New Pattern English Quiz for IBPS PO, RRB PO

New Pattern English Quiz for IBPS PO, RRB PO

Directions (1-10): In the following questions, a passage is followed by five options. Find the option which correctly expresses the conclusion of the given paragraph(completes the paragraph). If none of the options applies, select option E as your correct answer.


Q1. The Assad regime depends on its patrons in Iran and the Iranian-backed Hezbollahmilitia in neighboring Lebanon. The Sunni-led opposition is similarly turning to its regional patrons. These regional players, with their own agendas, will keep pulling Syria apart until a functioning national government can be reestablished.
(a) The resolution must be political – but grounded in a realistic assessment of the difficulty in putting the pieces of Syria back together.
(b) The regime has seemed equally bent on division.
(c) What’s happening in Syria isn’t an insurgency now but a sectarian civil war.
(d) The country should enter what is similar to quarantine until it is cured from the sectarian disease.
(e) None of the above


Q2. Naseeruddin Shah is undoubtedly one of the best performers on the Indian screen. Despite his atypical looks, he managed to make a mark for himself in both parallel and commercial films, but gives credit to Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan for paving the way for unconventional looking heroes in the Hindi filmdom.
(a) Naseeruddin’s own achievements are no mean feat, but despite three National Awards, international honour and acclaim, the seasoned actor wonders why he isn’t seen as a commercially viable artist by filmmakers.
(b) Nowadays unconventional-looking actors like NawazuddinSiddiqui and Irfan among others have raised the bar in filmdom, but Naseeruddin feels the real credit goes to Amitabh Bachchan.
(c) Mentality has not changed. It’s just that the audience has always appreciated good acting.
(d) But the tendency has not changed. Still the chocolate face is acceptable.
(e) None of the above

Q3. Given that all three major parties – Congress, BJP and AAP – have declared that they would not enter into any post-poll alliances, the chances of President’s Rule seem higher, especially if the largest party is way short of the majority mark. Since President’s Rule cannot last beyond six months,
(a) Experts, however, also feel a huge voter-turn out usually suggests a decisive and clear mandate.
(b) However, absence of a formal government can slow down functioning of the departments.
(c) Experts look at the scenarios as an ‘unfortunate’ one for the city as it hurts the functioning of the government in a significant way.
(d) The fresh election to the Delhi assembly may well be held along with the Lok Sabha election in the summer of 2014.
(e) None of the above

Q4. Most voters respond to the liberal and conservative frames on most issues. Not all issues – most of us have a few things we care strongly about, whether it’s guns, abortion, minimum wage, Afghanistan or whatever. Very few of us have a strong belief in a particular “ideology” in the sense of strongly adhering to a particular set of first principles that attentive political actors would recognize as “liberal” or “conservative” (or socialist, libertarian, green or whatever).
(a) Instead, most voters seem to appreciate arguments from multiple sides – we might think it sounds right that people should make it on their own and that too much government assistance would make us dependent, but we might also think it sounds right that we should pitch in collectively to help the needy and also that there are things we can do collectively to ensure a fairer chance for all.
(b) In practical terms, believing both of those things might be wildly inconsistent, but it’s also true, in practical terms, that most of us never have to resolve that inconsistency – so we don’t.
(c) Picking an ideology, for most of us, doesn’t accomplish anything.
(d) That turns out to make for a very effective democracy.
(e) None of the above

Q5. Mourn the statesman and the revolutionary and the terrorist and the neoliberal and the ethicist and the pragmatist and the saint and don’t you dare try to discard or remove any part of that whole.
(a) He had a compliment to give to everybody, including my housekeeper and doorman. It was amazing. A gentle giant, he was.
(b) Celebrate him? Sure, but then make sure you’re willing to consider emulating him.
(c) Mandela faced, the hypocrisy of many who praise his life.
(d) He showed us how liberating it is to forgive.
(e) None of the above

Q6. Freedom of the Press, the Ark of the Covenant of Democracy”, as proudly proclaimed by our Supreme Court, is not in good shape. A document published by The Free Speech Hub, an initiative of the Media Foundation, records how journalists in Kashmir have been beaten and shot at by the security forces. Journalist AmulyaPani was assaulted when he went to cover the police firing on villagers in Kalinga-nagar in Orissa, and journalists Moirangthem Romeo and Atom Lukhoi were arrested by the Imphal East commandos in Jirabam in Manipur, for no apparent reason. Attacks on freedom of the press and journalists are not the monopoly of the security forces. Attacks on and vandalizing M F Husain’s paintings, threats against writer Arundhati Roy for her article about Maoists and the onslaught on Bollywood film My Name is Khan emanated from intolerant social and political groups.
(a) We have not learnt to accord freedom to the thought we hate or to a movie of which we disapprove.
(b) Regrettably, law enforcement authorities look the other way when powerful political personalities and organizations are involved.
(c) We have not learnt to given freedom to the thought we dislike.
(d) The root cause is the inability to stomach anything which is unconventional or opposed to one’s idea of truth and morality.
(e) None of the above

