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Banking | SBI Clerk

English Language for SBI Clerk

SBI Clerk sets 70 English Language questions for 70 marks across 2 stages, so it is worth planning your preparation around the topics below.

70 questions70 marks8 topics

How to approach English Language in SBI Clerk

Reading comprehension and the cloze test decide this section, and both reward reading widely more than memorising rules. Build a daily reading habit, learn to spot the grammatical error patterns that recur, and treat vocabulary as something absorbed in context rather than crammed from a list.

Weightage in the paper

How much English Language is worth in each SBI Clerk stage, from the official pattern.

StageQuestionsMarksTimeShare
Preliminary Examination303020 min30%
Main Examination404035 min21%

English Language syllabus for SBI Clerk

Every topic in the official syllabus. The linked ones open a set of solved questions you can practise straight away.

Sample English Language questions with solutions

Written to the SBI Clerk pattern, with the answer key and the method behind it — a look at how the section is actually set before you drill the full topic sets.

Para jumble · solved example

Rearrange the following six sentences (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) into a meaningful paragraph, then answer the question. (A) Before the container, loading a vessel was slow and back-breaking work, with cargo carried aboard piece by piece in sacks, barrels and crates. (B) The shipping container is rarely mentioned in histories of globalisation, yet few inventions did more to bring it about. (C) A plain metal box, standardised so that it could move from truck to train to ship without being opened, sounds far too dull to deserve the credit. (D) By collapsing the cost of moving goods to a fraction of what it had been, the box made it profitable to manufacture on one continent and sell on another. (E) That very dullness, however, was the source of its power. (F) A ship could therefore sit idle at the dockside for days while gangs of labourers handled its cargo by hand.

Which sentence comes immediately AFTER sentence (C)?

  • A
  • B
  • D
  • ECorrect
  • F

Solution

(C) says the box 'sounds far too dull to deserve the credit'; (E) picks that up with 'That very dullness, however, was the source of its power.' So (E) follows (C) directly.

Word swap · solved example

In the sentence below, two highlighted words must be interchanged to make it meaningful. Identify them. The survey (A) concluded that awareness of the scheme was (B) negligible in districts where field staff had been (C) appointed, and (D) widespread where no such appointment was made.

  • A and C
  • A and D
  • B and C
  • B and DCorrect
  • C and D

Solution

As written the sentence says awareness was negligible where staff had been appointed and widespread where they had not, which reverses the only sensible relationship between the two halves. Interchanging B and D repairs it: awareness was widespread where field staff had been appointed and negligible where no appointment was made. A and C are correctly used and are different parts of speech from the words that need moving. The signal here is a sentence whose two halves contradict what the rest of it implies, rather than a phrase that sounds odd on its own.

Reading comprehension · solved example

A crop insurance scheme is usually judged by how much it pays. A more revealing test is how quickly. A farmer whose claim is settled six months after a failed harvest has already borrowed to plant the next one, and has done so at whatever rate the local lender set, which is rarely the rate the scheme was meant to spare him. The payout, when it arrives, retires that debt rather than financing the sowing it was designed to protect. The money is not wasted, but its purpose has been quietly inverted. Delay is built into the way losses are measured. Most schemes settle on the basis of crop-cutting experiments, in which sample harvests across a block are weighed and the average yield compared with a threshold. The method is defensible, and it is slow: it needs field staff, a harvest to sample, and a chain of approvals afterwards. Satellite assessment promises speed, and pilots have cut settlement times sharply, but it estimates area-wide vegetation rather than an individual field's yield, so a farmer whose own plot failed in a block that did well is left uncompensated and unconvinced. Faster settlement is therefore not simply a matter of better technology. It requires deciding whose loss the scheme insures: the block's, which can be measured quickly, or the farm's, which cannot.

What limitation of satellite assessment does the passage identify?

  • It is considerably more expensive than crop-cutting experiments.
  • It has not yet been tested anywhere in the field.
  • It requires more field staff than the method it would replace.
  • It measures vegetation across an area rather than the yield of a particular field.Correct
  • It cannot be used until the harvest is complete.

Solution

The passage grants that satellite assessment is fast and that pilots have cut settlement times sharply, then names its one drawback: it estimates area-wide vegetation rather than an individual field's yield, which is why a farmer whose own plot failed inside a successful block goes uncompensated. Option B contradicts the reference to pilots. Options A and C are the kinds of objection one might expect, but the passage raises neither, and C describes the older method's requirement, not the new one's. Option E belongs to crop-cutting experiments, which need a harvest to sample.

Error spotting · solved example

Find the part of the sentence that contains an error. If there is no error, choose option E. Each of the candidates (A) / were asked (B) / to submit their documents (C) / before the deadline (D).

  • Each of the candidates
  • were askedCorrect
  • to submit their documents
  • before the deadline
  • No error

Solution

'Each of' is always followed by a plural noun but takes a singular verb, so 'were asked' must become 'was asked'. The trap is the plural noun 'candidates' sitting right before the verb, which makes the plural sound natural. Test it by reducing the sentence to its core: 'Each was asked', not 'Each were asked'.

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Practise English Language

Untimed drills with the method shown after every question — the step between learning a topic and sitting it under a clock.

English Language study material

Sit English Language under a real clock

English Language shows up in every SBI Clerk mock test, in the same interface, with sectional locking and negative marking.

  • SBI Clerk: 27-question practice mock

    27 questions | 27 min

    Start

  • SBI Clerk: full-length mock (100 questions)

    100 questions | 1 hr

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Frequently asked questions

How many English Language questions are asked in SBI Clerk?

SBI Clerk 2026-27 cycle sets 70 English Language questions for 70 marks, split across 30 in the Preliminary Examination and 40 in the Main Examination.

Is there negative marking for English Language in SBI Clerk?

Yes. SBI Clerk deducts one fourth of a mark for each wrong answer, English Language included, so unsure guesses cost you. One fourth of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for a wrong answer. Questions left blank carry no penalty.

Which English Language topics matter most for SBI Clerk?

The SBI Clerk syllabus lists Reading comprehension, Cloze test, Para jumbles, Error spotting and sentence correction, Sentence improvement, Fill in the blanks and more. Weight your revision towards the ones you are weakest on and confirm the emphasis against the paper analysis for recent cycles.

How can I practise English Language for SBI Clerk free?

Every English Language question on this site is free and written to the exam pattern. Use the topic drills for instant-feedback practice, the daily quiz to keep the section warm, and the SBI Clerk mock tests to sit it under a real clock with negative marking.