FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BPS-17, UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2006
ENGLISH (PRECIS & C:omPoSiTioN)
- Choose the word that is nearly similar in meaning to the word in capital letters.
- FINICKY
(a) Unstable (b) Troubled (c) fumy (d) Unpleasant
- SMIZDAT
(a) Underground press (b) Secret police
(c) Twirling jig (d) Large metal tea urn
- VELD
(a) Arctic wasteland (b) European plains
(c) Southern African grassland (d) Deep valley
- CAJUN
(a) French-Canadian descendant (b) American Indian
(c) Native of the Everglades (d) Early inhabitant of the Bahamas Islands
- LOGGIA
❑ 1. | (a) Pathway (b) Marsh Pick the most nearly opposite in meaning CAPTIOUS | (c) Gallery | Carriage word: | |
to the capitalized | ||||
(a) Tolerant | (b) Capable | (c) Winning | (d) Recollected | |
2. | PENCHANT | |||
(a) Dislike | (b) Attitude | (c) Imminence | (d) Distance | |
3. | PUTATIVE | |||
(a) Powerful | (b) Colonial | (c) Undisputed | (d) Unremarkable | |
4. | FACSIMILE | |||
(a) Imitation | (b) Model | (c) Mutation | (d) Pattern | |
5. | LARCENY | |||
(a) Appropriation | (b) Peculation | (c) Purloining | (d) Indemnification |
- Correct the following sentences:
- Playing game regularly is better than to read books always.
- A good reader must be hardworking and possess intelligence.
- I noticed Akbar was carrying a bag in his hand.
- Having entered his house, the door was shut at once.
- He thinks that his writing is better than his friend.
- He is such a man who is liked by everyone.
- I sent a verbal message to my friend.
- He has visited as many historical places as one _ as or can visit.
Solution:
- Playing game regularly is better than reading books always.
- A good reader must be hardworking and intelligent.
- I noticed Akbar, carrying a bag in his hand.
- When he entered his house, the door was shut at once.
- He thinks that his writing is better than that of his friend.
- He is such a man as is liked by everyone.
- I sent a message to my friend.
- He has visited as many historical places as he can visit.
LI Use the following idioms in sentences to make their meaning clear:
1. | Twiddle your thumbs | 2. | Vamp up |
3. | Whittle something away | 4. | Winkle out |
5. | Give someone the bum’s rush | 6. | Loom large |
7. | Besetting sin | 8. | To hang fire |
- Twiddle your thumbs — 4,vvrokel ciA)
Meaning: to do nothing
Use in sentence: There’s no point in sitting here twiddling our thumbs.
- Vamp up — (V./ 4.:.7)
Meaning: repair and improve something
Use in sentence: The production values have been revamped up.
- Whittle something away — -=-71 I
Meaning: to make something gradually decrease in value or amount Use in sentence: Inflation has steadily whittled away with savings.
- Winkle out — (0e)
Meaning: to get something out of place or position.
Use in sentence: The test run winkled out the defects in the engine.
- Give someone the bum’s rush — (1;.1 L?) ._
Meaning: to eject (or be ejected) forcibly
Use in sentence: The photographer was given the bum’s rush by two policemen.
- Loom large-0x e).5)
Meaning: to be worrying or frightening and seem hard to avoid
Use in sentence: The possibility of civil war loomed large on the horizon.
- Besetting sin – (A :rLLp
Meaning: a fault to which a person or institution is especially prone
Use in sentence: We regret to say that apathy is the besetting sin of our rural population.
- To hang fire – (V1 );A)
Meaning: delay
Use in sentence: The advertising campaign is hanging fire until they decide how much to spend on it.
Use five of the following pairs of words in sentences:
(i) | Voracity, Veracity | (ii) | Persecute, Prosecute |
(iii) | Moat, Mote | (iv) | Loath, Loathe |
(v) | Ingenious, Ingenuous | (vi) | Fain, Feign |
(vii) | Immigrant, Emigrant | (viii) Wreck, Wreak |
- Voracity:
Meaning: excessive desire to eat
Use in sentence: Nothing can satiate my greed and voracity.
Veracity:
Meaning: the quality of being true, honest or accurate
Use in sentence: The veracity of the second claim can be tested against – the findings of archaeology.
- Persecute:
Meaning: to treat someone unfairly or cruelly over a long period of time because of their race, religion, or political beliefs or to annoy someone by refusing to leave them alone
Use in sentence: Religious minorities were persecuted and massacred during the thirty-year regime.
Prosecute:
Meaning: to officially accuse someone of committing a crime in a court of law, or (of a lawyei) to try to prove that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty of that crime
Use in sentence: He was prosecuted for fraud.
- Moat:
Meaning: a long wide hole which is dug all the way around a place such as a castle, and usually filled with water, to make it more difficult to attack
Use in sentence: The palace contains no moat, or armed guards, nor do I detect any, sophisticated security system.
Mote:
Meaning: something, especially a bit of dust, that is so small it is almost impossible to see Use in sentence: Dust motes swam alongside the gloomy corridor.
- Loath:
Meaning: to be unwilling to do something
Use in sentence: I’m loath to spend it all at once.
Loathe:
Meaning: to hate someone or something
Use in sentence: From an early age the brothers have loathed each other.
- Ingenious:
Meaning: very clever and skilful
Use in sentence: She was ingenious at finding ways to work more quickly.
Ingenuous:
Meaning: honest, sincere and trusting/ showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness Use in sentence: It has to be said it was rather ingenuous of him to ask a complete stranger to look after his luggage.
- Fain:
Meaning: glad: ready
Use in sentence: He is fain to do all things himself.
Feign:
Meaning: to pretend to feel something, usually an emotion
Use in sentence: You know how everyone feigns surprise when you tell them how old you are.
- Immigrant:
Meaning: a person who has come to a different country in order to live there permanently Use in sentence: Illegal immigrants are sent back across the border if they are caught.
Emigrant:
Meaning: a person who emigrates
Use in sentence: There were only a small number of emigrants on board.
- Wreck:
Meaning: to destroy or badly damage something
Use in sentence: Our greenhouse was wrecked in last night’s storm.
Wreak:
Meaning: to cause something to happen in a violent and often uncontrolled way Use in sentence: The recent storms have wreaked havoc on crops.