READING COMPREHENSION (GENERAL ENGLISH)

Total Questions: 54

11. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Pidgins are languages that are not, acquired as mother tongues and that are used for a restricted set of communicative functions. They are formed from a mixture of languages and have a limited vocabulary and a simplified grammar.
Pidgins serve as a means of communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible languages and may become essential, in multilingual areas. A creole develops from a pidgin when the pidgin becomes the mother tongue of the community.
To cope with the consequent expansion of communicative functions, the vocabulary is increased and the grammar becomes more complex. Where a creole and the standard variety of English coexist, as in the Carribbean, there is a continuum from the most extreme form of creole to the form that is closest to the standard language.
Linguists mark off the relative positions on the creole continuum as the ‘basilect’ (the furthest from the standard language), the ‘mesolect’ and the ‘acrolet’. In such situations, most creole speakers can vary their speech along the continuum and many are also competent in the standard English of their country.
A pidgin develops in a situation when

Correct Answer: (a) Different and mutually unintelligible languages exist side by side

12. According to the given passage, a pidgin becomes a creole when

Correct Answer: (b) It becomes the mother tongue for a new generation of speakers

13. According to the passage, a creole continuum is

Correct Answer: (c) A scale in which the proximity of the creole to the standard language is measured

14. According to the passage ‘basilect’ means

Correct Answer: (b) A form of creole which is furthest from the standard language

15. Find out a word in the passage which is opposite in meaning to the word - ‘Simplified’

Correct Answer: (a) Complex

16. In questions below, you have a passage with 5 questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Research is a detailed study of a subject undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications.
It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems or develop new theories. To test the validity of instruments, procedures or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects, or the project as a whole.
The primary purposes of basic research are documentation, discovery, interpretation or the research and development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. There are several forms of research : scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, etc. Academic publishing describes a system that is necessary in order for academic scholars to review the work and make it available for a wider audience. Most academic work is published in book form.
There is also a large body of research that exists in either a thesis or dissertation form. Many researchers spend their time applying for grants for research funds. These grants are necessary not only for researchers to carry out their research, but also as a source of merit.
How many kinds of research are there ?

Correct Answer: (b) There are different kinds of research.

17. Select the answer which best reflects the view expressed in the passage.

Correct Answer: (d) Documentation is important in research.

18. Why is research conducted ?

Correct Answer: (d) Research is conducted in order to verify information.

19. What is research ?

Correct Answer: (b) Research is the creation of new forms of knowledge.

20. Choose the most appropriate answer from this passage.

Correct Answer: (c) Academic publishing is meant to benefit the general public.