Directions (1-5): You have one brief passage with 5 questions following this passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and mark it on the answer sheet.
Letter writing is all but a lost art, but to some extent, it has been replaced by telephone and other modern means of communication. Listening is a lost art, which must be rediscovered. Few people truly listen to others, usually because they are too busy thinking about what they want to say next. In business transactions, clear communication is often colored by power plays, one-upmanship and attempts to impress rather than express. How we listen is at least as important as how we talk. Genuine listening to what others want would allow more sales in business, more deals to be closed and greater productivity too. Although it is not always possible to satisfy all the wants of others, understanding them is the glue of a relationship. Not paying value by listening is a way of saying, “You are not important to me”. The results are reduced productivity and employee turnover, and absenteeism. Retaliation increases as they feel that they are heard only when the griping gets loud enough. Genuine listening can cure a remarkable range of supposedly intractable problems everywhere.
Q1. When do employees gripe?
(a) When they are happy
(b) When they are over-worked
(c) When they want to be heard
(d) When they agitate
Q2. What is a lost art?
(a) A stolen piece of art
(b) An art no longer encouraged
(c) An art discovered by archaeologists
(d) An art form to be located in history
Q3. Why do people not listen while others talk?
(a) Because they plug their ears
(b) Because they get distracted
(c) Because they plan their responses
(d) Because they express nothing
Q4. How can one exhibit one-upmanship?
(a) By dressing and behaving like a boss
(b) By planning the delivering speech well
(c) By not paying attention to others conversation or feelings
(d) By trying to prove you are better than another
Q5. What is the best outcome from genuine listening?
(a) A bond of relationship
(b) Employee absenteeism
(c) Reduced productivity
(d) Impress others
Directions (6-15): Sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with appropriate and suitable words. Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four.
Q6. ……………….. the gravity of the situation, the police adopted decisive measures.
(a) In pursuit of
(b) In view of
(c) Due to
(d) For the sake of
Q7. This car is well-styled ……………….. that one is old fashioned.
(a) whereas
(b) because
(c) so
(d) however
Q8. Srinivas was happy ……………….. the result.
(a) about
(b) by
(c) with
(d) of
Q9. Nobody likes ……………….. friends to take advantage of him.
(a) many
(b) their
(c) one’s
(d) his
Q10. The accident could have been averted, ……………….. the driver been careful.
(a) if
(b) if only
(c) because
(d) had
Q11. The rebel leader, with all his men, ……………….. executed last year.
(a) was
(b) were
(c) are
(d) is
Q12. We failed to make a thorough search of the house; ……………….. no trace of her could be found.
(a) but
(b) and
(c) yet
(d) therefore
Q13. The soldier ……………….. still till his enemies passed by.
(a) laid
(b) lay
(c) lied
(d) lain
Q14. The soothsayer’s ……………….. that the boy would become famous was later fulfilled.
(a) forecast
(b) belief
(c) claim
(d) prophecy
Q15. I have got your point, ………………..?
(a) isn’t I
(b) haven’t I
(c) aren’t I
(d) have I
Solutions
1.C
2.B
3.C
4.D
5.A
6.B
7.A
8.C
9.D
10.D
11.A
12.A
13.B
14.D
15.B
