CDS II 2026 English with Solutions
Q.1 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: The teacher asked (a) / that who was absent (b) / in the class that day. (c) / No error (d)
Rule: when a question is reported indirectly, the conjunction that is never used along with the question word. A wh- word (who, what, when, why, how) is itself the connector.
Correct: The teacher asked who was absent in the class that day.
That is used only for reported statements (He said that he was busy) and, with if/whether, never at all for yes-no questions (He asked whether I was busy).
Q.2 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: Neither of the two boys (a) / have done (b) / his homework. (c) / No error (d)
Rule: either, neither, each, every one and none (of) are singular; the verb agrees with them, not with the plural noun in the of-phrase.
Correct: Neither of the two boys has done his homework.
Part (c) is already consistent with the singular reading — his, not their — which confirms that the verb too must be singular.
Q.3 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: I recommended (a) / that he would reduce (b) / his expenditure. (c) / No error (d)
Rule: verbs of proposal — recommend, suggest, insist, demand, propose, order, request — are followed by the subjunctive: that + subject + bare infinitive (or should + verb). Would is never used here.
Correct: I recommended that he reduce (or should reduce) his expenditure.
Note that the subjunctive does not change for a third-person singular subject — he reduce, not he reduces.
Q.4 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: I am looking forward (a) / to meet you (b) / next month. (c) / No error (d)
Rule: in look forward to, the word to is a preposition, not part of an infinitive. A preposition is followed by a noun or a gerund (-ing form).
Correct: I am looking forward to meeting you next month.
The same trap runs through be used to, be accustomed to, object to, with a view to, confess to — all take -ing.
Q.5 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: She said that (a) / she will help me (b) / in this matter. (c) / No error (d)
Rule of sequence of tenses: when the reporting verb is in the past (said), the reported verb shifts back one step — will becomes would.
Correct: She said that she would help me in this matter.
The shift is waived only for universal truths, habitual facts, and statements still true at the time of reporting — none of which applies to a personal promise.
Q.6 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: He insisted (a) / on knowing (b) / the reason of my absence. (c) / No error (d)
Rule: the noun reason takes for when it introduces the cause — the reason for the delay. (Reason of is not idiomatic English.)
Correct: He insisted on knowing the reason for my absence.
Parts (a) and (b) are sound: insist takes on, and on being a preposition is correctly followed by the gerund knowing.
Q.7 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: In your quotidian life (a) / you wouldn't find an elephant (b) / in the supermarket. (c) / No error (d)
The trap here is vocabulary, not grammar. Quotidian means daily, everyday, commonplace — from Latin quotidianus. 'In your quotidian life' is therefore both correct and apt.
Every other part stands up: wouldn't find is a legitimate hypothetical, and in the supermarket takes the right preposition. When a part contains only an unfamiliar word used correctly, the answer is No error.
Note: several coaching keys mark (c) here. Nothing in 'in the supermarket' breaks a rule — the definite article is normal in generic statements ('I'm off to the supermarket') — so 'No error' is the reading this page stands by.
Q.8 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: I often dreamed (a) / of being famous (b) / in my prime. (c) / No error (d)
Dream of + gerund is the correct pattern (dream of winning, dream of being). Dreamed and dreamt are both accepted past forms.
In my prime — at the peak period of my life — is a fixed phrase and correctly used. Nothing in the sentence violates a rule, so (d) is the answer.
Note: several coaching keys mark (a) here. Both dreamed and dreamt are standard past forms and often sits correctly before the verb, so there is nothing in part (a) to correct.
Q.9 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: These shoes designed (a) / for regular runners (b) / like yourself. (c) / No error (d)
As printed, the string has no finite verb — designed is a past participle doing the work of a modifier, so the whole thing is a fragment, not a sentence.
Correct: These shoes are designed for regular runners like you.
The passive needs its auxiliary: are designed. Purists will also object to yourself in part (c) — a reflexive pronoun should not stand as the object of like when no reflexive action is involved — but the missing verb in (a) is the structural error the item is built on.
Note: several coaching keys mark (c), on the ground that like you is preferred to like yourself. That is a real stylistic objection, but the reflexive after like is accepted in standard usage, whereas a sentence with no finite verb is not — which is why (a) is marked here.
Q.10 [Error Spotting]
Spot the error: Walk down our street (a) / any day you will (b) / see children playing. (c) / No error (d)
An imperative used as a condition must be joined to the result clause by and: Do this and that will happen. Without it, two independent clauses are simply run together.
Correct: Walk down our street any day and you will see children playing.
Compare the standard pattern: Work hard and you will succeed. / Move an inch and I shoot.
Q.11 [Idioms and Phrases]
To overplay one's hand
Example: The union overplayed its hand and ended up with a worse deal than the one first offered.
(b), (c) and (d) all read the phrase literally — the standard distractor design in idiom questions.
Q.12 [Idioms and Phrases]
Pass the buck
Option (c) is the literal-money trap: the buck in the idiom is a marker, not a dollar.
Q.13 [Idioms and Phrases]
Over one's head
Example: The lecture on tensor calculus went completely over my head.
Option (b) describes a different idiom — to go over someone's head in the sense of appealing to their superior — which needs the verb go and a person as object; on its own the phrase carries the 'cannot understand' sense.
Q.14 [Idioms and Phrases]
Have a finger in every pie
Example: He runs a school, a press and a clinic — he has a finger in every pie.
(b) is the food-literal trap; (a) confuses it with keeping one's finger on the pulse.
Q.15 [Idioms and Phrases]
To go out on a limb
The four options differ on two axes: convenient/daring and with/against the popular view. Going out on a limb is by definition not convenient and not popular, so only (c) satisfies both.
Q.16 [Idioms and Phrases]
Live on your nerves
(c) and (d) invert the sense — they describe someone with nerves of steel, which is the opposite idiom.
Q.17 [Idioms and Phrases]
Lily-livered
(b) 'weak' is the near-miss: the word is specifically about lack of courage, not lack of strength, and in a 'most appropriate meaning' item the precise sense wins.
Q.18 [Idioms and Phrases]
To spill the beans
(d) is the literal trap — beans on the floor rather than information out of the bag. Compare the sister idiom to let the cat out of the bag.
Q.19 [Idioms and Phrases]
To make one's peace
Note the grammar: the possessive one's makes it an act of reconciliation, not a state of mind — which rules out (a). (b) describes pacifism, a different idea altogether.
Q.20 [Idioms and Phrases]
Fall by the wayside
Example: Of the sixty who began the course, half fell by the wayside.
(a) is the literal trap.
Q.21 [Similar Sounding Words]
Weather, Whether, Whither
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. Weather permitting, we'll have the gathering outside.
