Question Bank-Communication Skills (ETEL-111)

B. Tech.-I Semester

1) Describe Mauritania-the country, in the context of the Chapter, Totality- A

Report.

2) What kind of techniques has Michael Rogers used in organising and

writing the article Totality-A Report?

3) Comment on the ending of the article, Totality-A Report

4) Give the pen-portrait of a ‘Totality Addict’ based on Roger’s article

Totality-A Report.

5) After reading “Totality: A Report” How would you describe Totality

Addicts?

6) Throughout the essay “Totality: A Report,” Michael Rogers shows a

strong contrast between the beauty and magnificence of the total solar
eclipse and the ugliness, abysmal poverty and inhospitable environment of
Mauritania.” Discuss.

7) What are the various names given to the band of Santa Cruz
Mathematicians and physics students who study chaotic phenomena?

8) Name the three entities that practitioners of chaos theory deal with.

9) Discuss some of the areas of human interest where chaos theory finds
application.

10) Explain the meaning of Chaos and its mathematical and philosophical
implications.

11) What is the use of Chaos Theory in understanding Neurological disorders,

Fibrillation and Motion disorders?

12) What answer does C.P. Gilmore find to the question, “After 63 years why
are they still testing Einstein”?

13) Discuss with example the concept of chaos as the offshoot of mathematics
and physics.

14) “The disorder that is called chaos is not so disorderly after all.” Does this
statement indicate the central argument of chaos?

15) Write short notes on following:

 a) Period doubling.
b) Lorenz’s Butterfly.
c) “Sensitive dependence on initial conditions.”
d) Idea of universality.
e) Strange attractors.
f) Dynamical systems, phase space, Homoclinic tangle.
g) Freewill, Determinism and Chaos theory.

16) Discuss Bill Moss’s contribution to the tent making scene in the world.

17) Discuss some of the camping and non-camping tents that Bill Moss has
designed and created.

18) What are Bill Moss’s three primary design elements? Elaborate in the
context of the chapter Bill Moss-Tent-maker.

19) Write a short note on Moss’s new projects.

20) What are the medical implications of a nuclear war? Discuss in the context
of the chapter “Star Wars: The Leaky Shield”

21) Write a short note on the ‘viable alternative to the Star Wars.’

22) “There can be no winner of a full-scale nuclear war.” Do you agree?

Discuss in the context of the chapter “Star Wars: The Leaky Shield”

23) Why does the author think that the “Star wars or SDI is a bad idea
scientifically, militarily and politically”?

24) Define Star Wars. What prompted Carl Sagan to call it a leaky shield?

25) Discuss the main ideas of the chapter “After 63 years why are they still
testing Einstein.”

26) Discuss the main predictions of Einstein’s theories of relativity and their
confirmation.

27) Why the relativistic universe of Einstein replaced the Newtonian universe
as our best description of reality?

28) Write the theories laid down by Einstein and why the researches are still
going on them?

29) Describe how C P Gilmore attempts to justify Einstein’s theory of

relativity as relevant today?
30) “The pretty good theory of Einstein has certainly given us a strange
world, one seriously at odds with the testimony of the senses.” Describe
the Einsteinian universe in the light of this statement.

31) Discuss the essential features of technical writing, with special emphasis
on scientific attitude and impersonal style.

32) Give the technical description of:

a) tape-recorder
b) thermometer
c) pressure-cooker
d) computer
e) cell-phone
f) compact disc
g) stethoscope

33) What is the role of technical writing skills in an engineer’s career

34) Describe the essential features of technical writing. In what way is it

different from non-technical writing?

35) Elucidate the significance of illustrations i.e. charts, graphs and tables in
technical writing.

36) Define a table, a chart and a graph with illustrations.

37) What is a technical definition?

38) Differentiate between summary and abstract.

39) Write a short note on Indianisms in English. Give examples.

40) What are the essential differences between a good reader and a poor
reader?

41) ) What abilities are required for writing effective technical description?

42) Describe in detail a machine or a process with which you are familiar.

43) What is the difference between a graph and a chart?

44) Write short notes on

(a) Reading between lines
(b) Topical sentence
43) Discuss the methods that are used for describing machines / mechanisms
and processes.

44) List various techniques for improving upon comprehension skills.

45) Bring out the difference between technical writing and scientific writing?

46) Describe the special features of technical writing, especially scientific

attitude and emphasis on impersonal style?

