The one rule that governs everything here
Ornament loses marks. Precision wins them. Examiners reward clarity and economy and penalise decoration. Wordcraft never teaches a word so you can sound impressive. It teaches the word that is exactly right, the pair you must never swap, the verb a noun takes, and the fifteen words you can delete.
Glossary from the edition
17 words, each quoted in the sentence where it appeared in the 13 September 2026 edition. Meaning first, then the sentence, then where it came from.
The process of becoming poorer, or the condition of having been made poorer. It describes a movement downward, not a fixed level.
हिंदी: दरिद्रीकरण; गरीब होते जाना
Negative real-wage growth for that share is impoverishment, and it happens in a quarter of 7.8 per cent headline growth.
From Holding a Mirror to the GDP Numbers: What the Q1 FY27 Headline Does and Does Not Say · Keep it apart from poverty. Poverty is a state measured against a line; impoverishment is a fall, and it can happen to a household that stays above the line. That is why health economists speak of catastrophic health spending as impoverishing: the family is poorer than it was, whatever the poverty count says. The editorial uses it exactly: falling real wages make people poorer even in a quarter of high growth.
Coming between two stages. In economics, intermediate goods are inputs used up in making other goods, as against final goods bought for their own sake.
हिंदी: मध्यवर्ती (वस्तुएँ)
India’s bilateral trade deficit with China has widened materially in the past decade, driven by imports of intermediate goods, industrial machinery, electronics components and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
From Modi-Xi Bilateral on the BRICS Sidelines Marks Xi Jinping's First India Visit in Nearly Seven Years · Two exam uses hang on this word. National income counts only final goods, or equivalently value added at each stage, so that the same input is not counted twice. And a trade deficit driven by intermediate goods behaves differently from one driven by consumer goods: when Indian manufacturing grows, imports of components and APIs grow with it. That is why a manufacturing push and a rising China deficit can appear together.
Impossible to satisfy; wanting more however much is supplied.
हिंदी: कभी तृप्त न होने वाला
The piece’s diagnostic is that when labour is optimised by "insatiable efforts of enlightened capitalism", the outcome is either conformity and profit or redundancy and exclusion.
From Tagore, the AI Economy and the People Left Behind: Why "Slaves Are Better Than Beggars" Is Not a Development Doctrine · A literary, judgement-laden word, which is why it sits inside quotation marks in the editorial. In an essay it can carry a moral argument. In GS3, describe the mechanism instead, "demand that rises with income" or "unlimited wants against scarce means", and keep insatiable for a quotation you are attributing.
Presence in a smaller proportion than a group has in the relevant population. Also written under-representation.
हिंदी: अल्प प्रतिनिधित्व
The occasion is the reported publication of India’s first genome-wide study of endometriosis, which begins to address the long-standing underrepresentation of South Asian ancestry in the international genetic literature on reproductive-health conditions.
From Listen to Women in Pain: What India's First Genome-Wide Endometriosis Study Should Change · The word always implies a baseline, so name it. Women are underrepresented in the higher judiciary relative to their share of the population or of the bar; South Asian genomes are underrepresented relative to the share of the world they account for. An answer that says "underrepresented" without the comparison has asserted a ratio without giving either number.
A statement or motion put forward for debate, proof or acceptance. In business it also means an offer or a scheme, as in a value proposition.
हिंदी: प्रस्ताव; विचारणीय कथन
Two teams argue opposing sides of a socially relevant proposition, usually four to six speakers a side, and a moderator (arbitrator, or nadhuvar) presides.
From Solomon Pappaiah, Tamil Scholar and Pattimandram Moderator, Dies at 90 · In a debate the proposition is the thing argued over, and the side arguing for it is itself called the proposition, against the opposition. Distinguish it from proposal, which is a plan put forward for action. A committee makes a proposal; a debate tests a proposition. Mixing them makes a policy suggestion sound like a logical claim.
A belief that is wrong because it rests on a faulty understanding, rather than on a simple lack of information.
हिंदी: भ्रांत धारणा; गलतफहमी
The recipient cow’s genetics are not transmitted to the calf; the recipient carries the pregnancy but the calf inherits from the donor and the sire only. This is a common misconception.
From First Badri Cattle Calf Born Through OPU-IVF at GB Pant University, Uttarakhand · A misconception is a wrong model, not a missing fact, and that matters for how you correct it. Stating the right answer rarely dislodges one; you have to show why the wrong model is tempting. The edition does exactly that: it is natural to assume the mother who carries the calf passes on her genes, which is why the correction names the donor and the sire.
The sale of insurance products through a bank and its customer relationships. The word was coined in France in the 1980s.
हिंदी: बैंकों के माध्यम से बीमा बिक्री
Bancassurance is subject to well-documented mis-selling risk, in which a customer is directed toward an insurance product with high frontloaded commissions or unsuitable to the customer’s need.
From IRDAI Imposes Rs 1 Crore Penalty on IndusInd Bank for Corporate Agent Grievance Redressal Lapse · It names a distribution channel, not a product, which is a standing Prelims trap. In India a bank does this as a corporate agent registered with IRDAI, representing insurers, not the customer. That is the structural reason for mis-selling risk: the person selling you the policy is the person who holds your savings account and has a cross-sell target.
To declare public approval or support of a claim, person or policy. In its older commercial sense, to sign the back of a document such as a cheque.
