FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2008 ENGLISH (Précis and Composition)
Time allowed: 3 hours Maximum marks: 100
Q.1. Write a précis of the following passage in about 100 words and suggest the title: (20+5)
Objectives pursued by, organizations should be directed to the satisfaction of demands resulting from the wants of mankind. Therefore, the determination of appropriate objectives for organized activity must be preceded by an effort to determine precisely what their wants are. Industrial organizations conduct market studies to learn what consumer goods should be produced. City Commissions make surveys to ascertain what civic projects would be of most benefit. Highway Commissions conduct traffic counts to learn what constructive programmes should be undertaken. Organizations come into being as a means for creating and exchanging utility. Their success is dependent upon the appropriateness of the series of acts contributed to the system. The majority of these acts is purposeful, that is, they are directed to the accomplishment of some objectives. These acts are physical in nature and find purposeful employment in the alteration of the physical environment. As a result utility is created, which, through the process of distribution, makes it possible for the cooperative system to endure.
Before the Industrial Revolution most cooperative activity was accomplished in small owner managed enterprises, usually with a single decision maker and simple organizational objectives. Increased technology and the growth of industrial organization made necessary the establishment of a hierarchy of objectives. This is turn, required a division of the management function until today a hierarchy of decision makers exists in most organizations.
The effective pursuit of appropriate objectives contributes directly to organizational efficiency. As used here, efficiency is a measure of the want satisfying power of the cooperative system as a whole. Thus efficiency is the summation of utilities received from the organization divided by the utilities given to the organization, as subjectively evaluated by each contributor.
The functions of the management process is the delineation of organizational objectives and the coordination of activity towards the accomplishment of these objectives. The system of coordinated activities must be maintained so that each contributor, including the manager, gains more than he contributes.
Q.2. Read the following passage carefully and answer all the questions given at the end.
These phenomena, however, are merely premonitions of a coming storm, which is likely to sweep over the whole of India and the rest of Asia. This is the inevitable outcome of a wholly political civilization, which has looked upon man as a thing to be exploited and not as a personality to be developed and enlarged by purely cultural forces. The people of Asia are bound to rise against the acquisitive economy which the West have developed and imposed on the nations of the East. Asia cannot comprehend modern Western capitalism with its undisciplined individualism. The faith, which you represent, recognizes the worth of the individual, and disciplines him to give away all to the service of God and man. Its possibilities are not yet exhausted. It can still create a new world where the social rank of man is not determined by his caste or colour or the amount of dividend he earns, but by the kind of life he lives, where the poor tax the rich, where human society is founded not on the equality of stomachs but on the equality of spirits, where an untouchable can marry the daughter of the king, where private ownership is a trust and where capital cannot be allowed to accumulate so as to dominate that real producer of wealth. This superb idealism of your faith, however, needs emancipation from the medieval fancies of theologians and logists? Spiritually, we are living in a prison house of thoughts and emotions, which during the course of centuries we have woven round ourselves. And be it further said to the shame of us—men of older generation—that we have failed to equip the younger generation for the economic, political and even religious crisis that the present age is likely to bring. The while community needs a complete overhauling of its present mentality in order that it may again become capable of feeling the urge of fresh desires and ideals. The Indian Muslim has long ceased to explore the depths of his own inner life. The result is that he has ceased to live in the full glow and colour of life, and is consequently in danger of an unmanly compromise with force, which he is made to think he cannot vanquish in open conflict. He who desires to change an unfavourable environment must undergo a complete transformation of his inner being. God changes not the condition of a people until they themselves take the initiative to change their condition by constantly illuminating the zone of their daily activity in the light of a definite ideal. Nothing can be achieved without a firm faith in the independence of one’s own inner life. This faith alone keeps a people’s eye fixed on their goal and save them from perpetual vacillation. The lesson that past experiences has brought to you must be taken to heart. Expect nothing form any side. Concentrate your whole ego on yourself alone and ripen your clay into real manhood if you wish to see your aspiration realized.
Questions:
i. What is the chief characteristic of the modern political civilization? (4) ii. What are possibilities of our Faith, which can be of advantage to the world? (4) iii. What is the chief danger confronting the superb idealism of our Faith? (4) iv. Why is the Indian Muslim in danger of coming to an unmanly compromise with the Forces opposing him? (4) v. What is necessary for an achievement? (2) vi. Explain the expression as highlighted/under lined in the passage. (5) vii. Suggest an appropriate title to the passage. (2)
Q.3. Write a comprehensive note (250—300 words) on any one of the following: (20)
a. To rob Peter to pay Paul
b. The child is father of the man.
c. Art lies in concealing art
d. Life without a philosophy is like a ship without rudder
e. A contented mind is a blessing kind.
Q.4. a. Use any FIVE of the following idioms in sentences to make their meaning clear: (5)
i. Blow one’s top ii. A cock and bull story iii. Find one’s feet iv. Call it a night v. The tip of the iceberg vi. Below par vii. From pillar to post viii. Hang up ix. Turn some one in x. By and by
Q.4. b. Use any FIVE of the following pairs of words in your own sentences to bring out their meanings: (5)
i. Mitigate, Alleviate ii. Persecute, Prosecute iii. Popular, Populace iv. Compliment, Complement v. Excite, Incite vi. Voracity, Veracity vii. Virtual, Virtuous viii. Exceptional, Exceptionable
Q.5. a. Pick the most nearly opposite in meaning to the capitalized word. Do any FIVE. (5)
i. MORATORIUM a. Large tomb b. Waiting period c. Security for debt d. Funeral house
ii. PROLIFIC a. Skilful b. Fruitful c. Wordy d. Spread out
iii. BI-PARTISAN a. Narrow minded b. Progressive c. Representing two parties d. Divided
iv. UNEQUIVOCAL a. Careless b. Unmistakable c. Variable d. Incomparable
v. COVENANT a. Prayer b. Debate c. Garden d. Agreement
vi. TENTATIVE a. Expedient b. Nominal c. Provisional d. Alternative
vii. DEMOGRAPHIC Relating to the a. Government b. Demons c. Communications..d. Population
viii. SONAR a. Apparatus to Detect ..b. Locate objects c. Measure rain d. Anticipate Earthquake
Q.5. b. Indicate the meaning of any FIVE of the following: (5)
i. Brag ii. Antiquarian iii. Input iv. Prodigal v. Bibliophile vi. Nostalgia vii. Burn one’s boats viii. Feedback ix. Agrarian
Q.6. a. Correct the following sentences. Do any FIVE. (5)
i. Please tell me where is your brother?
ii. Sajjad as well as Saleem were late.
iii. He is the most cleverest boy in the class.
iv. I have met him last month.
v. Your writing is inferior than him.
vi. Nothing but novels please him.
vii. The teacher gave the boy an advice which he refused.
viii. He brought the articles to the market which he wanted to sell.
Q.6. b. Change the narration from Direct to Indirect or Indirect to Direct speech. (5)
i. He said to his friend, “Let me go home now”
ii. I will say “Mother, I will always obey you”
iii. “Splendid”: said father as he read my report,
iv. He said, “Good morning, can you help me”
v. She said “Brother, why do you tease me”
vi. The King said to the Queen, “If I die, take care of my people”
vii. “By God”, he said” I do not know his name”
viii. You exclaimed with sorrow that you lost your pen.