List of top English Language Comprehension Questions

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The rapid industrial development in Malaysia has created significant industrial waste pollution problems that need immediate attention. Domestic waste and industrial waste are discharged unto surface water through the sewage systems. In some cases, industrial waste is released directly unto surface water. 
On land, the release of industrial waste is closely controlled. However, offshore oil and manganese extraction lead to direct discharge of pollutants into the seas. Radioactive waste is dumped at sea in large concrete barrels to decay. Often, the barrels will start to have defects after a while. Representatives of factories often ship waste onto sea to dump it illegally because it is very expensive to have their water purified. Oil is released into the sea through oil tankers and shipwrecks and pesticides are applied to water to control aquatic pests. Paints on boats will decay during long trips on the ocean and will eventually end up in the water. The effects of pollutants are noticed mostly in small inland seas and lakes. This is because the oceans have a natural dilution system for incoming pollutants whereas lakes have no effective outlet. The pollutants can exist in water in different states. They can be dissolved or they can be in suspension, which means that they exist in the form of droplets or particles. These pollutants can travel farthest when they are in solution in a river that is fast flowing. High-rate microbial processes have been studied in recent years in the attempt to develop cost-effective and yet, full-scale waste treatment technologies. Management of industrial waste is a growing concern in Malaysia. The waste if improperly segregated or disposed off can lead to dangerous results. Therefore, the proper management of such toxic and hazardous waste requires discipline, vigilance and at times, just common sense.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
In a recent discussion paper, NITI Aayog has chalked out an ambitious strategy for India to become an artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse. AI is the use of computers to make decisions that are normally made by humans. Many forms of AI surround Indians already, including chatbots on retail websites and programs that flag fraudulent bank activity. But NITI Aayog envisions AI solutions for India on a scale not seen anywhere in the world today, especially in five key sectors — agriculture, healthcare, education, smart cities and infrastructure, and transport. In agriculture, for example, machines will provide information to farmers on the quality of soil, when to sow, where to spray herbicide, and when to expect pest infestations. It’s an idea with great potential: India has 30 million farmers with smartphones, but poor extension services. If computers help agricultural universities advise farmers on best practices, India could see a farming revolution. 
However, there are formidable obstacles. AI start-ups already offer some solutions, but the challenge lies in scaling these to cover the entire value chain, as NITI Aayog envisions. The first problem is data. Machine learning, the set of technologies used to create AI, is a data-guzzling monster. It takes reams of historical data as input, identifies the relationships among data elements, and makes predictions. More sophisticated forms of machine learning, like “deep learning,” attempt to mimic the human brain. And even though they promise greater accuracy, they also need more data than what is required by traditional machine learning. Unfortunately, India has sparse data in sectors like agriculture, and this is already hampering AI-based businesses today. 
In fact, the lack of data means that deep learning doesn’t work for all companies in India. One example is Climate-Connect, a Delhi-based firm, which uses AI to predict the amount of power a solar plant will generate every 15 minutes. This is critical because solar electricity generation can change dramatically every hour depending on weather conditions and the position of the sun. 
When this happens, the plant must communicate expected changes to power distributors, which will then switch to alternative sources. 
With India planning to install 100 GW of solar power by 2022, such AI will play a central role in power planning. 
But to generate such data, Climate-Connect needs historical inputs like the time of sunrise and sunset, and cloud cover where the plant is located. Unfortunately, since most Indian solar plants are recent, data are available only for a couple of years, whereas deep learning needs data over many years to predict generation. Today, the firm uses traditional machine learning technologies such as regression analysis that work with less data. These methods have an accuracy of around 95%. While deep learning can boost accuracy for operations such as Climate-Connect, it hasn’t worked very well in the Indian scenario, says Nitin Tanwar, cofounder of the firm. 
Another problem for AI firms today is finding the right people. NITI Aayog’s report has bleak news: only about 50 Indian scientists carry out ”serious research” and they are concentrated in elite institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Science. Meanwhile,only about 4% of AI professionals have worked in emerging technologies like deep learning. A survey of LinkedIn found 386 out ofthe 22,000 people with PhDs in AI across the world to be Indians. How does this skill gap impact companies? To some extent, open libraries of machine learning code, which can be customised to solve Indian problems, help. This means that companies need not write code from scratch, and even computer science graduates can carry out the customisation.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report for 2017-18 reveals that 99.3% of currency notes that were demonetised at midnight on November 8, 2016 have returned to the banking system. This is only marginally higher than its provisional estimate last year that over 99% — or Rs.15.28 lakh crore worth of the old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes — out of the Rs.15.44 lakh crore that were in circulation at the time had been deposited by June 30, 2017. This makes a couple of things crystal clear. First, the hope that a large chunk of unaccounted money would not return to the system — arguably, the principal reason for the exercise — was almost wholly belied. As a result, the plan to transfer the arising surplus from the RBI to the Centre, which was not formally declared but strongly rumoured, was a non-starter. Second, given the sheer logistical difficulty in penalising all those who converted unaccounted money into legal tender, demonetisation worked as an unintended amnesty scheme. Despite the significant cost to the economy, demonetisation, to the disappointment of the Prime Minister’s critics, had no political fallout. Narendra Modi succeeded in portraying the move as one that would knock out the corrupt rich — a harsh but necessary shock therapy. This was perhaps why the massive disruption caused by the overnight removal of 86% of the currency in value terms did not cause agitations. 
Nevertheless, the RBI report, which points to a spurt in counterfeiting of the new Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 notes, raises the old question all over again. Was it worth the slowdown in growth, the damage to informal sector supply chains, and job losses in sectors such as construction that were the bulwark of employment creation for the unskilled? True, there have been some benefits. For instance, the number of income tax returns filed has surged a little over the trend growth rate. But surely this could have been achieved by other policy measures. Cashless modes of payment have become more common, but financial savings in the form of currency have also risen, suggesting that people still value cash. Not all policy choices work out and accepting mistakes or planning flaws helps strengthen governance processes. For example, learning from the UPA’s mistakes, a cleaner auction process for natural resources has been worked out. The government must not disown its biggest reform attempt or try to sidestep parliamentary scrutiny of the outcomes of demonetisation. Instead, it could focus on fixing the problems that people still face — transactions with Rs.2,000 notes in the absence of Rs.1,000 notes are difficult as it is a departure from the currency denomination principle every note should be twice or two and a half times its preceding denomination). Even as these issues are sorted out, the larger lesson must be heeded: sudden shocks to the economy don’t always yield intended policy objectives.

