Daily Practice — today's mixed quiz

Question 1

An author's tone/attitude in a CSAT passage (neutral, critical, advocating, sceptical) is typically determined by:
(a) inference from word choice, since it is rarely stated outright (b) an explicit statement always given in the first sentence (c) the passage's length alone (d) the number of paragraphs in the passage

Accepted Answer

(a) inference from word choice, since it is rarely stated outright.

Tone questions require reading between the lines of the author's specific word choices rather than looking for an explicit statement.

Question 2

Spot the error:
(a) I will submit the report / (b) as soon as I will finish / (c) the final chapter. / (d) No error

Accepted Answer

Time clauses (when, as soon as, until, before) take the present tense, not 'will'.

'as soon as I will finish' → 'as soon as I finish'.

Answer: (b).

Question 3

Name three endangered animals found in India and one place each is protected.

Accepted Answer

The Bengal tiger in Mudumalai, the Asian elephant in the Nilgiris, and the Asiatic lion in Gir, Gujarat.

Question 4

What criteria distinguish a 'classical' dance form from a 'folk' dance form in the Indian context? Illustrate with one example of each. (10 marks, ~150 words)

Accepted Answer

Classical status is not simply a function of a dance form's age or popularity, but rests on three specific criteria: a codified theoretical basis traceable to the Natyashastra tradition, a fixed grammar of hand gestures (mudras) and facial expression (abhinaya) governing how meaning is conveyed, and a traditional performance context rooted in religious or court settings. Folk dance forms, by contrast, are community-participatory, regionally variable in form from one performance to the next, and are not bound to a single codified textual tradition governing gesture and expression, even where they are equally old or culturally significant. Kathakali (Kerala) illustrates the classical category: its elaborate, codified face paint, costume, and gestural vocabulary directly dramatise specific episodes from the Hindu epics according to fixed conventions. Bhangra (Punjab), by contrast, illustrates the folk category: a community harvest-celebration dance with regionally variable steps and no codified gestural text governing its performance, valuable and popular but structurally distinct from a classical form on these specific criteria.

Question 5

Rewrite the following sentence to meet GS2's citation standard: "The Constitution protects citizens against arbitrary detention and the courts have expanded this protection over time."

Accepted Answer

A GS2-standard rewrite attaches the specific provision and the specific interpretive development: "Article 22 provides procedural safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention, including the right to be informed of the grounds of arrest and to consult a legal practitioner of one's choice. The scope of this protection was substantially widened when the Supreme Court in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) held that the 'procedure established by law' under Article 21 must itself be fair, just and reasonable rather than merely validly enacted — converting a formal procedural check into a substantive one." The rewrite does three things the original did not: it names the article governing the specific protection, it names the case that expanded it, and it states precisely what the expansion consisted of (from formal validity to substantive reasonableness). Note that the additional length is entirely load-bearing — none of it is padding, and each added element is independently creditable.

Question 6

Which of the following is a discretionary power of the Governor, exercised independent of ministerial advice?
(a) recommending President's Rule under Article 356 (b) presenting the state Budget (c) summoning the state legislature's ordinary sessions (d) appointing ordinary state government secretaries

Accepted Answer

(a) recommending President's Rule under Article 356.

This is a classic discretionary function — the Governor forms an independent judgement about whether the state government can be carried on in accordance with the Constitution, without being bound by the state Council of Ministers' advice.

Question 7

Water changes to ice at ____.

Accepted Answer

0 °C.

Question 8

Both CO$_2$ and SO$_2$ contain polar bonds, yet only one is a polar molecule. Explain.

Accepted Answer

Carbon dioxide is linear, with steric number 2 on carbon and no lone pairs, so its two bond dipoles are equal and opposite and cancel exactly, giving a zero net dipole moment. Sulphur dioxide has a lone pair on sulphur, steric number 3 and a bent shape, so its bond dipoles do not cancel and add to a resultant of about 1.6 D. Shape decides polarity, not bond polarity, which is why symmetry must always be checked before answering.

Question 9

What is the theme of Crossing the River?

Accepted Answer

That pure faith and devotion can achieve what mere theoretical learning can only talk about — contrasting a scholar's book-knowledge with a simple milkmaid's living faith.

Question 10

Define a promoter under the Companies Act, 2013 and state the nature of the duties owed. Does a solicitor who drafts the memorandum become a promoter?

Accepted Answer

A promoter is a person who has been named as such in a prospectus or is identified by the company in the annual return, or who has control over the affairs of the company directly or indirectly whether as a shareholder, director or otherwise, or in accordance with whose advice, directions or instructions the Board of Directors of the company is accustomed to act. The definition is deliberately functional rather than formal, catching those who in substance bring the company into being or control it, and it expressly excludes a person acting merely in a professional capacity. A solicitor who drafts the memorandum, or an accountant who prepares projections for a fee, is therefore not a promoter, however central their contribution, because they act professionally rather than as principals; the exclusion would fall away if the same person also took shares and directed the venture. The duties are fiduciary. A promoter stands in a fiduciary relationship with the company he is forming and must not make a secret profit out of that position; he must disclose any interest he has in a transaction with the company, and disclosure must be to an independent board or to the whole body of shareholders, not merely to a board he himself controls; and he must account to the company for profits made in the character of promoter. Where a secret profit is made, the company may rescind the transaction or recover the profit.

Today's daily practice

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