हिंदी: समर्थन करना; अनुमोदित करना
The equilibrium framing does not endorse the Chinese claim on any Indian territory.
From India and China at a Nash Equilibrium: What Holds the Border, and What Could Break It · This sentence shows why the word matters in GS2. Describing a situation is not endorsing it, and recognising a fact on the ground is not endorsing a claim. The editorial calls the border stable and, in the same breath, says the description takes no side on the claim. India’s official position is that Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh are integral parts of India, and an answer should keep description and endorsement visibly apart.
The capacity or right to make decisions for oneself, free of control by others.
हिंदी: स्वायत्तता
The first-ever BRICS Joint Women Ministerial Statement identifies women’s economic autonomy and full participation in development as collective BRICS priorities.
From A Gender Agenda for BRICS: The Energy Nexus, the Kochi Statement and What Comes Next · Women’s economic autonomy is not the same as employment. A woman can be employed and have no say over her wages, or unemployed and control household assets. Autonomy is about control over income, assets and decisions. The same word does different work in foreign policy, where strategic autonomy means freedom of action across partnerships, and in governance, where institutional autonomy means independence from executive control.
A complete list of items held, or the stock of goods itself. In defence usage, the equipment a force currently holds.
हिंदी: भंडार; सूची
The current inventory includes Su-30MKI fighters, T-90S tanks, S-400 air defence systems, stealth frigates and BrahMos missiles.
From What Russia Brings to BRICS and India: A Partnership That Has Adapted Without Losing Its Strategic Core · Three contexts, one idea of "what is on hand". In accounts, inventories are goods held for sale or production. In defence, the inventory is the kit in service, which is why dependence on Russian spares is an inventory problem, not a procurement one. British speakers usually say IN-vən-tree; American speakers usually say IN-vən-tor-ee.
Something that motivates a person or organisation to act. In economics, a reward or penalty that changes behaviour at the margin.
हिंदी: प्रोत्साहन
The piece that earns marks separates the instrument from the incentive, quantifies the fiscal cost and identifies the state-failure demand that makes the instrument politically irresistible.
From From Revdi to Trump's Dividend: When Populist Cash Transfers Cross Income Categories · The sentence gives you the analytical move. A cash transfer is an instrument; the electoral pull to announce one is an incentive. Criticising the instrument does nothing about the incentive. Watch also for perverse incentives, rewards that produce the opposite of what was intended, a phrase that transfers to subsidies, targets and tax design.
A person or thing long established in a particular place or role. Also a sports event scheduled for a date, and in property law a fitting attached to a building.
हिंदी: स्थायी अंग; नियमित आयोजन
The Pattimandram format has been a fixture on Tamil television, especially around Pongal and other festival occasions, and has run continuously on channels including Sun TV and Podhigai for over three decades.
From Solomon Pappaiah, Tamil Scholar and Pattimandram Moderator, Dies at 90 · A short word with three senses worth separating. Culturally, a fixture is something so regular it is taken for granted. In sport, the fixture list is the schedule. In property, fixtures stay with the building when it is sold, unlike movable fittings. Using it of Pattimandram says the format is part of the furniture of Tamil festival television.
The step at the entrance to a house. Figuratively, very close by, or brought to where people live.
हिंदी: घर का द्वार; घर तक
The Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme (NAIP) provides free AI services at the farmer’s doorstep.
From First Badri Cattle Calf Born Through OPU-IVF at GB Pant University, Uttarakhand · In Indian governance English, doorstep delivery is a design principle: the state goes to the citizen rather than the citizen queuing at an office. That is a real policy choice with costs, and it is the opposite of a single-window model, which gathers services in one place the citizen must still reach. Note that AI in this sentence means artificial insemination, a useful reminder to expand abbreviations on first use.
The act of beginning something again after a pause or interruption.
हिंदी: पुनः आरंभ
Air India has publicly signalled resumption of flights to China after nearly six years, with the exact schedule pending.
From China Southern Airlines Resumes Guangzhou-Delhi Service After Six-Year Suspension · The word presupposes a suspension, which is its analytical value: calling a service new when it is resumed misstates the history. Pair it with restoration, returning something to a former state, and normalisation, returning a relationship to ordinary terms. Flights are resumed; visas are restored; relations are normalised, and each verb makes a different claim.
A set of investments or loans held by one owner; the responsibilities of a minister; originally a flat case for carrying loose papers.
हिंदी: निवेश समूह; मंत्रालयी दायित्व
Institutional density (350+ meetings across 30 cities), a concrete NDB portfolio (USD 10.5 billion) and identifiable instruments (Incubator Network, Startup Innovation Fund, MSME Portal) give the chairship the tools to be judged on outputs.
From Beyond Bloc Politics: India's BRICS Bet on Practical Multipolarity · Today’s root lesson explains the case: Italian portafoglio, carry plus sheet. For a development bank the portfolio is its book of approved loans, which is why a portfolio figure and a disbursement figure differ. In foreign-investment data, portfolio inflows (shares and bonds) are separated from FDI because they can leave quickly.
In finance and trade, the difference between two related prices or rates, such as buying and selling prices or crude and refined product prices.
हिंदी: दो कीमतों या दरों का अंतर
Second, the spread between crude and refined products has widened sharply; last month, the crude-to-diesel spread in the United States crossed USD 100 a barrel, up from USD 10 to 15 a barrel before the West Asia conflict.
