General Verbal Ability and Comprehension 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which word is most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning to 'benevolent'?
- charitable
- malicious (Correct answer)
- generous
- compassionate
Correct answer: malicious
Benevolent means well-meaning and kind; malicious means intending harm, making it the antonym.
Question 2: Choose the word that best completes the analogy: Playwright : Script :: Architect : ___
- Building
- Blueprint (Correct answer)
- Contractor
- Permit
Correct answer: Blueprint
A playwright creates a script; an architect creates a blueprint—both are planning documents for their respective fields.
Question 3: Identify the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement:
- The team are playing well this season.
- Neither the coach nor the players was prepared.
- Each of the students have submitted their essays.
- The jury has reached a verdict. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The jury has reached a verdict.
Collective nouns like 'jury' take a singular verb in American English when acting as one unit.
Question 4: What does the idiom 'burn the midnight oil' mean?
- To waste energy carelessly
- To work late into the night (Correct answer)
- To start a fire illegally
- To exhaust financial resources
Correct answer: To work late into the night
The idiom refers to working or studying late at night, historically by the light of an oil lamp.
Question 5: Which sentence uses a dangling modifier?
- Running down the street, the dog chased the ball.
- Walking to school, she noticed the new mural.
- Having finished the test, the papers were turned in. (Correct answer)
- After eating lunch, Tom returned to his desk.
Correct answer: Having finished the test, the papers were turned in.
In option C, 'having finished the test' implies the papers finished the test, which is illogical—the modifier dangles without a proper subject.
Question 6: Select the correct meaning of the prefix 'mal-' as used in 'malfunction':
- Many
- Bad or wrongly (Correct answer)
- Before
- Together
Correct answer: Bad or wrongly
The prefix 'mal-' comes from Latin meaning bad or poorly, as in malfunction (functioning badly).
Question 7: In reading comprehension, the term 'inference' means:
- A direct quote from the text
- A conclusion drawn from evidence not explicitly stated (Correct answer)
- A summary of the main idea
- A definition provided by the author
Correct answer: A conclusion drawn from evidence not explicitly stated
An inference is a logical conclusion the reader draws based on clues in the text rather than stated facts.
General Verbal Ability and Comprehension 2
Which word is most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning to 'benevolent'?