Ies 2006 General English

IES 2006 GENERAL ENGLISH

1. Write an essay on one of the following topics in about 1000-1200 words:

(a) Rural Upliftment — A Stock Taking

(b) The threat of Communalism in a Plural Polity

(d) What is this life full of care, We have no time to stand and stare

(e) The World in 2025

(f) The Educative value of Travels

(g) Advertising and Social Responsibility

2. Write a precise of the following passage in about 200 words, using your own words as far as

possible. Please state the number of words used in your precise.

(Note: The precise must be written only on the special sheets provided for the purpose—one word in

each block—and these sheets should be fastened securely inside the answer book.)

Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem. Both men and women, nine times out

often, are firmly convinced of the superior excellence of their own sex. There is abundant evidence

on both sides. If you are a man, you can point out that most poets and men of science are males; if

you are a woman, you can retort that so are most criminals. The question is inherently insoluble, but

self-esteem conceals this from most people. We are all, whatever part of world we come from,

persuaded that our own nation is superior to all others.

Seeing that each has its characteristic merits and demerits, we adjust our standard of values so

as to make out that the merits possessed by our nations are really important ones while its demerits

are comparatively trivial. Here again, the rational man will admit that the question is one to which

there is no demonstrably right answer. It is more difficult to deal with the self-esteem of man as man,

because we cannot argue out the matter with some non-human mind. The only way I know of dealing

with this general human conceit is to remind ourselves that man is a brief episode in the life of a

small planet in a little corner of the universe, and that for aught we know, other parts of the cosmos

may contain beings as superior to ourselves as we are to jelly-fish.

Other passions besides self-esteem are common source of error; of these perhaps the most

important is fear. Fear sometimes operates directly by inventing rum ours of disaster in wartime, or

by imagining objects of terror as ghosts; sometimes it operates indirectly, by creating belief in

something comforting, such as the elixir of life, or heaven for ourselves and hell for our enemies.

Fear has many forms, fear of death, fear of the dark, fear of unknown, fear of the herd and the vague

generalized fear that comes to those who conceal from themselves their more specific terrors. Until

you have admitted your own fears to yourself, and have guarded yourself by a difficult effort of will

against their myth-making power, you cannot hope to think truly about many matters of great

importance, especially those with which religious beliefs are concerned. Fear is the main source of

superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in

the pursuit of truth as in the endeavor after a worthy manner of life.

There are two ways of avoiding fear; one is by persuading ourselves that we are immune

from disaster, and the other is by the practice of sheer courage. The latter is difficult, and to

everybody becomes impossible at a certain point. The former has therefore always been more

popular. Primitive magic has the purpose of securing safety, either by injuring enemies or by

protecting oneself by talismans, spells, incantations. Without any essential change, belief in such

ways of avoiding danger survived throughout the many centuries of civilization, spread from

Babylon throughout the Empire of Alexander, and was acquired by the Romans in the course

of their absorption of Hellenistic culture. From the Romans it descended to medieval Christendom

and Islam. Science has now lessened the belief in magic, but many people find more faith in mascots

than they are willing to avow, and sorcery, while condemned by the church is still officially a

possible sin.

Magic, however, was a crude way of avoiding terrors, and moreover not a very reflective

way, for wicked magicians might always prove stronger than good ones. In the fifteenth, sixteenth

and seventeenth centuries, dread of witches and sorcerers led to the burning of hundreds of thousands

convicted of these crimes. But newer beliefs particularly as to the future life, sought more effective

way of combating fear. Socrates, on the day of his death (if Plato is to be believed), expressed the

conviction that in the next world he would live in the company of the gods and heroes, and be

surrounded by just spirits who would never object to his endless argumentation. Plato, in his

Republic, laid down that cheerful views of the next world must be enforced by the State, not because

they were true, but to make soldiers more willing to die in battle. He would have none of the

traditional myths about Hades, because they represented the spirit of the dead as unhappy.

