FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT
TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 1981
ENGLISH (Précis and Composition)
Time allowed: 3 hours Maximum marks: 100
- Write a precis of the following passage and suggest a suitable title.
An important part of management is the making of rules. As a means of regulating the functioning of an organization so that most routine matters are resolved without referring each issue to the manager they are an essential contribution to efficiency. The mere presence of carefully considered rules has the double-edged advantage of enabling workers to know how far they can go, what is expected of them and what channels of action to adopt on the one side, and on the other, of preventing the management from behaving in a capricious manner. The body of rules fixed by the company for itself acts as its constitution, which is binding both on employees and employers, however, it must be remembered that rules are made for people, not people for rules. If conditions and needs change rules ought to change with them. Nothing is sadder than the mindless application of rules which are outdated and irrelevant. An organization suffers from mediocrity if it is too rule-bound. People working in will do the minimum possible. It is called “working to rule” or just doing enough to ensure that rules are not broken. But this really represents the lowest level of the employer/employee relationship and an organization afflicted by this is in an unhappy condition indeed. Another important point in rule-making is to ensure that they are rules which can be followed. Some rules are so absurd that although everyone pays lip-service to them, no one really bothers to follow them. Often the management knows this but can do thing about it. The danger of this is, if a level of disrespect for one rule is created this might lead to an attitude of disrespect for all rules. One should take it for granted that nobody likes rules, nobody wants to be restricted by them. Rules which cannot be followed are not only pointless, they are actually damaging the structure of the organization. -
Critically examine the following passage.
Some societies have experimented with eliminating the middleman. Prices can certainly be controlled better if the government acts as the middleman, because, after all, goods have to be lifted and transported to the other parts of the country. But governments are not usually very efficient or quick in these matters. Nor are they economical — a lot of file-and-paperwork involving a lot of people adds up to a lot of indirect expense. Although in theory it ought to be possible to reduce prices by eliminating the middleman, in practice is seems to be an essential evil.
Business can be left to find its own level in accordance with the so-called ‘laws’ of supply and demand. By and large, Pakistan is what is called a ‘sellers’ market because essential goods are usually in short supply or are inclined to fall below the needs of an overgrowing population. Market manipulation in such a situation is easy and unfortunately fairly common. Goods usually disappear at about the time they are needed most, leading to price spirals and malpractices. Price control under such circumstances becomes a little unrealistic unless a huge department can be set up with vigilance terms and inspectors empowered to raid shops and warehouses. The efforts to control a seller’s market is so great and the costs so high that in fact not a great deal of control can be exercised. And alternative method is to encourage the growth of buyer’s market in which the customer has a choice between many competing products. Competition automatically forces good quality and low prices on the goods. This is at present only possible in the high production areas of the world. But competition leads to malpractices of a different kind. Survival for a business often depends upon the destruction of competing business and big companies have a natural advantage over small ones. An obsessive drive to ‘sell’ is generated in such a system. Huge sums are spent on advertising, the costs of which are transferred to the buyer. People are tricked and badgered into buying things they do not really need.
- (a) Use any FIVE of the following pair of words in your own sentences as to bring out their meanings.
(i) Canvas, Canvass
(ii) Cast, Caste
(iii) Appraise, Apprise
(iv) Allusion, Illusion
(v) Continual, Continuous
(vi) Berth, Birth
(vii) Apposite, Opposite
(viii) Artist, Artiste
(b) Use any FIVE of the following expression in sentences so as to bring out their meanings.
(i) To have your cake and eat it too
(ii) Between the devil and the deep blue sea
(iii) To be in hot water
(iv) To be on the carpet
(v) It never rains but it pours
(vi) A miss is as good as a mile
(vii) To give oneself airs
(viii) To have the courage of one’s convictions
(ix) The onlooker sees most of the game
(x) Out of sight out of mind
- Write a paragraph on any one of the following topics.
(a) The authoritarian society
(b) Civilized dissent is necessary for social progress
(c) Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think
(d) Eventually all human action must be judged by its moral content
(e) Those who can, do, those who can’t teach -
Write a paragraph on ONE of the following topics.
(a) What we call progress is largely delusory
(b) Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil
(c) Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s
(d) A man’s personality, morality, intellect and attitudes are all the product of his bodily chemistry.
(e) All the world’s a stage