Elitmus Verbal Ability 1

Elitmus Verbal Ability

Question 1

I __________  just one proper meal since yesterday morning

		A.	had
		B.	ate
		C.	have had
		D.	have eaten

Explanation :

I have had just one proper meal since yesterday morning.

For Explanation Read:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv343.shtml

Question 2

Either the committee on course design or the committee on college operation __________these matter.

		A.	decide
		B.	decide on
		C.	decide in
		D.	decides

Explanation :

Committee is a singular entity , hence the singular form "decides" is the correct answer.

Question 3

We were no _____ than a man ____ in his own house.

		A.	more shy, will be
		B.	shyer, would be
		C.	Less shy, would be
		D.	Less shy, would have been

Explanation :

Shyer  sound a little odd but is correct. Also,the sentence tries to convey that "we" were not shy, just the way a man would not be shy in his own house.

Question 4

Tara is exhausted. She __________.

		A.	has been running
		B.	had been running
		C.	has running
		D.	was running

Explanation :

The answer would be "has been running". If we were to expand the whole sentence it would be:

Tara is exhausted, because she has been running now a days.

Paragraph/Instructions

Passage:

A game of strategy, as currently conceived in game theory, is a situation in which two or more “players” make choices among available alternatives (moves). The totality of choices determines the outcomes of the game, and it is assumed that the rank order of preferences for the outcomes is different for different players. Thus the “interests” of the players are generally in conflict. Whether these interests are diametrically opposed or only partially opposed depends on the type of game.

Psychologically, most interesting situations arise when the interests of the players are partly coincident and partly opposed, because then one can postulate not only a conflict among the players but also inner conflicts within the players. Each is torn between a tendency to cooperate, so as to promote the common interests, and a tendency to compete, so as to enhance his own individual interests.

Internal conflicts are always psychologically interesting. What we vaguely call “interesting” psychology is in very great measure the psychology of inner conflict. Inner conflict is also held to be an important component of serious literature as distinguished from less serious genres. The classical tragedy, as well as the serious novel reveals the inner conflict of central figures. The superficial adventure story on the other hand, depicts only external conflict; that is, the threats to the person with whom the reader (or viewer) identifies stem in these stories exclusively from external obstacles and from the adversaries who create them. On the most primitive level this sort of external conflict is psychologically empty. In the fisticuffs between the protagonists of good and evil, no psychological problems are involved or, at any rate, none are depicted in juvenile representations of conflict.

The detective story, the “adult” analogue of a juvenile adventure tale, has at times been described as a glorification of intellectualized conflict. However, a great deal of the interest in the plots of these stories is sustained by withholding the unraveling of a solution to a problem. The effort of solving the problem is in itself not a conflict if the adversary (the unknown criminal) remains passive, like Nature, whose secrets the scientist supposedly unravels by deduction. If the adversary actively puts obstacles in the detective’s path toward the solution, there is genuine conflict. But the conflict is psychologically interesting only to the extent that it contains irrational components such as a tactical error on the criminal’s part or the detective’s insight into some psychological quirk of the criminal or something of this sort. Conflict conducted in a perfectly rational manner is psychologically no more interesting than a standard Western. For example, Tic-tac-toe, played perfectly by both players, is completely devoid of psychological interest. Chess may be psychologically interesting but only to the extent that it is played not quite rationally. Played completely rationally, chess would not be different from Tic-tac-toe.

In short, a pure conflict of interest (what is called a zero-sum game) although it offers a wealth of interesting conceptual problems, is not interesting psychologically, except to the extent that its conduct departs from rational norms.

Question 5

According to the passage, internal conflicts are psychologically more interesting than external conflicts because

		A.	internal conflicts, rather than external conflicts, form an important component of serious literature as distinguished from less serious genres
		B.	only juveniles or very few “adults” actually experience external conflict, while internal conflict is more widely prevalent in society
		C.	in situations of internal conflict, individuals experience a dilemma in resolving their own preferences for different outcomes
		D.	there are no threats to the reader (or viewer) in case of external conflicts

Explanation :

Solution: Refer to the line from paragraph 2...,”Each is torn between a tendency to cooperate, so as to promote the common interests, and a tendency to compete, so as to enhance his own individual interests” explain that option C is the right answer choice.

Question 6

According to the passage, which of the following options about the application of game theory to a conflict-of-interest situation is true?

