PYQ Vault

CDS (I) 2018, English question paper

120 questions · 100 marks · 120 minutes · +0.83 per correct answer, -0.28 per wrong one

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  1. Directions: nearest in meaning to the underlined word
    1
    A truly respectable old man is a ripe person.

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  2. 2
    The soldiers repulsed the enemy.

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  3. 3
    She deftly masked her feelings.

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  4. 4
    Vendors must have licence.

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  5. 5
    They will not admit children under fourteen.

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  6. 6
    The jewels have been stolen from her bedroom.

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  7. 7
    The soldier showed an exemplary courage.

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  8. 8
    They served fruits after the dinner.

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  9. 9
    The committee should recommend his name to the government.

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  10. 10
    Can medicines save us from death?

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  11. Directions: re-arrange jumbled parts P/Q/R/S of a sentence
    11
    P: the British manufacturers Q: popularity of Indian textiles R: were jealous of the S: from the very beginning

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  12. 12
    P: dress fashions changed and light cotton Q: of the English R: textiles began to replace S: the coarse woollens

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  13. 13
    P: put pressure on their government Q: Indian goods in England R: the British manufacturers S: to restrict and prohibit

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  14. 14
    P: however Q: still held their own in foreign markets R: in spite of these laws S: Indian silk and cotton textiles

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  15. 15
    P: and it led to rapid economic development Q: the Industrial Revolution R: transformed the British S: society in a fundamental manner

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  16. 16
    P: Muhammad Iqbal Q: the philosophical and religious outlook of people through his poetry R: profoundly influenced S: one of the greatest poets of modern India

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  17. 17
    P: to accept any of the important Q: disillusionment R: demands of the nationalists produced S: the failure of the British government

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  18. 18
    P: showed that a backward Q: the rise of R: modern Japan after 1868 S: Asian country could develop itself without Western control

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  19. 19
    P: and the current Hindu emphasis Q: and urged the people to imbibe the spirit of free-thinking R: on rituals, ceremonies and superstitions S: Vivekananda condemned the caste system

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  20. 20
    Mr. John P: who was hardly six months old Q: Charles R: as his son S: adopted

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  21. Directions: select most appropriate word for the blank
    21
    In the face of the overwhelming mass of evidence against him, we cannot _______ him of the crime.

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  22. 22
    I hope that the rain will _______ for our picnic tomorrow.

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  23. 23
    After the marathon, some of the competitors felt completely _______.

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  24. 24
    Scarcely _______ the teacher entered the class when he heard the noise.

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  25. 25
    I do not think he will ever _______ the shock of his wife's death.

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  26. 26
    It is no use in crying over _______.

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  27. 27
    You must go to the station now, your brother _______ go just yet as his train leaves after three hours.

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  28. 28
    Every rash driver becomes a _______ killer.

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  29. 29
    The country owes a deep debt of _______ for the freedom fighters.

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  30. 30
    The whole lot of young men was very enthusiastic but your friend alone was _______.

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  31. Directions: opposite in meaning to the underlined word
    31
    It was a mystery as to where the young girl had acquired such a naive belief.

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  32. 32
    It's the only treatment suitable for cancer.

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  33. 33
    Some of the criticisms which they had to put up were very unfair.

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  34. 34
    I would beg of all friends not to rush to Birla house nor try to dissuade me or be anxious about me.

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  35. 35
    It could not have been expected that, with such a bent of mind of the people, there should have been much activity for the cultivation of the physical sciences in this part of the world.

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  36. 36
    Indian culture has been, from time immemorial, of a peculiar cast and mould.

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  37. 37
    The princess charming was the centre of attraction today.

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  38. 38
    Macbeth is a/an abominable figure.

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  39. 39
    Terrorists profess fanatical ideology.

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  40. 40
    Rakesh is vulnerable to political pressure.

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  41. Directions: order middle sentences P/Q/R/S between S1 and S6
    41
    S1: First and foremost, there are order and safety in our civilization. S6: Nobody may come and break into my house and steal my goods. P: Thus in disputes between man and man, right has taken the place of might. Q: If today I have a quarrel with another man, I do not get beaten merely because I am physically weaker. R: I go to law, and the law will decide fairly between the two of us. S: Moreover, the law protects me from robbery and violence.