From BRICS and the Question of Ensuring Energy Security: Why "Drill, Baby, Drill" No Longer Answers It · An everyday word doing precise technical work. The refining margin between crude and products is often called the crack spread; a bank’s margin between lending and deposit rates is its interest spread. The editorial’s whole argument sits in this word: if the spread is wide, owning refineries matters more than owning oilfields.
Agreed to by everyone involved, with no one dissenting.
हिंदी: सर्वसम्मत
The 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, under India’s Chairship, concluded on 13 September 2026 after the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration on 12 September 2026.
From 18th BRICS Summit Concludes at Bharat Mandapam With Unanimous Adoption of the New Delhi Declaration · Keep it apart from consensus. In multilateral practice consensus usually means adoption without a vote because nobody formally objects; unanimity means every member positively agrees, often by voting. The difference matters in answers on the UN, where a text can pass by consensus with reservations recorded, and in the Security Council, where an abstention by a permanent member does not block a resolution.
The seven lessons
One entry of each type, every day: a system, not a word list.
1 · Root & family
portare · port
Latin: to carry
Today’s edition moves goods, papers and money about. India imports intermediate goods from China and its exporters complain of barriers; the summit article cites reporting on the outcomes; a BRICS column counts the New Development Bank’s portfolio. All of these carry something, and all of them are Latin portare, to carry, with a prefix telling you which way.
| Word | Prefix or partner | Literally | In your syllabus |
|---|---|---|---|
| import | in-, into | carry in | imports of intermediate goods |
| export | ex-, out | carry out | export competitiveness, export licensing |
| report | re-, back | carry back | a committee reports to Parliament |
| support | sub-, up from under | carry from beneath | minimum support price |
| deport | de-, away | carry away | deportation of illegal migrants |
| portfolio | Italian foglio, sheet | a case for carrying papers | a minister’s portfolio; an NDB loan portfolio |
| important | in-, into | brought in, then carrying weight | of consequence |
The surprise in the family. Sport belongs here. It is a shortening of disport, from Old French desporter, to carry away: sport is what carries the mind away from serious matters. Important is the other quiet member. Latin importare meant to bring in, and by the Middle Ages it had come to mean to be significant, to carry weight.
The two impostors. Opportunity looks like it belongs and does not. It comes from Latin ob portum veniens, coming toward a harbour, from portus, harbour: an opportune wind was one blowing you into port. Proportion is not from portare either. It comes from pro portione, according to the share, related to pars, a part. So when a regulator asks whether a penalty is proportionate, the question is about parts in due relation, not about anything carried.
Why the prefixes matter for GS3. Balance of payments vocabulary is this family in formation: imports carried in, exports carried out, and a support price that holds the market up from underneath. If you can see the direction in the prefix, you will not reverse a sentence about a trade deficit.
From the Modi-Xi bilateral article, on imports of intermediate goods and exporters facing barriers, and the BRICS practical-multipolarity column, on the NDB portfolio.
2 · Confusable pair
economic vs economical
Of the economy · Not wasteful
These two share a root and a stem and part company completely in meaning. One describes the economy; the other describes thrift. An answer script that swaps them does not look slightly off, it says something different, and usually something odd.
| economic | economical | |
|---|---|---|
| Means | relating to the economy or to economics | using money, time or resources without waste |
| Said of | growth, policy, weight, sanctions, reform | a car, a design, a method, a person |
| Test swap | "of the economy" | "thrifty" or "cheap to run" |
| Opposite | no simple opposite; uneconomic means unprofitable | wasteful, extravagant |
Today’s edition supplies the first. The New Delhi Declaration asks for an IMF quota realignment that reflects the current economic weights of emerging economies, and a Hindustan Times column notes that Russia’s economic weight has shrunk relative to India’s other partnerships. Both are about the size of economies. Write "economical weights" and you have asked for weights that are small and sparing, which is not a reform anyone at the summit proposed.
Where economic does a second job. The adjective can also mean profitable enough to be worth doing, as in an uneconomic branch line or holding. This is still about money, not about thrift, which is why uneconomic and uneconomical are not interchangeable either: an uneconomic mine loses money; an uneconomical engine burns too much fuel.
The phrase to know. Economical with the truth means leaving out important facts without admitting to lying. It was popularised by the British Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong, who used it under cross-examination. It must be economical: it describes sparing use of the truth, which is thrift, not an economy.
The test that works. Replace the adjective with "of the economy". If the sentence still makes sense, you want economic. If "thrifty" or "cheap to run" fits better, you want economical.
From the New Delhi Declaration article, on the IMF quota realignment reflecting economic weights, and the Hindustan Times column on Russia, on Russia’s shrinking economic weight.
