2019 DEPED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

Part I. ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST

Directions: Read the sentences carefully. Choose the

letter of the correct answer. Write the letter of your answer
on the space provided for.

A. SENTENCE COMPLETI ON

_____1. She is well loved by the people for being

______________.

a. slanderous
b. virtuous*
c. ambiguous
d. condescending

_____2. Davidlee is an ____________ diver. He always

wins the gold medal.

a. inept
b. efficient
c. adroit*
d. aggressive
_____3. The ____ student _____ going to school.

a. delinquent; abhors*
b. awkward; abhors
c. industrious; dislikes
d. obedient; dislikes

_____4. The reporter was adjudged guilty of _____ for

spreading false accusations.

a. calumny*
b. rebellion
c. treachery
d. mutiny

_____5. Ewan played the violin with such _____,

everyone was amazed.

a. anxiety
b. inanity
c. deity
d. virtuosity*

_____6. Today, Alfred Wegener’s theory is _______;

however, he died an outsider treated with ___ by the
scientific establishments.
a. unsupported: approval
b. dismissed: contempt
c. accepted: approbation
d. unchallenged: disdain*

_____7. The revolution I art has not lost its steam; it

_________ on as fiercely as ever.

a. trudges
b. meanders
c. rages*
d. ambles

_____8. Biological clocks are of such _____ adaptive

value to living organisms, that we would expect most
organisms to _____them.

a. obvious: possess*
b. ambivalent: develop
c. meager: evolve
d. significant: eschew

_____9. The peasants were the least ______ of all

people, bound by tradition and _____ by superstitions.

a. conventional: encumbered
b. pinioned: limited
c. free: fettered*
d. enthralled: tied
_____10. The conclusion of his argument, while _____, is
far from ______.

a. germane: relevant
b. esoteric: obscure
c. stimulating: interesting
d. abstruse: incomprehensible*

B. SYNONYMS

_____11. The virulent drug he had mistakenly taken killed

him in an instant.

a. effective
b. expensive
c. sedative
d. toxic*

_____12. Argentina is one of the world’s leading honey-

exporters. It maintains a large apiary.

a. Place where birds are bred.

b. Place where apes are grown.
C. Place where bees are raised.*
D. Place where honey is stored.

_____13. Eugenio Joshua admires his teacher’s

deportment during class.
a. demeanor*
b. speech
c. banishment
d. intelligence

_____14. His recommendation was rejected because it

might be inimical to the company.

a. insubstantial
b. useful
c. costly
d. disadvantageous*

_____15. Marvin Jay’s supervisor asked him to elucidate

his proposal during the presentation.

a. clarify*
b. extend
c. improve
d. shorten

C. ANTONYMS

_____16. The mother has been doleful every when she

lost her son.

a. miserable
b. cheerful*
c. prayerful
d. anxious

_____17. Juan Carlo acquiesced to his friends’ plan of

going to Baguio comes February.

a. agreed
b. objected*
c. rejoiced
d. abided

_____18. John Dan’s house is full of a motley collection of

furniture, including antiques, woodcrafts and glasswares.

a. diverse
b. attractive
c. homogenous*
d. expensive

_____19. Jeric Angel’s nervousness was palpable despite

the confident façade he was showing.

a. evident
b. increasing
c. decreasing
d. hidden*
_____20. He had learned that everything in life is
evanescent.

a. temporary
b. permanent*
c. extraordinary
d. luminous

D. AN ALOGY

_____21. ARTICULATE::SPEECH

a. predictable: event
b. coordinated: movement
c. active: thought
d. erratic: path

_____22. INCEPTION:: CONCLUSION

a. departure: arrival*
b. culmination: upshot
c. approach: return
d. escapade: punishment

_____23. SCINTILLATING: DULLNESS

a. erudite: wisdom
b. desultory: error
c. boisterous: calm*
d. exalted: elevation

_____24. SHARD: POTTERY

a. seed: flower
b. smoke: fire
c. chair: furniture*
d. mystify: enlightenment

_____25. PROSAIC: MUNDANE

a. obdurate: foolish*
b. ascetic: austere
c. loquacious: taciturn
d. peremptory: spontaneous

_____26. ATTENUATE::SIGNAL

a. exacerbate: problem
b. modify: accent
c. dampen: enthusiasm*
d. elongate: line

_____27. SALACIOUS:: WHOLESOME

a. religious: private
b. expensive: profligate
c. conservative: stoic
d. mendacious: truthful*