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  42. 42
    S1: In democratic countries, men are equal before the law. S6: And they live like this not for fun, but because they are too poor to afford another room. P: While some few people live in luxury, many have not enough to eat, drink and wear. Q: There are many families of five or six persons who live in a single room. R: But the sharing-out of money - which means the sharing-out of food and clothing and houses - is still very unfair. S: In this room they sleep and dress and wash and eat, and in this same room they die.

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  43. 43
    S1: Tomorrow it will be a year since we lost our great leader. S6: Though he is no more with us, the qualities he possessed and the ideals he cherished remain with us. P: To these he added a feminine sensitiveness to atmosphere. Q: He was involved in the major events of his time. R: He participated in them all while maintaining the highest standards of public conduct. S: He was incomparably the greatest figure in our history - a man of dynamic force, intellectual power and profound vision.

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  44. 44
    S1: It would be possible to adduce many examples showing what could be done with the limited means at our ancestor's disposal in the way of making life comfortable. S6: I hope, in this essay, to make that connection manifest. P: What have comfort and cleanliness to do with politics, morals, and religion? Q: But look more closely and you will discover that there exists the closest connection between the recent growth of comfort and the recent history of ideas. R: They show that if they lived in filth and discomfort, it was because filth and discomfort fitted in with their principles, political, moral and religious. S: At a first glance one would say that there could be no causal connection between arm chairs and democracies, sofas and the family system, hot baths and religious orthodoxy.

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  45. 45
    S1: To most people, the term technology conjures up images of mills or machines. S6: It includes ways to make chemical reactions occur, ways to breed fish, plant forests or teach history. P: The classic symbol of technology is still the assembly line created by Henry Ford half a century ago. Q: The invention of the horse collar in the Middle Ages led to changes in agricultural methods and was as such a technological advance. R: Moreover, technology includes techniques, as well as the machines that may or may not be necessary to apply them. S: This symbol, however, has always been inadequate, for technology has always been more than factories and machines.

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  46. 46
    S1: I was the secretary of the Philosophical Society of the Patna College. S6: I have been to Kolkata many times since, but never has it been more pleasant than that first visit. P: It was my first visit to the city and its impression on my mind was indelible. Q: In that capacity, I once led a trip to Kolkata. R: I felt I had landed in the midst of beautiful dream world of a fairy land. S: I saw the roads, the trams, the skyscrapers and the magnificent shops at the Chowranghee lane.

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  47. 47
    S1: Union finance ministry announced a series of concessions to trade and industry last month. S6: Manufacturers feel that prices of certain components may not be brought down because of the imposition of a 30 per cent duty where there was none earlier. P: Together, these will result in a loss of revenue of Rs. 100 crore to the exchequer. Q: Earlier, these were attracting customs duty varying from zero to 100 per cent. R: The chunk of the relief of Rs. 60 crore has gone to the electronics industry. S: Raw materials and piece parts now carry customs duty of 30 per cent and 40 per cent ad valorem respectively.

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  48. 48
    S1: At four O'clock this morning, Hitler attacked and invaded Russia. S6: Under its cloak of false confidence, the German armies drew up in immense strength along a line which stretches from the White Sea to the Black Sea. P: No complaint had been made by Germany of its non-fulfilment. Q: All his usual formalities of perfidy were observed with scrupulous technique. R: No one could have expected that Hitler would do it. S: A non-aggression treaty had been solemnly signed and was in force between the two countries.

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  49. 49
    S1: Roderick Usher has always been a quiet person who talked little of himself. S6: In the part of the country where he lived, the "House of Usher" had come to mean both the family and its ancestral mansion. P: Many of his ancestors had been famous for their artistic and musical abilities. Q: Others were known for their exceptional generosity and charity. R: Yet I did know that his family was an old one. S: So I did not know too much about him.

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  50. 50
    S1: Mass production has increased the tendency to view things as useful rather than delightful. S6: Indeed a lowering of quality usually results when mass production is substituted for more primitive methods. P: These various things share nothing with the buttons except money value. Q: All the rest you wish to exchange for food, shelter, and many other things. R: Suppose you are a manufacturer of buttons: however excellent your buttons may be, you do not want more than a few for your own use. S: And it is not even the money value of the buttons that is important to you: what is important is profit which may be increased by lowering their quality.