2. Whether conditions are likely to improve by Thursday.
3. They didn't know whither they should go.
1 — correct. Weather is the noun for atmospheric conditions; weather permitting is a fixed phrase.
2 — wrong. It should be Weather conditions. Whether is a conjunction introducing an alternative (whether or not); it can never modify a noun.
3 — correct. Whither means to what place. Formal and old-fashioned, but exactly right after a verb of motion. (Its pair is whence — from what place.)
Note: several coaching keys mark (c) '1 and 2 only'. Sentence 2 has no main clause and needs the noun weather, while whither in sentence 3 is used exactly as it should be, so '1 and 3 only' is the reading this page stands by.
Q.22 [Similar Sounding Words]
Quiet, Quite, Quit
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. He plays quiet well.
2. They had a quite wedding.
3. He has decided to quit as the manager of the team.
1 — wrong. An adverb of degree is needed before well: He plays quite well.
2 — wrong. An adjective meaning 'without noise' is needed before wedding: a quiet wedding.
3 — correct. Quit = to leave or give up a post. Sentences 1 and 2 are a straight swap of each other's word — a favourite UPSC construction.
Q.23 [Similar Sounding Words]
Way, Weigh, Whey
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. I'm not happy with this way of working.
2. How much does it weigh?
3. Whey is the thin liquid that separates from the solid parts when milk is curdled.
Way = manner or method. Weigh = to have a certain heaviness (verb). Whey = the watery part of milk left after curdling — the by-product of paneer-making.
When every sentence checks out, the 'all of the above' option is the answer; candidates lose this mark by assuming at least one must be wrong.
Q.24 [Similar Sounding Words]
Weave, Wave, Waive
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. She loves to wave stories.
2. Unfortunately, he had to waive his rights.
3. A huge weave broke on the shore.
1 — wrong. Stories are woven, not waved: She loves to weave stories.
2 — correct. Waive = to give up a right or claim voluntarily.
3 — wrong. What breaks on a shore is a wave. Sentences 1 and 3 have simply exchanged words.
Q.25 [Similar Sounding Words]
Peak, Peek, Pique
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. Traffic reaches its peak between 8 and 9 in the morning.
2. She peeked at the audience from behind the curtain.
3. When he realised nobody was listening to him, he left in a fit of pique.
Peak = highest point. Peek = to glance quickly, especially from hiding. Pique = a fit of resentment at being slighted — in a fit of pique is the standard collocation.
(As a verb, pique also means to arouse: that piqued my curiosity.)
Q.26 [Similar Sounding Words]
Sent, Scent, Cent
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. A one minute phone call to the UK costs one sent.
2. The air was filled with the scent of wild flowers.
3. The dogs following him must have lost his cent.
1 — wrong. The unit of currency is a cent; sent is the past tense of send.
2 — correct. Scent = a pleasant smell.
3 — wrong. What tracking dogs lose is the scent — the trail of smell. Again 1 and 3 have swapped words.
Note: several coaching keys mark (a) '1 and 2 only'. Sentence 1 as printed reads 'costs one sent', which is the wrong word for a unit of currency.
Q.27 [Similar Sounding Words]
Aisle, Ale, Isle
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. I always prefer the isle seat in an aeroplane.
2. He always began his day with a glass of ginger ale.
3. While on a picnic we discovered a small aisle in the middle of a lake.
1 — wrong. The passage between rows of seats is the aisle.
2 — correct. Ale is a type of beer; ginger ale is the soft drink named after it.
3 — wrong. A small island is an isle. Note that aisle and isle are homophones — both sound like 'I'll' — which is exactly why the paper pairs them.
Q.28 [Similar Sounding Words]
Rein, Reign, Arraign
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. Queen Elizabeth II had a long rein as a British monarch.
2. One needs to reign in their impulses at times.
3. He was arraigned before the judge yesterday.
1 — wrong. A monarch's period of rule is a reign. A rein is a strap for controlling a horse.
2 — wrong. The idiom is rein in — to pull back, restrain — from the horse's rein, not from royal rule.
3 — correct. Arraign = to call an accused person before a court to answer a charge.
Q.29 [Similar Sounding Words]
Ascend, Ascent, Assent
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. She made the ascend to the top of the mountains seem effortless.
2. The Prince waited a long time to ascent the throne.
3. She gave her tacit assent to the transfer of power.
The pair here is tested on word class, not spelling alone.
1 — wrong. After the a noun is needed: the ascent.
2 — wrong. After to a verb is needed: to ascend the throne.
3 — correct. Assent = agreement or approval; tacit assent is a standard collocation.
Note: several coaching keys mark (a) '1 and 3 only'. Sentence 1 as printed reads 'the ascend', a verb where a noun is required.
Q.30 [Similar Sounding Words]
Brawl, Bawl, Bowl
In which of the sentences given below have the underlined words been used correctly?
1. The brawl caused utter confusion inside the train compartment.
2. The host served a bawl of fresh garden fruit to the guests.
3. The little kid started to bowl noisily.
1 — correct. A brawl is a rough, noisy fight.
2 — wrong. Fruit is served in a bowl.
3 — wrong. A child who cries loudly bawls. Sentences 2 and 3 have exchanged words.
Q.31 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. Many students failed in the examination.
S2. However, those who attended extra classes did not fail.
The second sentence :
S1 makes an unrestricted claim. S2 carves out a group inside that claim — those who attended extra classes — and exempts them. Narrowing the scope of an earlier statement is exactly what qualifying means.
It is not a contradiction: both sentences can be true at once. It is not a bare contrast either, because S2 is talking about a subset of the very students S1 describes, not about a separate group.
Q.32 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. The medicine was supposed to reduce his fever.
S2. Even after taking it, his temperature continued to rise.
The second sentence :
S1 states an expected effect; S2 reports the opposite outcome, cancelling that expectation outright. Nothing of S1's claim survives — that is negation, not mere contrast.
A qualification would have left the claim standing in reduced form (for example, 'though it worked slowly').
Note: several coaching keys mark (b) 'contrasts'. The distinction worth holding: S1 states a purpose and S2 shows that purpose defeated, which is stronger than setting two facts side by side. Compare Q39, where S1 merely reports a tendency.
Q.33 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. Mohan enjoys classical music.
S2. Sohan likes popular musical genres.
The second sentence :
Two different people with two different tastes are set side by side. Both statements are fully true together, so there is no contradiction; neither supports the other, so there is no confirmation.
Placing unlike things beside each other for the difference alone is contrast.
Q.34 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. Global warming is accelerating with each passing year.
S2. Recent studies indicate that temperatures are rising across continents.
The second sentence :
S2 supplies evidence — recent studies — pointing the same way as S1. When the second sentence backs the first with supporting data, the relation is confirmation.
Q.35 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. Sarah recently contended that she has never visited Paris.
