ASRB Previous Year Papers English Language
DIRECTIONS Q.1 to Q.21 : Each question below has one or more blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for the blanks which best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
1. India will have to live with the ________ of unemployment for many years to come because measures taken either to _______ population growth or to reorient the unorganized educational system have failed.
A. boon, encourage
B. error, bridle
C. problem, curb ✔
D. issue, aid
E. blessing, promote
2. Though India does not have comprehensive laws that ________ companies polluting the environment, companies in India have become conscious of their roles and are taking necessary steps to ________ environment and minimize damages.
A. allow, destroy
B. restrain, insulate
C. permit, endanger
D. limit, emancipate
E. restrict, conserve ✔
3. While downside risks to growth may have increased in the wake of global developments, they are likely to have _________ impact on India; however, it requires urgent policy actions to remove ________ to growth.
A. far-reaching, hurdles
B. limited, bottlenecks ✔
C. momentous, barriers
D. serious, obstructions
E. negligible, blockades
4. Great saints believe that realisation of God will liberate man from ________ bondage and this state of release confers the privilege of serving the Lord in his _______ abode,
A. materialistic, permanent
B. earthly, transcendental ✔
C. primitive, unique
D. early, traditional
E. spiritual, ethereal
5. To attain intercultural _______ a person should be sensitive to his own cultural nuances and also learn to see how similar or different they are to the cultural practices _______ among those in other cultures.
A. unity, supplementary
B. support, predominant
C. harmony, accepted
D. integration, prevalent
E. goodwill, principal ✔
6. The 2008 economic ________ resulted in massive ________.
A. slowdown, lay-downs
B. meltdown, lay-offs ✔
C. recession, lay-overs
D. downpour, lay-ups
E. dropdown, lay-bys
7. India’s ________ manpower and Finland’s high-end tech ________ should be leveraged under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
A. gauche, technology
B. skilled, prowess ✔
C. sundry, means
D. abundant, allowances
E. countless, access
8. Baldwin’s brilliant ‘The Fire Next Time’ is both so eloquent in its passion and so searching in its ___________ that it is bound to __________ any reader.
A. bitterness, embarrass
B. romanticism, appall
C. candour, unsettle ✔
D. indifference, disappoint
E. conception, bore
9. Because she had a reputation for ________ we were surprised and pleased when she greeted us so _________.
A. insolence, irately
B. insouciance, cordially
C. graciousness, amiably
D. arrogance, disdainfully
E. querulousness, affably ✔
10. Because she had a reputation for ________ we were surprised and pleased when she greeted us so _________.
A. insolence, irately
B. insouciance, cordially
C. graciousness, amiably
D. arrogance, disdainfully
E. querulousness, affably ✔
11. We are ________ the intellects of the past; or rather, like children we take it for granted that somebody must supply us with our supper and our ________.
A. ungrateful to, ideas ✔
B. dependent on, repose
C. unfaithful to, needs
D. fortunate in, allowance
E. generous to, wants
12. These issues are extremely ________ and any knee jerk reaction will ultimately result in a loss of ________ for all shareholders.
A. unassociated, curare
B. ambiguous, plutocracy
C. nuanced, opportunity ✔
D. contexed, serendipity
E. swiveled, stock
13. Growth under this government has been ________ high and remarkably ________ even during the worst global economic crisis.
A. impededly, flippant
B. relatively, intractable
C. obstructedly, rigid
D. sustainedly, resilient ✔
E. drastically, low
14. There are different and _________ versions about what happened in the city, but one thing is certain: it is a dastardly act that must be condemned _________.
A. dissimilar, concertedly
B. contrary, obviously
C. conflicting, unequivocally ✔
D. unique, without conflict
E. same, fastly
15. They _________ their seats away from the curved wall panels to give themselves more space as the flight attendant brought drinks from the gallery, which was ________ with family’s favorite snacks and beverages.
A. swiveled, stocked ✔
B. hinged, lacquered
C. pended, embellished
D. retracted, thronged
E. set, matched
16. Cairn cannot _________ bring into picture some _________ outsider which has little experience and necessary consents to deal in the oil field.
A. peremptorily, ascribed
B. complaisantly, endorsed
C. democratically, aberrant
D. arbitrarily, unrelated ✔
E. none of the above
17. Despite many decades of research on the gasification of coal, the data accumulated is not directly _________ to environmental questions; thus a new programme of research which specifically deals with such questions is _________.
A. analogous, promising
B. antithetical, unremarkable
C. applicable, warranted ✔
D. pertinent, unnecessary
E. logical, unwarranted
18. No one is _________ about Rahul; he inspires either uncritical adulation or profound _________ in those who work for him.
A. neutral, antipathy ✔
B. infuriated, aversion
C. enthusiastic, veneration
D. apprehensive, consternation
E. objective, respect
19. In response to the follies of today’s commercial and political worlds, the author does not _________ inflamed indignation, but rather __________ the detachment and smooth aphoristic prose of an eighteenth-century wit.
A. display, rails at ✔
B. rely on, avoids
C. suppress, clings to
D. express, affects
E. shows , pretends
20. Upendra was so eager to _________ his preconceptions that he grasped at any fact which seemed to _________ the undeniable gaps in his report.
A. overcome, play
B. convey, window
C. preserve, bridge ✔
D. reinforce, strengthen
E. reinforce, undermine
21. To have a few things to desire and many things to fear is a miserable state of mind, commonly seen in the case of kings; which makes their mind ________. They have many representations of _________ and shadows, which makes their mind _________.
A. languishing, perils, uncertain ✔
B. pining, risks, unclear
C. puissant, hazards, pellucid
D. lassitude, problems, limpid
E. reinforced, risks, uncertain
DIRECTIONS Q.22 to Q.23 : In the question, two sentences (I) and (II) are given. Each sentence has a blank in it. Five options are suggested. Out of these, only one fits at both the places in the context of each sentence. Mark that option as your answer.
22. I. The defeated army returned home as a demoralized _________.
II. As Gandhiji stepped outside he had to face a _________ of angry youth who
demanded explanation for not saving Bhagat Singh.
A. congregation
B. conglomeration
C. rabble ✔
D. throng
E. crowd
23. I. After the priest _________ the spirit, apparently, the strange noises stopped.
II. It will take a long time to _________ the memory of the accident.
A. exorcise ✔
B. venerate
C. hailed
D. embraced
E. obliterate
DIRECTIONS Q.24 to Q.25 : Pick out the most effective word from the given options to fill in the blank to make the sentence meaningfully complete.
24. _________ the situation infuriated him, he did his best to hide his anger.
A. Besides
B. Though ✔
C. Because
D. Since
E. As
25. We didn't really want that particular hotel, ________ it was a case of Hobson's choice. We booked very late and there was nothing else left.
A. but ✔
B. and
C. because
D. while
E. as