Key Points

• The passage is about a 'life bearing boulder or a large rock'.
• Let us read the line from the given passage: "As the ice flows over the land, it can pick up boulders that become ____(5)____ in the base of the ice shelf before dropping out on to the sea floor."
• From the given sentence we can understand that the boulders were attached to the base of the ice shelf.
• In option 1, 'embedded' refers to 'fixed firmly in a surrounding mass'.
• So, 'embedded' is the appropriate word for blank no 5.

Additional Information

 The meaning of the other given words:

• disintegrated: fall to pieces
• contained: be made of
• qualified: be eligible or certified
• confiscated: take possession of

The correct sentence will be: "As the ice flows over the land, it can pick up boulders that become embedded in the base of the ice shelf before dropping out on to the sea floor."

Key Points

• Use "hopelessly" instead of "hopeless" because to qualify a verb an adverb is required.
  • Entangled is a verb here and it must be followed by an adverb.
  • Hopeless is an adjective.

​​Correct sentence: "The cavalry gradually became hopelessly entangled among the squares they were unable to break, and at last, they were driven down the face of the ridge and the most dramatic part of the battle came to an end."

Additional Information

• An adverb is a word that describes a verb (he sings loudly), an adjective (very tall), another adverb (ended too quickly), or even a whole sentence.
• Adverbs are used in the following ways.
  • at the beginning
    • before all the other verbs.
    • at the end
    • after the verb to be and all auxiliary verbs: can, may, will, must, shall, and have, when have is used as an auxiliary.

Key Points

The underlined part of the sentence is to be replaced with I believe in an India of pluralism and diversity'.

• In the underlined part of the sentence, the word 'diverse' is incorrect in the context of the sentence. It should be replaced with 'diversity'.
• The word 'diverse' means showing a great deal of variety and 'diversity' means the state of being diverse.
• More precisely: 'diverse' is an adjective while diversity is a noun.

​So the correct sentence is "I believe in an India of pluralism and diversity, not of religious bigotry and identity politics."

Additional Information

• There are lots of nouns in English that we can convert into adjectives by using suffixes like -ic, -y, -ful, -ish etc. Let us look at some examples:

Key Points

• The error lies in the usage of the adjective 'frequent'.
• The phrase 'frequent' is modifying the verb 'pitted against'. This is incorrect.
• For the sentence to be correct, we need to use the adverbial phrase 'frequently' to modify the verb 'pitted against'.

Important Points

• 'Frequent' is an adjective. It means occurring or done many times at short intervals.
• 'Frequently' is an adverb. It means often.

Correct sentence: "Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black."

Additional Information

• Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives.
• But adjectives can also act as a complement to linking verbs or the verb to be.
  • It smells disgusting when you take off your shoes. (The adjective 'disgusting' complements the verb 'smells'.)

Key Points

• The underlined part of the sentence should be replaced with 'has witnessed growing resentment of cosmopolitan secular elites'.
• In the underlined part the word 'have' should be replaced with 'has' as the talks about 'India' which is singular so we can not use have here as it plural form of the verb.
• Let's look at some examples:
  • Doctors have a difficult job.
  • She has a great personality.

Additional Information

• Let's look at the meaning of some words used in the sentence:
  • Witness: a person who sees an event, typically a crime or accident, take place
  • Resentment: bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly
  • Cosmopolitan: including people from many different countries
  • Elite: a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society
  • Perception: the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses

Key Points

• We need to first identify if the underlined part of the sentence has an error which would lead to its replacement by an appropriate phrase. 
• The underlined part of the sentence uses the noun 'batter' which means a semi-liquid mixture of flour, egg, and milk or water, used for making pancakes or for coating food before frying. In context of the given sentence, this is incorrect. 
• The comparative adjective 'better' is the best fit word to describe 'growth rate'. 
• Hence, 'a better growth rate' is the correct replacement for the underlined phrase.
• This makes option 2 the correct answer.

Confusion Points

• 'Well' is often confused with the adjective 'good'. 'Well' is an adverb and modifies a verb. I did well on the test.
• 'Best' is also an adjective but it is the superlative form. The article 'the' is always used before a superlative form. Hence using 'a' makes option 3 grammatically incorrect.
• 'Worse' means of poorer quality or lower standard and does not fit the context of the sentence.

Additional Information

Grammar Rules Learnt:

• When we use a superlative adjective ('the shortest student') before the noun, we generally use it with 'the'. 
• 'Well' is an adverb. It is used to modify a verb. But it has an exception. 
  • It is used as an adjective when we refer to a person’s health or well-being. She asked about Rahul's illness, and I told her he is well now.

We can go through the sentence the following way:

A small holly, (A)________ from the earth, (B)________ across the stream, and I have to (C)________ under a (D)________ beech that was (E)________ in the gales.

Arcs means to curl or spin.

Felled means to be cut down.

Clearly, B and E have meaningful words. D is also correct.

Scramble means crawl / to move or climb quickly but with difficulty.

Torn means to split.

It is clear that both the words, i.e. Scramble and Torn are inappropriately used. Hence, A and C should be interchanged.

The correct answer:

A small holly, (A) torn from the earth, (B) arcs across the stream, and I have to (C) scramble under a (D) huge beech that was (E) felled in the gales.

We can go through the sentence the following way:

(A)________ over land and natural (B)________ have been (C)________ for some time, sometimes (D)________ to (E)________ violence. 

Murderous means brutal or violent.

Clearly, E has a meaningful word. Also, A and B have contextually correct words.

Leading means causing.

Rising means emerging or growing in size and scope.

It can be said that both the words-leading and rising are inappropriate. Hence,C and D should be interchanged.

The correct sentence:

(A) Tensions over land and natural (B) resources have been (C) rising for some time, sometimes (D) leading to (E) murderous violence.

Let us look at the sentence in the following way-

Theology, on the other band, (A) _______ a (B) _______ belief that we have knowledge, where in fact we have (C) _______, and by doing so generates a kind of (D)_______ insolence towards the (E) _______.

• Meanings of the words in bold are:
  • Induces mean bring about or give rise to.
  • Dogmatic means inclined to lay down principles as undeniably true.
  • Impertinent means not showing proper respect; rude.
  • Universe means all existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos.
  • Ignorance means lack of knowledge or information.
• It is clear that A and B are correct. Also, D justifies the bold word.
• C requires a word which means 'the act of not knowing or ignoring'. E requires a word that should specify the place where our insolence is directed towards. Hence, we need to interchange C and E to make the sentence correct.

Corrected sentence - Theology, on the other hand, (A) induces a (B) dogmatic belief that we have the knowledge, where in fact we have (C) ignorance, and by doing so generates a kind of (D) impertinent insolence towards the (E) universe.

Let us look at the sentence in the following way-

The only thing (A) _________ the (B) _________ of such (C) _________ and valuable (D) _________ is a lack of planning and strategic (E) _________.

• Meanings of the words given in bold are:
  • Utilization means the action of making practical and effective use of something.
  • Prohibiting means formally forbidding (something) by law, rule, or other authority.
  • Precious means of great value; not to be wasted or treated carelessly.
  • Manpower means the number of people working or available for work or service.
  • Foresight means the ability to predict what will happen or be needed in the future.
• It is clear that C and D are correct. Also, E justifies the bold word.
• A requires a verb that means 'denying something'. B requires a noun. Prohibiting is a verb. Utilization is a noun. Hence, we need to interchange A and B to make the sentence correct.

Corrected sentence - The only thing (A) prohibiting the (B) utilization of such (C) precious and valuable (D) manpower is a lack of planning and strategic (E) foresight.