CDS 2009 English Question Paper -1

ORDERING OF SENTENCES

Directions (For the 23 items which follow) :

Each of the following twenty three items consists of a word in capital letters followed by four words or groups of words. Select the word or group of words that is most similar in meaning to the word in capital letters.

GENIAL
- Generous
- Wonderful
- Liberal
- Friendly and cheerful
REVAMP
- Retreat
- Reconstruct
- Retrial
- Retrace
RESCIND
- Reunite
- Repeal
- Reserve
- Reproach
RESPLENDENT
- Wonderful
- Dazzling
- Beautiful
- Respectful
CORPULENT
- Fleshy
- Thin
- Stout
- Bony
ACRIMONY
- Disagreement
- Despondency
- Bitterness
- Difference
CANTANKEROUS
- Bad tempered
- Full of contempt
- Very sick
- Very envious
FELICITY
- Peace
- Comfort
- Faithfulness
- Great happiness
UNRUFFLED
- Simple
- Indifferent
- Sluggish
- Calm
FELINE
- Feminine
- Cat-like
- Ferocious
- Ugly-and clumsy
TENUOUS

Being tenacious
Not substantial
Gross
Popular

EXQUISITE
- Highly refined
- Too costly
- Extemporaneous
- Exotic
WRESTED
- Took by force
- Took away easily
- Lost narrowly
- Won easily
EXPOSTULATED

Requested
Quarrelled ferociously
Remonstrated
Appealed with good reason

PLACATE
- Implore
- Flatter
- Pacify
- Compensate
PERPETUAL
- Contagious
- Continuous
- Perplexing
- Perennial

DAUNTLESS
- Praiseworthy
- Effortless and smooth
- Fearless and determined
- Unceasing

SEETHING
- Dissatisfied
- Be agitated
- Noisy
- Soothing
STINGY
- Miserly
- Cautious
- Quarrelsome
EXULTATION

Extinction
Anxiety
Jubilation
Expectation

DOUGHTY
- Dastardly
- Deceptive
- Flabby
- Valiant
OBVIATE
- Delaying the solution of a problem
- To remove a difficulty
- Make obstruction
- Supercede

SACRILEGE
- Offering sacrifice
- Privilege
- Blasphemy
- Being sacred

COMPREHENSION

Directions (For the 20 items which follow) :

In this Section you have Six short passages. After each passage, you will find several questions based on the passage. First, read a passage, and then answer the questions based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.

PASSAGE I

Ah ! whatever could be said was said. All held him guilty. Even his own mother who claimed to understand him the best. All had betrayed him in his hour of need. Yet, there he was, still with a sparkling hope and knew that the truth must prevail. In the cold, dark and damp cell he never for a moment lost faith in God and goodness and was waiting anxiously for an angel to come, plead non guilty for him and free him of his miseries.

Three of the following statements indicate that he had a sparkling hope. Which statement does not ?
- He had never lost faith in God
- He was sure there was goodness
- He could have evidence in his favour
- He knew that the truth must prevail
Whatever others ‘said about him, he
- Betrayed no one
- Thought over the problem
- Never lost faith in goodness
- Raised his voice against injustice
In the dark dungeon he always waited for
- His mother
- The jailer
- The verdict freeing him of his miseries
- The angel to come and plead for him
The truth must prevail means
- He was true
- Angel will reveal truth
- Truth always wins in the end
- We must plead for the truth

PASSAGE II

Once while travelling by the local bus, I got a seat beside a very strange man. He seemed interested in every passenger aboard. He would stare at a person, scribble some odd mathematical notations on his long notebook and then move on to the next. Being quite interested in what he was doing I asked him what all those notations meant and then came the startling reply. He saw a man’s face not as a single unit but as thousands of squares put together. He was in fact a statistical expert and a budding artist learning the art of graphics.

The man was scribbling down
- The figures of co-passengers
- The details of thousands of squares put together
- Some mathematical formulae and calculations
- Some mathematical signs
The man caught author’s attention because
- He was sitting next to him
- He was staring at every person in the bus
- He would stare at every person and then scribble down some- mathematical notation
- He was a budding artist learning the art of graphics
author found that man’s reply quite startling because

A statistical expert cannot be a budding scientist
A budding artist cannot be a statistical expert
Graphics is still a rare art form and he was learning it while travelling in a bus
The fact that “a man’s face can be analysed as thousands of squares” was a strange concept.

