledge that can
benefit society, or can increase the students’ financial and social status, or can advance business and economic
interests.

5. Which of the following best describes the central idea of the passage?
A) Cultivation of the capacity for independent judgement is necessary for the pursuit of happiness.
B) Higher education should stress autonomy and economic advancement.
C) Liberal education is some combination of two traditions that aims at serving the needs of the whole
person.
D) Education is the guardian of freedom.

6. Which of the following best characterizes the two traditions of liberal education, according to Roth?
A) The philosophical tradition is sceptical and the rhetorical tradition is reverential.
B) The philosophical tradition is inquisitive and the rhetorical tradition is literary.
C) The philosophical tradition is conservative and the rhetorical tradition is enterprising.
D) The philosophical tradition is reverential and the rhetorical tradition is sceptical.

7. According to the passage “the special task of education” focuses on which of the following?
A) Creativity and service
B) Individual and society
C) Theory of knowledge
D) Intellectual freedom and spirit of inquiry.

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 Home-work
Directions: For each question given below, identify the word which is similar in meaning (synonym) to the
question word

1. REPEAL 4. ESCHEW 7. ACCENTUATE

(A) Continue (A) Strengthen (A) Recommend
(B) Prolong (B) Diminish (B) Repeat
(C) Promote (C) Decide (C) Emphasize
(D) Reject (D) Resolve (D) Specify
(E) Reverse (E) Refrain (E) Intensity
2. ABSCOND 5. ABSTEMIOUS
(A) Run away (A) Self-centered
(B) Give away (B) Self-satisfied
(C) Move away (C) Self-abnegating
(D) Forbid (D) Self-controlled
(E) Waste away (E) Self-indulgent

6. CRYPTIC
3. REPRIEVE (A) Spurious
(A) Save (B) Obscure
(B) Forgive (C) Imposing
(C) Victimize (D) Superficial
(D) Cure (E) Irrelevant
(E) Influence

Directions: In each of the questions given below identify the word which is opposite (antonym) in meaning
to the question word.

8. SOLICITOUS 11. MELLIFLUOUS 14. ANIMATE

(A) Apathetic (A) Harmonious (A) Truthful
(B) Emotional (B) Patchable (B) False
(C) Alert (C) Discordant (C) Active
(D) Eager (D) Internal (D) Dull
(E) Pat (E) External (E) Mortal

9. FUSION
(A) Union 12. PRODIGAL
(B) Participation (A) Generous
(C) Isolation (B) Revisable
(D) Marriage (C) Frugal
(E) Gloom (D) Abundant
(E) Rich

10. SOMNOLENT
13. DISASTER
(A) Drowsy
(A) Puzzle
(B) Lively
(B) Success
(C) Chirpy
(C) Omen
(D) Joyous
(D) Festival
(E) Active
(E) Fiasco
Directions for questions: In each of the following sentences identify the meaning of the underlined idiom

15. I have bought a few bottles of Pepsi Cola. So far, so good, but where's the opener?
(1) An activity has gone well until now, though incomplete
(2) An activity must be stopped owing to a bad omen
(3) An activity which must be shelved until further notice
(4) An activity which is not a plaything
(5) An activity which must be completed at once and at any cost

16. Many manufacturers have to walk a tightrope between pricing their goods too high and not selling them, or
pricing them low and losing money
(1) Talk tough
(2) Fool the public
(3) Be in a difficult situation
(4) Perform daredevil actions
(5) To practise and perform acrobatics

17. You don't know what it is to live in a police state where walls have ears and your own children may be
encouraged to inform against you
(1) Somebody may be listening surreptitiously
(2) Somebody may be participating in your discussion
(3) Somebody causes you no harm
(4) Somebody builds walls around you
(5) Somebody builds bridges for you

18. Many small companies went to the wall when 1 stock market crashed last year
(1) Suffered ruin
(2) Overcame debts
(3) Waited for better times
(4) Became confident after suffering reverses
(5) Invested money in a new venture

19. The day he was fired by his company last month he drowned his sorrows in a bar.
(1) Drowned in a flood of tears
(2) Was lost in a world of compassion
(3) Forgot what his parents told him
(4) Courted the company of his friends
(5) Took to alcoholic drinks

20. The government's theories on education are all very well, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
(1) The people who cooked the pudding didn't eat it
(2) The operating costs are high
(3) The real worth of something can be found out only when it is practised or used
(4) The workmanship will be subject to numerous tests before buying the product
(5) The work demanded can be completed

21. Most teachers take great pains to ensure that starting schooling is made as easy as possible for young children
(1) Take great pleasure in competing with others
(2) Take cognizance of the opponents' wrongdoing
(3) Take offence at what is told
(4) Make a special effort to do something well
(5) Make preparations to receive

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