3 · Collocation
The verbs of a summit declaration
Each verb is a measured step on a ladder of strength
A consensus declaration is written by people choosing verbs very carefully, because the verb is where eleven governments agree how strongly to say something. Today’s BRICS article reports the New Delhi Declaration’s verbs with precision, and reading them as a ladder tells you more than the nouns do.
| Verb | Strength and use | From the edition |
|---|---|---|
| condemns | the sharpest disapproval; a clear judgement that something is wrong | condemns the misuse of cross-border safe havens |
| expresses deep or serious concern | disapproval short of condemnation; often used when parties cannot be named | expresses deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in West Asia |
| calls for + an outcome | asks that something happen | calls for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism |
| calls on + a party + to | addresses a named or general actor directly | calls on all parties to exercise restraint |
| reaffirms | restates a position already held, marking continuity | reaffirms the primacy of the United Nations |
| reiterates | says again, often a demand or principle stated before | reiterates zero tolerance for terrorism |
| takes note of / notes | acknowledges without expressing approval | used of a report or development a body records without comment |
Calls for and calls on are not the same. You call for an outcome and call on an actor. "Calls for an immediate ceasefire" asks that a ceasefire happen; "calls on all parties to exercise restraint" addresses the parties themselves. Writing "calls on a ceasefire" is a common slip and breaks the grammar of the phrase.
The unnamed target is part of the verb choice. The declaration condemns Pahalgam by name and, on West Asia, expresses deep concern without naming a country. That is not accident. The weaker verb often travels with the missing name, because a consensus of eleven can agree that something is worrying before it can agree who is responsible. When you summarise a declaration, keep the verb: "BRICS condemned" and "BRICS expressed concern" are different findings.
Reaffirms and reiterates. Both restate. Reaffirms is typically used of positions and commitments, and signals continuity with earlier texts; reiterates is typically used of demands and principles said before. In practice drafters use them for variety, so do not build an argument on the difference, but do notice when a text reaffirms something it could have quietly dropped.
The cool end of the scale. Takes note of acknowledges that something exists without expressing approval, which is why it reads as cooler than welcomes. Among the verbs of disapproval, UN drafting treats deplores as stronger than regrets and weaker than condemns. A report a body "takes note of" has been recorded, not praised.
From the New Delhi Declaration article, which reports the declaration’s terrorism, West Asia and UN paragraphs verb by verb.
4 · From the edition
exogenous
Arising from outside the system
Kanti Bajpai’s Indian Express column describes the India-China border as a Nash equilibrium: neither side can improve its position by changing strategy alone. Then comes the analytical sentence that makes the column useful: The equilibrium’s fragilities are exogenous, and they are two. The two are the Dalai Lama succession and a South Asian confrontation that draws China in.
What the word means. Exogenous describes something that originates outside the system you are analysing. It is attested in English by 1818, from Modern Latin exogenus: exo-, outside, and -genous, producing. Its partner is endogenous, arising from within.
| Field | exogenous | endogenous |
|---|---|---|
| Economics | determined outside the model and taken as given: an oil-price shock, a monsoon failure | determined within the model: prices, output, interest rates |
| Medicine and biology | from outside the body: exogenous insulin | produced by the body itself |
| Strategy | shocks from outside the rivalry | pressures generated by the rivalry itself |
Why the claim is precise. To call the border’s fragilities exogenous is to say that the game between India and China is, for now, self-enforcing: nothing inside it pushes either side to defect. What could break it arrives from outside the two-player frame, a succession in Tibet or a war involving Pakistan. That is a stronger and more testable claim than saying the border is "fragile", because it tells you where to look.
Where it transfers. In GS3 the word does real work. An exogenous shock such as a crude-price spike hits an economy from outside, while inflation driven by wage-price spirals is endogenous. Endogenous growth theory holds that long-run growth is driven by factors inside the economy, such as ideas and human capital, rather than by technology arriving from outside. Knowing the pair lets you classify a cause before you argue about it.
How to deploy it. "India’s inflation in the quarter was largely exogenous, imported through crude and edible oils, which limits what monetary tightening alone can do." One adjective has told the examiner which policy lever is weak and why.
From the Nash equilibrium column, which locates the border’s two fragilities outside the India-China game.
5 · Say it shorter
The noun that adds nothing
Outcome, situation, nature, basis, process
Today’s Tagore column contains a sentence whose argument is sharp and whose last clause carries a passenger:
If capability funding proceeds without a workforce-transition track and a social-protection floor, the exclusion outcome is not a possibility but a consequence.
Look at the exclusion outcome. The word doing the work is exclusion. Outcome adds nothing a reader did not already know, because exclusion is obviously the result under discussion. The noun is there because English makes it easy to hang a general word after a specific one.
This is not the zombie noun. A zombie noun is a verb turned into a noun, implementation for implement. The empty noun is different: a general category word added to a phrase that already names the thing. It is quieter, and so it survives editing that catches zombies.
| Padded | Plain |
|---|---|
| the exclusion outcome | exclusion |
| on a daily basis | daily |
| structural in nature | structural |
| a flood situation | a flood |
| the process of disengagement | disengagement |
| weather conditions | the weather |
The repair. Delete the general noun and see whether anything is lost:
If capability funding proceeds without a workforce-transition track and a social-protection floor, exclusion is not a possibility but a consequence.
Two words shorter, and the contrast between possibility and consequence now lands on the thing that matters.
When to keep it. Keep the general noun when it distinguishes. "The outcome of the vote" is not padding, because a vote has an outcome separate from itself. "A process" is not padding when you mean a sequence of stages, as in the process of delimitation. The test is whether the general noun names something the specific word does not.
The one-line test. Cover the general noun with your thumb. If the sentence still says the same thing, lift your thumb and delete it.
From the Tagore and the AI economy column, on the exclusion outcome of capability funding without a transition track.