From the passage we gather that
- The author is very inquisitive
- The author tries to poke his nose in other people’s business
- The author is interested in mathematical notations
- The author wants to talk to, fellow passengers in the bus

PASSAGE III

With the inevitable growth of specialization I see the universities facing two great dangers. First, it is very easy to get so involved in the technical details of education that the object of education is lost. And secondly, in an effort to condition a university to the needs of its students and to the needs of the State it may lose its power to make or mould those students into responsible men, capable of thinking for themselves and capable of expressing the results of their thoughts to others.

The author calls growth of specialisation ‘inevitable’. Which one of the following statements is likely to be the most correct reason for this inevitability ?

Universities give grants only to do specialised work in different disciplines
The professors and researchers in universities are competent only for specialised work
Specialization helps economic growth of the nation
In an age of science and technology specialization becomes necessary

Which one of the following statements most correctly suggests the central theme of the passage ?

The aim of education is specialization
The aim of education is to mould the youth to work for the State
The aim of education is to make the youth capable of independent thought and expression
The aim of education is to enable the youth to earn a comfortable living

Which one of the following statements most correctly suggests the wanting implied in the passage ?

University education should not be concerned with technical details
Universities should not subordinate themselves to the interests of the State
Universities should be concerned only with the needs of students
Universities should not go in for any specialization

PASSAGE IV

One December night, a family had gathered around their fireside and piled it high with wood gathered from mountain streams and ruins of great trees that had come falling down the mountain sides. The fire roared and brightened the room with its light. The faces of the father and mother had a quiet gladness; the children laughed; the oldest daughter was the picture of happiness at seventeen; and the aged grandmother who-sat sewing in the warmest place was the picture of happiness grown old.

The firewood had been
- brought
- stolen
- collected
- found
The parents looked
- serene
- cheerful
- gloomy
- dull
The oldest daughter looked
- stupid
- glad
- intelligent
- mournful

PASSAGE V

The unpleasant feeling passed and she glanced guardedly up .at him. He was walking unmarked in moonlight, innocent of her reaction to him. She felt then – this thought had come to her before – that there might be more to him than she had imagined. She felt ashamed she had if over thanked him for the help he had given her father.

She glanced at him when

He walked alone and unnoticed in moonlight
She was sure that she was not being noticed
Her reactions did not have any effect on him
The unpleasant feeling passed

Her unpleasant feeling passed when
- He did not take any notice of her
- The moonlight was beautiful
- She realized her sense of shame
- She looked carefully at him
She was ashamed because
- She was spying on him
- There was more to him than she had imagined
- A recurring thought came back to
- She had never thanked him for his help to her father

PASSAGE VI

As I slung my pack onto my shoulders a big mosquito thudded against my cheek. There had been a few through the day. but it was early in the season – the ice had gone out just two weeks before – and I had scarcely noticed them. But now as I would down the ridge, the last breeze faded, and they were on me. Rising in clouds from* the soggy tundra, they pelted against my face. I reached in my pocket for the repellent, and came up empty.

The traveller could not feel the breeze because
- The mosquito had bitten him
- He was at the foot of the ridge
- There was no ice on the mountain
- There was no breeze on the tundra mountain
The traveller carried with him
- Mosquito repellent
- A pack of food
- A sling
- A back-pack

When he was in the arctic, the time of the year was
- Middle of winter
- Early autumn
- Early spring
- Middle of summer

ORDERING OF SENTENCES

Directions (For the I5 items which follow) :

In the following items, each passage consists of six sentences. The first sentence (S₁) and the final sentence (S₆) are given in the beginning. The middle four sentences in each have been removed and jumbled up. These are labelled P, Q, R and S. You ate required to find out the proper sequence of the four sentences and mark accordingly on the Answer Sheet.

S₁: Having visited the Taj Mahal many tourists think that Agra has little else to offer.

S₆: There are few other buildings to match the delicacy of this tomb.

P : One of these is surely the tomb of Itimad-ud-daulah.

Q : The design of the whole tomb was given by his daughter Nur Jahan.

R : After seeing the Taj one could profitably visit half a dozen other Mughal buildings.

S : This tomb has the delicacy of a baroque jewel case.

The proper sequence should be

R S Q P
Q S R P
S P R Q
R P S Q

S₁ : For years the old chair stood in one of the empty antics.

