CDS Exam (II)- 2026 - English Defence Question Paper

Directions (Next 10 Questions): In this section each item consists of six sentences that comprise a passage. The first and sixth sentences are given in the beginning as S1 and S6. The sequence of the middle four sentences has been jumbled up and labelled as P, Q, R and S. You are required to find the proper sequence of the four sentences and mark your response accordingly on the Answer Sheet.

S1: In a typical Indian village today, one is certain to find groups of women talking about finance.
S6: In a society where women play significant but never-recognised roles, being a part of an SHG which gives them such financial power is indeed a matter of pride.
P: Sitting there, they might proudly introduce themselves by saying that they are members of a self-help group (SHG).
Q: Alternatively, they might lend money at reasonable interest rates to members for starting small businesses.
R: They can be seen sitting under a tree, in an abandoned school building, or in the front yard of a village resident's dilapidated home, holding thick notebooks.
S: An SHG is usually a community group of 10-12 women from similar socio-economic background who pool their financial resources for taking up joint economic activities.
The proper sequence should be

S1: For much of history, surnames, or last names, were not considered necessary.
S6: These two pieces of medieval bureaucracy meant that virtually everyone had to settle on a definite and fixed surname.
P: The other was the enactment of the Statute of Additions in 1413, which required that all legal documents to contain not just the person's given name, but also his or her occupation and place of abode.
Q: One was the introduction of a poll tax in 1379, which led the government to collect the name of every person aged sixteen or over.
R: But sometimes, the process was accelerated such as in England where two events gave a boost to the adoption of surnames.
S: The business of acquiring surnames was a long one that evolved over centuries rather than years.
The proper sequence should be

S1: The first American settlers happened to live in the midst of perhaps the most exciting period in the history of the English language.
S6: Had the settlers gone a quarter of a century earlier, America might well have preserved those previous forms, as it preserved many other archaisms.
P: Similarly, thee and thou pronoun forms were also dying out.
Q: This was a time when 12,000 words were being added to the language.
R: One such change which these first settlers had already adopted was to use the s form on verbs, saying has rather than hath, runs rather than runneth.
S: It was also a time of considerable change in the structure of the language.
The proper sequence should be

S1: In 1984, two small clay tablets of vaguely rectangular shape were found in Tell Brak, Syria, dating from the fourth millennium BCE.
S6: All our history begins with these two modest tablets as they are among the oldest examples of writing we know.
P: One of the animals may have been a goat, in which case, the other probably was a sheep.
Q: Lying there were these simple, unimpressive objects, each bearing a few discrete markings: a small indentation near the top and some sort of stick-drawn animal in the centre.
R: The indentation, on the other hand, represents, according to archaeologists, the number ten.
S: These two tablets were seen by an expert the year before the Gulf War, in an unostentatious display case in the Archaeological Museum of Baghdad.
The proper sequence should be

S1: For generations, the Balaraju pond remained the primary water source of Perakalapudi village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
S6: It was only after major restoration work was carried out to restore the pond's storage capacity that the community could return to its traditional livelihood.
P: By the 2000s, decades of water mismanagement led to a rapid drop in the groundwater table as well.
Q: However, overexploitation caused the pond to shrink to half its original size and reduced its water storage capacity by 60 per cent.
R: The pond, spread across 2.4 hectares, supported irrigation, sustained the fishing community, met household needs and remained home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.
S: As the pond disappeared, the households relied on groundwater to meet their daily needs.
The proper sequence should be

S1: While most people are comfortable talking about colour, the concept of luminance - even though it is more fundamental - seems less familiar.
S6: This is something the Impressionist artists were able to master and it gave a shimmering, lively quality to many of their paintings.
P: For example, given two patches of grey, they can easily tell which is lighter.
Q: As the artist and art teacher Josef Albers states, just as a musician should be able to distinguish between a higher tone and a lower tone, an artist should be able to distinguish between higher and lower light intensity between different colours.
R: Artists, however, must learn to distinguish differences in luminance, independent of colour.
S: But given two patches of different colours, it is often difficult to make the same distinction.
The proper sequence should be

S1: Wooden furniture is durable and long-lasting, reducing the need for frequent replacement.
S6: A still better and sustainable, though slow, way is to plant new trees to maintain the forest cover.
P: Some of these negative impacts are deforestation and the loss of habitat for numerous species of animals.
Q: Deforestation in turn disrupts water-cycles and accelerates the pace of climate change.
R: However, its use causes several negative ecological impacts.
S: One way of reducing the use of wood is to recycle it as much as possible.
The proper sequence should be

S1: Circadian rhythm is a term used to refer to the physical, mental and behavioural changes an organism experiences over a 24-hour cycle.
S6: Maintaining a good circadian rhythm through appropriate exposure to natural light, consistent sleep schedules and times of eating, and adequate physical exercise during the day can allow an organism to live a healthy life.
P: Prolonged disruption, moreover, can cause long-term damages such as metabolic diseases, cardiovascular problems, and mental health issues.
Q: Light and dark (daytime and night-time) have the biggest influence on these circadian rhythms.
R: Circadian rhythms are also affected by food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment and temperature.
S: When any one or more than one of these cause the circadian rhythm to be disrupted, it can lead to sleep problems, drowsiness and poor focus.
The proper sequence should be

S1: All the different parts of our eye help us to see.
S6: These electrical signals then travel through the optic nerve to the brain which in turn converts these signals into the images we see.
P: The iris, which is the coloured part of the eye, controls how much light the pupil lets in.
Q: Next, light passes through the lens, the clear inner part of the eye, which focuses this light on the retina.
R: First, light passes through the cornea, the clear front layer of the eye, and enters the eye through an opening called the pupil.
S: When it hits the retina, special cells called photoreceptors convert the light into electrical signals.
The proper sequence should be

S1: Humans in colder climates first began wearing some form of sturdy foot covering at least 40,000 years ago.
S6: Today, minimalistic barefoot shoes are becoming popular because they allow the wearer to feel the ground beneath their feet while still offering some protection and support.
P: Unfortunately, modern shoes have also had a negative impact on feet due to bad design such as a narrow toe box, difference in heel to toe drop, however slight, and stiff soles.
Q: Earlier skeletons had very robust little toes that could bend and grip surfaces.
R: These gradually evolved to become less substantial than the big toe because shoe-like coverings reduced the mechanical stress on them and made them weaker.
S: The evidence for this comes from the study of changes in the structure of the toe bones of foot skeletons from that time.
The proper sequence should be