IBPS Clerk Prelims Online Question Paper - 2017 (English Language)

Subject : English Language

Directions (1-5): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

When Hurricane Harvey loomed off the coast of my home state of Texas, it seemed to fill the entire Gulf of Mexico. When it roared on land, it pummeled the towns of Rockport and Port Aransas, whose tawny beaches I’ve walked with my kids, pointing out the indigo sails of Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish. Harvey’s eye took direct aim at the University of Texas’ Marine Science Institute, flattening not just the facility itself, but priceless samples awaiting analysis. After Harvey left Port Aransas, it spun back into the Gulf of Mexico over record sea temperatures as great as 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Thermodynamic laws require that warmer air holds more water vapor. The heat armed the storm with a mighty arsenal of water vapor. Then Harvey returned to land, dumping a catastrophic amount of rain on Houston. My Facebook feed filled with pleas for rescue from the rising waters. Friends’ houses flooded — houses that had always been on dry land before. A chemical plant blew up, twice. Toxic chemicals oozed from Superfund sites. Dozens died in the deluge, mostly by drowning. And all the while, alongside the heartbreak and horror, I kept thinking about a strange harbinger: jellyfish. Play Video Diaphanous in form yet menacing in sting, jellyfish have a powerful capacity to capture our imagination. They undulate in a primal rhythm, blinking open and closed like eyes that can peer into the soul of the sea. And what they are seeing are changes produced by us here on land. Because we burn fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gasses, not just the atmosphere but ocean waters are warming. At the same time, our ship traffic transports animals to new places, and sometimes these exotics find home-like conditions where in the past those conditions would have been unsuitable. That’s what happened in the eastern Mediterranean, where a jellyfish from the tropical Indian Ocean has found warm, homey waters and now forms huge aggregations called blooms that stretch for tens of miles every summer. The fierce stings of these animals chase beach-goers out of the water. Their gooey bodies clog machinery at power plants, halting operations. Rampant coastal development provides new habitat for a jellyfish stage called a polyp that looks like a sea anemone. When it finds a hard surface like a dock or a jetty to grow on, a single polyp can proliferate into a dozen or even more medusae. And fields of polyps grow on those hard structures. That’s likely what happened off the coast of Italy, where gas platforms are thought to be the home for a new invasion of jellyfish. In the twentieth century in the Adriatic Sea, moon jellies, pinkish with their characteristic four-leafed clover on top, were a rarity. Now they are ubiquitous. And as we wash pollution into our waters, we create lowoxygen environments. Some jellyfish, with their low metabolic rate due to their a-cellular jelly insides, can survive more easily there than fish, with their oxygen-guzzling muscled tissues. That is part of what happened in the Yellow Sea, where pollution is unchecked. It is the birthplace of a maroon jellyfish that reaches a weight of 500 pounds. Blooms of the creature were a once-a-generation event before 2000 — the kind of thing fishermen mentioned to their sons. But jellyzillas swept from China in the Tsushima Current, have plagued Japan’s coast almost every year of the 21st century. In 2009, a fishing boat caught so many that their weight capsized the vessel. (Fortunately, the crewmembers were rescued.) And our lack of oversight of the fishing industry, which has removed more than 90% of the large fish from the seas, has depleted the predators of jellyfish as well as their competitors. Jellyfish are eaten by some fish, and jellyfish eat the same small zooplankton that fish do. The ecological vacuum left by unrestrained fishing can allow jellyfish to expand their influence in marine ecosystems. That’s what happened off the coast of Namibia, once one of the world.

Q1. How is jellyfish able to survive in polluted water more than the other fishes?
(I) Jellyfish has oxygen guzzling muscled tissues.
(II) Due to low metabolic rate.
(III) Jellyfish eat small zooplankton to survive.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (II)
(c) Both (I) and (II)
(d) Both (II) and (III)
(e) All are correct

Q2. How Hurricane Harvey can be termed as devastating with reference to the passage?
(a) Many people died by drowning.
(b) Hurricane blew up the Chemical plants.
(c) Toxic chemicals got exuded from superfund sites.
(d) Hurricane flooded many houses
(e) All of the above

Q3. What is the author’s main idea regarding the passage?
(a) How to ameliorate ecological imbalance.
(b) The author gave his opinion regarding jellyfish that what they know humans don’t.
(c) Water pollution creating a low oxygen environment affecting aquatic life.
(d) Hurricane Harvey destroyed many lives.
(e) Endangered condition of Jellyfish

Q4. Which of the following statement (s) is/ are true in context of the given passage?
(a) Maroon Jellyfish is found in Yellow sea where pollution is unchecked.
(b) Hurricane Harvey with strong winds battered the entire Gulf of Mexico.
(c) Jellyzillas sweeping from China have afflicted Japan’s coast.
(d) Jellyfish survive more than other fishes in low oxygen environment
(e) All of the above

Q5. Which of the following statement regarding jellyfish is related to the country Namibia?
(a) The attenuation in the number of jellyfish is due to the low oxygen environment.
(b) The predators of Jellyfish are depleting because of uncontrolled fishing.
(c) Jellyfish can proliferate their population in the situation of ecological imbalance.
(d) Both
(b) and
(c)
(e) All are correct

Directions (6-11): In each of the questions given below a sentence is given with one blank. Below each sentence FOUR words are given out of which two can fit the sentence. Five options are given with various combinations of these words.You have to choose the combination with the correct set of words which can fit in the given sentence.