Four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase.
Feather in one’s cap

FCRA guidelines ____that registered associations are required to submit an online annual report with ______copies of income and expenditure statement, receipts and payment account, balance sheet among other documents for every financial year within nine months of the closure of the financial year.

Four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase.
Throw caution to the wind

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which is opposite in meaning to the given word.
Veneration

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which is opposite in meaning to the given word.
Ecstasy

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which is opposite in meaning to the given word.
Admonish

Four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase.
Cut the mustard

Arrange these sentences in a proper order to form a meaningful paragraph.
A. The implications of retelling of Indian stories, hence, takes on new meaning in a modern India.
B. The stories we tell reflect the world around us.
C. We cannot help but retell the stories that we value — after all, they are never quite right for us — in our time.
D. And even if we manage to get them quite right, they are only right for us — other people living around us will have different reasons for telling similar stories.
E. As soon as we capture a story, the world we were trying to capture has changed.

Choose an option, which can be substituted for a given phrase out of the given options.
Mass departure of people

Choose an option, which can be substituted for a given phrase out of the given options.
Being of crucial importance

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.
ALMS

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.
COY

Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.
INADVERTENT

Arrange these sentences in a proper order to form a meaningful paragraph.
A. Before plants can take life from atmosphere, nitrogen must undergo transformations similar to ones that food undergoes in our digestive machinery.
B. In its aerial form nitrogen is insoluble, unusable and is in need of transformation.
C. Lightning starts the series of chemical reactions that need to happen to nitrogen, ultimately helping it nourish our earth.
D. Nitrogen — an essential food for plants — is an abundant resource, with about 22 million tons of it floating over each square mile of earth.
E. One of the most dramatic examples in nature of ill wind that blows goodness is lightning.

Arrange these sentences in a proper order to form a meaningful paragraph.
A. The process of handing down implies not a passive transfer, but some contestation in defining what exactly is to be handed down.
B. Wherever Western scholars have worked on the Indian past, the selection is even more apparent and the inventing of a tradition much more recognizable.
C. LEvery generation selects what it requires from the past and makes its innovations, some more than others.
D. It is now a truism to say that traditions are not handed down unchanged, but are invented.
E. Just as life has death as its opposite, so is tradition by default the opposite of innovation.

Pick the correct option:
(I) It is nothing else than pride.
(II) It is nothing else but pride.

Excess inventory, a massive problem for many businesses, has several causes, some of which are unavoidable. Overstocks may accumulate through production overruns or Certain styles and colors prove unpopular. With some products-computers and software, toys, and books-last year's models are difficult to move even at huge discounts. Occasionally the competition introduces a better product. But in many cases the public's buying tastes simply change, leaving a manufacturer or distributor with thousands (or millions) of items that the fickle public no longer wants.
One common way to dispose of this merchandise is to sell it to a liquidator, who buys as cheaply as possible and then resells the merchandise through catalogs, discount stores, and other outlets. However, liquidators may pay less for the merchandise than it cost to make it. Another way to dispose of excess inventory is to dump it. The corporation takes a straight cost write-off on its taxes and hauls the merchandise to a landfill. Although it is hard to believe, there is a sort of convoluted logic to this approach. It is perfectly legal, requires little time or preparation on the company's part, and solves the problem quickly. The drawback is the remote possibility of getting caught by the news media. Dumping perfectly useful products can turn into a public relations nightmare. Children living in poverty are freezing and XYZ Company has just sent 500 new snowsuits to the local dump. Parents of young children are barely getting by and QRS Company dumps 1,000 cases of disposable diapers because they have slight imperfections.
The managers of these companies are not deliberately wasteful; they are simply unaware of all their alternatives. In 1976 the Internal Revenue Service provided a tangible incentive for businesses to contribute their products to charity. The new tax law allowed corporations to deduct the cost of the product donated plus half the difference between cost and fair market selling price, with the proviso that deductions cannot exceed twice cost. Thus, the federal government sanctions- indeed, encourages-an above-cost federal tax deduction for companies that donate inventory to charity.