S2. Someone shared a photograph that shows Sarah standing underneath the Eiffel Tower.
The second sentence :
Both cannot be true. If the photograph shows Sarah at the Eiffel Tower, her claim of never having visited Paris falls. Mutual exclusivity is the test for contradiction, and it is met here.
Q.36 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. The Indian team won the championship.
S2. They were struggling in the preliminary rounds.
The second sentence :
A struggling start and a winning finish sit oddly together but are perfectly compatible — teams do recover. The second sentence sets up a difference in tone and fortune without denying the result.
It is not a qualification: the championship is not made any less won.
Q.37 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. Geeta is an excellent public speaker.
S2. She received a standing ovation after her speech.
The second sentence :
A standing ovation is the practical proof of the quality asserted in S1. The second sentence supports and endorses the first, which is what affirm means here.
Q.38 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. The city is known for its modern architecture.
S2. The neighbouring villages maintain their traditional buildings.
The second sentence :
Modern city against traditional villages — two different places, two different styles, set against each other. Both are true; neither proves the other.
Option (d) quantifies would require S2 to supply a measure or number, which it does not.
Note: several coaching keys mark (c) 'confirms'. Villages keeping traditional buildings offers no support for the city's reputation for modern architecture; it sets a different practice beside it.
Q.39 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. The train is usually on time.
S2. The train was delayed by an hour today.
The second sentence :
The word usually already leaves room for exceptions, so today's delay takes nothing away from S1 — it neither contradicts it nor narrows it. What S2 does is set one particular day against the general habit.
This is the reason the answer here differs from Q31: there, S1 was an unqualified claim that S2 had to restrict; here S1 is already hedged.
Note: several coaching keys mark (b) 'contradicts'. A contradiction requires the two statements to be incompatible, and 'usually on time' plus 'late today' are perfectly compatible.
Q.40 [Sentence Relationship]
S1. This vaccine is highly effective.
S2. Notably however, its effect decreases slightly in older adults.
The second sentence :
S2 leaves the claim of high effectiveness standing but attaches a limit to it — in one group the effect is smaller. Reducing the reach of a claim without denying it is qualification.
Note the signal words: slightly and however together mark a concession, not a reversal.
Q.41 [Antonyms]
Her experience is requisite for the job.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Requisite = required, made necessary by circumstances.
Its opposite is optional — left to choice.
The trap is that three of the four options are near-synonyms of the key word: essential, obligatory, vital all mean 'required'. In an antonym item, the odd one out is usually the answer.
Q.42 [Antonyms]
They were given rudimentary training for the job.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Rudimentary = of the most basic kind; undeveloped.
Fundamental, basic and elementary are all synonyms of it; only advanced reverses the sense.
Q.43 [Antonyms]
She sat there looking morose.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Morose = sullen, gloomy and ill-tempered.
Melancholic and sullen are synonyms; disinterested means impartial (and is not the opposite of gloomy in any case). Cheerful is the clean reversal.
Q.44 [Antonyms]
If you listen carefully you'll discover that the soundtrack is fuzzy in places.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Fuzzy here means indistinct, blurred, hard to make out.
Distorted and vague are close to it in sense; noisy describes a different defect altogether. Only clear is its true opposite.
Q.45 [Antonyms]
The shopkeeper is known to charge exorbitant rates for the articles in his shop.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Exorbitant = unreasonably high in price.
High, outrageous and ridiculous all point the same way as the key word; affordable is the reversal. Note that (a) 'high' is a synonym of lower intensity, not an antonym — a classic distractor.
Q.46 [Antonyms]
If you ponder the matter you are likely to arrive at the appropriate conclusion.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Ponder = to consider something deeply.
Mull and rethink are synonyms; defer means to postpone, which is a delay, not the opposite of thinking. To ignore is to give a matter no thought at all.
Q.47 [Antonyms]
The diagnosis based on radiological evidence determined the condition to be mortiferous.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Mortiferous (from Latin mors, death) = death-bringing, fatal. Lethal is its exact synonym, so (d) is the deliberate trap.
In a medical context the opposite of a deadly condition is a benign one — harmless, not malignant.
Q.48 [Antonyms]
The party president chose to placate his critics within the party.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Placate = to soothe or appease someone who is angry. Pacify is its synonym.
To provoke is to stir anger up — the reversal. Persuade is about changing a mind, not calming a temper.
Q.49 [Antonyms]
The magician hoodwinked the children.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Hoodwink = to deceive by trickery — the image is of a hood pulled over the eyes.
Cheated and fooled are synonyms. To disabuse someone is to free them from a mistaken belief, which is precisely the reverse of deceiving them. (Unhooked plays on the sound of 'hood' and means nothing relevant.)
Q.50 [Antonyms]
She led a precarious life as a theatre artist.
Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Precarious = uncertain, insecure, dependent on chance.
Insecure is a synonym; precious and precipitous are sound-alike traps (precipitous means steep). Stable is the opposite.
Q.51 [Fill in the Blanks]
Switzerland lies __________ France, Germany, Austria and Italy.
The school rule 'between for two, among for more than two' is only half the story. Between is the word for the relation of one thing to several distinct, individually named things, however many; among is for a relation to an undifferentiated mass or group.
Switzerland has four named neighbours and shares a separate border with each, so it lies between France, Germany, Austria and Italy — exactly as one says 'a treaty between the five powers'.
Use among when the surrounding items are not separately in view: a house among the trees, popular among students.
Besides means 'in addition to' and states no position at all.
Q.52 [Fill in the Blanks]
May I pay __________ credit card ?
The method of payment takes by with no article: pay by card, by cheque, by UPI.
With is possible only when a determiner follows — pay with a credit card. Since the blank here is followed directly by 'credit card', only by is grammatical.
Q.53 [Fill in the Blanks]
The information is available __________ the Internet.
English fixes the Internet as a surface or platform: on the Internet, on the web, on a website — but in a book and in a newspaper.
From would need a source you obtain it from rather than a place it is available at.
Q.54 [Fill in the Blanks]
Didn't you borrow __________ books of mine ?
Rule: some is the default in affirmative statements; any is the default in negatives and in questions. This sentence is both a question and negative, so any is the form the item is testing.
Few and many change the meaning rather than fill the slot — few carries a negative shade ('hardly any') and does not sit naturally before an of-phrase here.
Some is not ungrammatical: it is used in questions that are really offers, requests or reminders (Won't you have some tea?). Read as a plain enquiry, though, the negative question takes any.
Q.55 [Fill in the Blanks]
If you have any leftover milk, could you spare me __________ ?
Rule: a little = a small quantity, positive in sense. Little without the article = hardly any, negative in sense — which makes no sense in a request.
(c) is ungrammatical: an never appears before a consonant sound. Any is odd at the end of a polite request of this kind.
