TOEFL Questions

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In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

Crunch time

A passage with three blanks, followed by five options, each containing one word, is given. Choose the word that can fill all the three blanks.
An __________ is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid required to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, bidders may call out their bids themselves (or have a proxy call out a bid on their behalf), or bids may be submitted electronically with the highest current bid publicly displayed. In a Dutch ____________, the auctioneer begins with a high asking price for some quantity of like items; the price is lowered until a participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price for some quantity of the goods in the lot or until the seller's reserve price is met. In economic theory, an ____________ may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange.

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

Indian corporates are _______________ influenced by the American style of management, including ______________ practices. The recent episodes in a couple of big and reputed corporates in India are prompting many to re-think the kind of compensation strategy that would be __________ for Indian corporates. Should it be more socialistic, as prevalent in Scandinavian, some European and Japanese companies? _______________ there be some law to govern the salary differentials? __________should different functions such as Finance be remunerated substantially higher for equivalent educational degree holders and similar efforts by individuals in other functions?

management, including ______________ practices.

In the following passage some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

We have rich cultural _____ . Its roots go into _____. Ours has never been a closed ______. It has _______ just like a tree, ______ to external ______ but holding its roots _______. But one wonders today whether it will be able to hold its _____. The ______ of our cultural heritage has come under the _____ of western culture.

It has _______ just like a tree,

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which is opposite in meaning of the given word.

Fritter

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

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

Although it has been felt necessary to devote much space to ________ attempt to find principles that may be said to be at the basis ________ the art of all nations, the executive side of the question has not been neglected. And it is hoped that the __________ method for the study of drawing from the two opposite points of view ofline and mass here advocated may be useful, and help students to avoid some of the _____________ that results from attempting simultaneously the study of these______________ qualities of form expression.

much space to ________ attempt to find principles

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'.

A rainbow is cause by reflection, refraction, and dispersion (1)/ of light among water droplets resulting in a (2)/ spectrum of light appearing in the sky. (3)/No error (4)