Tips to Crack English Section in SBI PO 2017

Tips to Crack English Section in SBI PO 2017

The syllabus for English Section:

1)   Reading Comprehension

2)   Cloze Test

3)   Fill in the Blanks

4)   Jumbled Sentence

5)   Error Spotting

Pre exam preparation for Comprehension:

·        Read English Newspaper daily, especially Editorial, National, Business and Banking columns.

·        You can figure out banking, financial terminologies and the scenario of banking operations.

·        Make notes of important words.

·        Read passage as fast as possible it will enhance you fast reading flawlessly.

Cloze Test:

·        Read the whole passage completely then you know the theme of the passage.

·        See the options in which all the words meaning are known to you then check does it suits in blank.

·        You have to consider the word which should concord subject verb agreement.

            ·        More Practising will help you to choose the words quickly.
 

Concept:

Cloze test is an extensive variation of the sentence completion test. Candidates are required to make a choice from multiple alternatives for each word blanked out, not in a sentence but in a passage. Thus this test evaluates the candidate’s vocabulary power and his ability to judge the overall meaning of a passage even when some words are missing.

Practical Tip:

A passage consists of sentences which are logically related to one another. Therefore, first of all, read the whole passage, get a rough idea of its contents and keep them in your mind as a background. Concentrate on this background to find clues. Use the following tips as well.

1.     If you know the answer, immediately tick it. NO technique is to be adopted. The whole process will work in a flash.

2.    When you are not sure of the answer, make the right choice through the process of elimination.

Elimination Technique à Alternatives à Step-1 (Structure) à Step-2 (Meaning) à Step-3 à Common Usage and Nuances à Step-4 (Clues) à Step-5 (Reasoning) à Target or Correct Choice

Step 1: Judge if any of them does not fit into the structure (eliminate).

Step 2: Judge if any of them does not fit in with the meaning (eliminate).

Step 3: Among/ between the remaining apply your awareness of the common usage or nuances of words.

Step 4: Try to find out a clue in the sentence or in a sentence preceding or succeeding it. Sometimes

The clue is hidden many sentences away.

Step 5: If the final choice has not been reached even now, apply the method of reasoning to hit the target.

Fill in the blanks:

·        Consider the words list in the options and select the suitable one which makes the sentence meaningful.

·        Even if you find out one word then you can easily sort out another one. Depends on the theme of the sentence you should took the word even though, the options might have same meaning. This only relies on the practice.

Tips to Answer “Fill in the Blank” Questions in English Section:

Step 1: Initially, read the sentence carefully and try to fill the missing word without looking the given options.

Step 2: Then, check the options given below and find the best word which replaces the word that you had thought initially.

Step 3: Insert the word that you have chosen from the option and read the sentence again. Check that the word you have inserted in the blank, enables you to read the sentence correctly and smoothly and also check whether it gives you proper meaning.

Step 4: After filling all the blanks, once again read the sentence and make sure that there are no grammatical error in the sentence.

Important Points to Remember:

·        Fill in the Blanks is one of the most important questions in the English Section, from which you can score more marks easily. To answer these questions, you must have very good English Vocabulary.

Important thing is to understand the meaning of the sentence properly; if you have understood the question properly you can also get some clues from the questions, which will help you to choose the answer correctly. So read the sentence very carefully
                  Don’t forget to note the Grammar Clues, in the given sentence there will be      some hidden grammar clues by using those clues you can easily identify the          answer. For example, if the article “an” comes before the blank means, the answer must begin with a vowel.

·        While reading the sentence you need to think logically and recognize the correct word which will give proper meaning for that sentence.

·        When you read the sentence and option in the question, try to find the nature of the missing word, whether the missing word implies positive or negative meaning, and this will help you to identify the correct word in the option.

·        Each question consists of two blanks, compare the both words given in the option and eliminate the option which not suits for the both blanks.

·        Some questions may ask from the Idioms and Phrase, you must be prepared to face those types of questions. So you should have good knowledge in the Idioms and Phrases also.

Jumbled Sentence:

·        In Jumble Sentence, you have to connect each sentence sequentially.

·        Co-relating each sentence and understand each sentence’s view point. Make it a story by arranging all sentences. Choose the option accordingly.

REARRANGEMENT OF JUMBLED SENTENCES

In these types of questions, the candidate is given a set of five or six sentences which are in jumbled order. The given sentences should be arranged properly to form a meaningful paragraph and answer the questions based on the sequence formed.