_____28. PENURY:: MONEY

a. starvation: sustenance
b. independence: freedom*
c. infirmity: illness
d. spontaneity: care

_____ 29. MASON:: STONE

a. soldier: weapon
b. lawyer: law
c. carpenter: wood*
d. teacher: pupil

_____30. REPEL:: LURE

a. miscarry: succeed*
b. dismount: devolve
c. abrogate: deny
d. abridge: shorten

E. READING COMPREHEN SION

Passage 1
Much of what goes by the name of pleasure is simply an
effort to destroy consciousness. If one started by asking,
what is man? What are his needs? How can he best
express himself? One would discover that merely having
the power to avoid work and live one’s life from birth to
death in electric light and to the tune of tinned music is not
a reason for doing so. Man needs warmth, society, leisure,
comfort and security: he also needs solitude, creative work
and the sense of wonder. If he recognized this he could
use the products of science and industrialism eclectically,
applying always the same test: does this make me more
human or less human? He would then learn that the
highest happiness does not lie in relaxing, resting, playing
poker, drinking and making love simultaneously.

Adapted from an essay by George Orwell

_____31. The author implies that the answers to the

questions in sentence two would reveal that human beings
________.

a. are less human when they seek pleasure*

b. need to evaluate their purpose in life
c. are being alienated from their true nature by technology
d. have needs beyond physical comforts

_____32. The author would apparently agree that playing

poker is _____.
a. often an effort to avoid thinking
b. something that gives true pleasure
c. an example of man’s need for society *
d. something that man must learn to avoid

Passage 2

Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal,

such as a salamander or newt. It is a minute spheroid – an
apparently structure less sac, enclosing a fluid, holding
granules in suspension. But let a moderate supply of
warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter
undergoes changes so rapid, yet so steady and purposeful
in their succession, that one can only compare them to
those operated by a skilled modeler upon a formless lump
of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided and
subdivided into smaller and smaller portions. And, then, it
is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be occupied
by the spinal column, and molded the contour of the body;
pinching up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and
fashioning flank and limb into due proportions, in so artistic
a way, that, after watching the process hour by hour, one
is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some
more subtle aid to vision than a microscope, would show
the hidden artist, with his plan before him, striving with
skillful manipulation to perfect his work.

Adapted from an essay by T H Huxley

_____33. The author makes his main point with the aid of
_______.

a. logical paradox
b. complex rationalization*
c. scientific deductions
d. observations on the connection between art and
science

_____34. In the context of the final sentence the word

“subtle” most nearly means _____.

a. not obvious
b. indirect
c. discriminating
d. surreptitious *

Passage 3

There are not many places that I find it more agreeable to

revisit when in an idle mood, than some places to which I
have never been. For, my acquaintance with those spots
is of such long standing, and has ripened into an intimacy
of so affectionate a nature, that I take a particular
interesting assuring myself that they are unchanged. I
never was in Robinson Crusoe’s Island, yet I frequently
return there. I was never in the robbers’ cave, where Gil
Blas lived, but I often go back there and find the trap-door
just as heaven to raise as it used to be. I was never in Don
Quixote’s study, where he read his books of chivalry until
he rose and hacked at imaginary giants, yet you couldn’t
move a book in it without my knowledge. So with
Damascus, and Lilliput, and the Nile, and Abyssinia, and
the North Pole and many hundreds of places — I was
never at them, yet it is an affair of my life to keep them
intact, and I am always going back to them.

Passage 4

The books one reads in childhood create in one’s mind a

sort of false map of the world, a series of fabulous
countries into which one can retreat at odd moments
throughout the rest of life, and which in some cases can
even survive a visit to the real countries which they are
supposed to represent. The pampas, the Amazon, the
coral islands of the Pacific, Russia, land of birch-tree and
samovar, Transylvania with its boyars and vampires, the
China of Guy Boothby, the Paris of du Maurier—one could
continue the list for a long time. But one other imaginary
country that I acquired early in life was called America. If I
pause on the word “America”, and deliberately put aside
the existing reality, I can call up my childhood vision of it.

