NDA Cloze test previous year questions with solutions

Answer: (a) Unlike

Method. connector of contrast: 'Unlike other insects'

The honeybee lives in a community, 'other insects which live alone' contrast with it, so 'Unlike' is needed. 'Like' and 'Similar to' say the opposite; 'With' gives no sense.

Answer: (c) member

Method. 'a member of a community'

'Member of' is the collocation (a bee is part of a community). 'Group' and 'troop' are collectives, not a part; 'individual of' is not idiomatic and the article 'a/⁠an' needs a singular part of a whole.

Answer: (d) colony.

Method. collocation 'bee colony'

A group of bees living together is a colony (as ants, bees). 'House', 'home' and 'army' are not the term used for a bee community.

Answer: (d) larger

Method. comparative with 'than'

'than' needs a comparative, so 'heaviest' and 'largest' (superlatives) fail. Between 'heavier' and 'larger': the queen is described by size, being larger bodied than workers; 'larger' is the standard description.

Answer: (a) lay

Method. collocation 'lay eggs'

Insects and birds 'lay' eggs. 'Hatch' means eggs break open; 'bear' is used of live offspring/⁠fruit; 'make' is not the verb.

Answer: (a) hardly

Method. hardly … when (negative adverb pairing)

'Had hardly done X when Y′ is the standard pattern: one action barely complete when the next occurs. 'Barely' also fits the pattern (nearly the same sense); 'merely' (only) and 'rarely' (seldom) do not fit a single past event. Hardly is the textbook partner of 'when'.

Answer: (c) off

Method. phrasal verb 'take off' (clothes)

'Take off one's clothes' is the idiom. 'Taken out/⁠away/⁠on my clothes' means something else (remove from a place / put on). Passage sense: she had just undressed when Gangu appeared.

Answer: (c) with

Method. preposition 'with' = accompanied by / holding

'Standing with a new baby' = holding/⁠carrying it. 'Near a new baby' does not suit the later joy; 'by' and 'at' do not give a natural phrase. The page has text dropped after this blank (retyped page); answered from what is printed.

Answer: (b) bursting

Method. idiom 'bursting with joy'

'Bursting with joy' is the fixed idiom for overwhelming happiness, matching 'such joy' in the next sentence. 'Jumping/⁠dancing with joy' are possible but describe motion; 'singing with joy' is weakest. Text between blanks 23 and 24 is missing in this retyped page, so this is judged from what is printed.

Answer: (a) could

Method. modal 'could not have + past participle' (speculation about the past)

'Even Nanda could not have felt such joy' = it is not possible that Nanda felt more. 'Should not have' would mean wrong/⁠ought; 'ought' needs 'to'. 'Would' is the nearest wrong, but 'could not have felt' is the idiom of comparison here.

Answer: (c) felt

Method. collocation 'feel joy'

Joy is felt; 'experimented', 'shown' and 'heard' do not take 'joy' as object with 'such … getting Krishna' sense. 'Could not have felt such joy' is the natural form.

Answer: (a) at

Method. preposition after joy: 'joy at getting'

'joy at getting Krishna' : 'at' marks the cause of the emotion; 'in' would mean taking delight in a thing, 'on' and 'into' fail.

Answer: (b) glow

Method. collocation 'a glow on the face'

The face wears a 'glow' (of satisfaction); a 'light' or 'hope' is not 'the same … that appears on the face', and 'sense' does not appear on a face as a visible quality.

Answer: (b) appears

Method. verb 'appears on the face'

Feeling that 'appears on the face' is the natural collocation. 'Comes' and 'rises' do not take 'on the face of'; 'shows' would need an object ('shows on the face' is possible but 'appears' is the better fit with 'that … on').

Answer: (d) satisfied

Method. sense: contentment after a meal

'Satisfied man after a full meal' is the only option consistent with the full meal; 'starved', 'starving' and 'hungry' describe a man who has not eaten and contradict 'after a full meal'.

Answer: (a) independent

Method. 'independent of' (fixed phrase)

The passage says the food is not natural: 'independent of natural biota' is what is believed, then refuted ('This is not true'). 'Dependent' would take 'on', not 'of'; 'relevant', 'consequent' do not make sense.

Answer: (b) both

Method. correlative 'both plants and animals'

'Both … and' links the two subjects; 'the' would require a noun phrase, 'some' and 'among' give ungrammatical results.

