IAS Mains Previous Year Paper:English Compulsory (2007)

Books or people? Reading or conversation, listening in to a broadcast or watching a television programme? Which is the better way to gain knowledge or to spend your leisure? Some fortunate people seem always to find time for both and to enjoy both almost equally. My great friend, Arthur Wanchope, a fine soldier, an able administrator and a very gifted personality, was a constant reader; yet always ready to lay aside a book for talk.

The advantages of reading over talk are, of course, many. We can select the book that suits our mood, can go at our own pace, skip or turn back whereas we cannot turn over two pages of a tedious companion or close him or her, with a bang. But reading too has its own drawbacks. It lacks the human touch, the salt of life, and is therefore a dangerous substitute for thought or action. Bacon in one of his essays observes that reading maketh a full man; conference (that is talking) a ready man; and writing an exact man. One would like to be full of knowledge, ready in speech and exact by training. What short of books have impressed me and what books have found a permanent place  on my bookshelves?

To begin with my profession-soldiering. I do not believe that soldiering, a practical business,  in which human nature is the main element, can be learnt from text-books. But for those who have  grasped the principles of war and have understood that the human factor is the most important element in it. There is military reading that is quite fascinating and valuable. Real and re-read the campaigns of the great commanders, said Napoleon. I would venture to put it differently and would say that the lives and characters of the great commanders are what students of war should examine, since their campaigns are only incidents in them; and that the behaviour of leaders and of their men in the field is the real subject for study.

In my general reading history, biography and travel occupy a prominent place; and since I have spent a considerable proportion of my life in the East there are a good number of volumes on India and the Middle East. There is plenty of poetry on my shelves and a good deal of it is in my head. Poetry should dance in the mind, and blow one a kiss; or gallop to adventure with a cheer; or whisper gently of things past; not shuffle or slouch past with dark incomprehensible mutterings. Perhaps I am getting old, anyway I prefer the old poets. 

Lastly comes what is sometimes called 'escapist literature, the books we read with no other aim, than to rest or amuse the mind; to forget the day's chores and the morrow's anxieties. This is perhaps the most pleasant form of reading for most, and I suspect the only form of reading for many. The volume chosen may either be a thriller or soother � a thriller to bring sense of adventure into the dull daily routine or a soother to rest tired nerves. Our grandfathers in their leisurely days were content with the stately, comfortable three volume novel, but that had passed before the beginning of this century. 

You will choose your books as you choose your friends, with taste and discrimination; I hope; because they can tell you something of your profession and interests, because they are wise and helpful, because they can stir your blood with tales of adventure, or because they are gay and witty. I can only wish you will get as much pleasure from them as I get from my books.  (Words: 703)

4. (a) Rewrite the following sentences after making necessary correction of errors: (10)
(i) The Greeks were brave peoples.
(ii) His hat was blown off by the strong air.
(iii) I am the one who am to blame.
(iv) We should sympathies with blind.
(v) I'd rather play cricket and not swim.
(vi) Walking through the front door a wasp stung him.
(vii) Two plus nine are eleven.
(viii) I have built the house in 1960.
(ix) Their wedding has not been a very happy one.
(x) Choose only such friends whom you can trust.

(b) Rewrite the following sentences, inserting suitable articles where necessary: (5)
(i) What kind of ______ animals is it?
(ii) He will return in _____ hour.
(iii) He is ______ richest man in our street.
(iv) Gold is not ______ useful metal.
(v) While there is ______ life there is hope.

(c) Form Verbs from the following Nouns: (5)
(i) Courage
(ii) Memory
(iii) Prison
(iv) Class
(v) Friend

(d) Put the verbs in bracket in the correct tense and rewrite the following: (5)
India (have) many calendars which Indians (use) since very early times. More than thirty (be) still in use. One difficulty about having so many calendars (be) that the same date (fall) on different days according to each.

5. (a) Use each of the following words in two separate sentences, first as a Noun and then as a Verb: (10)
(i) Bank
(ii) Battle
(iii) Bite
(iv) Brave
(v) Brush

(b) Change the following sentences into their corresponding (a) Negatives and (b) Questions: (10)
(i) Ram resembles his father.
(ii) Raju studies French.
(iii) The bicycle costs Rs. 500.
(iv) The thief broke the window open.
(v) My mother has a beautiful umbrella.

(c) Use the following phrases/idioms in sentences so as to bring out the meaning: (5)
(i) The Lion's share
(ii) Close shave
(iii) At daggers drawn
(iv) (To) die in harness
(v) (To) eat one's words

ESSAY - 2007
Write an essay on any one of the following topics
1. Independent thinking should be encouraged right from the childhood.
2. Evaluation of Panchayati Raj Systems in India from the point of view of eradication of poverty to power to people.
3. Attitude makes habit, habit makes character and character makes a man.
4. Is autonomy the best answer t0 combat balkanization?
5. How has satellite television brought about cultural change in the Indian mindset?
6. BPO boom in India.