Adapted from: The Uncommercial Traveller, C Dickens

(1860)

_____35. The first sentence of Passage 3 contains an

element of
a. paradox
b. legend
c. melancholy
d. self-deprecation*

_____36. By calling America an “imaginary country” the

author of passage two implies that ___.

a. America has been the subject of numerous works for

children
b. his current vision of that country is not related to reality
c. America has stimulated his imagination
d. his childhood vision of that country owed nothing to
actual conditions*

_____37. Both passages make the point that _____.

a. books read early in life can be revisited in the

imagination many years later *
b. imaginary travel is better than real journeys
c. children’s books are largely fiction
d. the effects of childhood impressions are inescapable

_____38. Both passages list a series of places, but differ

in that the author of passage three ___.

a. has been more influenced by his list of locations

b. never expects to visit any of them in real life, whereas
the writer of passage two thinks it at least possible that he
might
c. is less specific in compiling his list*
d. wishes to preserve his locations in his mind forever,
whereas the author of passage two wishes to modify all
his visions in the light of reality.

F. IDIOMATIC EXPRESS IONS

_____39. We are affected as much as you are by the

rising prices of gasoline; we are all “in the same boat”.

a. Suffering the same predicament*

b. Hindering the success
c. Empathizing with everyone on his suffering
d. Acknowledging the suffering

_____40. The members of the public are demanding for

better public infrastructure and more public services, but at
the same time they are demanding for lower taxes. It is
becoming a “Catch-22 situation”.

a. A challenging situation
b. A dilemma from which it is impossible to escape*
c. A problem that involves government efficiency
d. A condition of no great importance

_____41. That lady should not have become a war

correspondent. She is a “square peg in a round hole”.
a. A person who has been given an opportunity to change
her profession.
b. A person who has no interest in her job.
c. A person who takes part in every event.
d. A person who is not suitable to her work or
surroundings*

_____42. “It slipped my mind” that I will have with

Davidlee tonight.

a. I determined, in spite of my schedule.

b. I forgot as a result of carelessness*
c. I wished.
d. I planned delicately.

_____43. The idea of expansionism “has not taken root” in

the Philippines.

a. Has not become popular

b. Has not been heard
c. has not established itself*
d. has not been monitored

_____44. Ewan Gregory does not mind how much

resistance he causes; he like “sailing against the wind”.

a. Being popular
b. Interfering
c. overcoming the opposition
d. opposing the popular view*

_____45. Although Marvin Jay had only a minor role in the

play, he “stole the thunder from” the lead actor.

a. Borrowed the role from

b. Diverted the attention to himself from*
c. succeeded in portraying
d. transformed the character of

_____46. I had a “heart to heart talk” with my teacher on

my plans to study Linguistics or Microbiology at the
university.

a. Sentimental meeting
b. Superficial talk
c. serious discussion*
d. successful arrangement

_____47. Juan Carlo decide “to keep his peace” until he

finished examining the situation.

a. Not to talk*
b. To be forthright
c. to be relaxed
d. to be reserved
_____48. The company needs a couple of million pesos
for its expansion. It is likely that the Php 100 000.00 the
partner has offered is “a drop in the ocean”.

a. Useful
b. More than enough
c. a tiny fraction of what is needed*
d. useless until the amount is complete

A. CLOZE TEST (PART 1)

Introduction:

This is the School 49) _________ Plan of the East Central

Elementary School, San Fabian District II, Pangasinan II
Division, was 50)________________ and
51)_______________ through the concerted efforts of the
teaching 52)___________ with the other stakeholders of
education headed by the principal. It
53)_______________ the vision or educational goals
which 54)________ to uplift or improve the school
performance in terms of the following areas of
development namely the pupil, staff, curriculum and
physical facilities development which will 55)__________
as the 56)_________ for evaluating the performance of
the school. It presents the school and community profile
and the expected activities of the school.

Through the 57)_________ of this School Improvement

Plan, with the unwavering 58)___________ of the officers
and members of the PTA as well as the School Governing
Council and other stakeholders of education, it is
59)________________ that the goals vision and mission
of the East Central Elementary School will be
60)___________.

