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UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) English (Paper I) Flashcards
50 question-and-answer cards covering English (Paper I) as it is examined in UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services). 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the English (Paper I) deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
What pronoun and reporting verb changes occur when 'say to' is converted in indirect speech with a command?
In commands/requests, 'say to' becomes 'tell/order/request', the inverted commas and that are dropped, and the imperative becomes a 'to-infinitive' (e.g., He said to me, 'Go' → He told me to go).
State how present-tense verbs in direct speech change in indirect speech (back-shifting).
Simple present → simple past; present continuous → past continuous; present perfect → past perfect; 'will/shall' → 'would/should'; 'can' → 'could'; 'may' → 'might'.
How do 'now', 'today', 'tomorrow', 'yesterday', and 'here' change in reported speech?
now→then; today→that day; tomorrow→the next day/the following day; yesterday→the previous day/the day before; here→there; this→that; these→those; ago→before.
How is a direct question converted into indirect (reported) speech?
The reporting verb becomes 'asked/enquired', the conjunction 'if/whether' is used for yes/no questions (or the question word for wh-questions), and the word order changes to a statement order with no question mark.
In reported speech, how are exclamatory sentences (e.g., 'Hurrah! We won!') handled?
They are changed to assertive sentences using verbs like 'exclaimed with joy/sorrow/surprise'; interjections are dropped (e.g., He exclaimed with joy that they had won).
Give a synonym and an antonym for the word 'benevolent'.
Synonym: kind/generous; Antonym: malevolent/cruel.
Give a synonym and an antonym for 'candid'.
Synonym: frank/honest/straightforward; Antonym: evasive/deceitful/secretive.
Give a synonym and an antonym for 'transient'.
Synonym: temporary/fleeting/short-lived; Antonym: permanent/lasting/enduring.
Give a synonym and an antonym for 'meticulous'.
Synonym: careful/scrupulous/thorough; Antonym: careless/sloppy/negligent.
What is the one-word substitution for 'a person who knows many languages'?
A polyglot (or multilingual person).
What is the one-word substitution for 'a government by the few / a small privileged class'?
An oligarchy.
What is the one-word substitution for 'one who does not believe in the existence of God'?
An atheist.
What is the one-word substitution for 'a place where birds are kept'?
An aviary.
What is the one-word substitution for 'words inscribed on a tomb / in memory of a dead person'?
An epitaph.
What does the idiom 'to bite the bullet' mean?
To force oneself to endure or face a difficult or unpleasant situation with courage.
What does the phrasal verb 'put off' mean?
To postpone or delay (e.g., 'The meeting was put off until Friday').
What does the idiom 'a blessing in disguise' mean?
Something that seems bad or unfortunate at first but results in something good.
What does the phrasal verb 'call off' mean?
To cancel something (e.g., 'They called off the match due to rain').
Distinguish the homophones 'stationary' and 'stationery'.
'Stationary' (with an 'a') is an adjective meaning not moving/fixed; 'stationery' (with an 'e') is a noun meaning writing materials like paper and pens.
Distinguish 'principal' from 'principle'.
'Principal' means chief/main or the head of a school (and a sum of money); 'principle' means a rule, law, or fundamental truth.
Define a homonym and contrast it with a homophone.
A homonym is a word with the same spelling and pronunciation but a different meaning (e.g., 'bat' the animal vs 'bat' for cricket). A homophone has the same pronunciation but different spelling and meaning (e.g., 'their/there').
What is the meaning of the prefixes 'mal-', 'bene-', and 'circum-'?
'mal-' means bad/wrong (malnutrition); 'bene-' means good/well (benefit); 'circum-' means around (circumference).
What is a suffix, and what part of speech do '-ness', '-tion', and '-ity' typically form?
A suffix is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or class; '-ness', '-tion', and '-ity' typically form abstract nouns (e.g., kindness, action, ability).
Identify the grammatical error: 'One should respect their parents.' What is the correction?
Pronoun-antecedent disagreement: 'one' is singular, so it should be 'One should respect one's (or his/her) parents.'
What this deck covers
The English (Paper I) deck follows the UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) English (Paper I) syllabus — 5 chapters and 23 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 10.0 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 102 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
English (Paper I) flashcards FAQ
How many English (Paper I) flashcards are in this UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) deck?
50 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 50-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the English (Paper I) cards cover?
They follow the UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) English (Paper I) syllabus — 5 chapters and 23 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.