FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT
TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 1986
ENGLISH (Précis and Composition)
Time allowed: 3 hours Maximum marks: 100
- Write a precis of the following passage, suggesting a suitable title.
One of the fundamental facts about words is that the most useful ones in our language have many meanings. That is partly whey they are so useful: they work overtime. Think of all the various things we mean by the word “foot” on different occasion: one of the lower extremities of the human body, a measure of verse, the ground about a tree, twelve inches, the floor in front of the stairs. The same is true of nearly every common noun or verb … considering the number of ways of taking a particular word, the task of speaking clearly and being understood would seem pretty hopeless if it were not for another very important fact about language. Though a word may have many senses, these senses can be controlled, up to a point, by the context in which the word is used. When we find the word in a particular verbal setting – we can usually decide quite definitely which of the many senses of the word relevant. If a poet says his verse has feet, it doesn’t occur to you that he could mean it’s a yard long or is three legged (unless perhaps you are a critic planning to puncture the poet with a pun about his “lumping verse”). The context rules out these maverick senses quite decisively. -
Read the following passage carefully and answer any TWO questions given at the end in about 70 words each.
Biofeedback is a process that allows people with stress-related illness such as high blood pressure to monitor and improve their health by learning to relax. In biofeedback, devices that monitor skin temperature are attached to a patient’s arm, leg, or forehead. Then the person tries to relax. As he or she relaxes completely, the temperature of the area under the devices rises because more blood reaches the area. When a machine that is attached to the devices detects the rise in temperature a buzzer sounds, or the reading on a dial changes. As long as the patient is relaxed, the buzzer or dial gives encouragement.
The next part of the biofeedback process is learning how to relax without the monitoring devices. The patient recalls how he or she felt when the buzzer or dial indicated relaxation and then tries to imitate that feeling without having to check the biofeedback machine. After succeeding in doing so, the patient tries to maintain the relaxed feeling throughout the day. Stress may cause as much as 75 percent of all illness, therefore, biofeedback promises to bean outstanding medical tool.
(a) What is biofeedback? Describe in you own way.
(b) Can learning to relax improve health? Explain you view point.
(c) Why is biofeedback considered to be an instrument with great potential for the treatment of stress-related illness? -
Use any FIVE of the following pairs of words in your own sentences to differentiate them in their meanings and functions. (i) Complement, Compliment (ii) Outbreak, Breakout (iii) Facilitate, Felicitate (iv) Precede, Proceed (v) Layout, Outlay (vi) Cease, Seize (vii) Career, Carrier (viii) Acculturate, Acclimatize
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Transform any FIVE of the following sentences into Direct/Indirect Form as the case may be.
(i) He said, “Don’t open the door.” (ii) He offered to bring me some tea. (iii) He said, “Thank you!” (iv) He said, “Can you swim?” and I said, “No”. (v) He told Aslam to get his coat. (vi) “If I were you, I would wait”, I said. (vii) He ordered the peon to lock the door. (viii) He warned me not to leave my car unlocked as there had been lot of stealing from cars.
- Describe the meaning of any FIVE of the following foreign phrases.
(i) Prima facie (ii) Ex post facto (iii) Fait accompli (iv) Vis-a-vis (v) Modus operandi (vi) Aide memoire (vii) Laissez faire (viii) Au revoir -
Explain briefly any THREE in your own words to illustrate the central idea contained therein in about 50 words each.
(a) Give every man thy ear but few thy voice
(b) To rob Peter to pay Paul
(c) The child is father of the man.
(d) Art lies in concealing art
(e) Life without a philosophy is like a ship without rudder.