3. Write a single paragraph in about 200 words, on one of the following :

(10)

(a) The apparel oft prcclaimeth the man

(b) Habit is second nature

(d) Nothing succeeds like success

(e) We live in deeds not in years

4. Use the following words in sentences so as to bring out their meaning clearly. Do not change the

form of the word. No mark will be given for a vague or ambiguous sentence.

(a) Predilection

(b) Vitiate

(d) Impasse

(e) Decimate (v)

5. Affect the directed changes in the following sentences without changing the meaning:

(10)

(a) He is so undependable that nobody believes him. (Use ‘too’)

(b) If I were there ……………….. (Complete the sentence)

(d) As soon as the result was declared, there was chaos all around. (Use ‘No sooner ……..’)

(e) Once bitten …………. (Complete the proverb)

6. Correct the following sentences without changing their meaning. Please do not make unnecessary

changes in the original sentences:

(10)

(a) Your children grew a lot since I had seen them last year.

(b) I sat in the garden when his servant had come to see me.

(d) Unless you do not really work hard, there is little passivity of success for you.

(e) I don’t remember to post the letter fast week.

(f) Taj Mahal is a most unique love monument.

(g) My house is bigger than your.

(h) The teacher as well as the students is present in full strength.

(i) Principalship of a college is not a bed of flowers.

(j) The first few chapters are interesting but not the later ones.

IES 2005 GENERAL ENGLISH

1. Write an essay on one of the following topics in about 1000-1200 words:

(a) Globalization and erosion of culture values.

(b) The indispensable Opposition.

(d) Popular Superstition.

(e) The perils in Privatization of higher Education in India.

(f) Ecological Boomerag.

(g) Aspirations of the modern youth.

2. Write a precise of the following passage in about 200 words, using your own words as far as

possible. Please state the number of words used in your precise:

(Note: The precise must be written only on the special sheets provided for the purpose – one word in

each block – and these sheets should be fastened securely inside the answer book).

The happy man will have in childhood parents who are fond of him. He will be more likely to

get affection from his parents than he is at present, their affection will be freer and their anxieties

will be less, and because they will regard parenthood as a partnership in the bringing up of children

not as a sexual person. In childhood, his environment will be such that it is much less often necessary

to say “don’t” than it is at present. He should spend most of the daytime hours in large playrooms

with other children or out of the door if the weather is conducive. During these hours he should not

be surrounded by valuable but fragile objects with he must not touch. The wills should not be so

exquisitely colored that on no account must dirty finger marks paper upon them. The playroom

should be sufficiently remote from other people for it to be unnecessary to tell children not to make a

noise. Everything must be on one level sot that there are no steps upon which they can hurt

themselves. There must, of curse, be no knives or other sharp instruments within their reach. In such

an environment a great many “don’ts” which are unavoidable in a small home will be unnecessary. I

do not pretend that there will be no prohibition. Children will have to be prevented from ill-treating

each other, but, as for as possible, this should be done by keeping them interested in some activity

which they enjoy, rather than by restraining bullying impulses by direct authority.

The framework of life in childhood should have a routine which is only varied on great

occasions, such as holidays or expeditions. The child needs two things above all else: one is freedom

to grow, and the other is security. Security comes to children from affection and routine. They do not

feel secure unless they know more of less what to expect. Although children should not be

surrounded by tabus, they should not be left entirely to their won devices. Intelligent adults should

suggest occupations that children will like, and should have the art of suggesting them in a tone of

vice that inclines children to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’ I think by this means a child can reach school

age without being filled with complexes, fears and furies.

In personal relation, the happy man having been taught to get rid of the twin obsessions of sin

and fear, will be free and generous and expansive, regarding other people, except where there is

some definite reason to the contrary, as people with whom he co-operates rather than as competitors.

He will not be constantly inhibiting impulses to friendliness for fear lest others should take

advantage of him or more trustful than is common in the present day, and in nine cases out of then

the fact that this is his attitude will bring about a response that justifies it. Having learned while he

was ong the economics and politics of co-operation, and the habit of regarding the human family as

enemies, and he will see war as the folly that it is.

