FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR
RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2008
ENGLISH (Précis & 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
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..a. Relating to the ……..b. Demons……….c. Communications..d.
Population
…………………………….study of Government
viii. SONAR…………..a. Apparatus to Detect ..b. Locate objects…c. Measure
rain…….d. Anticipate Earthquake
…………………………….something in the air…….under water
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.
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.