S₆: I saw my parents madly in love again.

P : So when I saw it for the last time, it stood there.

Q: When my mother died, I wanted to sell it but could not.

R: It was there for many years after my father died.

S : I peeped in the past.

The proper sequence should be

P Q R S
S R Q P
R P Q S
R Q P S

S₁: Illness may start with almost any sign, but some of them are much commoner than others.

S₆: As soon as this happens he must become alert about the signs.

P : It is important to note these signs.

Q : Often the first sign of something wrong is that the patient just does not feel fit.

R : They may help a doctor to decide what is wrong.

S : He usually relies on these signs for the diagnosis of the illness.

The proper sequence should be

P R S Q
R S Q P
P Q S R
Q R S P

S₁: Newton was perhaps the greatest scientist that ever lived.

S₆: Newton went home and worked quietly by himself for about 18 months.

P : But when he was only 22, a terrible plague epidemic swept over England.

Q : He was the son of a Lincolnshire farmer, and was born in 1642.

R : Therefore the universities were closed.

S : He went to Cambridge to study mathematics when he was 19.

The proper sequence should be –

S P R Q
Q P S R
S Q P R
Q S P R

S₁: Poverty is a God’s curse.

S₆: Is not poverty a God’s boon !

P : These persons get themselves enrolled as poor persons and get all the benefits of poverty.

Q : It is not necessary for a person to be actually poor for getting enrolled because it can be easily managed.

R : It may be true for a few but to many it is just its opposite.

S : Such persons consider it to be a source of enjoying life without earning enjoyment.

The proper sequence should be

R Q P S
Q R S P
R S P Q
S R Q P

S₁: Belur is 35 km. from Hassan.

S₆: They depict young women – musicians and dancers – in various poses.

P : Seen from afar, the star-shaped temple, characteristically Hoysala, is not very impressive.

Q : It stands in a courtyard surrounded by a rectangular wall.

R : But closer it is dazzling and marvellous; and the entire exterior is decorated with sculptures, the loveliest being the panels right and left of the main door.

S : Chennakesava Temple is dedicated to Vishnu.’

The proper sequence should be

QRSP
S RPQ
S PQR
S QPR

S₁: When his business failed, he began to look for a job in an office.

S₆: Unable to bear misfortunes any further, he started toying with the idea of ending his life of burdens and strains.

P : To overcome depression he took to drinking and became addicted to it.

Q : He soon realized that nothing was more difficult than to find a job.

R : Without job he failed to meet the daily requirements of his family which made him highly depressed.

S : Quarrel ensued invariably between husband and wife when he returned home in a state of drunkenness.

The proper sequence should be

P QRS

S RQP

QSRP

QRPS

S₁: Unlike many modem thinkers, Tagore had mo blueprint for the world’s

S₆: As a poet he will always delight, as a singer he will always enchant, as a teacher he will always enlighten.

P : His thought will therefore never be out of date.

Q : He merely emphasised certain basic truths which men may ignore only at their peril.

R: He believed in no particular ‘ism’.

S : He was what Gandhi ji rightly termed the Great Sentinel.

The proper sequence should be

S R P Q
P R Q S
R S P Q
R Q P S

S₁: Louis Pasteur had a very busy and interesting life.

S₆: He was always very proud of being able to help his country in this way.

P : Among the people whom Pasteur was able to help were brewers, breeders of silk worms, and cow keepers, all of whom were trying to carry on important industries.

Q : He worked hard in his laboratory with test tubes and all kinds of experiments.

R : He was working to help people who were suffering in some special way from disease.

S : He not only made some exciting discoveries about genus but he was able to use his discoveries in very practical ways.

The proper sequence should be

S Q R P
P Q R S
Q R S P
R S Q P

S₁: Tom Walker and his wife were always at loggerheads.

S₆: Tom silently thanked God for this relief.

P : She never tired of reproaching him on this score.

Q : Tom was incurably lazy and talkative

R : One day Mrs. Walker caught a deadly cold, and shortly afterwards, died.

S : This was a constant source of irritation to his wife.

The proper sequence should be

P R Q S
Q S P R
S Q R P
P S Q R

S₁: So we went on in the quiet, and the twilight deepened into night.

S₆: Then as the darkness grew deeper, she put her arms round my neck, and, closing her eyes tightly pressed. her face against my shoulder.