49.

a. improving
b. improves
c. improved
d. improvement*

50.

a. conceptualized*
b. conceptualizes
c. conceptualizing
d. conceptualize

51.

a. evolving
b. evolves
c. evolved*
d. evolve

52.
a. staffs
b. staff*
c. staffed
d. staffing

53.

a. present
b. presenting
c. presents*
d. presented

54.

a. aims*
b. aim
c. aimed
d. aiming

55.

a. serves
b. serving
c. servicing
d. served*

56.
a. basis
b. bases*
c. basing
d. based

57.

a. implement
b. implementing
c. implementation*
d. implements

58.

a. support*
b. supporting
c. supports
d. supported

59.

a. expect
b. expects
c. expecting
d. expected*

60.
a. realize
b. realized*
c. realizing
d. realizes

H. CLOZE TEST (PART 2)

Madam 61) _____

I have the honor to request permission 62)_______ you

good office to 63)__________ an action research in
Science 64)_______, “Enhancing the Performance of the
Grade VI Pupils in Science and Health through
Counteractive Lecture “for the Grade VI pupils of Greater
Heights Elementary School for this school year 2014 –
2015.

Hoping for your 65)________ approval.

66)________________

EWAN ETHAN LEE C. RIVERA

Teacher

1st 67)___________
68)_______________________

Respectfully forwarded 69)__________ the Schools

Division Superintendent, Pangasinan Division II,
Binalonan, Pangasinan, recommending approval of this
basic communication.

70)_____________________________
DAVIDLEE DV. ROMERO JR.
Public Schools District Supervisor

61.

a. ;
b. :
c. ,
d. .

62.

a. to
b. for
c. your
d. from*

63.

a. conduct*
b. conducts
c. conducted
d. conducting
64.

a. entitle
b. entitles
c. entitled*
d. entitling

65.

a. kind*
b. kinder
c. kindest
d. modest

66.

a. yours,
b. sincerely yours,
c. Truly yours
d. Very truly yours,*

67.

a. indorsment
b. endorsment
c. indorsement*
d. endorsement
68.

a. With date*
b. No date
c. —–
d. —–

69.

a.to*
b. from
c. with
d. for

70.

a. Truly yours,
b. Very truly yours,
c. Sincerely yours,
d. No complementary Close*

Part 1 - Structure
DIRECTIONS: This subset measures your ability to
recognize language that is appropriate for standard written
English.
Items 1 – 15 are incomplete sentences. Beneath each
sentence, you will see four words or phrases marked A, B,
C, and D. choose the word or phrase that best completes
the sentence, then shade the letter corresponding to your
answer in the Answer Sheet.
1. The enterprising daughter who __________ a vast
fortune from her super rich and powerful father is going to
Europe to venture into other business deals.
A. Inherit B. inherited C. is inheriting D. was
inherited
2. Helium, a new element in the sun, is the ash left
__________ atoms of hydrogen are fused in the furnace
of the sun.
A. While B. unless C. when D. until
3. To everybody’s surprise, the captain, looking
__________, eas there ahead of all the rest.
A. His best B. at his best C. in his best D. for
his best
4. People __________ Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
damage were not necessarily those who had smoked the
longest but those who began smoking at a young age.
A. Of worst B. of worse C. within the worse D.
within the worst
5. The primordial purpose __________ schooling is
ultimately to learn how to learn.
A. In B. for C. of D. at
6. Before the seeds germinated, I did not know what kind
of plants they __________.
A. Will be B. would be C. can be D. could be

7. In April 1906, an earthquake never before equaled in

violence __________ a part of the United States,
particularly San Francisco, California.
A. Striked B. stroke C. strikes D. struck

8. Ballooning revenue collections, mushrooming infrastructures and expanding transportation and

communication facilities conspicuously manifest the __________ of the city.

A. Speedily growing economy C. speedy growing economic

B. Speedy economic growing D. growing economic speed

9. The latest addition to the year – round regional cultural showcase is the new, state-of-the-art light
and sound museum which __________ the country’s past and its present.

A. Exhibit B. exhibits C. exhibited D. is exhibiting

10. Oral rehydration __________ attempted to replace lost body fluids in the early stages of fever.

A. Is B. would be C. was D. has been

11. It __________ be gleaned from the article that mass media have both positive and negative
influence to society.

A. Would B. could C. must D. might

12. Of all the sports that __________ strong bodies, swimming is the best.
A. Develops B. developed C. develop D. is developing

13. The legalization of divorce, until such time, has been __________ in our society.

A. A hotly-contested issues C. the hot contested issue

B. A hotly-contesting issue D. the hot contesting issue

14. A website is limited __________ you to other websites where you can access for more information
and discoveries.

A. until it is linking B. because it links C. since it linked D. while it link

15. The happy children, __________, paraded in the busy streets in celebration of their school
foundation.

A. Majestic costumes C. majestically costumes

B. majestic costumed D. majestically costumed