IAS Mains 2014 - Compulsory English Paper held on 14 Dec 2014 Afternoon
http://mrunal.org/2014/12/download-upsc-mains-2014-compulsory-english-language-paper.html
UPSC Mains-2014: Compulsory English language paper +Last 18 years paper from 1997 to 2014
- Comparison: English 2013 vs 2014 Paper
- Instructions for 2014 English Paper
- Download all English papers from 1997 to 2014
Comparison: Compulsory English 2013 vs 2014 Paper
| 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|
| 300 marks | 3 hours | same |
| allowed candidates to take question paper home | same |
| Two essays given and both compulsory. No options. (50 x 2 =100 marks) | Only 1 essay out of four options. 100 marks. |
| Essay word limit: 300 x 2= 600 words | Single essay for 600 words |
| Comprehension passage only 50 marks. | Increased to 75 |
| Comprehension had ~530 words. | Comprehension had 603 words. |
| Two precise 60+40=100 marks. | Single précis and reduced to 75 marks. |
| Total grammar worth 50 marks. | Same but slight chances in internal breakup such as- more questions in fill in the blanks, and sentence re-writing. |
Anyways, lets check the paper
Compulsory English 2014 Paper
- Please read each of the following instructions carefully before attempting questions :
- All questions are to be attempted.
- The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it. Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
- Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
- Any page or portion of the page left blank in the Question-cum-Answer Booklet must be clearly struck off
Essay 100 marks
Write an essay in about 600 words on any one topic
- What kind of crisis is India facing — moral or economic?
- Participating in sports helps develop good character.
- Should students be allowed to grade their teachers?
- Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Comprehension 75 marks
Read
carefully the passage below and write your answers to the questions
that follow in clear, correct and concise language :5×15=75
A
complete reading program, therefore, should include four factors : at
least one good book each week, a newspaper or news magazine, magazines
of comment and interpretation, and book reviews. If you keep feeding
your intelligence with these four foods, you can be sure that your brain
cells will be properly nourished. To this must be added the digestive
process that comes from your own thinking and from discussion with
individuals or groups.
It
is often desirable to make books that you own personally part of your
mind by underlining or by marking in the margin the more important
statements. This will help you to understand the book as you first read
it, because out of the mass of details you must have selected the
essential ideas. It will help you to remember better the gist of the
book, since the physical act of underlining, with your eyes on the page,
tends to put the thought more firmly into your brain cells. It will
save time whenever you need to refer to the book.
Above
all, never forget that creative intelligence is correlation of facts
and ideas, not mere memorizing. What counts is what you can do with your
knowledge, by linking it with other things you have studied or
observed. If you read Plutarch’s life of Julius Caeser, think how his
rise to political power paralleled the technique of Adolf Hitler, or
that of your local political boss. If you read a play by Shakespeare,
think how his portrayal of the characters helps you to understand
someone you know. In everything you read, keep at the back of your mind
what it means to your life here and now, how it supports or challenges
the things you were taught in school, in church and at home, and how the
wisdom you get from books can guide you in your thinking, in your
career, in your voting as a citizen and in your personal morals.
Questions from the passage:
- What are the four things required for a complete reading program and why?
- What else is required to feed your intelligence?
- Why does the writer recommend underlining or marking in the margin
- the more important statements?
- What use can you put your knowledge to?
- How can what you learn from books help you in your life?
Précis 75 marks
Q3.
Make a precis of the following passage in about one-third of its
length. Please do no give a title to it. Précis should be written in
your own language.
If
this century has, in the famous phrase, made the world safe for
democracy, the next challenge is to make a world safe for diversity. It
is in India’s interest to ensure that the world as a whole must reflect
the idea that is already familiar to all Indians — that it shouldn’t
matter what the colour of your skin is, the kind of food you eat, the
sounds you make when you speak, the God you choose to worship (or not),
so long as you want to play by the same rules as everybody else, and
dream the same dreams. It is not essential in a democratic world to
agree all the time, as long as we agree on the ground rules of how we
will disagree. These are the global principles we must strive to uphold
if we are to be able to continue to uphold them securely at home.
We
want a world that gives us the conditions of peace and security that
will permit us to grow and flourish, safe from foreign depredations but
open to external opportunities. Whether global institutions adapt and
revive will be determined by whether those in charge are capable of
showing the necessary leadership. Right now many of us would suggest
that there is a global governance deficit. Reversing it would require
strong leadership in the international community by a number of powers,
including the emerging ones. India is an obvious contender to provide
some of that leadership. India should aim not just at being powerful –
it should set new standards for what the powerful must do.