Q.56 [Fill in the Blanks]
He sat __________ her all night.
Beside = at the side of, next to. Besides = in addition to / moreover. Aside is an adverb (to one side) and cannot take an object.
Since the blank is followed directly by the object her, only the preposition of place fits.
Q.57 [Fill in the Blanks]
Talk me __________ your plans.
The phrasal verb is talk somebody through something — to explain it to them step by step.
Talk about is idiomatic too, but it does not take a personal object in this pattern: you say talk to me about your plans, not talk me about your plans. With the object me placed immediately after the verb, only through works.
Note: several coaching keys mark (c) 'about'. English does not allow talk somebody about something — it is talk to somebody about something. With me already in place as the object, only through completes a grammatical sentence.
Q.58 [Fill in the Blanks]
__________ people make their own bread today than in earlier times.
Rule: fewer goes with countable nouns (people, books, cars); less with uncountable nouns (milk, money, time). People is countable.
The word than also shows a comparative is required, which rules out the plain positive few. Lesser means 'of smaller importance' and is not a quantity word.
Q.59 [Fill in the Blanks]
This beautiful historical building shall soon be restored to its __________ state.
Pristine = in its original, unspoilt condition — exactly what restoration aims at.
Degenerate and dilapidated describe decay, so restoring a building to them is self-contradictory. Normal is too colourless for a heritage structure and does not collocate with restored to its … state.
Q.60 [Fill in the Blanks]
I don't like being stared __________.
Stare always takes at: stare at a person, at a screen. The passive keeps the preposition stranded at the end — being stared at.
Compare the family: laughed at, looked at, shouted at, pointed at.
Q.61 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Discreet B. Discrete C. Desecrate D. Decrepit
List II (Meaning) 1. Decaying 2. Tactful 3. Defile 4. Separate
Discreet — careful and tactful about what one says; hence tactful (2).
Discrete — individually separate and distinct; hence separate (4).
Desecrate — to treat a sacred thing with violent disrespect; hence defile (3).
Decrepit — worn out by age or long use; hence decaying (1).
Discreet and discrete are homophones — the single most commonly confused pair in this list.
Q.62 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Inflation B. Indentation C. Infiltration D. Inflection
List II (Meaning) 1. Expansion 2. Declension 3. Permeation 4. Depression
Inflation — a swelling or increase; hence expansion (1).
Indentation — a notch or dent cut into a surface; hence depression (4).
Infiltration — passing gradually into or through; hence permeation (3).
Inflection — the change in the form of a word to mark case, number or tense; declension (2) is exactly that process for nouns and adjectives.
The grammar sense of inflection is what makes this item hard — most candidates know only the 'change of voice pitch' meaning.
Q.63 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Polyglot B. Polymorphous C. Polysemy D. Polymath
List II (Meaning) 1. Having more than one meaning 2. A person of great and varied learning 3. A person knowing more than one language 4. Having many different forms
Every word begins with poly- (many); the second root settles the meaning.
Polyglot — glotta, tongue → many languages (3).
Polymorphous — morphe, form → many forms (4).
Polysemy — sema, sign/meaning → many meanings for one word (1).
Polymath — manthanein, to learn → a person of wide learning (2).
Note that two of these are persons (polyglot, polymath) and two are properties (polymorphous, polysemy) — the quickest way to halve the options.
Note: some circulated keys mark (b), which pairs Polysemy with 'a person of great and varied learning' and Polymath with 'having more than one meaning'. Both pairings describe the wrong part of speech, so that key cannot be right.
Q.64 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Philatelist B. Philanthropist C. Philologist D. Philistine
List II (Meaning) 1. A person who studies language 2. A person who does not value art or culture 3. A person who collects stamps 4. A person who helps the needy
Philatelist — stamp collector (3).
Philanthropist — philos + anthropos, lover of humankind; one who gives to those in need (4).
Philologist — philos + logos, lover of words; a student of language and its history (1).
Philistine — a person indifferent or hostile to art and culture (2). The word comes from the biblical Philistines and was borrowed into this sense by nineteenth-century critics.
Note: some circulated keys mark (c), which makes the Philologist the person who does not value art and the Philistine the student of language — the two are simply swapped.
Q.65 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Tabernacle B. Tenuous C. Tempestuous D. Tendentious
List II (Meaning) 1. Biased 2. Place of worship 3. Stormy 4. Flimsy
Tabernacle — a tent or building used for worship (2).
Tenuous — very slight, thin, with little substance; hence flimsy (4), as in a tenuous connection.
Tempestuous — from tempest; stormy (3).
Tendentious — written or spoken to promote a cause; hence biased (1).
Tendentious and tenuous are the pair that trips candidates: one is about slant, the other about slightness.
Q.66 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Sacred B. Desecration C. Sacrosanct D. Sacrifice
List II (Meaning) 1. Oblation 2. Consecrated 3. Defilement 4. Inviolable
Sacred — set apart as holy; hence consecrated (2).
Desecration — the violation of something sacred; hence defilement (3).
Sacrosanct — too important or holy to be interfered with; hence inviolable (4).
Sacrifice — an offering made to a deity; oblation (1) is the exact technical term for such an offering.
All four share the Latin root sacer, holy — the prefix cannot separate them, so the second half of each word must be read.
Q.67 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Triumph B. Triumphant C. Triumphal D. Triumphalism
List II (Meaning) 1. Feeling great pride post victory 2. Act of celebrating a great success or victory 3. A show of smug superiority 4. A notable success
The four words are the noun, two adjectives and an -ism formed on one root.
Triumph (noun) — a notable success (4).
Triumphant (adjective, of a person) — feeling or showing the pride of victory (1).
Triumphal (adjective, of a thing or event) — belonging to the celebration of a victory, as in a triumphal arch or triumphal procession (2).
Triumphalism — excessive, smug glorying in one's victory (3).
Remember the split: triumphant describes the winner, triumphal describes the ceremony.
Q.68 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Revel B. Revelry C. Reveal D. Reveller
List II (Meaning) 1. Unrestrained merriment 2. To make merry 3. Boisterous individual making merry 4. Disclose
Revel (verb) — to make merry, to enjoy oneself noisily (2).
Revelry (noun) — the merrymaking itself (1).
Reveal (verb) — to disclose (4); it belongs to a different root altogether and is planted here purely as a look-alike.
Reveller (noun, person) — one who revels (3).
The suffixes give the game away: -ry forms the abstract noun, -er forms the doer.
Q.69 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Transmit B. Transmute C. Transpire D. Transient
List II (Meaning) 1. To happen or occur 2. To continue for only a short time 3. To change into something different 4. To send an electronic signal
Transmit — to send across, as a signal (4).
Transmute — mutare, to change; to change one thing into another (3), as base metal into gold.
