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We are starting a New series on English for SBI, IBPS, RBI, SSC, LIC, NIACL and other exams based on latest pattern.Students have been facing a lot of problems in English and just giving answer does not seem a viable option for preparation. Keeping this in mind, we have taken the initiative to give reasoning for the answers as well to help students understand the concepts better and perform better in exam. We will daily upload 10 questions on different topics, along with SOLUTIONS.Keep visiting the Affairscloud.com on regular basis and still if the doubts linger, we will resolve all your queries in under 24 hours.
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Direction: Q(1-10)- Read the following passage and each blank which has been numbered.Find out a suitable word from the given options for these numbers.The numbers must be replaced with one appropriate word which suits the blank appropriately from the below suggested options
In both U.P. and Uttarakhand, the BJP’s vote share dipped only …..1……, from 43.6% in 2014 to 41.4% in the former, and from 55.9% to 46.5% in Uttarakhand. In the absence of a united opposition, as in Bihar in 2015, the elections in both States were a ……2…… in the park. Any gains the Samajwadi Party and the Congress made through an alliance were lost because of the infighting in the SP, and owing to a slightly improved performance by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which at 22.2% …….3……… 2.4% more total votes in 2017 than 2014 despite finishing a poor third. The SP leader and outgoing Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, did try to shed some of the anti-incumbency baggage by ……4…… himself from the old guard in the party, but in the process his party came across as a divided house. Voters quite rightly refused to buy into the narrative that the failures on the law and order front and the shortcomings in governance were entirely on ……..5……. of an earlier generation of leaders. If he was attempting to appeal to the youth, projecting himself and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the face of the campaign, he did not quite succeed in it. A grand alliance of the kind that saw the BJP lose in Bihar would have had to include the BSP, unthinkable though it is given the caste …….6……. at play. But BSP supremo Mayawati did herself no favours by continuing to be …….7……. to a pre-poll tie-up, while displaying an unseemly readiness to align after the election without any ideological ……8………. The BSP, which has allied with the SP and the BJP at different points, needs to reconsider this strategy if it wants to expand beyond its core Dalit constituency. The party may not have held much appeal for minorities, despite …….9…….. Muslims candidates in about one-fourth of the total seats. In the present political climate, in the absence of a Bihar-type grand alliance it would appear that the BJP’s rivals can do little but hope that Prime Minister Modi ……..10….. his goodwill over the next two years in a series of political missteps and administrative failures in delivering on promises.
- _____________
1.regularly
2.visibly
3.marginally
4.significantly
5.hardlyAnswer – 3.marginally
Explanation :
Dip is small, from 43.6% to 41.4%, hence Marginally or slightly. Significantly will be antonym here. A and B do not align with the sentence. ‘Hardly’ could be used here but sentence structure would be different. ‘BJP’s vote share hardly dipped or dipped hardly’. ‘Only’ is never used with ‘hardly’. - _________________
1.stroll
2.jump
3.run
4.grass
5.leisureAnswer – 1.stroll
Explanation :
Stroll/Walk in the park is an idiom – something that is very easy to do. - _________________
1.decided
2.polled
3.corrected
4.encroached
5.justifiedAnswer – 2.polled
Explanation :
The sentence talks of votes which were bagged (captured, secured, obtained, acquired or POLLED) by BSP. Polled – receive a specified number of votes, gain, register. Encroach – advance gradually beyond usual or acceptable limits, intrude, trespass etc. - _______________
1.aligning
2.distancing
3.joining
4.incorporating
5.removingAnswer – 2.distancing
Explanation :
‘Old guard’ here refers to the veterans (old and skilled players) of the party. Read the passage carefully, it talks of earlier generation of leaders – old guard. As per the sentence – Akhilesh tried to distance himself from the old guard but eventually the party got divided. Hence B. Incorporate – include, subsume, integrate etc. A, C and D will be totally opposite of the requirement. - ___________________
1.account
2.behalf
3.exposure
4.rendition
5.narrationAnswer – 1.account
Explanation :
‘on account of’ – because of , by virtue of , by reason of . ‘On behalf of’ – as a representative of; Ex- he had to attend the funeral on his mother’s behalf. Rendition – depiction, portrayal or representation; Ex- the artist’s rendition of Adam and Eve. - ___________________
1.proposals
2.diversion
3.preferences
4.authorities
5.dynamicsAnswer – 5.dynamics
Explanation :
Dynamics – a force that stimulates change or progress within a system or process. In the UP election, caste plays a major role in deciding the voting pattern of people, and also the winner. Parties like BSP hinge on Dalits leaders to woo the Dalit people. Caste plays a very important role in formulation of strategies of different parties, hence the phrase in the passage ‘caste dynamics at play’. Read the newspaper articles daily to get acquainted with these terms. - _________________
1.reverse
2.averse
3.reverse
4.diverse
5.converseAnswer – 2.averse
Explanation :
Read the line carefully. Initially, BSP supremo (Mayawati) did not align with other parties, hence she was averse to the tie up. Averse – having a strong dislike of or opposition to something. Ex- Ram is a teetotaler and is averse to drinking and smoking. Also to be remembered is that ‘averse’ uses preposition ‘to’. - _________________
1.differences
2.indifference
3.compunction
4.dialogue
5.divergenceAnswer – 3.compunction
Explanation :
Before the election, BSP did not tie up with any party but after the polling it was ready to align with others, even if it had ideological differences. Compunction –hesitation which prevents people from doing anything bad. Mayawati did not show any such hesitation and was inclined to a tie-up. She did not show any ideological compunctions. - _________________
1.honouring
2.standing
3.defining
4.fielding
5.supportingAnswer – 4.fielding
Explanation :
A lot of candidates of BSP were Muslims. The word we use is ‘fielding’. BSP fielded many Muslim candidates. Hence the option D. Again, read the newspaper on a regular basis. - ________________
1.lavishes
2.implies
3.squanders
4.declines
5.forcesAnswer – 3.squanders
Explanation :
Author discusses the scenario in which opposition could defeat Mr. Modi. Opposition is helpless by itself (author uses words – BJP’s rivals can do little) but opposition can win if Modi squanders his image or goodwill. Squander – waste in a reckless and foolish manner.
Note : Detailed solutions have been given to understand the reasoning behind the answer, but still if there is any doubt, do put it in comments sections and it will be answered.