Q6. Would you like to have __________ coffee?
(A) much
(B) more
(C) some
(D) many

(a) A-B
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) A-C

Q7. The Dysart Unified School District says they are investigating threats made _____________ the district and Dysart High School.
(A) Towards
(B) Against
(C) For
(D) After
(a) A-B
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) A-C

Q8. I was going ___________ to say hello when I realised that I couldn’t remember his name.
(A) beyond
(B) Over
(C) Through
(D) Across
(a) A-B
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) B-D

Q9. In 1997 the sales tax was lowered to 4%, then in 2001 it was abolished ___________________.
(A) Together
(B) Laterally
(C) Completely
(D) Altogether
(a) A-B
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) B-D

Q10. Children _______________ their parents' authority far more nowadays than they did in the past.
(A) Dispute
(B) Question
(C) Confront
(D) Challenge
(a) A-B
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) B-D

Q11. The United Nations has ____________ its authority to restore peace in the area.
(A) Used
(B) blown
(C) Exercised
(D) refused
(a) A-C
(b) A-D
(c) B-C
(d) C-D
(e) B-D

Directions (12-20): In each of the question given below a/an idiom/phrase is given in bold which is then followed by five options which then tries to decipher its meaning as used in the sentence.Choose the option which gives the meaning of the phrase most appropriately in context of the given sentence.

Q12. She comes across really well on television.
(a) Discover
(b) Express
(c) Behave
(d) Offers
(e) Provide

Q13. The deal was completely open and above board.
(a) Mislead
(b) Profitable
(c) Dupe
(d) Respect
(e) Honest

Q14. For most businessmen, the central questions will turn on taxation.
(a) Matter
(b) Consider
(c) Attack
(d) Concern
(e) Unsettle

Q15. They sought a controlling interest rather than a takeover
(a) Spend
(b) Partnership
(c) Endorse
(d) Approve
(e) Buyout

Q16. I think he was just putting on an act to get sympathy
(a) Tolerate
(b) Assume
(c) Perform
(d) Deceive
(e) Effect

Q17. I can put up with the house being messy, but I hate it if it's not clean
(a) Ignore
(b) Forget
(c) Delay
(d) Remain
(e) Bear

Q18. He gave in to my suggestion after I had shown him the plans.
(a) Leave
(b) Defeated
(c) Defy
(d) Agree
(e) Resign

Q19. She cut in on a station wagon, forcing the driver to brake.
(a) Interrupt
(b) Stop
(c) Collide
(d) Too close
(e) Carve

Q20. Most patients find that the numbness from the injection wears off after about an hour.
(a) calm
(b) Inflate
(c) Deepen
(d) Fade
(e) Emerge

Direction (21-30): In each of the questions given below a sentence is given which is then divided into five parts out of which last part is correct. There is an error in three part of the sentence and only one part is correct. You have to choose the part as your answer.

Q21. After he had read (A)/ the first two chapters (B)/ to the novel, (C)/ he had felt like (D)/reading the book in one sitting. (E)
(a) After he had read
(b) the first two chapters
(c) to the novel
(d) he had felt like
(e) All are incorrect

Q22. Since most of the urban people (A) / have been lived (B)/ at polluted areas (C) / they suffers from severe (D) / diseases caused by pollution. (E)
(a) Since most of the urban people
(b) have been lived
(c) at polluted areas
(d) they suffers from severe
(e) All are incorrect

Q23. Broadly speaking of a (A)/ layman language disability (B)/ could be (C) / classified in two groups (D) / namely mental and physical. (E)
(a) Broadly speaking of a
(b) layman language disability
(c) could be
(d) classified in two groups
(e) All are incorrect

Q24. Although there are some (A)/ similarities at the qualification (B)/ of both the candidate (C)/ the differences among them (D)/ are considerably pronounced. (E)
(a) Although there are some
(b) similarities at the qualification
(c) of both the candidate
(d) the differences among them
(e) All are incorrect

Q25. When the group of teenagers (A)/ visits the entertainment centre (B)/ little did they knows (C)/that its outing (D)/ would lead them to a hospital. (E)
(a) When the group of teenagers
(b) visits the entertainment centre
(c) little did they knows
(d) that its outing
(e) All are incorrect

Q26. If the present guidelines, (A)/ the bank are required (B)/ to obtaining a photograph (C)/ from any persons (D)/ who wishes to open an account. (E)
(a) If the present guidelines
(b) the bank are required
(c) the bank are required
(d) the bank are required
(e) All are incorrect

Q27. Although the clock struck twelve, (a)/we hear the big bang of (B)/ the fire crackers and saw (C)/all the guests scream, (D)/ shouting and wishing each other with joy. (E)
(a) Although the clock struck twelve
(b) we hear the big bang of
(c) the fire crackers and saw
(d) all the guests scream
(e) All are incorrect

Q28. The Rupali wanted (A)/ to gets (B)/ the clear picture about (C)/ the incident so she spoke (D)/ to the victims. (E)
(a) The Rupali wanted
(b) to gets
(c) the clear picture about
(d) the incident so she spoke
(e) All are incorrect

Q29. The centre has accepted (A)/ the report of the judicial commission (B)/ that indicted a former chief minister (C)/ and six of his ministerial colleagues for corruption. (D)/ favouritism, nepotism and administrative impropriety. (E)
(a) The centre has accepted
(b) the report of the judicial commission
(c) that indicted a former chief minister
(d) and six of his ministerial colleagues for corruption
(e) All are incorrect

Q30. Before invested, (A)/ you should look at the (B)/ overall business dynamics for the company (C)/ along with its efficient management and (D)/ good corporate governance (E)
(a) Before invested
(b) you should look at the
(c) overall business dynamics for the company
(d) along with its efficient management and
(e) All are incorrect