6 · Usage watch
programme vs program
One word, two spellings, one exception
Today’s edition spells it programme throughout: the Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme, the Badri OPU-IVF programme, an exploration programme through ONGC and Oil India. That is correct for an Indian publication, and the rule behind it is short enough to hold in your head.
| Sense | British and Indian English | American English |
|---|---|---|
| a plan or scheme of activity | programme | program |
| a broadcast or a printed list of events | programme | program |
| software, a set of coded instructions | program | program |
The exception is the whole lesson. British and Indian English write programme for everything except computing, where program is standard on both sides of the Atlantic. So an Indian answer script should write "the Aspirational Districts Programme" and also "a computer program that screens applications". Writing "computer programme" in British or Indian English marks you as over-correcting.
Why it matters in an exam. Scheme names are proper nouns, and the official spelling is part of the name: the government writes Programme, and quoting a scheme as a "Program" changes its official title. Consistency matters more than either choice: an answer that alternates between the two spellings looks careless, even if each instance could be defended.
The same pattern elsewhere. British and Indian English keep several French-derived spellings that American English simplified: catalogue for catalog, cheque for check. If you write in the Indian convention, hold it throughout, including in words you type less often.
From the Badri OPU-IVF article, which names the Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme, and the energy-security column, on an exploration programme through ONGC and Oil India.
7 · Idiom in formal register
a race to the bottom
Rivals competing by lowering a standard until all are worse off
Today’s Indian Express column on cash transfers states the case against large unconditional handouts in one line: Large-group unconditional cash transfers, once normalised, become a race to the bottom between state units.
Where the phrase comes from. It grew out of American corporate law. In a 1933 dissent in Liggett v. Lee, Justice Louis Brandeis described states loosening their incorporation laws to attract company charters and called the race "one not of diligence but of laxity". In 1974 William Cary used the metaphor in a Yale Law Journal article on Delaware, where companies incorporated because its rules were least demanding. The phrase has since spread to tax, labour standards, environmental regulation and, as today, fiscal policy.
What it claims, precisely. Three things, and all three must hold:
- jurisdictions or firms are competing for something: capital, charters, voters;
- they compete by lowering a standard: a tax rate, a regulation, fiscal prudence;
- the end state leaves them collectively worse off than if none had competed that way.
The third element is what separates a race to the bottom from ordinary competition. Competition that lowers prices for consumers is not a race to the bottom; competition that lowers safeguards until every jurisdiction has weaker protection and no one has gained an advantage is.
Where it is useful, and where it is lazy. It is precise for tax competition among states for investment, for labour standards in export zones, and for election-timed transfers when each party must match the others. It is lazy when used of any competition you dislike. The phrase is also contested: critics argue that jurisdictional competition can produce a race to the top, as rivals compete on quality. An answer earns marks by naming the standard that falls and the evidence that all are worse off.
How to use it in an answer. "If each state matches the last manifesto’s transfer, the competition is a race to the bottom on fiscal prudence: no state gains an electoral edge, and every state’s capital budget shrinks." That sentence names the rivals, the standard and the collective loss.
From the Indian Express column on revdi and Trump’s dividend, which calls normalised large-group cash transfers a race to the bottom between state units.
Worksheet
Every exercise from the session, on paper. Answers are folded under each one; the online session marks them for you and keeps your score.
Root & family · portare (to carry)
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Which word does NOT come from portare, to carry?
- opportunity
- support
- deport
- portfolio
Answer
opportunity. Opportunity is from ob portum veniens, coming toward a harbour, from portus. The shared letters are a coincidence of spelling, which is exactly why a root family has to be checked, not guessed.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
A regulator asks whether a penalty is ___ to the lapse, that is, in due relation of parts.
- proportionate
- portable
- supportive
- important
Answer
proportionate. Proportionate is from pro portione, related to pars, a part. It sits next to the portare family on the page and belongs to a different root.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each prefix to the direction it gives "carry".
- im-
- ex-
- re-
- sub-
- carry from beneath
- carry back
- carry out
- carry in
Answer
- im-: carry in
- ex-: carry out
- re-: carry back
- sub-: carry from beneath
Four prefixes on one verb. Once the directions are fixed, import, export, report and support stop being four separate words to memorise.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the word that is wrong for a minister’s charge.
The Prime Minister reallocated the finance passport after the reshuffle.
Answer
passport → portfolio. A minister holds a portfolio, originally the case in which state papers were carried. The error is a slip of sound, and the root explains the right word.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
How did "important" come to belong to the portare family?
- Latin importare, to bring in, came to mean to be significant, to carry weight
- It is from portus, harbour, because important goods came by sea
- It is from pars, part, because an important thing is a large part
- It does not belong; the resemblance is accidental
Answer
Latin importare, to bring in, came to mean to be significant, to carry weight. Importare meant to bring in, and Medieval Latin importantem meant momentous. The sense of carrying weight is the bridge between the literal and the figurative.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange from the most literal carrying to the most figurative.
- important
- report
- export
- transport
Answer
- transport
- export
- report
- important
Goods moved, goods sent out, information carried back, weight carried in a figurative sense. Reading the family in this order shows how a physical verb becomes an abstract one.
Confusable pair · economic / economical
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Which sentence uses the right word?
- The declaration seeks an IMF quota realignment reflecting the economic weights of emerging economies.
