Exam Details
2019 English
Review the key details, then start the test when you are ready. You can also open the full package to see related papers.
Questions
120
Duration
180 mins
Package
Combined Defence Services Examination (I) - Previous Year Papers
Paper pattern & analysis
Filter this paper by subject, topic or subtopic. Every graph updates from the selected questions.
Topic distribution
Subtopic distribution
Difficulty distribution
120questions
Hard
40
33.3%
Easy
40
33.3%
Medium
40
33.3%
Question type distribution
120questions
MCQ
120
100%
Syllabus
Full Syllabus
Practise paper questions
Choose your answer to check it. Log in to view the explanation. For a timed attempt and result, start the exam.
PYP
2019 English
Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space and four words or group of words are given after the sentence. Select the word or group of words you consider the most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly.
How we ________ to ageing is a choice we must make wisely.
PYP
2019 English
Complementary medicine ______ fewer risks, since it is used along with standard remedies, often to lessen side-effects and enhance feelings of well-being.
PYP
2019 English
Stress may ______ fertility in men and women.
PYP
2019 English
The football match had to be ______ because of the weather.
PYP
2019 English
Nobody believed Ram at first but he ______ to be right.
PYP
2019 English
How are you ______ in your new job? Are you enjoying it?
PYP
2019 English
We live ______ a tower block. Our apartment is on the fifteenth floor.
PYP
2019 English
You were going to apply for the job, and then you decided not to. So what ______ ?
PYP
2019 English
______ it was raining, he went out without a raincoat.
PYP
2019 English
I parked my car in a no-parking zone, but I ______ it.
PYP
2019 English
SYNONYMS
Directions :
Each item in this section consists of a sentence with an underlined word followed by four words/group of words. Select the option that is the nearest in meaning to the underlined word and mark your response on your Answer Sheet accordingly.
A provocative message had been doing rounds on social media to instigate the mob against migrants.
PYP
2019 English
The differences include increase in mean temperature and heavy precipitation in several regions.
PYP
2019 English
The portal will help victims and complainants to anonymously report cyber crime.
PYP
2019 English
He is suffering from a terminal disease.
PYP
2019 English
Doctors are reluctant to take rural postings despite big salary offers.
PYP
2019 English
The authorities have reprimanded the subordinate officer for violating the protocol.
PYP
2019 English
For Gandhiji, India's religious and linguistic diversity was an asset, not a liability.
PYP
2019 English
How hysterical he is !
PYP
2019 English
Mahesh is mostly prejudiced in his political opinion.
PYP
2019 English
Do not indulge in tautology.
PYP
2019 English
Directions :
Each item in this section consists of a sentence with an underlined word followed by four words. Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word and mark your response on your Answer Sheet accordingly.
His religious views are rather fanatical.
PYP
2019 English
Religious fundamentalists often consider the followers of other religions to be heretics.
PYP
2019 English
According to G B Shaw, men have become inert. Therefore, life force has chosen women to perform its functions.
PYP
2019 English
Some of the men are highly misanthropic.
PYP
2019 English
The teacher was a very profound man.
PYP
2019 English
His hand-writing is readable.
PYP
2019 English
Mohan is his steadfast friend.
PYP
2019 English
Radha often goes tempestuous while debating.
PYP
2019 English
The thief had very vital information to pass on to the police.
PYP
2019 English
His lectures are often wordy and pointless.
PYP
2019 English
ORDERING OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE
Directions :
Each of the following items in this section consists of a sentence, the parts of which have been jumbled. These parts have been labelled as P, Q, R and S. Given below each sentence are four sequences namely (a), (b), (c) and (d). You are required to re-arrange the jumbled parts of the sentence and mark your response accordingly.