This
is a huge challenge, and one to which India must rise. An analogy from
another field is not encouraging; many would argue that India has not
acquitted itself well when given the chance to have global impact in one
domain — that of the sport of cricket, where India accounts for more
than 80 percent of the game’s revenues and perhaps 90 percent of its
viewership, giving it an impact on the sport that no country can rival.
Clearly, international opinion does not believe that in its domination
of world cricket, India has set new standards for what the powerful must
do. Broadening the analogy to global geopolitics, one could well say :
India, your world needs you.
So
India must play its due part in the stewardship of the global commons
(including everything from the management of the Internet to the rules
governing the exploitation of outer space). We can do it. India is
turning increasingly outward as a result of our new economic profile on
the global stage, our more dispersed interests around the world, and the
reality that other countries, in our neighbourhood as well as in
Africa, are looking to us for support and security. India has the
ability and the vision to promote global partnerships across the broad
range of its interests; it only needs to act.
The
world economic crisis should give us an opportunity to promote economic
integration with our neighbours in the subcontinent who look to the
growing Indian market to sell their goods and maintain their own growth.
But as long as South Asia remains divided by futile rivalries, and some
continue to believe that terrorism can be a useful instrument of their
strategic doctrines that is bound to remain a distant prospect. We in
South Asia need to look to the future, to an interrelated future on our
subcontinent, where geography becomes an instrument of opportunity in a
mutual growth story, where history binds rather than divides, where
trade and cross-border links flourish and bring prosperity to all our
people. (603 words)
Sentence Correction 10m
Rewrite
the following sentences after making necessary corrections. Please do
not make unnecessary changes in the original sentence.
- School is very near my home.
- They never fail who die in great cause.
- It rained an hour before.
- He wrote a most complete account of his travels. Either of these three answers is incorrect. You will be late until you hurry.
- He is seldom or ever absent from school.
- The colours so passed off one another that she could not distinguish them.
- The general as well as his soldiers were killed in the battle.
- The boat was drowned.
Fill in the blanks 15m
Type-A: Supply the missing word
- If you see him give him __ message.
- I hope to reach the station __ an hour at the outside.
- __ Rustam and Sohrab, there were three other boys present.
- Invalids are not capable __ continued exertion.
- __ he had not paid his bills, his electricity was cutoff.
Type-B: Use the correct forms of the verbs in brackets
- His company is greatly __ after. (seek)
- His courage __ him. (forsake)
- The terrified people __ to the mountains. (flee)
- The police __ no stone unturned to trace the culprits. (leave)
- The robber __ him a blow on the head. (strike)
Type-C: Choose the appropriate word to fill in the blank:
- He got a __ blow from his enemy. (deadly/deathly)
- The __ of his speech was very lucid and natural. (delivery/deliverance)
- I do not know how to express my gratitude; you have been __ to me. (beneficial/beneficent)
- My friend will __ me to the hospital. (accompany/escort)
- We sat in the __ of a tree and relaxed a while. (shadow/shade)
Antonyms 5m
- Ability
- Precise
- Constructive
- Extravagant
- Pretentious
Sentence re-writing 10m
Rewrite each of the following sentences as directed without changing the meaning. 1 x 10 = 10 marks
- He finished his exercise and put away his books. (Change into simple)
- In the event of his being late, he will be punished. (Change into compound)
- He said to me, “I have often told you not to play with fire.” (Change into indirect speech)
- He said that he had come to see them. (Change into direct speech)
- He drove too fast for the police to catch. (Remove ‘too’)
- The audience loudly cheered the Mayor’s speech. (Change into passive voice)
- A reward was given to him by the Governor. (Change into active voice)
- Sita is not one of the cleverest girls in the class. (Change into comparative degree)
- I was doubtful whether it was you. (Change into negative form)
- It is sad to think that youth should pass away. (Change into exclamatory sentence)
Sentence formation 10m
Type-A:Use
each of the following words to make a sentence that brings out their
meaning clearly. Do not change the form of the words. (No marks will be
given for vague and ambiguous sentences) 1 x 5 =5 marks
- gratitude
- flavour
- explosion
- dismal
- clumsy
Type-B:
Use these phrases in sentences of your own to bring out their meaning
clearly. Do not change the form of the words. 1×5=5
- According to
- All of a sudden
- Ready money
- A burning question
- Ins and outs
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