TOEFL Questions

Q:

In the following question, a passage is given which describes a situation. From the given options, mark the correct inference that can be drawn from the passage. If none of the inferences follow, mark option 5, “None of these” as the answer.
In nearly all human populations a majority of individuals can taste the artificially synthesized chemical phenylthiocarbonide (PTC). However, the percentage varies dramatically-- from as low as 60% in India to as high as 95% in Africa. That this polymorphism is observed in non- human primates as well indicates a long evolutionary history which, although obviously not acting on PTC, might reflect evolutionary selection for taste discrimination of other, more significant bitter substances, such as certain toxic plants.

A) Human beings show the same taste profile as primates. B) Humans prefers substances that are naturally sweet.
C) Only a minority of the human population have an indeterminant taste profile. D) A majority of the human population have an indeterminant taste profile.
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: C) Only a minority of the human population have an indeterminant taste profile.

Explanation:

The passage clearly states that several characteristics are shared between humans and primates with respect to their taste profiles. It also states that it is because of evolution. But to infer that both species share the same profile would be incorrect making option a incorrect. The passage is all about the human ability to discern different tastes. One cannot infer about the likability of certain tastes from the given passage making option 2 incorrect. In the first sentence itself the passage talks about how majority of the human population can taste a certain artificial flavour. Thus, it can be inferred that majority of the human population have a determinant taste profile making the opposite as stated in option 3 also correct. This also makes option 4 incorrect.

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Q:

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.

 

Farcical

 

A) Serious   B) Absurd  
C) Analytical   D) Lame
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: B) Absurd  

Explanation:
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Q:

In the following question, a word has been written in four different ways out of which only one is correctly spelt. Select the correctly spelt word.

 

A) Misterous   B) Misterius  
C) Mysterous   D) Mysterious
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: D) Mysterious

Explanation:
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Q:

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

 


In short, to write a good letter you must approach the job in the lightest and most casual way. You must be personal, not abstract. You must not say, 'This is too small a thing to put down'. You must say, 'This is just the sort of small thing we talk about at home. If I tell them this they will see me, as it were they'll hear my voice, they'll know what I'm talking about'. That is the purpose of a letter. Carlyle had the trick to perfection. He is writing from Scotsbrig to his brother Alec in Canada and he begins talking about his mother. Good old Mother, he says, 'she is even now sitting at my back, trying at another table to write you a small word with her own hand; the first time she has tried such a thing for a year past. It is Saturday night, after dark; we are in the east room in a hard, dry evening with a bright fire to our two selves; Jenny and her Barns are 'scouring up things' in the other end of the house; and below stairs the winter operations of the farm go on, in a subdued tone; you can conceive the scene! How simple it is and yet how perfect. Can not you see Alec reading it in his far-off home and his eyes moistening at the picture of his old mother sitting and writing her last message to him on earth?

 


Abstract' in the passage means

 

A) a summary B) not paying attention
C) concrete D) not having a physical reality
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: D) not having a physical reality

Explanation:
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Q:

In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'.

 

I was shocked (A)/ to see how much my grand mother had aged (B)/ since the last time we visited her. (C)/ No Error (D)

 

A) A B) B
C) C D) D
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: D) D

Explanation:
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Q:

In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'.

 

The few moment (1)/ of deliberation (2)/ gave her the solution. (3)/ No error (4)

 

A) 1 B) 2
C) 3 D) 4
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: A) 1

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Q:

Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate answer to the question out of the four alternatives.

 


When I think of my family's history on the land. I experience a pang of regret. Unlike much of the arid West, where the land has gone virtually unchanged for centuries, my place of origin, western Kansas, has been torn up by agriculture. The flat plains, excellent soil, and sparse but just adequate rainfall permitted farming; therefore farming prevailed, and a good 90% of the original sod prairie is gone. The consequence, in human terms, is that our relationship to our place has always felt primarily mercantile. We used the land and denied, or held at bay, its effect on us. Yet from my earliest childhood, when the most of the Kansas prairie was still intact, I 've known that the land also had a romantic quality. I've felt moved by the expanse of it , enthralled by size. I take pride in my identity as a plains daughter.

 

From the passage, it may be determined that the word "mercantile" has something to do with

A) practicality B) danger
C) America D) spirituality
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: A) practicality

Explanation:
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Q:

In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'.

 

Along with Plato, Aristotle is considered the father of Western (1)/ Philosophy, which from his teachings inherited almost its entire (2)/ lexicon, including problems and methods of inquiry. (3)/ No error (4)

 

A) 1 B) 2
C) 3 D) 4
 
Answer & Explanation Answer: D) 4

Explanation:
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