CBSE Employability Skills | Unit 1: Communication Skills | Questions 21–40

These 20 new MCQs focus on conceptual understanding, situation-based reasoning, grammatical accuracy and application of communication skills.

Coverage: Active Listening (7 Questions), Parts of Speech (7 Questions), Writing Sentences (6 Questions).

Section A: Active Listening (Questions 21–27)

21. During a meeting, a team leader listens to an employee’s suggestion and restates the main idea to confirm that it has been understood correctly. Which aspect of active listening is primarily demonstrated?

A. Evaluating information without feedback
B. Clarifying understanding through feedback
C. Memorising information without interpretation
D. Avoiding interpersonal communication

Answer: B. Clarifying understanding through feedback

Explanation: Restating the speaker’s message helps confirm understanding and allows the speaker to correct any misunderstanding. This demonstrates clarification and appropriate feedback.

22. A student pays attention to a lecture but begins forming a response before the teacher has completed the explanation. Which active listening practice is most likely being neglected?

A. Maintaining appropriate eye contact
B. Remembering previous information
C. Waiting for the speaker to finish before responding
D. Identifying the communication channel

Answer: C. Waiting for the speaker to finish before responding

Explanation: Active listening requires patience and respect for the speaker’s timing. Preparing a response too early may prevent the listener from understanding the complete message.

23. A customer explains a problem to a service representative. The representative understands the complaint but responds without considering the customer’s frustration. Which element of the RESPECT technique needs improvement?

A. Removing distractions
B. Empathising with the speaker
C. Maintaining eye contact
D. Remembering information

Answer: B. Empathising with the speaker

Explanation: Empathy involves recognising and understanding another person’s feelings. Effective listening requires understanding both the message and the speaker’s emotional state.

24. Consider the following statements about active listening:

I. Receiving involves paying attention to spoken information.
II. Understanding involves interpreting the meaning of information.
III. Evaluating means accepting information without examination.
IV. Responding involves providing appropriate feedback.

Which statements are correct?

A. I, II and IV only
B. I and III only
C. II, III and IV only
D. All four statements

Answer: A. I, II and IV only

Explanation: Receiving, understanding and responding are correctly described. Statement III is incorrect because evaluating involves examining and judging information.

25. A teacher notices that students frequently misunderstand instructions because of noise from nearby construction work. Which solution would most directly address this barrier to listening?

A. Increase the length of the instructions.
B. Repeat the same instructions without changing the environment.
C. Move the discussion to a quieter location.
D. Ask students to memorise the instructions without listening.

Answer: C. Move the discussion to a quieter location.

Explanation: Construction noise is an environmental distraction. Reducing external noise creates better conditions for receiving and understanding spoken information.

26. A student listens to two different explanations of the same concept and compares them before deciding which explanation is more reliable. Which stage of active listening is most strongly demonstrated?

A. Receiving
B. Evaluating
C. Remembering
D. Responding

Answer: B. Evaluating

Explanation: Evaluating involves examining the meaning, value and reliability of information before forming a judgement.

27. Which of the following situations best demonstrates all three characteristics of effective communication: clarity, conciseness and accuracy?

A. “The event may begin sometime in the morning, depending on several things.”
B. “The examination will begin at 9:00 AM on Monday in Room 12,” when these details are confirmed.
C. “The examination is probably at 9:00 AM, but I am not certain.”
D. “The examination schedule contains many important details that everyone should consider carefully.”

Answer: B. “The examination will begin at 9:00 AM on Monday in Room 12,” when these details are confirmed.

Explanation: The message provides specific, relevant and verified information in a brief form. It is clear, concise and accurate.

Section B: Parts of Speech (Questions 28–34)

28. Identify the correct grammatical functions of the underlined words:

The teacher spoke politely to the nervous students.

A. Adjective, Adverb
B. Adverb, Adjective
C. Pronoun, Adjective
D. Adverb, Noun

Answer: B. Adverb, Adjective

Explanation: ‘Politely’ modifies the verb ‘spoke’, making it an adverb. ‘Nervous’ describes the noun ‘students’, making it an adjective.

29. Which sentence uses the correct article before a word beginning with a vowel letter but having a consonant sound?

A. She is an university student.
B. He bought an uniform yesterday.
C. She works at a university.
D. He is an European citizen.

Answer: C. She works at a university.

Explanation: The word ‘university’ begins with a consonant sound /y/, so the article ‘a’ is used. Article selection depends on pronunciation rather than spelling alone.

30. In which sentence does the word ‘before’ function as a preposition?

A. I have seen this movie before.
B. Please finish your homework before dinner.
C. Before you leave, switch off the lights.
D. I had never visited the place before.

Answer: B. Please finish your homework before dinner.

Explanation: In option B, ‘before’ is followed by the noun ‘dinner’ and expresses a relationship of time. In option C, it introduces a clause and functions as a conjunction.