47) Write a short note one:

a) Reading techniques
b) Different types of reading: skimming scanning, SQ3R,
c) Reading different types of texts for different purposes: for relaxation,
information and discussion at later stage
d) Faulty reading techniques

48) Write an essay/ paragraph on any of the following:

a) Modern technology: Blessing or a curse

b) Our rights and duties
c) Mobile phones: boon or bane
d) Global warming
e) Globalisation
f) Relevance of Information Technology in various spheres of life.

49) Use these idioms in sentences of your own:

a) on the verge of
b) heart and soul
c) bolt from the blue
d) apple of discord’
e) pay lip service to
f) spick and span
g) to come out with flying colours
h) bone of contention
i) to get into hot water

50) Give one word substitution for the following:

a) hater of mankind
b) one who can make himself at home in all countries
c) a fictitious name used by an author
d) a thing that is fit to be eaten
e) Property inherited from one’s father or ancestors.
f) A remedy for all the illnesses
g) One who believes in god or religion
h) A doctorate awarded for meritorious work
i) A state of disorder/ lack of government

51) Correct the errors in the following sentences:

a) The sheep are following the shepherd.
b) The police has caught the thief.
c) Hardly had he gone a step than it began to rain.
d) A dog knows it’s master.
e) Ram and myself will go home.
f) Both of them are not suitable.
g) A lion is on the verge of extinction.
h) All of the boys have been selected.
i) I am junior than you by two years.
j) He is very proudy of his wealth.
k) Distribute the sweet between all.
l) The cattles were being driven to the market.
m) He has good command over English.

52) Punctuate the following:

a) can you tell me where is the school she asked
b) his favourite relaxations are listening to music going to theatre and
planting trees
c) the cinema on the other hand has a different impact
d) I know that he stays in delhi but where in delhi
e) What is wrong puja I asked
f) Have you read shelly’s to a skylark
g) Listen what’s that noise said david
h) Well my dear what’s for lunch today he asked his wife
i) Seeing the snake he ran away

53) Give synonyms of the following

a) abandon
b) narrate
c) illustrious
d) fabulous
e) yearn
f) delightful

54) Give antonyms of the following:

a) enemy
b) black
c) good
d) pure
e) honest
f) vulnerable

55) Add suffixes to the following:

a) waste
b) portray
c) contest
d) sweet
e) fruit
f) whole

56) Add prefixes to the following:

 a) visible
b) regular
c) holy
d) prudent
e) interested
f) legible

57) Make sentences with the following pairs:

a) lose, loose b) affluent, effluents c) ascent, assent d) look at, look after e)
run into, run after f) course, coarse.

58) Do as directed:
a) The committee of scientists…. (was/were) from several scientific
disciplines.
b) Shut the door. ( Add a question tag)
c) Have you completed your work? Give a short response.
d) You cannot pass….(until, till/unless) you work hard.
e) No sooner had we started lunch…. (that/ than/ when) the door bell rang.
f) I congratulate you…. (on/ upon/ for) your success.

59) Correct the following where necessary:

a) They who go by train must leave now.
b) The story what I read was good.
c) Sing and myself will come.
d) Her hair is white, like her mother’s is.
e) This photograph is the best for the two.
f) I have visited England last August.
g) I am here since 1951.
h) He will come when he will be ready.
i) If he has time he would telephone.
j) When my father died I could continue his business.

60) Punctuate the following:

a. Her father was a good kind man.
b. I admire his intelligence I detest his character.
c. My Dear aunties, how are you.
d. The bed room contained one wardrobe one double bed two chairs
one dressing table the nursery one cot one chest of drawers two chairs one
rocking horse the dinning room six chairs one table and one side board.
e. I was born on Sunday 30 June 1922.

61) Use these idioms in sentences of your own

a. took him to task
b. to eat humble pie
c. turned a deaf ear to
d. do not hang together
e. hand and glove
f. in cold blood
g. to pocket an affront
h. take into account
i. Made her blood creep.

62) Write an essay / paragraph on any of the following

a) Politeness
b) Humility
c) Common wealth games 2010
d) Wisdom or fortune
e) My role in creating a peaceful world.

63) Find Synonyms:

(a) Polite
(b) Temper
(c) Chorus
(d) Toxic
(e) Selection

64) Give antonyms

1. tranquil
2. juvenile
3. prominent
4. Plump
5. sane

65) Add Suffixes

1. honour
2. flexible
3. wise
4. content
5. capable

66) Add Prefixes

1. possible
2. continental
3. embark
4. habit
5. handle