B.A-B.A English ENGLISH FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS(Alagappa University - Directorate of Distance Education-2012)
B.A. (English)/B.A. (English) (Addl.) DEGREE EXAMINATION, MAY 2012.
ENGLISH FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS
Time : Three hours Maximum : 100 marks PART A — (5 × 8 = 40 marks) Answer any FIVE questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. (a) Answer the following accordingly : (4 × 1 = 4)
(i) A ring made of gold
This is a ————— phrase (adjective, adverb, noun)
(ii) Go home
This is a ————— sentence.
(declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative)
(iii) Punctuate the following :
lions tigers leopards and panthers are cats.
(iv) Seeing a bear coming, he lay on the ground (change into a compound sentence)
(b) Insert suitable articles. If no article is needed put ‘X’. (4)
He has dedicated his life to ————— service of ————— poor and ————— handicapped. He has put up ————— small ashram on ————— banks of ————— Ganga, ————— holiest of rivers in India. The nearest market is half ————— kilometer away.
2. (a) Make notes on the following passage : (4)
For the first time, Indian pesticide manufacturers, seeking to win a greater foot-hold in the growing agrochemical market of Russia and other former Soviet States, have joined hands with Chinese businessmen.
The International Crop Science Conference and Exhibition (ICSC-2011), held in Moscow last week also became the first trilateral business initiative on Russian soil. The event was organised by the Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) with the cooperation of the Indian Chemexcil, the China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA) and the Russian Union of Crop Protection & Manufacturers and the Russian Grain Union. The conference brought together 68 Indian and 19 Chinese companies involved in the production of plant production substances.
The fact that Indian organisers invited Chinese competitors to an export-oriented meet “in one sense reflected the confidence of Indian pesticides and chemicals manufacturers that they had quality products to offer at competitive prices,” said Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra, who inaugurated the event.
The Indian pesticides industry is the second-largest in Asia, after China, and the third-largest in the world, while Russia is the largest and fastest- growing consumer in the $-1.2 billion market of the former Soviet Union.
Mr. Malhotra felt that Indian agrochemical exports, which amounted to nearly $40 million, could, with concerted effort, be increased to $200 million over the next few years. He urged Indian producers to pursue aggressively the agrochemicals registration process in Russia. Some participants had complained that it was rather cumbersome.
PMFAI members alone picked up an additional $4-million-worth of orders at the ICSC-2011 and got many good business leads. Chemexcil members too obtained good trade orders and enquiries at the event. The organisers decided to make the event an annual feature.
(b) Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the correct tense forms of the verbs given in brackets : (8 × 21 = 4)
(i) The moment I ————— (cross) the threshold of a bank and ————— (attempt) to transact a business there, I ————— (become) an irresponsible idiot.
(ii) I ————— (know) this beforehand, but my salary ————— (raise) to fifty dollars a month and I ————— (feel) that the bank was the only place for it.
(iii) So I ————— (shamble) in and ————— (look) timidly round at the clerks.
3. Write a paragraph of 250 words on any ONE of the following topics : (8)
(a) Union is strength
(b) My hobbies
4. Answer any ONE of the following : (8)
(a) Write a letter to your friend, asking him to come and stay with your after the examination and tell him how you would make his stay pleasant.
(b) Write a letter to a business firm, acknowledging receipt of the goods you had ordered and complaining about the damage caused in transit on account of bad packing.
5. Answer any ONE of the following : (8)
(a) You are the secretary of the Resident’s association of your locality. Write the annual report of the activities of your association.
(b) You have just returned from a visit to the USA on a student exchange programme. Write a report on it to be submitted to your principal.
6. Fill in the blanks with suitable words given in the brackets. (8)
(a) Our ————— principal is coming (revrent, revrend)
(b) The speech was ————— to the occasion (opposite, aposite)
(c) I think this electric ————— (meter, Meters) is faulty.
