NDA & NA (II) Exam 2017: English Practice Questions - Fill in the Blanks

The UPSC will conduct the NDA & NA (II) 2017 Exam on 10 September 2017. The following 10 questions with answers and explanations will help the candidates in improving scores in the English section of the General Ability Test (GAT).

Directions: One word or phrase from the answer choices will fill the blank in the sentence preceding answer-choices correctly. Pick up that word or phrase.

26. ...........from the campaigns have been used to buy medical supplies, food and educational materials.
(a) Revenue
(b) Profit
(c) Proceed
 (d) Proceeds
27. When I joined the flying club, my instructor gave me the first lecture on the .............. of flying.
(a) foundations
 (b) basics
(c) need
 (d) theory
28. You must .............. your house in order before you venture to offer advice to others.
(a) arrange
 (b) bring
(c) set
 (d) organise
29. Fact is often stranger than .........
(a) fancy
(b) fiction
(c) imagination
(d) dream
30. It is becoming increasing difficult for a housewife to pick up a genuine article from the crowd of the ............... ones in a store.
(a) fake
(b) duplicate
(c) counterfeit
(d) spurious
31. His rustic and robust humour was an embarrassment to the ............... sensibility of the young ladies.
(a) fragile
 (b) delicate
(c) soft
(d) sober
32. His teacher said that his comment on his performance was not to demoralize him but to ............... him to
(a) encourage
(b) persuade
(c) instruct
 (d) goad
33. Diseases are easily .............. through contact with infected animals.
(a) transferred
(b) transported
(c) transferring
(d) transplanted
34. A number of scientists in the country think that they are on the .............. of a major breakthrough.
(a) periphery
(b) threshold
(c) gateway
(d) frontier
35. Once he has signed the agreement, he won’t be able to ...............
(a) back up
 (b) back in
(c) back at
(d) back out

Answers with Explanations

26. d ‘Proceeds’ means whatever is collected through campaigns.
27. b ‘Basics’ means fundamentals.
28. c We can set house in order; we can neither arrange not manage.
29. b Antonym of ‘fact’ is ‘fiction’ and an antonym is needed in the blank.
30. a ‘Fake’ is used for all goods but ‘counterfeit’ is used generally for coins, ‘spurious’ for drugs or liquor and ‘duplicate’ is not correct antonym of genuine.
31. b For ‘fancy’ word ‘delicate’ can be used ‘fragile’ means ‘easily breakable’ and ‘sober’ means
‘serious’ (person) so these are incorrect.
32. d ‘good’ means to ‘motivate’ so for comment good is the best choice.
33. c ‘Transmit’ to be carried from one person to the other.
34. b ‘Threshold’ means on the verge of ‘Periphery’ is wrong because it means outer-circle.
35. d ‘Back out’ means to go against the promise.

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