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  51. Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only. Passage Over-population is the most pressing of India’s numerous and multi-faceted problems. In fact it has caused equally complex problems such as poverty, under-nourishment, unemployment and excessive fragmentation of land. Indisputably, this country has been facing a population explosion of crisis dimensions. It has largely diluted the fruits of the remarkable economic progress that the nation has made during the last four decades or so. The entire battle against poverty is thwarted by the rapid increase in the population. The tragedy is that while over-population accentuates poverty, the country’s stark poverty itself is in many areas a major cause of over-population.
    51
    What is the irony behind the over-population of India?

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  52. 52
    What is the general tone of the passage?

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  53. 53
    What, in the author's view, severely affects the economic growth of our country?

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  54. 54
    What, according to the author, is the biggest reason behind over-population?

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  55. 55
    'It has largely diluted the fruits of the remarkable economic progress.' Find antonym of the underlined word.

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  56. Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only. Passage To eat and not be eaten – that’s the imperative of a caterpillar’s existence. The leaf roller reduces its risks of being picked off by predators by silking together a temporary shelter in which to feed and rest. Adopting a different line of defense, the jelly slug extrudes a sticky translucent coating that may foul the mouth-parts of marauding ants. For its part, the aquatic larva, by its watery element, fashions a portable hideout from fragments of aquatic leaves. Cutting a serpentine trail as it feeds on tender young leaves, the minute citrus leaf miner spends its entire larval life inside its host plant, thus keeping its appetizing body safely under wraps.
    56
    Which varieties of caterpillars 'build' shelters to protect themselves?

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  57. 57
    Which one of the following caterpillars produces a sticky covering?

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  58. 58
    Which one of the following pairs of words in the passage describes enemies of the caterpillar?

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  59. 59
    Which one of the following makes itself unpalatable?

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  60. 60
    The main idea of the passage is that caterpillars

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  61. Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only. Passage I have always opposed the idea of dividing the world into the Orient and the Occident. It is, however, the tremendous industrial growth that has made the West what it is. I think the difference, say, between India and Europe in the 12th or 13th century would not have been very great. Differences have been intensified by this process of industrialization which has promoted material well-being tremendously and which is destroying the life of the mind, which is in a process of deterioration, chiefly because the environment that has been created by it does not give time or opportunity to individuals to think. If the life of the mind is not encouraged, then inevitably civilization collapses.
    61
    The words "the Orient and the Occident" mean

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  62. 62
    The author believes that the difference between India and Europe in the 12th or 13th century was not very great because

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  63. 63
    In the opinion of the author, Industrialization is

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  64. 64
    The author says that the mental life of the world is in a process of deterioration because the modern generation is

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  65. 65
    The title that best expresses the central idea of the passage is

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  66. Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only. Passage In Delhi, it was forbidden by the law, at one time, to take a Dog into a public vehicle. One day a lady, accompanied by a pet dog, entered a bus. Wishing to evade the law, she placed her tiny dog in her dress pocket. It so happened that the person next to this lady was a pick-pocket; and during the journey he carefully placed his hand into her pocket in search of her purse. Great was the horror to find instead a pair of sharp teeth inserted into his fingers. His exclamation of pain and surprise drew the attention of other passengers to him.
    66
    Once the law in Delhi did not permit the people to

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  67. 67
    In order to evade the law, the lady

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  68. 68
    The pick-pocket travelling with the lady

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  69. 69
    Which one of the following correctly expresses the meaning of 'wishing to evade the law'?

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  70. 70
    Why did the pick-pocket exclaim with pain?

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  71. Directions: find error in underlined part a/b/c or no error
    71
    The best way in which you can open the bottle is by putting it into hot water first.

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  72. 72
    Somebody who I enjoy reading is Tagore.

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  73. 73
    Electricity companies are working throughout days and nights to repair the damage.

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  74. 74
    The students' test results were pleasant.

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  75. 75
    Two thirds of the book were rubbish.

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  76. 76
    You will be answerable for the court with any lies you have told.

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  77. 77
    She felt terribly anxious for have to sing in front of such a large audience.