31. Identify the sentence in which the underlined word functions as a pronoun.

A. Those students are preparing for the examination.
B. Those are the books I purchased yesterday.
C. The teacher checked those assignments.
D. Those questions require careful reading.

Answer: B. Those are the books I purchased yesterday.

Explanation: In option B, ‘those’ stands independently in place of a noun and functions as a demonstrative pronoun. In the other sentences, it modifies a noun.

32. Which sentence contains a conjunction expressing contrast between two ideas?

A. She completed her homework and revised the lesson.
B. He stayed home because he was unwell.
C. The assignment was difficult, but she completed it.
D. You may choose tea or coffee.

Answer: C. The assignment was difficult, but she completed it.

Explanation: ‘But’ is a coordinating conjunction used to express contrast between two ideas.

33. A student writes the following sentence:

“wow what an amazing performance”

Which option uses capitalisation and punctuation correctly?

A. Wow, what an amazing performance!
B. wow! What an amazing performance.
C. Wow what an amazing performance?
D. Wow, What an Amazing Performance!

Answer: A. Wow, what an amazing performance!

Explanation: ‘Wow’ is an interjection, and a comma can separate it from the remaining sentence. The sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with an exclamation mark because it expresses strong emotion.

34. Which of the following sentences contains an adverb modifying an adjective rather than a verb?

A. The children played happily.
B. The athlete ran quickly.
C. The examination was extremely difficult.
D. The teacher explained the lesson clearly.

Answer: C. The examination was extremely difficult.

Explanation: ‘Extremely’ is an adverb modifying the adjective ‘difficult’. In the other sentences, the adverbs modify verbs.

Section C: Writing Sentences (Questions 35–40)

35. Consider the sentence:

“The librarian gave the students new books.”

Which option correctly identifies the subject, verb, direct object and indirect object?

A. Subject: librarian; Verb: gave; Direct object: students; Indirect object: books
B. Subject: students; Verb: gave; Direct object: books; Indirect object: librarian
C. Subject: librarian; Verb: gave; Direct object: books; Indirect object: students
D. Subject: books; Verb: gave; Direct object: librarian; Indirect object: students

Answer: C. Subject: librarian; Verb: gave; Direct object: books; Indirect object: students

Explanation: The librarian performs the action, ‘gave’ is the verb, ‘books’ are what was given, and ‘students’ are the recipients.

36. Choose the correct passive voice of the sentence:

“The students are preparing the presentation.”

A. The presentation was prepared by the students.
B. The presentation is being prepared by the students.
C. The presentation has been prepared by the students.
D. The presentation is prepared by the students.

Answer: B. The presentation is being prepared by the students.

Explanation: The active sentence is in the present continuous tense. The correct passive structure is ‘is/am/are + being + past participle’.

37. Which of the following sentences contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction?

A. Although it was raining, the match continued.
B. The match continued because the rain stopped.
C. The rain stopped, and the players returned to the field.
D. After the rain stopped, the players returned.

Answer: C. The rain stopped, and the players returned to the field.

Explanation: Both clauses can stand independently as complete sentences and are joined by the coordinating conjunction ‘and’. This structure is called a compound sentence.

38. A student is instructed to convert the sentence into active voice without changing its tense:

“The final report has been submitted by the secretary.”

Which option is correct?

A. The secretary submitted the final report.
B. The secretary has submitted the final report.
C. The secretary is submitting the final report.
D. The secretary had submitted the final report.

Answer: B. The secretary has submitted the final report.

Explanation: The original sentence is in the present perfect tense. Its active form uses ‘has + past participle’, preserving the original tense.

39. Which sentence correctly combines the following ideas into a complex sentence?

The student worked hard. The student wanted to improve her performance.

A. The student worked hard, and the student wanted to improve her performance.
B. The student worked hard because she wanted to improve her performance.
C. The student worked hard; she wanted to improve her performance.
D. The student worked hard, but she wanted to improve her performance.

Answer: B. The student worked hard because she wanted to improve her performance.

Explanation: ‘Because’ introduces a dependent clause expressing the reason for the action. The resulting sentence contains one independent clause and one dependent clause.

40. A student writes:

“Please explain the instructions again.”

Which statement correctly describes the sentence?

A. It is interrogative because it asks for information.
B. It is declarative because it provides factual information.
C. It is imperative because it expresses a polite request.
D. It is exclamatory because it expresses a strong emotion.

Answer: C. It is imperative because it expresses a polite request.

Explanation: Imperative sentences express instructions, commands, requests or advice. The word ‘please’ makes the request polite but does not change its grammatical type.

Complete Answer Key – Set 2

Communication Skills(Part 1)

Communication Skills(Part 1)

Communication Skills(Part 1)