FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR
RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2003
ENGLISH (Précis & Composition)
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HOURS…………………..Maximum Marks: 100
Q1. Make a precis of the given passage and give a suitable heading:(20)
If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training
good members of a society. Its ah is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the
world. It neither confines its views to particular professions on the one hand, not creates
heroes or inspires genius on the other. Works indeed of genius fall under no art; heroic
minds come under no rule; a University is not a birthplace of poets or of immortal
authors, of founders of schools, leaders of colonies, or conquerors of nations. It does
not promise a generation of Aristotle or Newtons of Napoleons or Washingtons of
Raphaels or Shakespearcs though such miracles of nature it has before now contained
within its precincts. Nor is it content on the other hand with forming the critic or the
experimentalist, the economist or the engineer, through such too it includes within its
scope. But a University training is the great ordinary means to a great ordinary end; it
aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at cultivating the public mind, at purifying
the national taste, at supplying true principles to popular aspirations. It is the education
which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in
developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them, ft
teaches him to sec things as they arc, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of
thought, to detect what is sophistical and to – discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him
to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. (John H. Ncwman)
Q2. Read the following passage and answer the questions given at the end, in
YOUR OWN WORDS. 20
My father was back in work within days of his return home. He had a spell in the
shipyard, where the last of the great Belfast liners, the CANBERRA, was under
construction, and then moved to an electronics firm in the east of the city. (These were
the days when computers were the size of small houses and were built by sheet metal
workers). A short time after he started in this job, one of his colleagues was sacked for
taking off time to get married. The workforce went on strike to get the colleague
reinstated. The dispute, dubbed the Honeymoon Strike, made the Belfast papers. My
mother told me not long ago that she and my father, with four young sons, were hit so
hard by that strike, that for years afterwards they were financially speaking, running to
stand still. I don’t know how the strike ended, but whether or not the colleague got his
old job back, he was soon in another, better one. I remember visiting.him and his wife
when I was still quite young, in their new bungalow in Belfast northern suburbs. I believe
they left Belfast soon after the Troubles began.
My father then was thirty-seven, the age I am today. My Hither and I are father and son,
which is to say we are close without knowing very much about one another. We talk
about events, rather than emotions. We keep from each other certain of our hopes and
fears and doubts. I have never for instance asked my father whether he has dwelt on
(he direction his life might have taken if at certain moments he had made certain other
choices. Whatever, he found himself, with a million and a half of his fellows, living in
what was in all but name a civil war.As a grown up 1 try often to imagine what it must be
like to be faced with such a situation. What, in the previous course of your life, prepares
your for arriving, as my father did, at the scene of a bomb blast close to your brother’s
place of work and seeing what you suppose, from the colour of the hair, to be your
brother lying in the road, only to find that you arc cradling the remains of a woman?
(Glciin Patterson)
Questions
(a) From your reading of (he passage what do you infer about the nature of (he
‘Troubles” (he writer mentions.
(b) What according to the writer were (he working conditions in the Electronics firm
where his father worked?
(c) Why was his father’s colleague sacked?
(d) How docs the writer show that as father and son they do not know much about each
other?
(e) Explain the underlined words/phrases in the passage:
Made the Belfast papers, had a spell, dubbed, was sacked, hit hard.
Q3. Write a comprehensive note (250-300) words on ONE of the following: (20)
(1) Lots of people confuse bad management with destiny.
(2) If a window of opportunity appears don’t pull down the shade.
(3) We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals: others by their act.
(4) Goodwill is earned by many acts: it can be lost by one.
Q4. Change the voice of the verb in the following sentences:(10)
(1) The assassins shot the leader in broad daylight.
(2) The President inaugurated the Motorway recently.
(3) Will you negotiate the matter with the opposition?
(4) Why should I be suspected by you?
(5) The establishment is pleased with your performance.
(6) The Parliament members gave a hard time to the Prime • Minister.
(7) The Prisoners in Cuba arc being treated cruelly, by the so-called Human Rights
custodians.
(8) The present Government is serving the people honestly! .
(9) Who did this?
(10) The Palestinians are avenging the death of their leaders.
Q5. Change the following to reported speech: (10)
(1) “This is your house, isn’t it?” asked Jcmmic.
(2) “Where do you want to be dropped?” said the taxi driver.
(3) “Call (he first witness,” said the judge.
(4) “Don’t blame him for the accident,” the boy’s mother said.
(5) He said, “I baiigcd on Cliffs door but he did not answer”.
(6) “Where is the boat? Hurry up we are being chased”, she cried.
(7) “I have lost my way. Can you direct me to the Post Office please?” said the old lady.
(8) He said to me, “what a pity you missed such an important meeting.
(9) “How wonderful! Why didn’t you suggest this plan earlier”.
(10) He said, “Let’s wait till the road gets cleared”.
Q6. Correct the following sentences:
(1) The hostel provides boarding and lodging to students.
(2) My cousin-brother will come to meet me.
(3) He lives backside of my house.
(4) You have read it. Isn’t it?
(5) We discussed about this question.
(6) I am studying in an University for an year.
(7) Neither he nor I arc at fault.
(S) The committee have issued a notice.
(9) One must boast of his great qualities.
(10) . It is one of the best speeches that has ever been made in the General Assembly.
Q7. Use the following in your own sentences to bring out their meaning: (10)
(1) Kick the bucket
(2) Bolt from the blue
(3) Put your foot down
(4) Worth your salt
(5) Down the drain
(6) All cars
(7) Swan song
(8) Cheek by Jowl
(9) in a nutshell
(10) Give me five