the prize money for refusing her Pepsico was ordered to compensate the woman
P Q R S
PYP
2019 English
trade operating from a colony held a meeting demanding a probe into the illegal drug
PYP
2019 English
the university authorities cancelled the ongoing students' union election and following students' unrest on campus closed till further orders declared the institution
PYP
2019 English
brushed past the latter's pet dog stabbed to death by a man after his vehicle accidentally a cargo van driver was allegedly
PYP
2019 English
an earthquake and tsunami P the disaster mitigation agency Q said that the death toll from R in Indonesia has crossed 1500 S
PYP
2019 English
scientists say they have developed a new P illnesses such as heart disease and cancer Q DNA tool that uses machine learning to accurately R predict people's height and assess their risk for serious S
PYP
2019 English
a rare evergreen tree in the Southern Western Ghats P researchers have found that Q common white-footed ants are the best pollinators of R bees might be the best known pollinators but S
PYP
2019 English
say from their forties onwards it is thus a good idea
P Q
and continue to exercise early enough for senior citizens to start
R S
PYP
2019 English
scientists have determined injury in animals and humans
P Q
that is linked to the severity of spinal cord a gene signature
R S
PYP
2019 English
like a muscle and repeating the process and stable reading circuit
P Q
helps the child build a strong the brain works
R S
PYP
2019 English
In this section each item consists of six sentences of a passage. The first and sixth sentences are given in the beginning as S1 and S6. The middle four sentences in each have been jumbled up and labelled as P, Q, R and S. You are required to find the proper sequence of the four sentences and mark your response accordingly on the Answer Sheet.
S1 : He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife.
S6 : He urinated outside the shack and then went up the road to wake the boy.
P : He never dreamed about the boy.
Q : He only dreamed of places and of the lions on the beach now.
R : He simply woke, looked out through the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.
S : They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : We do not know, after 60 years of education, how to protect ourselves against epidemics like cholera and plague.
S6 : This is the disastrous result of the system under which we are educated.
P : If our doctors could have started learning medicine at an earlier age, they would not make such a poor show as they do.
Q : I have seen hundreds of homes. I cannot say that I have found any evidence in them of knowledge of hygiene.
R : I consider it a very serious blot on the state of our education that our doctors have not found it possible to eradicate these diseases.
S : I have the greatest doubt whether our graduates know what one should do in case one is bitten by a snake.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness leads to slavery.
S6 : This is the great fact : strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery : weakness is death.
P : They dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened.
Q : Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death.
R : But they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them.
S : There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : The Nobel Prize for Economics in 2018 was awarded to Paul Romer and William Nordhaus for their work in two separate areas : economic growth and environmental economics respectively.
S6 : Among recent winners of Nobel Prize in Economics, it's hard to think of one issue which is more topical and relevant to India.
P : But there is a common thread in their work.
Q : In economic jargon it's termed as externality.
R : Productive activity often has spillovers, meaning that it can impact an unrelated party.
S : Romer and Nordhaus both studied the impact of externalities and came up with profound insights and economic models.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : India’s museums tend to be dreary experiences.
S6 : Because it’s better to attract crowds than dust.
P : Even the Louvre that attracted an eye-popping 8·1 million visitors last year compared to India’s 10·18 million foreign tourists, has hooked up with Beyonce and Jay-Z for promotion, where they take a selfie with Mona Lisa.
Q : Our museums need to get cool too.
R : A change of approach is clearly called for.
S : Troops of restless schoolchildren are often the most frequent visitors, endlessly being told to lower their voices and not touch the art.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : A decade ago UN recognised that rape can constitute a war crime and a constitutive act of genocide.
S6 : The fact that these two peace laureates come from two different nations underlines that this problem has been widespread, from Rwanda to Myanmar.
P : This year’s Nobel peace prize has been awarded to two exceptional individuals for their fight to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Q : Denis Mukwege is a doctor who has spent decades treating rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a long civil war has repeatedly witnessed the horror of mass rapes.
R : Nadia Murad is herself a survivor of sexual war crimes, perpetuated by IS against the Yazidis.
S : Today she campaigns tirelessly to put those IS leaders in the dock in international courts.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : Few scientists manage to break down the walls of the so-called ivory tower of academia and touch and inspire people who may not otherwise be interested in science.
S6 : Not many would have survived this, let alone excelled in the manner he did.
P : Stephen Hawking was one of these few.
Q : Around this time he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, an incurable motor neuron disease, and given two years to live.
R : Judging by the odds he faced as a young graduate student of physics at Cambridge University, nothing could have been a more remote possibility.
S : When he was about 20 years old, he got the shattering news that he could not work with the great Fred Hoyle for his PhD, as he had aspired to.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1 : The climate question presents a leapfrog era for India's development paradigm.
S6 : This presents a good template for India, building on its existing plans to introduce electric mobility through buses first, and cars by 2030.
P : It is aimed at achieving a shift to sustainable fuels, getting cities to commit to eco-friendly mobility and delivering more walkable communities, all of which will improve the quality of urban life.
Q : At the Bonn conference, a new Transport Decarbonisation Alliance has been declared.
R : This has to be resolutely pursued, breaking down the barriers to wider adoption of rooftop solar energy at every level and implementing net metering systems for all categories of consumers.