		A.	Assuming that the rank order of preferences for options is different for different players
		B.	Accepting that the interests of different players are often in conflict
		C.	Not assuming that the interests are in complete disagreement
		D.	All of the above

Explanation :

Solution: Refer to the line from paragraph 1...,”Thus the “interests” of the players are generally in conflict. Whether these interests are diametrically opposed or only partially opposed depends on the type of game” which explain that option B is the right answer choice

Question 7

The problem solving process of a scientist is different from that of a detective because

		A.	scientists study inanimate objects, while detectives deal with living criminals or law offenders
		B.	scientists study known objects, while detectives have to deal with unknown criminals or law offenders
		C.	scientists study phenomena that are not actively altered, while detectives deal with phenomena that have been deliberately influenced to mislead
		D.	scientists study psychologically interesting phenomena, while detectives deal with “adult” analogues of juvenile adventure tales

Explanation :

Solution: Refer to the line from paragraph 4...,”The effort of solving the problem is in itself not a conflict if the adversary (the unknown criminal) remains passive, like Nature, whose secrets the scientist supposedly unravels by deduction” which explain that option C is the right answer

Question 8

Which, according to the author, would qualify as interesting psychology?

		A.	A statistician’s dilemma over choosing the best method to solve an optimization problem
		B.	A chess player’s predicament over adopting a defensive strategy against an aggressive opponent
		C.	A mountaineer’s choice of the best path to Mt. Everest from the base camp
		D.	A finance manager’s quandary over the best way of raising money from the market

Explanation :

Solution: Refer to the line from paragraph 4...,”Chess may be psychologically interesting but only to the extent that it is played not quite rationally” which explain that option B is the right answer choice

Paragraph/Instructions

When Deng Xiaoping died a few months ago, the Chinese leadership barely paused for moment before getting on with the business of governing the country. Contrast that with chaotic contortions on India’s political stage during the past month, and it is easy to conclude that democracy and democratic freedoms are serious obstacles to economic progress.

When the Chinese leadership wants a power plant to be set up, it just goes ahead. No fears of protracted litigation, of environment protests, or of lobbying by interested parties. It-or the economy-is not held to ransom by striking truckers or air traffic controllers. Certainly there is much that is alluring about an enlightened dictatorship.

But there the trouble begins. First, there is no guarantee that a dictatorship will be an enlightened one. Myanmar has been ruled by dictator for decades and no one would claim that it is better off than even Bangladesh which has itself suffered long stretches of dictatorship. Nor can Mobuto Sese Seko, much in the news these days, be described as enlightened by any reckoning. The people of Israel, almost the only democracy in a region where dictatorships (unenlightened ones) are the norm, are much better off than their neighbours.

Second, dictatorships can easily reverse policies. China was socialist as long as Mao Zedong was around. When Deng Xiaoping took over in what was essentially a palace coup, he took the country in the opposite direction. There is little to ensure that the process will not be repeated. In India such drastic reversals are unlikely.

Six years ago Indian politicians agreed that industries should be de-licensed, that imports should be freed or the investment decisions should be based on economic considerations. Now few think otherwise. Almost all politicians are convinced of the merits of liberalisation though they may occasionally, lose sight of the big picture in pandering to their constituencies. India has moved slower than China on liberalisation, but whatever moves it has made are more permanent.

Democracies make many small mistakes. But dictatorships are more susceptible to making huge ones and risking everything on one decision-like going to war. Democracies are the political equivalent of free markets. Companies know they can’t fool the consumer too often; he will simply switch to the competition. The same goes for political parties. When they fail to live up to their promises in government, the political consumer opts for the competition.

Democratic freedoms too are important for the economy, especially now that information is supreme. Few doubt that the internet will play an important part in the global economy in the decades to come. But China, by preventing free access to it, is already probably destroying its capabilities in this area. As service industries grow in importance, China may well be at a disadvantage though that may not be apparent today when its manufacturing juggernaut is rolling ahead.

India has stifled its entrepreneurs through its licensing policies. That was an example of how the absence of economic freedom can harm a country. But right-wing dictatorships like South Korea erred in the opposite direction. They forced their business to invest in industries, which they (the dictators) felt had a golden future. Now many of those firms are trying to retreat from those investments. Statism is bad, no matter what the direction in which it applies pressure. At this moment, China and other dictatorships may be making foolish in investment decisions. But as industries are subsidized and contrary voices not heard, the errors will not be realised until the investments assume gargantuan proportions.