I want to insist once more that the happy man, as I conceive him, is happy, not only

owing to the outward circumstances of his adult life, but also owing to a happy temperament which

he will owe to the wisdom and kindness of those with whom he spends his first years. Given this

temperament and given an economics system which affords him security, he will be able to enjoy

work, to have many friends, to feel affection to his children, and to pass through the middle years of

his life without any sense of frustration and fear that is all too common among middle-aged man in

the world as it is. When at last he reaches old age he will look back upon his life without remorse or

undue regress.

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for

this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel

bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old

man who has known human joys and sorrow, and has achieved whatever work it was in his hands to

do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it is to make your

interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of ego recede, and your life

becomes increasingly merged in the universal life An individual human existence should be like a

river – small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and

over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and

in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their

individual being. The man, who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear

of death, since the things he cares for will continue. The thoughts of rest will be not unwelcome.

3. Write a single paragraph in about 200 words, on one of the following:

(a) If you want peace, be prepared for war.

(b) Small is beautiful.

(d) Brevity is the soul of wit.

4. Use the following words in sentences so as to bring out their meaning clearly. Do not change the

form of the word. No mark will be given for a vague of ambiguous sentence:

(a) conspicuous (adjective)

(b) solicitude (noun)

(d) vengeance (noun)

(e) flabbergast (verb)

5. Supply the correct forms of verbs given in parentheses in the following passage. You may write only

correct verb forms in your answer book against numbers given in parentheses, not necessarily

reproducing the entire passage:

As the train (1. draw) to a stop, Nagaraja (2. lift) his suitcase off the rack and placed it on the

empty seat beside him. Then (3. raise) the wooden shutters which he (4. keep) closed because of the

coal-dust which the engine (5. emit) so liberally, he looked out. It (6. be) almost dark and the

landscape scarcely visible. It was his first visit to the west coast of India, and he already (7. hear)

much about the beauty of Malabar. He was the only one to descend at the desolate wayside station

and soon (8. understand) the purpose of the urgent summons he (9. receive) in Delhi (10. request)

him to come immediately.

6. Correct the following sentences without changing their meaning. Please do not make unnecessary

changes in the sentences :

(a) Knowing about my interest in music, the Principal asked me that I would like to perform on

the stage.

(b) Whatever the solution to the problems, we should consider them carefully before we

decide to take any action.

(d) He is too tall and best suited to play basketball.

(e) No sooner the chief guest arrived the show started.

(f) Most of us are not aware that eating some varieties of mushrooms result in death.

(g) After every participant had had three minutes to express their opinion the debate was thrown

open to the audience.

(h) We will learn a lot by attending the English course, isn’t it?

(i) Along the Northern frontier of India, is seen the Himalayas, mighty in their grandeur.

(j) I do look forward to meet you in a couple of days.

IES 2003 GENERAL ENGLISH

Answers must be written in English.

1. Write an essay on one of the following topics in about 1000-1200 words each 40

(a) India and her Neighbours

(b) Ethics and Politics

(d) Future of Sports of India

(e) Modern Fashions

(f) Censorship of the Media

(g) My vision of an ideal world order.

2. Write an precise of the following passage in about 200 words, using your own words as far as

possible Please mention the number of words used in your precise.

(Note: The precise must be written only on the special sheets provided for the purpose - one word in

each block - and these sheets should be fastened securely inside the answer book)

Most of us, I suppose, are burdened with the complexity of our present-day problems. We

live our day-to-day lies and face our day-to-day difficulties, but somehow that is not enough. One

seeks something behind that daily round and tries to find out how one can solve the problems that

afflict the world. For one whom circumstances have placed in a position of great responsibility it is

particularly difficult to avoid thinking about these problems. During the last few weeks I have been

going about this great country and seeing multitudes of human beings, surging masses of my

countrymen and countrywomen. I have thus invariably thought of what was going to happen to these

people, what they were thinking and in which direction they were going. These questions apply to us

because we are in the same boat. And then I think of the multitudes in other countries. What about

those vast masses of human beings? Some of us here are functioning on the political plane and

presuming to decide the fate of nations. How far our decisions do affects these multitudes? Do we

think of them or do we live in some upper stratosphere of diplomats and politicians and the like,