- The declaration seeks an IMF quota realignment reflecting the economical weights of emerging economies.
- The declaration seeks an IMF quota realignment reflecting the economics weights of emerging economies.
- The declaration seeks an IMF quota realignment reflecting the economized weights of emerging economies.
Answer
The declaration seeks an IMF quota realignment reflecting the economic weights of emerging economies.. The weights are the sizes of economies, so the adjective is economic. Economical would describe thrift, which is not the point of a quota reform.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
A spokesperson who omits the key figure without technically lying has been ___ with the truth.
- economical
- economic
- economised
- economist
Answer
economical. The phrase describes sparing use of the truth, which is thrift. It is fixed as economical and the economic version is a recognised error.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each phrase to what it means.
- economic sanctions
- an economical design
- an uneconomic holding
- economic weight
- the size of an economy relative to others
- one too small to pay its way
- one that avoids waste
- measures targeting a country’s economy
Answer
- economic sanctions: measures targeting a country’s economy
- an economical design: one that avoids waste
- an uneconomic holding: one too small to pay its way
- economic weight: the size of an economy relative to others
Three of these are about the economy or profitability and one is about thrift. Sorting them by the "of the economy" test takes seconds.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the misused word.
Western powers imposed economical sanctions on Russia after 2022.
Answer
economical → economic. Sanctions target an economy; they are not sanctions that avoid waste. The "of the economy" test catches it at once.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
An "uneconomic" branch railway line is best described as one that:
- cannot earn enough to justify running it
- uses too much diesel per kilometre
- has nothing to do with the national economy
- is run by an economist
Answer
cannot earn enough to justify running it. Uneconomic concerns profitability. Using too much fuel would make a locomotive uneconomical, which is a different complaint.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange the check you run when choosing between the two.
- Keep whichever substitution makes sense
- Substitute "thrifty" or "cheap to run"
- Substitute "of the economy"
- Read the noun the adjective describes
Answer
- Read the noun the adjective describes
- Substitute "of the economy"
- Substitute "thrifty" or "cheap to run"
- Keep whichever substitution makes sense
The noun usually decides it: growth, policy and sanctions take economic; engines, methods and designs take economical. The substitution confirms the choice.
Collocation · the verbs of a summit declaration
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Which verb expresses the sharpest disapproval in a summit declaration?
- condemns
- expresses concern over
- takes note of
- reiterates
Answer
condemns. Condemnation is a clear judgement that something is wrong. Concern is disapproval short of that, taking note expresses no approval at all, and reiterating only repeats.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
The declaration ___ all parties to exercise restraint.
- calls on
- calls for
- takes note of
- condemns
Answer
calls on. You call on an actor to do something. Calls for takes an outcome as its object, as in calls for an immediate ceasefire.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each verb to what it signals.
- condemns
- expresses deep concern
- reaffirms
- takes note of
- acknowledgement without approval
- continuity with an earlier position
- disapproval, often without naming a party
- a clear judgement of wrongdoing
Answer
- condemns: a clear judgement of wrongdoing
- expresses deep concern: disapproval, often without naming a party
- reaffirms: continuity with an earlier position
- takes note of: acknowledgement without approval
Four verbs, four different degrees of agreement. A summary that flattens them into "BRICS said" loses the finding.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the word that breaks the phrase.
The grouping called on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Answer
on → for. A ceasefire is an outcome, so the declaration calls for it. Calls on needs an actor followed by to, as in calls on the parties to agree a ceasefire.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange from the most neutral statement to the sharpest judgement of wrongdoing.
- condemns
- expresses concern over
- takes note of
Answer
- takes note of
- expresses concern over
- condemns
Record, worry, judge. Placing a verb on this scale is usually the whole of what an examiner wants when asking what a declaration said about an event.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
On West Asia the declaration expresses deep concern without naming any country. What does that combination most likely reflect?
- Members could agree the situation was worrying but not on who was responsible
- The drafters forgot to name the countries
- Condemnation is not permitted in BRICS declarations
- The issue was outside the grouping’s mandate
Answer
Members could agree the situation was worrying but not on who was responsible. The same declaration condemns Pahalgam by name, so condemnation is available. The weaker verb with no named party is the usual sign of a consensus that stops short of attribution.
From the edition · exogenous
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
In the column, what does calling the border’s fragilities exogenous claim?
- The threats come from outside the India-China game itself
- The threats are small and can be ignored
- The threats arise from within each country’s politics
- The threats have already been resolved
Answer
The threats come from outside the India-China game itself. Exogenous locates the source outside the system under analysis. The column names the Dalai Lama succession and a South Asian confrontation as those outside factors.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
A sudden rise in global crude prices is, for India’s inflation, an ___ shock.
- exogenous
- endogenous
- indigenous
- erroneous
Answer
exogenous. The price is set outside the Indian economy and arrives as a given. Indigenous means native, which is a different word altogether.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each example to the right label.
- insulin injected by a patient
- insulin made by the pancreas
- a monsoon failure hitting farm output
- growth driven by domestic innovation
- endogenous growth
- exogenous shock
- endogenous
- exogenous
Answer
- insulin injected by a patient: exogenous
- insulin made by the pancreas: endogenous
- a monsoon failure hitting farm output: exogenous shock
- growth driven by domestic innovation: endogenous growth
The same pair of words works in medicine, economics and strategy. That transferability is the reason to own it.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the word that reverses the meaning.