India’s hesitant ways may seen inferior to China’s confident moves. But at least we know what the costs are. That is not the case with China. It was only years after the Great Leap Forward and only such experiments that the cost in human lives (millions of them) became evident to the world. What the cost of China’s present experiments is we may not know for several years more. A 9 percent rate of growth repeated year after may seem compelling. But a 7 percent rate of growth that will not falter is more desirable. India seems to be on such a growth curve, whatever the shenanigans of our politicians.

Question 9

The writer’s conclusion in the passage is that:

		A.	under no circumstances should a country encourage a corrupt democrat
		B.	under no circumstances should statism be a welcome move
		C.	a statist will not give due importance to the voice of the people
		D.	a statist will always look to his own welfare

Explanation :

Refer to the line from paragraph 8...,”Statism is bad, no matter what the direction in which it applies pressure” which explains that the writers conclusion in the passage is that under no circumstances should statism be a welcome move. Option B is the right choice

Question 10

According to the passage.

		A.	India needs a benevolent dictatorship
		B.	India has failed as a democracy
		C.	India should go the way of China
		D.	None of the above

Explanation :

The author in the passage talks about the advantages of democracy. Hence, option D is the right answer choice

Question 11

It can be implied from the passage that:

		A.	a lower rate of growth is preferred to a higher rate of growth
		B.	a higher rate of growth is preferred to a lower rate of growth
		C.	a low but stable rate of growth is preferred to a high rate of growth
		D.	a low but faltering rate of growth is a sign of stability amidst growth

Explanation :

 Refer to the line from the last paragraph...,” But a 7 percent rate of growth that will not falter is more desirable which explains that a low but stable rate of growth is preferred to a high rate of growth. Option C is the right choice

Question 12

According to the passage, a democratic set up works as a check on the:

		A.	actions and decisions of its leaders
		B.	functioning of its economy
		C.	Both 1 & 2 above
		D.	None of the above

Explanation :

According to the passage,a democratic set up works as a check on theactions and decisions of its leaders as well as on thefunctioning of its economy. Option C is thus the right choice

Paragraph/Instructions

Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains. Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more general abilities to process information or behave intelligently. For these reasons some cognitive scientists have described language as a psychological faculty, a mental organ, a neural system, and a computational module. But I prefer the admittedly quaint term “instinct”. It conveys the idea that people know how to talk in more or less the sense that spiders know how to spin webs. Web-spinning was not invented by some unsung spider genius and does not depend on having had the right education or on having an aptitude for architecture or the construction trades. Rather, spiders spin spider webs because they have spider brains, which give them the urge to spin and the competence to succeed. Although there are differences between webs and words, I will encourage you to see language in this way, for it helps to make sense of the phenomena we will explore.

Thinking of language as an instinct inverts the popular wisdom, especially as it has been passed down in the canon of the humanities and social sciences. Language is no more a cultural invention than is upright posture. It is not a manifestation of a general capacity to use symbols: a three-year-old, we shall see, is a grammatical genius, but is quite incompetent at the visual arts, religious iconography, traffic signs, and the other staples of the semiotics curriculum. Though language is a magnificent ability unique to Homo sapiens among living species, it does not call for sequestering the study of humans from the domain of biology, for a magnificent ability unique to a particular living species is far from unique in the animal kingdom. Some kinds of bats home in on flying insects using Doppler sonar. Some kinds of migratory birds navigate thousands of miles by calibrating the positions of the constellations against the time of day and year. In nature’s talent show, we are simply a species of primate with our own act, a knack for communicating information about who did what to whom by modulating the sounds we make when we exhale. Once you begin to look at language not as the ineffable essence of human uniqueness hut as a biological adaptation to communicate information, it is no longer as tempting to see language as an insidious shaper of thought, and, we shall see, it is not.

Moreover, seeing language as one of nature’s engineering marvels— an organ with “that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which justly excites our admiration,” in Darwin’s words – gives us a new respect for your ordinary Joe and the much-maligned English language (or any language). The complexity of language, from the scientist’s point of view, is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school — as Oscar Wilde said, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” A preschooler’s tacit knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than the thickest style manual or the most state-of-the-art computer language system, and the same applies to all healthy human beings, even the notorious syntax fracturing professional athlete and the, you know, like, inarticulate teenage skateboarder. Finally, since language is the product of a well engineered biological instinct, we shall see that it is not the nutty barrel of monkeys that entertainer columnists make it out to be.