Transpire — in ordinary modern use, to happen or come to light (1). (Its older sense, 'to leak out as vapour', survives in transpiration in botany.)
Transient — lasting only a short time (2).
Note that transient is the only adjective in List I, and 2 the only description of duration — pair those first and the rest follows.
Q.70 [Word Meanings — Matching]
Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists :
List I (Word/Term) A. Emanated B. Emancipated C. Empathised D. Emaciated
List II (Meaning) 1. Liberated 2. Starved 3. Originated 4. Commiserated
Emanated — issued or flowed out from a source; hence originated (3).
Emancipated — set free from legal, social or political restraint; hence liberated (1).
Empathised — shared another's feelings; commiserated (4) is the nearest of the four.
Emaciated — abnormally thin from hunger or illness; hence starved (2).
Four words, one prefix, four unrelated roots — the paper's standard way of forcing precise vocabulary rather than guesswork.
Q.71 [Reading Comprehension]
When Elizabeth Long began investigating women's book groups in the mid-1980s, her research plan provoked two profoundly different sets of reactions. Women, who had themselves participated in such groups, as well as men whose mothers and grandmothers had done so, immediately grasped the importance of her project : “You will never know what a difference it made” was the phrase she heard again and again. But among her academic colleagues, common readers seemed to be occupying a zone of cultural invisibility. They were not of interest to literature departments, whose major focus is on books and authors, not readers. They were not of interest to sociologists or political scientists because women's reading groups do not pursue activities with any obvious relationship to formal political processes. Long, however, went on to show that such groups had mobilised the women's suffrage and Progressive movements at the grassroots. Scholars of popular culture had not found reading groups interesting because the groups read canonized fiction and did not transform their cultural consumption into a ‘resistant’ subcultural style. It had not yet occurred to them that the so-called highbrow canonical literature could be immensely popular and devilishly subversive. David Vincent's Bread, Knowledge and Freedom (1981) had already demonstrated the important role of reading in inspiring working-class consciousness in early nineteenth-century Britain. As a sociologist, Long concluded that the really important question that needed answering was why academics did not care about readers.
In this passage, “women's suffrage” refers to :
Suffrage means the right to vote — from Latin suffragium, a vote or ballot. The women's suffrage movement is the historical campaign for that right.
The passage confirms the reading: the phrase sits beside 'the Progressive movements', both of them organised political campaigns that book groups helped mobilise 'at the grassroots'.
Option (a) is the sound trap — suffrage and suffering share the look but not the root.
Q.72 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage I above.)
In this passage, “grassroots” refers to :
Grassroots describes the ordinary members of an organisation or society, as distinct from its leadership — activity at the base rather than the top.
In context, Long's point is that book groups did their political work from below, through ordinary women in ordinary neighbourhoods. That is precisely what (d) 'the gentry in the cities' inverts.
Q.73 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage I above.)
Which of the following is the correct noun form of “subversive” ?
The family runs: subvert (verb) → subversive (adjective) → subversion (noun) → subversively (adverb).
(a) is the verb, not the noun. (b) is a gerund — a verb form, not the standard noun. (d) subvention is a different word altogether, meaning a grant or subsidy.
Q.74 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage I above.)
In this passage, “canonical literature” refers to :
A literary canon is the body of works judged to be the most important and worth preserving; canonical literature is the writing admitted to it.
The passage supports this: it calls the same body of work 'highbrow' and notes the surprise that it could be 'immensely popular and devilishly subversive'. Nothing in it suggests worthlessness, so (b) and (d) are out.
Q.75 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage I above.)
Which of the following words is opposite in meaning to the word “resistant” ?
Resistant means opposing or refusing to yield. Pliant means easily bent or influenced — yielding — and is therefore its opposite.
Defiant is a synonym of resistant, not an antonym. Persistent is about continuing, and hesitant about doubting; neither is about yielding.
Q.76 [Reading Comprehension]
Christopher Columbus of Spain set foot in the New World in 1492. Six years later, Vasco da Gama of Portugal reached India. During the next two centuries the Spaniards and the Portuguese actively transferred, not only to Europe but to many parts of Asia as well, a number of plant species which they encountered in South and central America, in expectation of their potential either as food or as medicine. These plants had been developed to a high degree by the Maya and Inca civilizations of these regions. Of these, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) is believed to have been domesticated in terraced slopes on the high plateau of Bolivia-Peru in South America, sometime between 5000 and 2000 BC. Europeans first saw potatoes in South America in 1537 and around 1570 a Spanish ship brought the first potatoes to Europe. Though termed papa in South America, they were incorrectly called batata (the name for the sweet potato) when John Gerard first described them in English in 1597, and this name stuck. An 1860 report states that by 1780, potatoes, peas and beans were in high repute as foods in Calcutta, and that the Dutch are said to have been the first to introduce the culture of potatoes, which was received from their settlement of the Cape of Good Hope. From there the British received annually the seeds of every kind of vegetable useful at the table, as well as several plants of which there appears to be much need, especially various kinds of pot herbs.
This passage traces the history of …
Follow the passage's own sequence: domestication on the Bolivia-Peru plateau → first seen by Europeans in 1537 → carried to Europe by a Spanish ship around 1570 → in high repute as food in Calcutta by 1780. The narrative begins in South America and ends in India, so (d) states both ends of the journey the passage actually traces.
(a) and (b) reverse the direction of travel.
Why not (c) ? It is the closest rival, and a candidate who marks it has read the passage correctly — but the passage names the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, not Europe, as the immediate source for India, and it spends most of its length on the South American origin. If the official key reads (c), this is a defensible item to challenge.
Q.77 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage II above.)
According to this passage, how long ago was the potato domesticated in South America ?
The passage gives the window as 5000 to 2000 BC. Convert BC dates into 'years ago' by adding the current year:
5000 BC → about 5000 + 2026 ≈ 7000 years ago
2000 BC → about 2000 + 2026 ≈ 4000 years ago
So the range is four to seven thousand years ago. Option (b) is the trap for anyone who copies the BC figures straight across without converting.
Q.78 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage II above.)
In this passage the word “culture” refers to
The sentence is: 'the Dutch are said to have been the first to introduce the culture of potatoes'. Here culture carries its agricultural sense — cultivation — the same root that gives agriculture, horticulture, viticulture and aquaculture.
(a) and (b) are the everyday sociological senses, correct as dictionary definitions but wrong for this context. A word-in-context item always turns on the sentence, not the dictionary's first entry.
Q.79 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage II above.)
Which form of the word “settlement” can be used both as a verb and as an adjective ?
As a verb: 'They settled in Calcutta' — the past tense of settle, and also its past participle ('had settled').
As an adjective: 'a settled life', 'unsettled weather' — a participial adjective describing a state.