Imported edible-oil prices are an endogenous driver of food inflation.
Answer
endogenous → exogenous. Prices set abroad and imported are outside the domestic economy. Calling them endogenous claims they are generated at home, which reverses the policy conclusion.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Why is "the fragilities are exogenous" a stronger claim than "the border is fragile"?
- It says where the threat comes from, which tells you where to look
- It uses a technical word, which makes it more persuasive
- It predicts a date when the equilibrium will break
- It implies India is responsible for the fragility
Answer
It says where the threat comes from, which tells you where to look. A bare "fragile" says nothing about cause. Exogenous commits to a source outside the game, which can be tested against events.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange the steps of using the pair in an answer.
- State what the lever cannot do
- Name the lever that can act on that cause
- Classify the cause as inside or outside it
- Identify the system you are analysing
Answer
- Identify the system you are analysing
- Classify the cause as inside or outside it
- Name the lever that can act on that cause
- State what the lever cannot do
Classification comes before prescription. An exogenous shock limits what domestic policy can fix, and saying so is where the marks are.
Say it shorter · the noun that adds nothing: outcome, situation, nature, basis
-
Say it shorter Rewrite the sentence below within the word limit.
The flood situation in the state is structural in nature, and relief is being provided on a daily basis through a process of distribution at the camp level.
Word limit 15
Model
The floods in the state are structural, and relief is distributed daily at camps. Situation, in nature, on a daily basis and a process of all go. Nothing a reader needs is lost, and the verb distributed replaces a noun phrase.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
In which phrase is the general noun genuinely needed?
- the outcome of the vote
- the exclusion outcome
- a drought situation
- violent in nature
Answer
the outcome of the vote. A vote and its outcome are different things, so outcome carries information. In the other three the general noun repeats what the first word already says.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the word that adds nothing.
The disengagement process at Depsang was completed in 2024.
Answer
process → (delete). Disengagement was completed; nothing called a process needs naming separately. If you meant a sequence of stages, you would say which stages.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
The noun in "the exclusion outcome" is padding because ___ already names the result.
- exclusion
- the
- outcome
- consequence
Answer
exclusion. Exclusion is the specific word doing the work. Outcome is the general category laid on top of it.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange the steps of the repair.
- Delete it if it did not
- Check whether the meaning changed
- Cover it with your thumb
- Find the general noun
Answer
- Find the general noun
- Cover it with your thumb
- Check whether the meaning changed
- Delete it if it did not
The check in the third step is what stops over-cutting. Some general nouns carry meaning, and those stay.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
How does the empty noun differ from a zombie noun?
- It is a general category word added to a phrase, not a verb turned into a noun
- It is always longer than a zombie noun
- It only appears in legal writing
- It is a noun used as an adjective
Answer
It is a general category word added to a phrase, not a verb turned into a noun. Implementation is a zombie noun, a verb in disguise. Outcome in "the exclusion outcome" is not hiding a verb; it is simply adding nothing.
Usage watch · programme / program
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Which sentence follows Indian English convention?
- The Aspirational Districts Programme uses a computer program to rank indicators.
- The Aspirational Districts Program uses a computer programme to rank indicators.
- The Aspirational Districts Programme uses a computer programme to rank indicators.
- The Aspirational Districts Program uses a computer program to rank indicators.
Answer
The Aspirational Districts Programme uses a computer program to rank indicators.. Programme for the scheme, program for the software. The fourth is consistent American English, but it misspells an Indian scheme’s official name.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
In Indian English, a set of coded instructions for a computer is a ___.
- program
- programme
- programm
- programe
Answer
program. Software is the exception where British and Indian English also write program.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each item to the spelling Indian English uses.
- a government scheme
- a television show
- a piece of software
- an American federal scheme, quoted by its name
- program
- program
- programme
- programme
Answer
- a government scheme: programme
- a television show: programme
- a piece of software: program
- an American federal scheme, quoted by its name: program
The last pair is the subtle one: a proper noun keeps its own spelling, so an American scheme is quoted as its government writes it.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the spelling that over-corrects.
The bank installed a new computer programme for KYC checks.
Answer
programme → program. Software takes program in Indian and British English too. Writing programme here extends the British spelling into the one sense where it does not apply.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Why should the spelling of a scheme name not be changed to suit your convention?
- The official spelling is part of the proper noun
- Examiners deduct marks for British spellings
- American spelling is always shorter
- Scheme names are not covered by spelling rules
Answer
The official spelling is part of the proper noun. A proper noun is quoted as its owner writes it. Your convention governs ordinary words, not the names of schemes.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange the questions to ask when you type the word.
- Otherwise follow your convention consistently
- If not, is it software?
- If so, use its official spelling
- Is it the name of a scheme or body?
Answer
- Is it the name of a scheme or body?
- If so, use its official spelling
- If not, is it software?
- Otherwise follow your convention consistently
Proper nouns first, then the computing exception, then consistency. Three checks cover every case.
Idiom in formal register · a race to the bottom
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Which element separates a race to the bottom from ordinary competition?
- The competitors end up collectively worse off
- The competitors are governments rather than firms
- Prices fall during the competition
- The competition is not publicly acknowledged
Answer
The competitors end up collectively worse off. Firms can race too, and falling prices are often good competition. The defining feature is a collective loss from lowering a standard.