Answer: (d) are continuously subjected

Method. subject-verb agreement and tense: general truth

Plural subject 'plants and animals' with a general statement needs the simple present passive 'are subjected'. 'Had been' is past perfect, 'will be subject' is wrong in form, and 'continuously subjected' lacks the verb 'are'.

Answer: (a) Consequently

Method. connector of result: 'Consequently'

The sentence states the result of natural selection (only the fittest survive); hence wild populations have the traits. 'Although' and 'since' make subordinate clauses with no main clause; 'inadvertently' is an adverb of manner.

Answer: (b) tolerance

Method. parallel nouns: tolerance to adverse conditions

'Resistance to parasites, tolerance to adverse conditions, and other aspects' is a list of nouns. 'Adaptable' is an adjective and breaks the parallelism; 'withdrawal' and 'compliance' give the wrong sense.

Answer: (a) and

Method. list ending with 'and'

The list 'competitiveness, resistance…, tolerance…, and other aspects of vigour' is closed with 'and'; the other prepositions give no meaning.

Answer: (d) generations

Method. sense: generations of cultivated populations

Breeding takes place over generations; 'eras' and 'epochs' are vast geological time spans, 'periods' is vague for populations being bred.

Answer: (c) are selected

Method. passive present: 'they are selected for production'

Populations are selected by breeders, so a passive is needed. 'Had/⁠have selected' and 'might select' make the plants the selectors.

Answer: (c) that

Method. relative pronoun 'that' for a thing

'A plant that lacks resistance' needs a relative pronoun referring to a plant (subject of 'lacks'). 'Whom' is for persons, 'whichever' and 'whenever' do not work.

Answer: (b) irrigated

Method. sense: plant that is irrigated, drought resistance ignored

A plant that lacks drought resistance is still kept (irrigated), so its lacking resistance is ignored. 'Heated', 'showered' and 'deserted' do not fit the logic.

Answer: (b) continually

Method. adverb of sense: 'continually changing and evolving'

Climate is constantly changing; 'continually' fits. 'Passionately' and 'thoughtfully' are human attitudes; 'deadly' is an adjective-form adverb of wrong sense.

Answer: (a) these

Method. demonstrative 'these' with plural 'changes'

'Some of these changes' refers back to the changes just mentioned and agrees with plural 'changes'. 'This/⁠that' are singular; 'those' needs a defining clause.

Answer: (c) human

Method. sense: human activities

Deforestation, industrial and transport emissions are human activities, contrasted with 'natural causes'. 'Geological' and 'animal' are natural; 'practical' does not fit.

Answer: (d) accumulation

Method. sense/⁠collocation: accumulation of gases

The gases build up in the atmosphere = accumulation. 'Absolution' (forgiveness) is irrelevant; 'assimilation' is absorbing into a body; 'collection' is a gathering by someone.

Answer: (c) the

Method. definite article for a unique thing

'The atmosphere' (Earth's atmosphere) is unique and always takes 'the'. 'An/⁠a' and no article are wrong.

Answer: (a) raise

Method. transitive verb 'raise' + object

'Raise air temperatures' needs a transitive verb with object. 'Rise' is intransitive; 'hike' is informal (prices); 'balance' contradicts 'trap heat'.

Answer: (d) planet

Method. sense: surface of the planet (the Earth)

Greenhouse gases act like a greenhouse on the surface of the planet. 'Surface of the crust' is redundant (the crust is the surface layer) and 'core/⁠mantle' lie below it. The full stop printed only after option (a) is a typesetting feature of the sentence end, not a clue.

Answer: (a) for

Method. preposition 'capacity for'

'Capacity for assessment' (the ability for a task) is the fit; 'of/⁠in/⁠to' do not give the sense here.

Answer: (b) are initiated

Method. passive voice: studies 'are initiated'

'Studies' cannot act, so a passive is needed (the active 'have developed/⁠initiated' fails). Of the two passives, studies are 'initiated' (started) under a programme; 'are developed' is the weaker collocation. Judged on sense; the full stop printed after (a) is not a clue.

Answer: (b) at

Method. fixed phrase 'at regular intervals'

'At … intervals' is the idiom for periodic occurrence; 'with/⁠in/⁠on regular intervals' are not used.