(c) Settler is only a noun. (d) Settle is only a verb. (b) Settling is a present participle and can premodify a noun, but the standard answer is the -ed form, which carries both functions in established usage.
Q.80 [Reading Comprehension]
(Refer to Passage II above.)
The word “terraced” has been formed by changing
Terrace is a noun — a level, raised bank of earth. Adding -ed produces terraced, which in the passage modifies the noun slopes: 'domesticated in terraced slopes'.
The -ed suffix on a noun is a regular way of forming adjectives of possession or feature: wooded hills, gifted child, horned animal, moneyed class.
Q.81 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Codex
A codex is an early book made of bound leaves, as opposed to a rolled scroll — the format that replaced the scroll in the Roman world. Plural: codices.
(c) is the trap for anyone who hears 'code' in the word; the shared Latin root caudex (tree trunk, wooden tablet) also gives us code, but the meanings parted long ago.
Q.82 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Ergonomics
From Greek ergon (work) + nomos (law): the design of equipment and tasks to fit the human body, so that work is done safely and efficiently.
(b) plays on erg, which really is the CGS unit of energy — but that is the unit, not the discipline.
Q.83 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Sobriquet
A sobriquet (French) is a nickname or byname, usually affectionate or descriptive — 'the Iron Lady', 'the Bard of Avon', 'Nightingale of India'.
(a) is the trap through the sound of soup/sober; the word has nothing to do with either.
Q.84 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Viticulture
Latin vitis = vine. Viticulture is the growing of grapes.
(c) is the near-miss that decides this question: the making of wine is viniculture (or vinification). Viticulture happens in the vineyard, viniculture in the winery — and the item is phrased 'most appropriate meaning', so the precise split matters.
Q.85 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Communiqué
A communiqué is a formal statement issued to the public or the press — most familiar from diplomacy, where a joint communiqué is released at the end of a summit.
The other three options all describe orders; a communiqué informs, it does not direct.
Q.86 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Sub-judice
Latin sub judice, literally 'under a judge' — a case still pending before a court and therefore not to be publicly prejudged.
(c) describes jurisdiction, a different term entirely. Knowing the literal Latin settles this one without any legal background.
Q.87 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of intentions and policy, most familiar as an election manifesto.
(a) defines a transcript, (c) a statute, (d) a charter or memorandum — all plausible-looking, which is why the item works.
Q.88 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Tapestry
A tapestry is a thick textile with designs woven into it, traditionally hung on walls or used to cover furniture.
(a) describes an engraving, (b) a collage or mixed-media work, (c) a form of batik or hand-painting. The defining features of a tapestry are that it is woven and that it hangs.
Q.89 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Connotation
Connotation is the set of associations a word carries over and above its dictionary sense.
(d) is its exact counterpart — denotation, the literal meaning — and is the option most candidates fall for. (b) points to hyperbole/euphemism, (c) to a theme.
Example: home and residence denote the same thing; only home connotes warmth.
Q.90 [Vocabulary — Word Meanings]
Identify the most appropriate meaning : Alibi
Latin alibi = 'elsewhere'. In law it is the defence that the accused was at another place when the offence was committed, and therefore could not have committed it.
(d) describes mistaken identity, a distinct defence; (b) describes a defence witness. The essence of an alibi is place, not identity.
Q.91 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : In a typical Indian village today, one is certain to find groups of women talking about finance.
S6 : In a society where women play significant but never-recognised roles, being a part of an SHG which gives them such financial power is indeed a matter of pride.
P : Sitting there, they might proudly introduce themselves by saying that they are members of a self-help group (SHG).
Q : Alternatively, they might lend money at reasonable interest rates to members for starting small businesses.
R : They can be seen sitting under a tree, in an abandoned school building, or in the front yard of a village resident's dilapidated home, holding thick notebooks.
S : An SHG is usually a community group of 10-12 women from similar socio-economic background who pool their financial resources for taking up joint economic activities.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
R must come first: it answers 'where' for the groups introduced in S1, and its They points straight back to 'groups of women'.
P opens with Sitting there — 'there' can only refer to the places listed in R, so P is locked to R.
S then defines what an SHG is, immediately after P first names it.
Q begins with Alternatively, which needs a first activity to be an alternative to — supplied by the 'joint economic activities' in S.
S6 closes on the pride of SHG membership, which follows naturally.
Method: lock the pronoun and adverb links (They, there, Alternatively) before worrying about sense.
Q.92 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : For much of history, surnames, or last names, were not considered necessary.
S6 : These two pieces of medieval bureaucracy meant that virtually everyone had to settle on a definite and fixed surname.
P : The other was the enactment of the Statute of Additions in 1413, which required that all legal documents contain not just the person's given name, but also his or her occupation and place of abode.
Q : One was the introduction of a poll tax in 1379, which led the government to collect the name of every person aged sixteen or over.
R : But sometimes, the process was accelerated such as in England where two events gave a boost to the adoption of surnames.
S : The business of acquiring surnames was a long one that evolved over centuries rather than years.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
S follows S1 directly — it restates the slowness of the process.
R begins with But, the pivot away from that slowness, and announces 'two events'.
Q and P are then bound by the correlative pair One was… The other was…, which fixes Q before P.
The dates confirm it: the poll tax of 1379 precedes the Statute of Additions of 1413.
S6 sums up with 'These two pieces of medieval bureaucracy' — which only makes sense once both have been named.
Q.93 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : The first American settlers happened to live in the midst of perhaps the most exciting period in the history of the English language.
S6 : Had the settlers gone a quarter of a century earlier, America might well have preserved those previous forms, as it preserved many other archaisms.
P : Similarly, thee and thou pronoun forms were also dying out.
Q : This was a time when 12,000 words were being added to the language.
R : One such change which these first settlers had already adopted was to use the s form on verbs, saying has rather than hath, runs rather than runneth.
S : It was also a time of considerable change in the structure of the language.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
Q opens with This was a time…, picking up 'period' from S1 and giving the first reason it was exciting — vocabulary growth.
S adds the second reason with also: change in structure.
R illustrates that structural change — One such change… requires a change to have just been mentioned.
P adds a parallel example with Similarly.
S6 then refers to 'those previous forms', i.e. hath, runneth, thee, thou — so both examples must already have appeared.
Q.94 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : In 1984, two small clay tablets of vaguely rectangular shape were found in Tell Brak, Syria, dating from the fourth millennium BCE.
S6 : All our history begins with these two modest tablets as they are among the oldest examples of writing we know.
P : One of the animals may have been a goat, in which case the other probably was a sheep.
Q : Lying there were these simple, unimpressive objects, each bearing a few discrete markings : a small indentation near the top and some sort of stick-drawn animal in the centre.
R : The indentation, on the other hand, represents, according to archaeologists, the number ten.