-
Fill the blank Circle the letter that completes the sentence.
Justice Brandeis described the states' competition for company charters as a race "not of diligence but of ___".
- laxity
- greed
- speed
- fairness
Answer
laxity. His 1933 dissent in Liggett v. Lee used exactly this contrast. Laxity names the standard that was falling.
-
Match the pairs Write the letter from the right against each number on the left.
Match each case to its falling standard.
- states cutting tax to attract a plant
- export zones relaxing labour law
- parties matching each other’s cash promises
- countries weakening pollution rules for investment
- environmental protection
- fiscal prudence
- worker protection
- the tax base
Answer
- states cutting tax to attract a plant: the tax base
- export zones relaxing labour law: worker protection
- parties matching each other’s cash promises: fiscal prudence
- countries weakening pollution rules for investment: environmental protection
Every genuine use of the idiom names a standard that falls. If you cannot name it, you are describing ordinary rivalry.
-
Find the error Circle it in the sentence below, then write the correction.
Find the word that makes this use of the idiom wrong.
Competition among telecom firms cut data prices, a classic race to the bottom.
Answer
classic → (not a race to the bottom at all). Lower prices for consumers are not a falling standard and leave consumers better off. Without a collective loss the idiom does not apply.
-
Put in order Number the lines 1 upward in the correct order.
Arrange the elements in the order an answer should establish them.
- what would stop the race
- why all are worse off
- which standard is being lowered
- who is competing
Answer
- who is competing
- which standard is being lowered
- why all are worse off
- what would stop the race
Identify the rivals and the standard, prove the collective loss, then prescribe. A common floor, such as a shared tax rate or a fiscal rule, is the usual remedy.
-
Choose one Circle the letter of the correct option.
Why is the idiom contested as a general claim?
- Competition among jurisdictions can sometimes raise quality, a race to the top
- It was coined by a judge and has no economic basis
- It applies only to American corporate law
- It is considered too informal for academic writing
Answer
Competition among jurisdictions can sometimes raise quality, a race to the top. Whether competition lowers or raises standards is an empirical question. The idiom is an argument, and an argument needs evidence.
Reading in the CSAT shape
A passage quoted from India and China at a Nash Equilibrium: What Holds the Border, and What Could Break It, then inference questions on it.
A Nash equilibrium is an outcome in which no player can improve by changing strategy alone. Applied to the border, both sides "recognise that in any foreseeable future they cannot aspire to and achieve a better position in the border quarrel." That is the description of a stable but mutually unsatisfying state, not of a solved problem.
Beyond the border itself, the détente promises trade normalisation, visa easing, supply-chain resilience and river-water cooperation on the Brahmaputra system. Each of these has intrinsic value, and each also raises the mutual cost of disturbing the equilibrium, which is the standard mechanism by which economic interdependence stabilises a strategic rivalry.
The equilibrium framing does not endorse the Chinese claim on any Indian territory. India's official position remains that Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh are integral parts of India. Game theory describes a state of the world; it does not adjudicate a claim.
According to the passage, a Nash equilibrium is best described as:
- An outcome in which no player can improve its position by changing strategy alone
- A settlement that both sides accept as fair
- A stalemate imposed by an outside power
- An arrangement in which both players achieve their maximal objectives
Answer
An outcome in which no player can improve its position by changing strategy alone. The passage defines it as an outcome in which no player can improve by changing strategy alone, and adds that it is mutually unsatisfying, so neither fairness nor maximal gains is implied.
What does the passage suggest about trade normalisation and visa easing?
- They make disturbing the equilibrium more costly for both sides
- They resolve the boundary question
- They matter only for their economic value
- They weaken the equilibrium by increasing contact
Answer
They make disturbing the equilibrium more costly for both sides. The passage says each has intrinsic value and also raises the mutual cost of disturbing the equilibrium. It does not say they settle the boundary.
The sentence "Game theory describes a state of the world; it does not adjudicate a claim" serves to:
- Separate a description of stability from any judgement on whose territorial claim is valid
- Argue that game theory is irrelevant to border disputes
- Concede that the Chinese claim has merit
- Predict that the equilibrium will soon collapse
Answer
Separate a description of stability from any judgement on whose territorial claim is valid. It follows the statement that the framing does not endorse the Chinese claim and restates India’s official position, so its function is to keep description and judgement apart.
Which statement would the author most likely accept?
- A stable border can coexist with an unresolved dispute
- The India-China boundary dispute has been settled
- Economic ties have made the strategic rivalry irrelevant
- Stability on the border requires one side to give up its claim
Answer
A stable border can coexist with an unresolved dispute. The passage calls the equilibrium stable but not a solved problem, and says interdependence stabilises a rivalry rather than ending it.
Writing task · Name the rivals, the standard and the loss
Today’s idiom holds only when three things are separately true. Take one case from today’s edition, such as states competing through cash transfers or India’s imports of intermediate goods from China, and write in no more than 100 words whether it is a race to the bottom. Name who is competing, which standard is falling and who ends up worse off, or say plainly which of the three is missing. Use exogenous or incentive correctly somewhere in the answer.
Companion to Vocab Builder (what a word scores in a GS answer) and Key Terms. Wordcraft is the language itself.