Q7. 1967 Border: At the start of the Six Day War in 1967, Gaza was held by Egypt, the Golan Heights by Syria, and the West Bank by Jordan; after the Six Day War, Israel had pushed its Arab neighbors to the Sinai Peninsula to the West, to the Jordan River to the East, and out of the Golan, and its occupation of these new territories has continued since (except for Gaza, from which Israel withdrew but has since subjected to a military blockade to isolate the Strip’s Hamas-led government). The two-state solution is premised on a Palestinian state established in the Gazan and West Bank territory held by Egypt and Jordan at the start of the Six Day War.
(a) The compromise, then, is to exchange territory – Palestinian negotiators will concede settlement blocs in the West Bank to Israel in exchange for territorial additions to the Palestinian state.
(b) The last round of direct talks fell apart when Palestinian negotiators reportedly would not concede that Israel is a “Jewish state” in exchange for a settlement freeze.
(c) Israeli negotiators have consistently resisted the resettlement of Palestinian refugees to Israel, arguing that it is logistically not feasible and would alter the fundamental identity of the Israeli state.
(d) But those exact borders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued, have become indefensible, and Israeli negotiators are pushing to retain settler-held territory in the West Bank.
(e) None of the above

Q8. In July this year, Twitter introduced “Promoted Products”, a paid service that highlights advertiser’s tweets, handles or trends, to India. As it edges ever closer to the traditional model of a content-driven media company through such advertising efforts and new content partnerships, Twitter’s India initiatives can be seen as a clear – but cautious – part of a larger, less organic growth strategy for its global future.
(a) Indian brands could also create “promoted tweets”, which would also be sold through a cost-per-engagement model.
(b) Twitter hinted that it intended to launch this service in “selected international markets”, but did not name India specifically.
(c) There are many people on Twitter who actually take the brand’s promotion and do it in their own way.
(d) Twitter was still growing in the US, its home country, but that it already has a larger user base in some other countries.
(e) None of the above

Q9. India return to the trajectory of growth? It was not “will” India return, but “when”. Underlying this question has been disappointment and hope. There is the perception that India’s current economic woes are of its own making. This disappoints, because India did so well to withstand the Great Recession of 2008. There is also the view, however, that these problems can be remedied with stronger leadership.
(a) The hope is that this leadership will be forthcoming and that a resurgent India will counter an ambitious China.
(b) There were, of course, supplementary questions – is corruption an endemic feature of our polity? Who will best whom in the presidential tussle between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi? What is the nature and consequence of the strengthening tide of federalism? – but they all flowed from this interest in the future prospects of the economy.
(c) We focus on the trees and lose sight of the forest. The challenge of responding to interested, non-partisan and well-meaning critics of the India story on foreign soil compels analytical realignment.
(d) Most of us who live in large cities and circle the opinion formers in government, politics and journalism tend to get bogged down in the minutiae of anecdotal analysis.
(e) None of the above

Q10. The House of Lords has been replaced by the UK Supreme Court which is now the highest court of appeal in the United Kingdom. It was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The Court is housed in a building opposite the Big Ben. The atmosphere in Court is genial, not forbidding. The court rooms are spacious and brightly lit. There is pin drop silence in the Court. Counsel respectfully answer occasional polite queries from the Bench without loud interruptions from counsel on the other side. The day I visited the Court it delivered an important judgment in which by a majority of 6 to 3 it ruled that the Human Rights Act 1998 did not apply to British armed forces on foreign soil, viz. Iraq. A noteworthy feature is that a concise press summary outlining the facts of the case, the legal issues involved and the reasons for the judgment is issued at the same time by the registry with the approval of the Court to “assist in understanding the Court’s decision”. Judgments of the Court are available on the same day.
(a) A shameful blot on our criminal justice system is the phenomenon of under-trials rotting in jails for periods longer than the maximum punishment imposable upon conviction.
(b) If this be judicial activism, it is most welcome because it enforces the right of under-trials to a speedy trial guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.
(c) Adoption of this practice in our Supreme Court is worth consideration.
(d) In this context, the anguished observations of a Bench of the Delhi High Court, Comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan, were most timely.
(e) None of the above

New Pattern English Quiz for IBPS PO, RRB PO Solutions

S1. Ans.(a)
Sol. Option (a) is the most suitable because it acts as an actual conclusion to the idea presented in the passage, offering a final thought on the resolution of this conflict. Option (d) is another close answer but does not finish the passage in what feels like a conclusive manner. Options (b) and (c) restate what is mentioned in the passage itself.

S2. Ans.(b)
Sol. Option (b) continues and ends the thought expressed in the passage in the best way, while options (a), (c) and (d) take off on a different tangent altogether. Hence, (b) is the right answer.

S3. Ans.(d)
Sol. Option (d) is an extension of the concept of the possibility of President’s Rule mentioned in the paragraph and explains it in further detail, making it the best conclusion to the passage concerned.

S4. Ans.(a)
Sol. Option (a) explores the explanation behind such voter-behavior and concludes the passage most effectively.

S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. From the given options, option (b) seems the most conclusive while the rest leave the thread loose, without providing a rounding off statement to the passage. Thus, (b) is the correct answer.

S6. Ans.(d)
Sol. Option (d) best ends the passage, while (a), (c) and (d) continue the line of though expressed in the passage without providing the final link.

S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. The crucial clue in the passage is provided by the direct mention of the border dispute. Option (d) is the only one that makes a direct reference to the same, providing the crucial link and conclusion to the passage.

S8. Ans.(b)
Sol. Option (b) best sums up the idea presented in the passage.

S9. Ans.(a)
Sol. Option (b), (c) and (d) are all sentences that could come before the paragraph, but not ideally conclude it. They leave the idea rather open-ended and incomplete, while A best puts forth a conclusion.

S10. Ans.(c)
Sol. Option (a), (b) and (D) bear no direct relation with the content of the passage, nor they extend the idea it presents. Option (b) is confusing because it does not directly allude to anything, but this also makes it a wrong option. Thus (c) is the best answer.