English Quiz (Cloze Test) for SBI | IBPS – Set 376

Directions (Q.1-10) In the passage given below there are 10 blanks, each followed by a word given in bold. Even blank has four alternative words given in options (a),(b) and (c). You have to tell which word will not suit the respective blank. Mark (d) as your answer if all words are suitable.

For democracies to work, politicians need to respect the difference between an enemy and an adversary.
An______________(1) is someone you want to defeat. An enemy is someone you have to destroy. With adversaries, compromise is honorable: Today’s adversary could be tomorrow’s ally. With enemies, on the other hand, compromise is _______________(2).
Between adversaries, trust is possible. They will beat you if they can, but they will accept the verdict of a fair fight. This, and a _____________(3) to play by the rules, is what good-faith democracy demands.
Between enemies, trust is impossible. They do not play by the rules (or if they do, only as a means to an end) and if they win, they will try to rewrite the rules, so that they can never be beaten again.
Adversaries can easily turn into enemies. If majority parties never let minority parties come away with half a loaf, the losers are bound to conclude they can only win through the utter _____________(4) of the majority.
Once adversaries think of democracy as a zero-sum game, the next step is to conceive of politics as war: no quarter given, no prisoners taken, no _____________(5) shown.

For a long time now, the language used by both sides in American politics has been _____________(6) by bellicose metaphors. Elected officials “tear into” their ____________(7) , “take the fight” to their opponent and _________(8) — as we see clearly now, in the third week of the federal government shutdown — in the ____________(9) equivalent of trench warfare. Where language leads, conduct follows.
The problem is that politics is not war, but the only ___________(10) alternative to it. Once we think of politics as war, battle cries drown out democratic persuasion. By slow degrees, belligerence and self-righteousness make cooperation impossible.

1.
(a) Antagonist
(b) Emulator
(c) Rival
(d) All are suitable

2.
(a) unacceptable
(b) Appeasement
(c) propitiation
(d) All are suitable

3.
(a) Embezzle
(b) willingness
(c) compliance
(d) All are suitable

4.
(a) catastrophe
(b) pivotal
(c) Destruction
(d) All are suitable

5.
(a) commiseration
(b) Mercy
(c) Twined
(d) All are suitable

6.
(a) Abhorrent
(b) Aroused
(c) inflamed
(d) All are suitable

7.
(a) obliterated
(b) paragon
(c) opponents
(d) All are suitable

8.
(a) countersink
(b) engage
(c) laced
(d) All are suitable

9.
(a) tactical
(b) a man of sense
(c) exigent
(d) All are suitable

10.
(a) authoritative
(b) authentic
(c) reliable
(d) All are suitable