Question 13

Which of the following best summarizes the passage?

		A.	Language is unique to Homo sapiens.
		B.	Language is neither learnt nor taught.
		C.	Language is not a cultural invention or artifact as it is made out.
		D.	Language is instinctive ability of human beings.
		E.	Language is use of symbols unique to human beings.

Explanation :

The author talks about language being instinctive throughout the passage. The same can also be referred back to the paragraph 3 of the passage where the author states “since language is the product of a well engineered biological instinct”. Hence, option D is the right answer choice.

Question 14

According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because:

		A.	children instinctively know language.
		B.	children learn the language on their own.
		C.	language is not amenable to teaching.
		D.	children know language better than their teachers or parents.
		E.	children are born with the knowledge of semiotics.

Explanation :

In paragraph 3 of the passage, the author states that “The complexity of language, from the scientist’s point of view, is part of our biological birthright; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school”. This makes option A as the right choice.

Question 15

According to the passage, which of the following does not stem from popular wisdom on language?

		A.	Language is a cultural artifact.
		B.	Language is a cultural invention.
		C.	Language is learnt as we grow.
		D.	Language is unique to Homo sapiens.
		E.	Language is a psychological faculty.

Explanation :

According to the passage, language is said to be unique to homo sapiens and a cultural artifact and invention. The author further agrees to the view that language comes by instinct by giving example of the spiders in the paragraph 1 of the passage.

Question 16

Which of the following can be used to replace the “spiders know how to spin webs” analogy as used by the author?

		A.	A kitten learning to jump over a wall
		B.	Bees collecting nectar
		C.	A donkey carrying a load
		D.	A horse running a Derby
		E.	A pet clog protecting its owner’s property

Explanation :

The statement ‘spiders know how to spin webs’ reveals an inherent quality of the living species. In a similar vein is the statement: Bees collecting nectar. Hence, option B is the right answer choice.

Question 17

Read the following five sentences and rearrange them to make a coherent and logical paragraph. After deciding the sequence, answer the questions given below. 

1)In his literacy work he spoke of that province of human life which mere intellect does not speak.

2)He has also given innocent joy to many children by his stories like 'Kabuliwalah'

3)These songs are sung not only in bengal but all over the country.

4)Rabindranath's great works sprang from intensity of vision and feelings.

5)He sang of beauty and heroism, nobility and charm.

		A.	42153
		B.	41253
		C.	24153
		D.	41235

Explanation :

4th statement opens the paragraph. 2 must follow 1 bcoz of "also" and 3 must follow 5 as it elaborates 5

Question 18

Rearrange the following five sentences in proper sequence so as to for a meaningful paragraph, then answer the questions given below them. 

1. After Examining him, the doctor smiled at him mischievously and took out a syringe.

2. Thinking that he was really sick, his father summoned the family doctor.

3. That day, Mintu wanted to take a day off from school

4. Immediately, Mintu jumped up from his bed and swore that he was fine

5. Therefore he pretended to be sick and remained in bed.

		A.	35412
		B.	34512
		C.	35214
		D.	24315

Explanation : 35214

Question 19

When we had risen to __________ the place, the hosts ___________ us to spend some more time with them.

		A.	Reside; refused
		B.	Remind; dominated
		C.	Leave; requested
		D.	Recognize; recollected

Explanation : Leave; requested

Question 20

Every human being, after the first few days of his life, is a product of two factors: on the one hand, there is his _________ endowment; and on the other hand, there is the effect of environment, including ______.

		A.	constitutional; weather
		B.	congenital; education
		C.	personal; climate
		D.	economic; learning
		E.	genetic; pedagogy

Explanation :

The presence of the phrases 'on the one hand' and 'on the other hand' tells us that the two factors are being contrasted against each other. The word in the first blank has to be connected with something that is present at the time of birth - thus 'congenital' and 'genetic' qualify. However, the "effect of the environment" qualifies 'education'. 'Education' here refers to general teaching (or learning acquired by a person), as opposed to 'pedagogy' that refers to 'the profession, science, or theory of teaching' in a formal manner.