S : These two tablets were seen by an expert the year before the Gulf War, in an unostentatious display case in the Archaeological Museum of Baghdad.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
S takes the tablets from their 1984 discovery to the museum case — and supplies the location that the next sentence needs.
Q starts Lying there…; 'there' is the display case in S. Q also introduces the two markings — the animal and the indentation.
P then expands on the first marking (the animal).
R turns to the second with on the other hand — a phrase that demands a preceding item, which P provides.
The animal-before-indentation order inside Q is also the order in which P and R take them up.
Q.95 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : For generations, the Balaraju pond remained the primary water source of Perakalapudi village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
S6 : It was only after major restoration work was carried out to restore the pond's storage capacity that the community could return to its traditional livelihood.
P : By the 2000s, decades of water mismanagement led to a rapid drop in the groundwater table as well.
Q : However, overexploitation caused the pond to shrink to half its original size and reduced its water storage capacity by 60 per cent.
R : The pond, spread across 2·4 hectares, supported irrigation, sustained the fishing community, met household needs and remained home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.
S : As the pond disappeared, the households relied on groundwater to meet their daily needs.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
The paragraph runs on a clear decline curve.
R expands S1's picture of the healthy pond — its size and the four things it supported.
Q turns with However to the damage.
S gives the consequence: with the pond gone, households turn to groundwater.
P carries that consequence one step further — as well signals a second casualty, the groundwater table itself, and 'By the 2000s' places it last in time.
S6 then supplies the recovery, which can only follow the full decline.
Q.96 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : While most people are comfortable talking about colour, the concept of luminance – even though it is more fundamental – seems less familiar.
S6 : This is something the Impressionist artists were able to master and it gave a shimmering, lively quality to many of their paintings.
P : For example, given two patches of grey, they can easily tell which is lighter.
Q : As the artist and art teacher Josef Albers states, just as a musician should be able to distinguish between a higher tone and a lower tone, an artist should be able to distinguish between higher and lower light intensity between different colours.
R : Artists, however, must learn to distinguish differences in luminance, independent of colour.
S : But given two patches of different colours, it is often difficult to make the same distinction.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
P follows S1: they refers to 'most people', and the grey-patch example shows what ordinary viewers can do.
S supplies the limit with But — different colours defeat them.
R introduces the contrast class with Artists, however — professionals must manage what ordinary viewers cannot.
Q then backs R with the authority of Josef Albers.
S6's 'This is something the Impressionist artists were able to master' points back to the artists' skill established in R and Q.
Q.97 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : Wooden furniture is durable and long-lasting, reducing the need for frequent replacement.
S6 : A still better and sustainable, though slow, way is to plant new trees to maintain the forest cover.
P : Some of these negative impacts are deforestation and the loss of habitat for numerous species of animals.
Q : Deforestation in turn disrupts water-cycles and accelerates the pace of climate change.
R : However, its use causes several negative ecological impacts.
S : One way of reducing the use of wood is to recycle it as much as possible.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
R is the pivot: S1 praises wood, R turns it with However.
P then unpacks R — Some of these negative impacts… can only follow a mention of negative impacts.
Q extends the chain with in turn: deforestation → disrupted water cycles → climate change.
S moves from problem to remedy, offering recycling as 'one way'.
S6 clinches it with 'A still better… way', a comparative that needs S's remedy to stand beside.
Q.98 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : Circadian rhythm is a term used to refer to the physical, mental and behavioural changes an organism experiences over a 24-hour cycle.
S6 : Maintaining a good circadian rhythm through appropriate exposure to natural light, consistent sleep schedules and times of eating, and adequate physical exercise during the day can allow an organism to live a healthy life.
P : Prolonged disruption, moreover, can cause long-term damages such as metabolic diseases, cardiovascular problems, and mental health issues.
Q : Light and dark (daytime and night-time) have the biggest influence on these circadian rhythms.
R : Circadian rhythms are also affected by food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment and temperature.
S : When any one or more than one of these cause the circadian rhythm to be disrupted, it can lead to sleep problems, drowsiness and poor focus.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
Q names the strongest influence first — light and dark.
R adds the rest with also, so it must follow Q.
S then refers to 'any one or more than one of these', a plural that needs the full list from Q and R already in place.
P escalates with moreover, moving from short-term effects (sleep problems, drowsiness) to long-term disease.
S6 closes on the remedy — light exposure, sleep schedules, eating times, exercise — which are precisely the factors listed in Q and R.
Q.99 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : All the different parts of our eye help us to see.
S6 : These electrical signals then travel through the optic nerve to the brain which in turn converts these signals into the images we see.
P : The iris, which is the coloured part of the eye, controls how much light the pupil lets in.
Q : Next, light passes through the lens, the clear inner part of the eye, which focuses this light on the retina.
R : First, light passes through the cornea, the clear front layer of the eye, and enters the eye through an opening called the pupil.
S : When it hits the retina, special cells called photoreceptors convert the light into electrical signals.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
This is a process paragraph, so follow the light.
R is fixed by the word First — cornea, then pupil.
P follows because it explains the pupil just named: the iris controls how much light the pupil admits.
Q is fixed by Next — the lens, which focuses light on the retina.
S begins 'When it hits the retina', so the retina must already have been mentioned, which happens in Q.
S6 then picks up 'These electrical signals', produced at the end of S. Anatomically the order is cornea → pupil/iris → lens → retina → optic nerve.
Q.100 [Sentence Ordering]
S1 : Humans in colder climates first began wearing some form of sturdy foot covering at least 40,000 years ago.
S6 : Today, minimalistic barefoot shoes are becoming popular because they allow the wearer to feel the ground beneath their feet while still offering some protection and support.
P : Unfortunately, modern shoes have also had a negative impact on feet due to bad design such as a narrow toe box, difference in heel to toe drop, however slight, and stiff soles.
Q : Earlier skeletons had very robust little toes that could bend and grip surfaces.
R : These gradually evolved to become less substantial than the big toe because shoe-like coverings reduced the mechanical stress on them and made them weaker.
S : The evidence for this comes from the study of changes in the structure of the toe bones of foot skeletons from that time.
Find the proper sequence of the four sentences.
S comes first: 'The evidence for this' refers back to the 40,000-year claim in S1, and 'from that time' ties it to the same period.
Q presents that evidence — what earlier skeletons show.
R continues with These, meaning the robust little toes of Q, and explains how they weakened.
P then moves from ancient to modern footwear, signalled by also and modern shoes.
S6 ends on today's barefoot shoes, the natural close after P's criticism of modern design.
Q.101 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Presumptive and Presumptuous
Presumptive — based on reasonable grounds for belief; probable. Hence the heir presumptive, presumed to inherit unless a closer heir is born.
Presumptuous — taking liberties; overstepping the bounds of what is proper. 'It would be presumptuous of me to advise you.'
