Mark Twain was responsible for many striking, mostly cynical ______, such as “Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest.” ______can sometimes end up as _____, but rarely would someone use them as an ______.
Answer: D “Epigram” is 'a witty or pointed saying expressed in a few words', whereas, “epitaph” is a 'commemorative inscription on a tomb'. “Epigraph” is 'an appropriate quotation in the beginning of a book or a chapter'. Or, it is put on buildings or statues. Therefore, 'Epigrams' can end up as 'epigraphs' but rarely will they be put up as 'epitaphs'. This is because they are witty. Taking into account people's reverence and sorrow for the dead, few people would put 'epigrams' as 'epitaphs'. Hence, the correct answer is option D.
Q. No. 158:
A candidate in the medical viva voce exam faced a tinge of intellectual _______when asked to spell the_____ gland. The fact that he carried notes on his person would definitely be termed as _____ by faculty, but may be termed as ______ by more generous sections of students.
Answer: D The gland name that was being asked to spell was the 'prostate'. If you were sure about this one word, you would have easily got the answer by eliminating the others, as the other four options mention 'prostrate' which means 'to lie face down.' Otherwise, we go blank by blank and see if we can still find the answer. If some students were generous enough, they would not have found the student's act same as the teachers', which is 'immoral' which means 'to violate moral principles'. They would have found it 'amoral' which means „having no or being indifferent to moral standards‟. With that, options A and B can be eliminated. 'Ambivalence' is uncertainty or fluctuation between two choices and is a better word than „ambiguity‟ which means 'confusion'. With that, we could have zeroed in on to two options, C and D. After that, either we depend on luck - which has certainly become better as we are down to 2 options from 4 - or depend on our certainty of the spelling of 'prostate' to get the right answer.
Q. No. 159:
It is not_____ democratic that the parliament should be _____ on issues and resort to passing ______ rather than have an open debate on the floor of the house.
Answer: D The second blank should be 'quiet', meaning 'silent'. You have eliminated options A and C. The first blank cannot have 'quiet'; it should be 'It is not quite democratic…'. While “ordnance” is related to „artillery‟ or „military armaments‟, “ordinance” is related to 'decree' or 'command'. The parliament should be having debates or discussions, and should not be passing 'ordinances' or 'commands'.
Q. No. 160:
In a case of acute _______, _________ membranes secrete excessive__________.
Answer: D “Sinusitis” is a disease. “Sinus” is 'a hollow space within the bones in the skull'. In fact, “sinusitis” is a disease in which the lining of the “sinus” becomes swollen. Thus we can eliminate options A and B. Between options D and C, option D is the correct option. “Mucous” - 'tissue which holds mucus', contains “mucus” which is 'a secreted thick liquid'.