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  78. 78
    I don't agree with smacking children if they do something wrong.

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  79. 79
    The fruit can be made to jam.

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  80. 80
    I asked him what he has done.

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  81. 81
    There have been a tornado watch issued for Texas country until eleven O'clock tonight.

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  82. 82
    Although the Red Cross accepts blood from the donors the nurses will not leave you give blood, if you have just had cold.

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  83. 83
    A prism is used to refract white light so it spreads out in a continuous spectrum.

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  84. 84
    Because of the movement of a glacier, the form of the Great Lakes was very slow.

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  85. 85
    The new model costs twice more than last year's model.

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  86. 86
    Gandhi ji always regretted for the fact that people gave him adulation while what he wanted was acceptance of his way of life.

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  87. 87
    The party was ousted in power after twelve years.

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  88. 88
    He was held in the prevention of Terrorism act.

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  89. 89
    He has great fascination for each and every thing that are connected with drama.

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  90. 90
    It's no secret that the President wants to have a second term of office.

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  91. Directions: Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space with four words or group of words given. Select whichever word or group of words you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. Passage One of India’s greatest musicians is M.S. Subbulakshmi, affectionately known to most people as M.S. Her singing has brought ___(91)___ to millions of people not only ___(92)___ all parts of India, but in ___(93)___ countries around the world as well. ___(94)___ October 1966 Subbulakshmi was invited to ___(95)___ in New York, where people of ___(96)___ foreign countries listened to her music ___(97)___ This was one of the greatest ___(98)___ ever given to any musician. For ___(99)___ together M.S. kept that international ___(100)___ spell-bound with the beauty of her voice and her style of singing.
    91
    Blank (91): "Her singing has brought ______ to millions of people"

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  92. 92
    Blank (92): "to millions of people not only ______ all parts of India, but in ______ countries around the world as well"

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  93. 93
    Blank (93): "but in ______ countries around the world as well"

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  94. 94
    Blank (94): "around the world as well. ______ October 1966 Subbulakshmi was invited to ..."

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  95. 95
    Blank (95): "invited to ______ in New York, where people of ..."

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  96. 96
    Blank (96): "where people of ______ foreign countries listened to her music"

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  97. 97
    Blank (97): "listened to her music ______. This was one of the greatest ..."

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  98. 98
    Blank (98): "one of the greatest ______ ever given to any musician"

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  99. 99
    Blank (99): "For ______ together M.S. kept that international ______ spell-bound"

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  100. 100
    Blank (100): "kept that international ______ spell-bound with the beauty of her voice"

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  101. Directions: Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space with four words or group of words given. Select whichever word or group of words you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. Passage The Second Anglo-Maratha War had shattered the ___(101)___ of the Maratha chiefs, but not their spirit. The ___(102)___ of their freedom rankled in their hearts. They made a last ___(103)___ attempt to regain their independence and old ___(104)___ in 1817. The lead in organizing a united front of the Maratha chiefs was taken by the Peshwa who was smarting under the ___(105)___ control exercised by the British Resident.
    101
    Blank (101): "The Second Anglo-Maratha War had shattered the ______ of the Maratha chiefs, but not their spirit."

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  102. 102
    Blank (102): "Maratha chiefs, but not their spirit. The ______ of their freedom rankled in their hearts."

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  103. 103
    Blank (103): "They made a last ______ attempt to regain their independence ..."

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  104. 104
    Blank (104): "old ______ in 1817. The lead in organizing a united front of the Maratha chiefs was taken by the Peshwa"

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  105. 105
    Blank (105): "who was smarting under the ______ control exercised by the British Resident."

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  106. Directions: choose the most appropriate meaning of the idiom
    106
    A hot potato

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  107. 107
    You snooze, you lose

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  108. 108
    I don't buy it

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  109. 109
    My two cents

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  110. 110
    Out of the blue

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  111. 111
    What a small world

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  112. 112
    Down the road

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  113. 113
    Raising eyebrows

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  114. 114
    Step up the plate

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  115. 115
    The Holy Grail

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  116. 116
    You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

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  117. 117
    At the drop of a hat

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  118. 118
    Ball is in your court

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  119. 119
    Best of both worlds

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  120. 120
    Costs an arm and a leg

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