S : Already, the country has chalked out an ambitious policy on renewable energy, hoping to generate 175 gigawatts of power from green sources by 2022.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1: The dawn of the information age opened up great opportunities for the beneficial use of data.
S6: To some, in this era of Big Data analytics and automated, algorithm-based processing of zettabytes of information, the fear that their personal data may be unprotected may conjure up visions of a dystopian world in which individual liberties are compromised.
P: But it is the conflict between the massive scope for progress provided by the digital era and the fear of loss of individual autonomy that is foregrounded in any debates about data protection laws.
Q: It also enhanced the perils of unregulated and arbitrary use of personal data.
R: It is against this backdrop that the White Paper made public to elicit views from the public on the shape and substance of a comprehensive data protection law assumes significance.
S: Unauthorised leaks, hacking and other cyber crimes have rendered data bases vulnerable.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
S1: In a globalised world, no country can hope to impose tariffs without affecting its own economic interests.
S6: The ongoing trade war also threatens the rules-based global trade order which has managed to amicably handle trade disputes between countries for decades.
P: So both the U.S. and China, which have blamed each other for the ongoing trade war, are doing no good to their own economic fortunes by engaging in this tit-for-tat tariff battle.
Q: Apart from disadvantaging its consumers, who will have to pay higher prices for certain goods, tariffs will also disrupt the supply chain of producers who rely on foreign imports.
R: China, which is fighting an economic slowdown, will be equally affected.
S: The minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve June policy meeting show that economic uncertainty due to the trade war is already affecting private investment in the U.S., with many investors deciding to scale back or delay their investment plans.
The correct sequence should be
PYP
2019 English
From 1600 to 1757 the East India Company's role in India was that of a trading corporation which brought goods or precious metals into India and exchanged them for Indian goods like textiles and spices, which it sold abroad. Its profits came primarily from the sale of Indian goods abroad. Naturally, it tried constantly to open new markets for Indian goods in Britain and other countries. Thereby, it increased the export of Indian manufacturers, and thus encouraged their production. This is the reason why Indian rulers tolerated and even encouraged the establishment of the Company's factories in India. But, from the very beginning, the British manufacturers were jealous of the popularity that India textiles enjoyed in Britain. All of a sudden, dress fashions changed and light cotton textiles began to replace the coarse woolens of the English. Before, the author of the famous novel, Robinson Crusoe, complained that Indian cloth had “crept into our houses, our closets and bed chambers; curtains, cushions, chairs, and at last beds themselves were nothing but calicos or India stuffs”. The British manufacturers put pressure on their government to restrict and prohibit the sale of Indian goods in England. By 1720, laws had been passed forbidding the wear or use of printed or dyed cotton cloth. In 1760 a lady had to pay a fine of 200 for possessing an imported handkerchief ! Moreover, heavy duties were imposed on the import of plain cloth. Other European countries, except Holland, also either prohibited the import of Indian cloth or imposed heavy import duties. In spite of these laws, however, Indian silk and cotton textiles still held their own in foreign markets, until the middle of the eighteenth century when the English textile industry began to develop on the basis of new and advanced technology.
The East India Company was encouraging the export of Indian manufacturers because
PYP
2019 English
The people of England used Indian cloths because
PYP
2019 English
What did the British manufacturer do to compete with the Indian manufacturers ?
PYP
2019 English
Which source is cited by the author to argue that Indian textile was in huge demand in 18th century England ?
PYP
2019 English
"New and advanced technology" in the paragraph refers to
PYP
2019 English
In the paragraph, who has been called liberation hero ?
PYP
2019 English
Mrs. Mugabe is supported by
PYP
2019 English
Mr. Mugabe's political weakness became apparent when
PYP
2019 English
The security forces of Zimbabwe staged a coup against the President because
PYP
2019 English
Why does the military not want to call it a coup d'etat ?
PYP
2019 English
Why should those who over-eat refrain from doing so ?
PYP
2019 English
Over-eating is more prevalent among
PYP
2019 English
The writer is asking the readers
PYP
2019 English
What is the most appropriate time for having evening meal ?
PYP
2019 English
According to the passage, how many times a day should we have food ?
PYP
2019 English
According to the passage, people over-eat
PYP
2019 English
Passage - IV
Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if anyone here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.
The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.
Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.
If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: it has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."
According to the author of the passage, people should
PYP
2019 English
The Parliament of Religions is
PYP
2019 English
What does the author think about those who dream about the exclusive survival of their own religions and the destruction of the others?