P : The ground grew dim and the trees black.

Q : The clear blue ,of the distance faded, and one star after another came out.

R : Neena’s fears and her fatigue grew upon her.

S : I took her in my arms and talked to her and caressed her.

The proper sequence should be

P R Q S
Q P R S
Q P S R
R S P Q

S₁: Kennedy “kicked moodily at the leg of the chair which he was holding.

S₆: It was a depressing beginning.

P : Now his chief desire seemed to be to score off the human race in general, his best friend included.

Q : If he had asked Fenn to help him in a tight place, then he knew he could have relied on him.

R : Last term he and Fenn had been as close friends as you could wish to see.

S : The feeling that his whole world had fallen about his ears was increasing with every hour he spend at Kay’s.

The proper sequence should be

P R S Q
R S P Q
S R Q P
R Q P S

S₁: I sat at the table and ate.

S₆: I was just the normal Ramaswamy, husband of Madeleine.

P : My breathing became suddenly difficult.

Q : 1 concentrated on my food and I was convinced I had to eat.

R : I stopped, however, any exhibition of the extraordinary.

S : But lungs have temperament.

The proper sequence should be

P R S Q
Q S P R
Q S R P
S P R Q

S₁: Todd borrowed this dollar last year on the 8th of April.

S₆: And I said, ‘certainly’.

P: He needed a dollar to pay his taxi and I lent it to him.

Q: He merely said, ‘Let me have a dollar, will you’ !

R: It happened quite simply and naturally.

S: I hardly realised it till it was all over.

The proper sequence should be

S R P Q
R Q P S
P Q R S
S Q R P

S₁: People have always been fascinated by dreams.

S₆: But a small number, perhaps less than 5% have them regularly.

P : In fact, only recently have there been serious studies to find out how many of us actually have night- mares.

Q : Now that is changing.

R : But the study of nightmares has been curiously neglected.

S : While results so far are inconclusive, it seems fair to say that at least half the population has occasional nightmares.

The proper sequence should be

P R S Q
R S P Q
Q R P S
P Q R S

SPOTTING ERRORS

Directions (For the 16 items which follow) :

In this Section a number of sentences are given. The sentences are underlined in three separate parts and each one is labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is an error in any underlined part. No sentence has more than one error. When you find an error in any one of the underlined parts (a), (b) or (c), indicate your response on the separate Answer Sheet at the appropriate space. You may feel that there is no error in a sentence. In that case letter (d) will signify a ‘No error’(response.
You are to indicate only one response for each item in your Answer Sheet. (If you indicate more than one response, your answer will be considered wrong.) Errors may be in grammar, word usage or idioms. There may be a word missing or there may be a word which should be removed.

You are not required to correct the error. You are required only to indicate your response on the Answer Sheet.

I went to his house but couldn’t see him because he went out before I arrived.
(a) (b) (c)

No error.

(d)

When I shall see him, I will tell him that what he has done is wrong. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Literature remains the interest of a minority and the majority has chosen to ignore
(a) (b)
those aspects of language which, at school they were told to value highly. No error.
(c) (d)
I look forward to meet you in future. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
If I was the king, 1 would change the face of my country. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
He admits that he is not following the instructions. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Life on board ship was not as I expected it to be. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
He did not pass the examination inspite of his best efforts. No error
(a) (b) (c) (d)
I tried to read your letter, but it was so badly written that I had to leave the attempt.
(a) (b) (c)

No error.

(d)

I prefer my job to yours. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
If there a guarantee then we are prepared to place a bulk order for your product.
(a) (b) (c)

No error
(d)

I meet him once a blue moon so I do not know much about his activities. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
My daughter-in-laws who are in Kolkata have come to visit us. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
He asked me what my name is and where I came from. No error.
(a) (b) (c) (d)

There has always been some form of education but there has not always been schools.
(a) (b) (c)

No error.

(d)

At the annual function of the school the principal advised to the students to be ideal
(a) (b) (c)
No error.
(d)

ORDERING OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE

Directions (For the 20 items which follow) :

In the following items, some parts of the sentence have been jumbled up. You are required to re-arrange these parts which are labelled P, Q, R and S to produce the correct sentence. Choose the proper sequence and mark in your Answer Sheet accordingly.

He found the house and knocked at without any difficulty the door twice

(P) (Q) (R) (S)