Directions:

Read the following statements to decide their sequence to make a meaningful passage and then answer the questions given below them

Question:

A.   Therefore large scale construction programme that can be affordable at reasonable cost has to be launched.

B.   Construction has not kept with it and the shortage of accommodation has been accentuated.

C.   But high cost of materials and labour makes housing an unprofitable proposition.

D.   The census figures show that the population of our cities has increased immensely in the recent years.

E.   This shortage must be overcome in a reasonably short time.

1).Which of the following should be the FIRST sentence?

a)    A

b)    B

c)    C

d)    D

e)    E

2).Which of the following should be the SECOND sentence?

a)    E

b)    A

c)    B

d)    C

e)    D

3).Which of the following should be the LAST sentence?

a)    D

b)    E

c)    A

d)    B

e)    C

4).Which of the following should be the THIRD sentence?

a)    E

b)    D

c)    C

d)    A

e)    B

5).Which of the following should be the FOURTH sentence?

a)    B

b)    C

c)    D

d)    E

e)    A

Important Tips to Rearrange the Above Sentences:

Hint 1: Try to find out the topic addressed by the paragraph. This can be done by looking for the words that are repeated often in the given sentences

·         Here, the word repeated is construction and the topic addressed is construction of houses

Hint 2: If a sentence starts with the words ‘That’, ‘These’, ‘Thus’, ‘Those’ and ‘But’, then those sentences will not come as the 1^st sentence in the paragraph

Hint 3: If a sentence starts with the words Hence, Finally or Therefore then that sentence comes last in the arrangement

·         Now, sentence (A) can be the last sentence of the arrangement (it can be confirmed after analyzing the rest of the sentences)

·         So the sentences (A), (C) and (E) cannot be the 1^st sentence of the arrangement

·         This leaves sentences (B) and (D), where any one of them can be the 1^st sentence

Hint 4: In sentence (B), the pronoun it is used. The word that denotes the ‘it’ will be in the previous sentence.

·         So, (B) cannot be the 1^st sentence.

·         That leaves sentence (D) as the only option for 1^st sentence.

·         This can further be confirmed by the following point.

Hint 5: If an article namely ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ is present at the starting of a sentence. Then the chances of that sentence to be the 1^st in the arrangement is more

FIRST SENTENCE – (D) The census figures show that the population of our cities has increased immensely in the recent years.

·         Now considering the sentence (B), Construction is compared with the word referred by the pronoun it.

·         After reading all the sentences it can be concluded that it denotes the increase in population mentioned in (D)

·         So, (B) follows (D)

Hence, SECOND SENTENCE – (B) Construction has not kept with it and the shortage of accommodation has been accentuated.

·         Now sentence (E) starts with the pronoun This followed by the word shortage.

·         Search for the word shortage in the other sentences.

·         It can be found in sentence (B), which implies that (E) follows (B)

So, THIRD SENTENCE – (E) This shortage must be overcome in a reasonably short time.

·         By reading the remaining 2 sentences (A) and (C), we can see that sentence (A) provides a solution to the problem mentioned in (C)

·         So, (A) follows (C)

·         Already, according to Hint 3, (A) is the tentative last sentence of the arrangement.

Therefore, LAST or FIFTH SENTENCE – (A) Therefore large scale construction programme that can be affordable at reasonable cost has to be launched.

Which leaves, FOURTH SENTENCE - (C) But high cost of materials and labour makes housing an unprofitable proposition.

Answers:

The final arrangement is as follows

FIRST SENTENCE – (D) The census figures show that the population of our cities has increased immensely in the recent years.

SECOND SENTENCE – (B) Construction has not kept with it and the shortage of accommodation has been accentuated.

THIRD SENTENCE – (E) This shortage must be overcome in a reasonably short time.

FOURTH SENTENCE - (C) But high cost of materials and labour makes housing an unprofitable proposition.

LAST or FIFTH SENTENCE – (A) Therefore large scale construction programme that can be affordable at reasonable cost has to be launched.

Answers from questions 1 – 5 are as follows

1). D 2). C 3). C 4). A 5). B  

Error Spotting:

·        Read the sentence carefully and try to translate in your mother tongue. If you understand the sentence without struck then there is no error in that sentence.

·        Check whether any misspelt word which gives different meaning or not. If it gives different sense then there might be error in that part.

·        Then check grammatical errors like subject verb agreement, Tense, preposition, etc...

·        Then find, is there any inversion in sentence.

·        Practice well and read sentence twice or thrice to interpret its meaning.

 

About Error Spotting:

·         It is natural to every people, who make errors commonly.

·         Most of the errors are by cross-association, and while we learning English the mistakes made by people are unavoidable

·         Spotting error is a common test and forms of almost all the important examinations.

·         Spotting Errors brings an awareness of the basic rule of grammar, Parts of speech, noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, and preposition.

·         There are also many practical tips to make the sentence to be correct without errors

·         The most heartening thing is that there is no error that is not to be removed

·         The errors committed by people got the reason that, we forget the correct grammar, or carelessness.

·         The best guarantee of avoiding mistake is to be use the correct part of English.