PYP
2019 English
According to the passage, what is "impossible hope"?
PYP
2019 English
Directions :
Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled as (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
Except for few days in a year during the monsoon the river cannot flow on its own.
PYP
2019 English
Being apprised with our approach, the whole neighbourhood came out to meet the minister.
PYP
2019 English
The celebrated grammarian Patanjali was a contemporary to Pushyamitra Sunga.
PYP
2019 English
His appeal for funds met a poor response.
PYP
2019 English
Buddhism teaches that freedom from desires will lead to escape suffering.
PYP
2019 English
This hardly won liberty was not to be lightly abandoned.
PYP
2019 English
My friend said he never remembered having read a more enjoyable book. No error.
PYP
2019 English
With a population of over one billion, India is second most populous country in the world after China. No error.
PYP
2019 English
There are hundred of superstitions which survive in the various parts of the country. No error.
PYP
2019 English
It is in the temperate countries of northern Europe that the beneficial effects of cold is most manifest. No error.
PYP
2019 English
The effects of female employment on gender equality now appear to be trickling at the next generation. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Since the 15 minutes that she drives, she confesses that she feels like a woman with wings. No error.
PYP
2019 English
India won by an innings and three runs. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Each one of these chairs are broken. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Few creature outwit the fox in Aesop's Fables. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Anywhere in the world when there is conflict women and children suffer the most. No error.
PYP
2019 English
The man is the foundational director of this company. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Parents of LGBT community members are coming in with a little help from NGOs. No error.
PYP
2019 English
To love one art form is great but to be able to appreciate another and find lateral connections are priceless. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Female literacy rate has gone up by 11% in the past decade as opposed to a 3% increase in male literacy. No error.
PYP
2019 English
Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space with four words or group of words given. Select whichever word or group of words you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly.
The question whether war is ever justified, and if so under what circumstances, is one which has been forcing itself ________ the attention of all thoughtful men.
PYP
2019 English
On this question I find myself in the somewhat ________ position of
PYP
2019 English
holding that no single one of the combatants is justified in the present war, while not taking the extreme Tolstoyan view that war is under all circumstances a ________
PYP
2019 English
Opinions on such a subject as war are the outcome of ________
PYP
2019 English
rather than of thought : given a man's emotional temperament, his convictions, ________ on war in general, and on any particular war which
PYP
2019 English
may occur during his lifetime, can be ________ with tolerable certainty.
PYP
2019 English
The arguments used will be mere reinforcements to convictions otherwise reached. The fundamental facts in this as in all ethical _______
(a) questions are feelings; all that
PYP
2019 English
thought can do is to clarify and systematize the expression of those feelings, and it is such clarifying and systematizing of my own feelings that I wish to _______
(a) engage
PYP
2019 English
in the present article. In fact, the question of rights and wrongs of a particular war is generally _______ from a juridical or quasi-juridical
(a) considered
PYP
2019 English
_______
PYP
2019 English
CLOZE COMPREHENSION - II
The Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year is a tribute to the power of _______ The laureates harnessed evolution and used it in the _______
PYP
2019 English
(a) microscope with amazing results. Frances H. Arnold, an American who
PYP
2019 English
was given one-half of the prize, used 'directed evolution' to _______
PYP
2019 English
variants of naturally occurring enzymes that could be used to _______
PYP
2019 English
The other half went to George P. Smith, also of the U.S., and Sir Gregory P. Winter, from the U.K., who evolved antibodies to _______ autoimmune diseases and even metastatic cancer through a process called phage display.
PYP
2019 English
Given below are some idioms/phrases followed by four alternative meanings to each. Choose the response (a), (b), (c) or (d) which is the most appropriate expression.
A match made in heaven
PYP
2019 English
A culture vulture
PYP
2019 English
A death blow
PYP
2019 English
Given below are some idioms/phrases followed by four alternative meanings to each. Choose the response (a), (b), (c) or (d) which is the most appropriate expression.
The jewel in the crown
PYP
2019 English
To live in a fool's paradise
PYP
2019 English
A rotten apple
PYP
2019 English
To vote with your feet
PYP
2019 English
Verbal diarrhoea
PYP
2019 English
To sail close to the wind
PYP
2019 English
A double entendre
PYP
2019 English
To cut your own throat
PYP
2019 English
Cook the books
PYP
2019 English
Change your tune
PYP
2019 English
Blue blood
PYP
2019 English
Cut the crap
Showing 5 of 120 questions