Tips to solve General English Section of SBI Clerks Exams 2018 - Sentence Completion

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SENTENCE COMPLETION

This is a vocabulary based question which forms a vital component of the verbal section. This question tests student's vocabulary skills as well as his comprehension abilities. Double blank questions can be expected and students will have to be prepared to deal with them.

This test is, indeed, very interesting, intriguing and sometimes challenging. Quite often, the answer choices look almost the same and similar. Students should have shrewdness of thinking and soundness of judgement to answer questions of this kind. Most of these questions are based on the common sense approach and the feel of the sentence. This should in time become automatic.

Before attempting the questions, students will have to ask themselves the following questions. 

1. What does the sentence mean ? 
2. Which words will best fit in the blanks ? 
3. What part of speech is needed to fill the blanks? 

Eliminate the wrong choices that do not make any sense. Once you eliminate the irrelevant choices, it becomes easier for you to trace the correct pair of words.

Look at the following for better understanding :  

1. We lost _________ in him because he never _________ the grandiose promises he had made.

1. faith, retreated from
2. belief, forgot about
3. hope, tired of
4. trust, reneged on
5. confidence, delivered on 

Explanation : Choices 1, 2, 3, 4 can be discarded in the first glance. Lack of agreement in meaning between the two words in the pairs compels us to do so. `5' is the correct choice.

2. As a child, she had been _________ by her mother and this experience had left an _________ mark.

1. abused, indelible
2. scolded, perishable
3. loved, erudite
4. thrashed, indigent
5. inoculated, passive 

Explanation : Based on the article, preceding the second blank we can eliminate choices '2' and `5'. By their meaning choices '3' and '4' do not fit in the blanks. Since, the two words 'indelible' and 'mark' are said to be collocations the answer choice '1' claims to be the correct choice.

3. He has _________ tongue, his pinching sarcasm has _________ everyone who has come into contact with him.

1. wanton, immunised
2. vitriolic, alienated
3. pungent, animated
4. recalcitrant, humanised
5. obsequious, adulated 

Explanation : Go for the second blank first. `sarcasm' means saying the opposite of what you mean. When you say 'that will be useful' with sarcasm you mean 'you really thought it would not be useful at all'. Such 'pinching sarcasm' will fetch no friends to you in future. You have thus alienated everyone. Those who are thus "pinchingly sarcastic' have a vitriolic tongue i.e. their words are full of bitterness and hate, and so cause a lot of distress and pain. `2' is the correct choice.

4. The _________  had a _________ effect on the audience.

1. martinet, pernicious
2. patrimony, depraved
3. epilogue, salubrious
4. elixir, blatant
5. cudgel, brusque 

Explanation : The answer choices of the second blank (1) 'pernicious' = harmful, (2) 'depraved' = wicked, (4) 'blatant' = actions which are considered bad (5) 'brusque' = rude sound bad and negative. The one option that has a positive shade of meaning is (3). 'salubrious' = pleasant. Hence, '3' is the correct choice.

5. One of the things we learned in health class is that when eating, it is important to _________ thoroughly in order for proper _________  to occur.

1. rankle, temerity
2. transmute, veneration
3. masticate, digestion
4. mitigate, digestion
5. query, power 

Explanation : It is obvious that choices '1', '2' and `5' are not pertinent to food matters which the sentence is referring to. Eliminate them. As the word 'Mitigate' in choice '4' gives a distant meaning, it can also be discarded. Hence, the correct choice is '3'.

6. After such _________  meal, we were all quick to _________  Lasya for her delicious cooking.

1. fearful, congratulate
2. a heavy, thank
3. an enormous, console
4. a wonderful, applaud
5. a delightful, avoid 

Explanation : A fearful '1' or a heavy meal '2' don't deserve any laudation. The words in choices '3' and `5' don't fit in the blanks because they are contradictory. Hence, the correct answer choice is 'D'.

7. The most technologically advanced societies have been responsible for the greatest _________ ; indeed, savagery seems to be in direct proportion to  _________

1. wars, viciousness
2. catastrophes,
3. atrocities, development
4. inventions, know-how
5. triumphs, civilization. 

Explanation : The second part "savagery seems to be in direct proportion to" requires opposite word to 'savagery'. So, choices '1', '2' and `4' can be discarded in the first instance. Since the first part demands a negative word, we can say '3' is the correct answer.

8. In eighth-century Japan, people who _________   wasteland were rewarded with official ranks as part of an effort to overcome the shortage of _________  fields.

1. conserved, forested
2. reclaimed, arable
3. cultivated, domestic
4. irrigated, accessible
5. located, desirable. 

Explanation : The first words of three answer choices '1', '3' and '4' are very close in meaning, and so, they are not a possibility. Since the two words 'arable' and 'fields' are a collocation we can say '2' is the correct choice.

9. While the market moved in a narrow range, software stocks saw another _________  of_________ buying.

1. suspense, friendly
2. chaos, beguiling
3. analogy - oblique
4. bout, frenzied
5. action, packed 

Explanation : As it is, the sentence conveys this meaning. 'The market was mov-ing in a narrow range while soft-ware stocks were witnessing another boom'. The correct an-swer is '4'.

10. I should be sorry to _________  any poet's mind with my _________  wit.

1. yield, merciless
2. convert, salient
3. vex, shallow
4. relieve, redolent
5. question, imposing

Explanation : Usually we say `sorry' when we trouble others. The word 'vex' gives the meaning `to trouble' or `to annoy'. So, '3' is the correct choice.

Now, let's have a look at a practice exercise from here

Shared by Shravan Varma Gadiraju

 

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