(d) Have ————— on the poor (pity, peity)
(e) His manners are ————— (urbane, urban)
(f) ————— are used in war (cannons, canons)
(g) He is ————— up in pleasurable contemplation (wrapt, rapt)
(h) Order for ten ————— of cotton(bails, bale)
7. Answer the following : (8)
(a) (i) One who destroys religious images. (Linguist, teetotaller, iconoclast, cobbler)
(ii) One who treats pleasure and pain alike. (feminist, stoic, anarchist, misogynist)
(b) Choose the word which is correctly spelt
(i) Philanthropy
(ii) Pilanthropy
(iii) Philanthrophy
(iv) Philenthrophy.
(c) Write opposites of the following words
(i) Orient
(ii) Interest
(iii) Selfish
(iv) Like.
(d) Write the synonyms of the following words :
(i) Often
(ii) Robust
(iii) Vocation
(iv) Alien.
(e) Rewrite the following in proper word order to form a meaningful sentence :
The doctor a day away an apple keeps.
(f) Form negative of the following sentence : They will come tomorrow.
8. Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions : (8)
(a) Few things are impossible ————— diligence and skill
(b) His version of the incident is devoid ————— truth.
(c) A balanced mind triumphs ————— difficulties.
(d) A good judge never jumps ————— conclusions.
(e) I shall not yield ————— threat or persuasion.
(f) The pond is teeming ————— frogs.
(g) Her marriage is sacred ————— her.
(h) I prefer hills ————— plains.
PART B — (4 × 15 = 60 marks) Answer any FOUR of the following. All questions carry equal marks.
9. (a) Rewrite the following sentences into passive voice.
(4)
(i) Whom did you laugh at?
(ii) We shall serve our country
(iii) Someone has stolen my books
(iv) Give the order
(b) Rewrite the following into active voice : (4)
(i) He was not crowned king
(ii) My cares are left behind.
(iii) The robber has been caught by the police.
(iv) Let this post be advertised.
(c) Change the following accordingly : (4)
(i) Solomon was the wisest of all men (into comparative and positive degrees)
(ii) Rahim is as tall as Ram
(into comparative and superlative degrees)
(d) Change the following as directed : (3)
(i) To avoid punishment you must apologize. (into compound sentence)
(ii) He is a man who keeps his word. (into simple sentence)
(iii) We heard of her failure. (into complex sentence)
10. Make a precise of the following passage and give a suitable title : (15)
The material we write on today was invented over a thousand years earlier in China. It just took the Europeans a long time to find out about it.
The inventor of paper was a Chinese official named Ts’ ai lun, who first made his paper in 105 A.D. from out of an assortment of ingredients, including mulberry and bamboo fibres, fishnets and rages. The Emperor Ho Ti was so pleased with Ts’ ai Lun’s invention that he made him a rich, and important man in his court. Unfortunately, the success went to the inventor’s head and he became involved in a dangerous intrigue. Rather than be shamed by public exposure he committed suicide by taking poison. We don’t know if he left a suicide note behind, written on the paper he invented.
The Chinese jealously guarded the secret of paper making for nearly a thousand years. Finally, the moors learned it and brought it with them into Spain and Sicily. From there, it spread throughout Europe. By the 1200s, paper mills were appearing in Italy and elsewhere. Jonathan Gutenberg gave paper a big boost when he invented the first practical mechanical printing press in 1455. Within the next fifty years, thousands of books were being printed all over Europe, and paper was much in demand.
As time went on, the crude ingredients used by Ts’ ai Lan were replaced by linen, cotton rays, and straw. But those were expensive and people began searching for a cheap
Substance from which cheaper paper could be manufactured. By the middle of 1800s, it was found wood pulp. Not only was it cheap but it came from trees - an endless supplier.
Today 140,000,000 tons of paper is made in the world every year. That’s a lot of space of fill with words ! However, you might not be too eager to write a single word on paper used by early Indians of Peru. They made their parchment out of human skin !. Handmade finish writing paper is far more attractive. But a sheet can cost upto $ 80 ! That makes it the most expensive paper in the world today. So, if you’re writing on it, make every world count !.
