Analogy — PPSC previous year questions

A lion lives in a den, and a rabbit lives in a burrow, the tunnel it digs for shelter. Trench, hole and pit are not the specific name for a rabbit's dwelling.

Each letter of the first word moves forward by an increasing step. A(+13) → N, B(+14) → P, C(+15) → R, D(+16) → T. Apply the same steps to FGHI: > F + 13 = S; G + 14 = U; H + 15 = W; I + 16 = Y So the answer is SUWY.

Chalk is the material used to write on a blackboard; in the same way ink is the material used to write on paper. The other pairs are objects that merely go together (table and chair, door and handle) or an unclear pairing (type and paint), not a writing medium and its surface.

Botany is the scientific study of plants; in the same way entomology is the branch of zoology that studies insects. Snakes are studied under herpetology, birds under ornithology and germs under microbiology.

Deficiency of iodine causes goitre; likewise deficiency of insulin causes diabetes. Anaemia is caused by lack of iron, not mango; haemophilia is a hereditary clotting disorder, not a hormone deficiency; and fat is a cause of obesity by excess rather than by deficiency.

Pulp is the raw material from which paper is made; in the same way hemp fibre is the raw material from which rope is made. Cotton is another raw material, not a product of hemp.

A lamb is the young one of a sheep. A kid is the young one of a goat. Kitten, puppy and calf are the young of a cat, a dog and a cow.

Stubborn and obstinate are synonyms, so the answer must be a pair of synonyms: gloomy and morose both mean sad or sullen. Mulish : tractable and trepidation : confident are pairs of opposites, and impecunious (penniless) : penny is not a synonym pair.

DETERIORATE and IMPROVE are antonyms. Among the choices only obstinate (stubborn) and tractable (easily managed, docile) form an antonym pair. Feckless and careless are near-synonyms, evanescent (fleeting) and exigent (urgent) are unrelated, and hope/hone is a mere spelling resemblance.

A cow gives milk and a bee gives honey; in each pair the second word is the valuable thing the first produces for others. A teacher gives wisdom (knowledge) to students, so Wisdom completes the analogy. Marks and discipline are outcomes for the student rather than what the teacher gives, and a lesson is only the medium through which wisdom is passed on.