English Questions

A passage is given with five questions following it. Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

The saddest part of life lies not in the act of dying, but in failing to truly live while we are alive. Too many of us play small with our lives, never letting the fullness of our humanity see the light of day. I’ve learned that what really counts in life, in the end, is not how many toys we have collected or how much money we’ve accumulated, but how many of our talents we have liberated and used for a purpose that adds value to this world. What truly matters most are the lives we have touched and the legacy that we have left. Tolstoy put it so well when he wrote: “We live for ourselves only when we live for others.” It took me forty years to discover this simple point of wisdom.

Forty long years to discover that success cannot really be pursued. Success ensues and flows into your life as the unintended yet inevitable byproduct of a life spent enriching the lives of other people. When you shift your daily focus from a compulsion to survive towards a lifelong commitment to serve, your existence cannot help but explode into success. I still can’t believe that I had to wait until the “half-time” of my life to figure out that true fulfillment as a human being comes not from achieving those grand gestures that put us on the front pages of the newspapers and business magazines, but instead from those basic and incremental acts of decency that each one of us has the privilege to practice each and every day if we simply make the choice to do so.

Mother Teresa, a great leader of human hearts if ever there was one, said it best: “There are no great acts, only small acts done with great love.” I learned this the hard way in my life. Until recently, I had been so busy striving, I had missed out on living. I was so busy chasing life’s big pleasures that I had missed out on the little ones, those micro joys that weave themselves in and out of our lives on a daily basis but often go unnoticed. My days were overscheduled, my mind was overworked and my spirit was underfed.

According to the passage, what did Mother Teresa learned the hard way in her life?

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Active/Passive voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best
expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active voice.
Once a month we visit the temple.

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'.

In spite of(A)/her irritation, she(B)/couldn't help smile.(C)/No error(D)

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.
He said, "Let it rain I have to go."

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Active/Passive voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active voice.

Sushmita divorced her husband.

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

Namita is from the state of Kerala. She has come to Dubai to serve as a governess for the only child of the Nairs. The Nairs are nice and gentle and Namita has no cause to complain. One day she overhears something that makes her jittery. Mr. Nair is not employed in an American company as she has been told. The nature of his business is illegal. She is shocked and wants to go back to her home town to her own people.

Gopal is from a very poor family. His family owns a very small piece of land that can hardly meet their food requirement. One day, Gopal gets a nice offer to work in the Emirates with a construction contractor. In order to meet the expenses on travelling, the family decides to sell their own land and send Gopal to the foreign country, to make money. On arrival, the contractor confiscates Gopal's passport and gives him a small place to live in with ten others like him. Gopal has little idea what he must do.

Which word from the ones given below, best describes Namita's relationship with her employers in the beginning?

Look at the underlined part of each sentence. Below each sentence are given three possible substitutions for the underlined part. If one of them (a), (b) or (c) is better than the underlined part, indicate your response on the Answer Sheet against the corresponding letter. If none of the substitutions imporves the sentence, indicate (d) as your response on the Answer Sheet.

Go north-east across the mountains till you will reach an island.

In the following question, four words are given out of which one word is correctly spelt. Select the correctly spelt word.