11. Write an essay of 400 words on any ONE of the following : (15)
(a) Importance of Politeness in life.
(b) The foreign country I most wish to visit.
12. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below : (15)
A certain king once fell ill and doctors declared that only a sudden fright would restore him to health but the king was not a man for anyone to play tricks on, except his fool. One day, when the fool was with him in his boat, he cleverly pushed the king into the water. Help had already been arranged and the king was drawn ashore and put to bed. The fright, the bath and the rest in bed cured the diseased king; but he was so angry with the fool that he turned him out of the country. The fool returned, however, and the king ordered him to be put to death. Saying privately that he would only repay fright with fright, he directed the executioner not to use the axe but to let, fall a single drop of water on the fool’s neck. The fool was led to the gallows. The executioner dropped a drop of water on the fool’s neck, and amids shouts and laughter, the fool was asked to rise and thank the king
for his kindness. But the fool never moved. He was dead – killed by his master’s joke.
(a) How could the sick be cured?
(b) Who alone could afford to play tricks on the king and why?
(c) What did the fool do in the boat?
(d) What cured the sick king?
(e) Why did the king turn the fool out of his country?
(f) How did the fool meet his end?
(g) Did the king really want the fool to die?
(h) Pick out the expressions used in the passage which mean the name as
(i) A shock
(ii) Brought out of the bank
(iii) Give tit for tat
(iv) Sentenced him.
13. (a) Give one word substitution for the following : (10)
(i) If a person is well experienced
(ii) The study of insects is
(iii) The study of language is
(iv) One who studies the planets
(v) The study of word is
(vi) A person who loves mankind
(vii) To be expert in using hands
(viii) A person who expresses himself freely
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(ix) Abstain from alcohol
(x) A person who is not educated.
(b) Match the words in column A with their meanings in Column B and rewrite : (10 × 21 = 5)
Column A Column B
(i) Queer (1) High
(ii) Permit (2) Polished
(iii) Oblique (3) Raw
(iv) Lefty (4) Odd
(v) Hazardour (5) Sink
(vi) Elastic (6) Slating
(vii) Smooth (7) Flexible
(viii) Submerge (8) Allow
(ix) Coarse (9) Changeable
(x) Volatile (10) Dangerous
14. Read each sentence to find out whether there is error in any underlined part. If any, write the alphabet of your choice next to the question number, If there is no error then put E. (10 × 1 21 = 15)
(a) Having seen your advertisement in this morning’s
(A) (B)
times. I would like to apply for it no error.
(C) (D) (E)
(b) If this machine should fail to give satisfaction we
(A) (B) (C)
guarantee to refund the purchase money. No error.
(D) (E)
(c) I do all the cooking and clearing and beside that I
(A) (B) help my husband with his homework. No error.
(C) (D) (E)
(d) One of the questions he asked me was, ‘‘who did you
(A) (B) (C)
travel with’’. No error.
(D) (E)
(e) The Sharmas have finally gone in for the costliest
(A) (B) (C) flat in the entire town. No error.
(D) (E)
(f) Very soon it is to be announced that
(A)
a series of lectures on the subject
(B) (C) have been arranged. No error.
(D) (E)
(g) No sooner has she realised her blunder than she
(A) (B) (C) began taking corrective measures. No error.
(D) (E)
(h) He is though to have information which will be
(A) (B) (C) useful for the police. No error.
(D) (E)
(i) The Ganges has overflowed its banks and each of
(A) (B) (C) the four villages are flooded. No error.
(D) (E)
(j) Our party numbered six persons, of who four
(A) (B) at least had been great travellers. No error.
(C) (D) (E)
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15. Use any TEN of the following in sentences of your own : (10 × 1 21 = 15)
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(a) Break out
(b) Come forward
(c) Check out
(d) Fall out
(e) Cut in
(f) Give up
(g) Pass out
(h) Look after
(i) Take off
(j) Turn up
(k) Put up wit
12
(l) Go after
(m) Get on
(n) Dress up
(o) Blow u
| Earning: ₹ 6.50/- |