(b) is the same pair reversed, which is how this section is always built: read both halves before marking.
Q.102 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Tempestuous and Temperamental
Tempestuous — from tempest, a violent storm; stormy, turbulent, marked by strong and violent emotion.
Temperamental — from temperament; liable to sudden and unreasonable changes of mood, hence unpredictable. (It also describes machines that work erratically.)
(c) and (d) play on the false link between temperamental and temperature — different words, different roots.
Q.103 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Voyager and Voyeur
Voyager — one who makes a voyage; a traveller, especially by sea or through space.
Voyeur — from French voir, to see; a person who gains gratification from secretly watching others.
(c) is the straight reversal. Note that a travel writer in (a) is not the same as a traveller — the extra word makes the option wrong even for the right word.
Q.104 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Differ and Defer
Differ — to be unlike; also to disagree ('I beg to differ').
Defer — to put off to a later time ('the meeting was deferred'). In its second sense, defer to someone means to yield to their judgement out of respect — which is why 'to be respectful' appears as a distractor. Taken on its own, without the preposition, the primary meaning of defer is to delay.
Q.105 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Elegy and Eulogy
Elegy — a poem of serious reflection and lament, typically for the dead. Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is the standard example.
Eulogy — a speech or piece of writing in high praise of someone, usually delivered at a funeral.
The distinction to hold on to: an elegy mourns and is a poem; a eulogy praises and is usually spoken. (c) describes an epitaph, which is the third member of this family.
Q.106 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Concord and Concourse
Concord — agreement and harmony between people or states; in grammar, the agreement of subject and verb.
Concourse — a large open central area in a public building, such as a railway station or airport, where crowds gather.
Both come from Latin com- (together), which is exactly why the other options sound plausible; only (a) gets both halves right.
Q.107 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Edify and Educe
Edify — from Latin aedificare, to build; to instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually.
Educe — from educere, to lead out; to draw out or elicit something latent, such as information or a quality.
Option (c) is the trap: 'enlighten' is a fair gloss for edify, but 'reduce' is wrong for educe. In a both-words item, one wrong half kills the option.
Q.108 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Flaunt and Flinch
Flaunt — to display something ostentatiously, to show it off.
Flinch — to make a quick, involuntary movement away from something painful or frightening; to shy away.
Do not confuse flaunt with flout, which means to defy a rule openly — the pair that option (d)'s 'breach' is fishing for.
Q.109 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Ingenious and Ingenuous
Ingenious — clever, inventive, showing originality of thought.
Ingenuous — innocent and unsuspecting; artless, naively trusting. (Its opposite, disingenuous, is the far commoner word.)
(b) is the reversal. (c) is the near-miss: 'genuine' is not the same as 'naively trusting', and a person can be genuine without being ingenuous.
Q.110 [Confusable Word Pairs]
Select the option that most appropriately describes the meaning of both the words : Nefarious and Nebulous
Nefarious — wicked, criminal, infamous; 'scandalous' carries that sense of notorious wrongdoing.
Nebulous — from nebula, a cloud; hazy, vague, without definite form or limits.
Option (c) is the closest rival and worth understanding: 'wicked' is arguably a sharper gloss for nefarious than 'scandalous', but its second half, 'unpleasant', is simply wrong for nebulous. Since both halves must hold, (a) is the only option that survives.
Q.111 [Synonyms]
As a child she displayed a precocious talent for music.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Precocious describes a child who develops abilities earlier than is usual for that age — literally 'ripening early' (Latin praecox).
The sentence signals it: 'As a child' plus 'talent' sets up the idea of ability ahead of years. None of the other options is about ability at all.
Q.112 [Synonyms]
He spoke with a tremulous voice.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Tremulous shares its root with tremble and tremor: shaking slightly, usually from nervousness or emotion.
(a) and (d) are its opposites, planted for candidates who confuse the synonym section with the antonym section — always check which the instruction asks for.
Q.113 [Synonyms]
These days there is a lot of gratuitous violence on television.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Gratuitous means done without good reason; uncalled for. The root sense is 'given free', and from it comes 'given without cause'.
(b) and (c) are pure sound-alikes. (d) 'unqualified' means absolute or unrestricted — a different idea, though the un- makes it look related.
Q.114 [Synonyms]
His incendiary remarks precipitated disaffection among the group.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Incendiary literally means fire-raising (an incendiary bomb); of speech, it means designed to inflame feeling and stir up conflict.
The sentence supports it — the remarks 'precipitated disaffection', that is, brought on discontent. 'Insensitive' would be careless; incendiary is deliberate.
Q.115 [Synonyms]
Her career as a gymnast has been blighted by the decisions taken by her coach.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Blight is a plant disease that withers crops; used of a career or hope, it means to spoil or destroy.
(a) 'shortened' is the near-miss — a blighted career may well be cut short, but the word is about damage, not duration. (c) and (d) point the wrong way entirely.
Q.116 [Synonyms]
The office staff were left absolutely nonplussed by the unexpected question posed by the boss.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Nonplussed means so surprised or confused that one does not know how to react — from Latin non plus, 'no more', the point at which nothing further can be said.
'Unexpected question' in the sentence is the clue: surprise leading to bewilderment, not fear (d) or anger (b).
Q.117 [Synonyms]
He had not completed the mandatory training for his promotion to the level of senior manager.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Mandatory means required by rule or law — from mandate, a command.
(c) recommendatory is the exact opposite in force: advised, not required. (a) perfunctory means done carelessly as a routine, which describes how a thing is done, not whether it must be.
Q.118 [Synonyms]
One ought not to be dogmatic about one's beliefs.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Dogmatic means asserting opinions as if they were unquestionable fact; inflexible in belief.
(b) amenable and (d) unassuming are opposites. (c) deterministic belongs to philosophy and science — the doctrine that events are fixed by prior causes — and has nothing to do with obstinacy of opinion.
Q.119 [Synonyms]
Guests visiting the professor are inevitably treated to a scrumptious meal.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Scrumptious means extremely tasty, delicious. Delectable means delightful, especially to the taste — the closest match.
(a) lavish is the trap: it describes quantity and generosity, not flavour. A lavish meal may be dull; a scrumptious one need not be large. (d) abstemious means sparing, the opposite of indulgent.
Q.120 [Synonyms]
The menu for the birthday party comprised only savoury items, which took the gathered children by surprise.
Select the option that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Savoury food is salty or spicy rather than sweet — the everyday opposition on any menu.
The sentence settles it: the children were surprised precisely because a birthday spread with no sweets is unusual. That contrast rules out (c) sugary.
Savoury can also mean 'pleasant in taste or smell', which makes (d) tempting, but the sweet-versus-salt contrast built into the sentence is what the item is testing.