APPSC GROUP – I MAINS
GENERAL ENGLISH PREVIOUS PAPER- 2011
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that
follow: 20
One day while
Galileo was aimlessly walking about in the streets of Pisa, he happened to stop
in front of the great cathedral. He looked at the beautiful arches as though he
were seeing them for the first time. He had passed them by often, but never
really taken much notice of them. Almost without thinking he entered the cathedral,
perhaps to look more closely at its magnificent interior, perhaps to pray. We
shall never know, but we do know that as he stepped into the calm, serene quiet
of the church, he was unknowingly coming to the turning point in his life.
Galileo sat down on a bench and looked
around at the beautiful altar, the colourful mosaics and the marble pillars
that had been brought from Greek and Roman ruins to build the cathedral
hundreds of years ago. Suddenly, something moving caught his eye. Some workmen,
who were making repairs in the building, had set the great lamp swinging.
Fascinated,
Galileo rose and watched it. Strange! It started swinging in a wide arc, but as
the arc of its swing became smaller, its swinging became slower. He put the
fingers of his right hand to the pulse on his left wrist, as he had been taught
in medical school. To the regular beating of his pulse, he began timing the
swinging of the lamp. Stranger still I No matter what the size of the arc, the
time it took for the lamp to make one complete swing was the same! Even though,
after a while, the swinging of the lamp slowed down considerably, it made no
difference in the total time it took to cover the distance of the arc.
i. Which words tell us that Galileo had no special reason
for walking in the streets of Pisa?
ii. What did Galileo do after entering the church?
iii. How do we know that Galileo is not seeing the arches
for the first time?
iv. Why did Galileo
enter the cathedral?
v. What did Galileo
observe suddenly?
vi. What did Galileo notice about the lamp?
vii. How did he calculate the time of the swinging?
viii. Where did he learn this method of calculation? inside
the church?
ix. Which three words describe the atmosphere
x. What was the discovery that Galileo made after observing
the lamp?
2. Read the passage given below and make a precis of it in one - third its
original length. Give an appropriate title for the passage. Use the special
sheets for writing the precis. 15
Environmental pollution is, generally,
the poisonin of the Earth's air, water and soil. Usually, pollution is caused
by man. The fuels man burns for power give off poisonous waste products into
the air. His industries dump their waste Products into streams and his garbage
befouls land and water. When large enough quantities of waste pollute the environment,
all living things can be harmed and even destroyed. The word pollution comes
from the Latin word ' polluere’ meaning to befoul or make unclean. It refers to
both impurities and upsets in the natural environment. Until the twentieth century,
pollution almost always involved air or water. But now other aspects of the
environment are polluted as well. When large hoardings with advertisements mar
the scenic beau ty of a landscape, when pesticides enter the food chains of animals,
and when loud noises disturb a neighbourhood's peace and quiet, pollution occurs.
What is considered pollution in one situation
may b useful elsewhere, however. Organic wastes that pollute waterways, for instance,
can be beneficial if used in a field as fertilizer. But, in general, pollution
inter feres with the environment's capacity to support different forms of life (190
words)
3. Read the sentences given below. Rearrange them in
sequential order to form a meaningful and logical paragraph. 10
i. One day, after hunting down a buffalo and having a hearty meal, the lion was returning to his cave.
ii." Please accept me as your servant. "
iii. The jackal was indeed happy, as he never had to go in
search of food in the dense forest.
iv. He met a jackal on
the way, who came to him and said, " O king, you are the mightiest of all animals“.
v. Soon, the starving
jackal became fat and strong.
vi. Although he was strong, he never troubled other animals
without reason.
vii. From that day onwards, the jackal served the lion and in
return always had a full meal from the leftovers.
viii. In ancient India, a huge lion lived in the forests of
the Himalayan mountain ranges.
ix. The lion was kind and said, " As you wish, o jackal
'.
x. The jackal was smart because he knew he would not have to
hunt any more, and would live on the leftovers of the lion's meals.
4. Correct any ten of the following sentences: 20
i. I would like to
leaved a message for Mr. Paul.
ii. My father, Mr. Alam Khan had been gone Mumbai yesterday.
iii. Could you helps me, please?
iv. There are the tallest buildings than this in Bengaluru.
v. Did you ever went to Srisailam?
vi. It was made up of steel.
vii. The weather will be warm here always.
viii. Kavitha is having a new mobile phone.
ix. Two of our friends selected to play in the cricket team.
x. He know many famous actors.
xi. Dogs can be easily train.
xii. One of her daughter is a singer.
5. Give synonyms of
any ten of the following: 10
i. arrive ii. heavy iii. tiny iv. speak
v. clean vi. answer vii. delete viii. costly
ix. delay
x. huge xi. Happy
xii.
quick
6. Give antonyms of any ten of the following: 10
i. old ii. alive
iii. inside
iv. busy
v. easy vi. early vii. wrong viii. useless
ix. Dark x. fat xi. brave xii. noisy
7. Fill in the blanks in any ten of the following sentences
using suitable articles / prepositions / conjunctions: 10
i. We made a hole in the paper ______ put it into the box.
ii. Making dolls is one of ________oldest crafts of the world.
iii. He looked like _______ average Indian student in his
jeans and T - Shirt
iv. They lived _____ simple life.
v. Boiling water gives _______ water vapour in the form of
steam.
vi. Rahul worked very hard ______ did not get more marks than
Vani.
vii. Vidya saw _____ taxi coming towards her at great speed.
viii. I'm so sad that my lamp is broken ________ bits.
ix. How many hours will this train take _______ here to Pune?
x. ________we had a holiday I went to my office to collect
some papers.
xi. Sridhar ______ Shabir joined the college football team.
xii. We could not eat the cake __________ ants in it.
8. Write the correct spelling of any ten of the following: 10
i. recievd ii. Advirtisemint iii. pychology iv. benifit
v. comunication vi. sistemeticaly vii. encyklopedia viii. Acheivment
ix. mystireus x. desanpenring xi.
fourbiden xii. Admmition
9.
Make sentences with five of the following pairs of words clearly bringing
out the difference in meaning between the two words. Choose any five of the pairs.
10
i. mind (as verb) —
mind (as noun)
ii. wind (as verb) ----- wind (15 noun)
iii. fast (as noun) ----- fast (as adverb)
iv. red - read
v. waste – waist
vi. hear here
vii. present (as noun)
- present (as verb)
10. Give appropriate one - word substitutes for any five of
the following expressions: 5
i. to change from one language to another
ii. returning sound
iii. that which can be seen
iv. of the nation
v. one who cannot read
and write
vi. that which cannot be eaten
vii. state in which no sounds are heard
11. Use any ten of the following idiomatic expressions in
sentences of your own making the meaning clear: 20
i. to stab in the back vii. shed crocodile tears
ii. at the eleventh hour viii. hand in glove
iii. all of a sudden ix. better late than never
iv. to call back x. butter someone up
v. a feather in one's cap xi. sour grapes
vi. raining cats and dogs xii. to split hairs
12. Insert appropriate punctuation marks in the following sentences:
5
the teacher said you children over there can you hear me what
are you doing are you listening to me
13. In the sentences given below some words are underlined.
Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words: 5
i. Do you like coffee? " No, I don't like it.
ii. Seeing a policeman, the cyclist stopped.
iii. It was a cloudy and cold day.
iv. The traveller showed the inspector his ticket.
v. My new pen broke when it fell out of my bag.
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