The bereaved mother proudly received the gallantry award _________ her brave son who had laid down his life in the recent war.
- (a)in the name of
- (b)in lieu of
- (c)on behalf of
- (d)for the sake of
Answer
Why
Correct — C, (c) on behalf of.
‘On behalf of’ means as the representative of somebody, acting in the place of a person who cannot act for himself. That is precisely the mother’s position. The award has been conferred on the son; he is dead and cannot come forward to take it; the mother stands in his place and receives what belongs to him. English has reserved this phrase for exactly that relation for centuries, and it is the phrase used in official citations, in courts and at ceremonies — counsel appears on behalf of the appellant, a minister signs on behalf of the Government, a relative receives a posthumous award on behalf of the recipient.
The sentence supplies two signals that point to representation rather than to any other relation. The award is a gallantry award, so it is the son’s, earned by his act and not by hers. And the mother receives it ‘proudly’, which fits a person carrying out an honourable duty for another, not a person being compensated or being given a substitute.
All four options are prepositional phrases of three or four words, which is itself the point of the item: this is the one place in the set where the blank takes a phrase rather than a single word, and the four phrases differ not in vocabulary but in the relation each expresses. ‘On behalf of’ expresses representation. ‘In lieu of’ expresses substitution of one thing for another. ‘For the sake of’ expresses purpose or benefit. ‘In the name of’ expresses authority invoked, or the name under which something is entered. Fix the relation the sentence needs and the phrase follows.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)in the name of — ‘In the name of’ has two settled uses in English, and neither is representation. It invokes an authority — stop in the name of the law, in the name of God, crimes committed in the name of religion — or it records the name something is entered under: the account is in the name of his wife, the property stands in the name of the trust. What it does not say is that one person is standing in for another at a ceremony; for that English has ‘on behalf of’, which is why an award citation reads ‘received on behalf of the late Major’. The phrase is the strongest of the three wrong options here, and it is worth being deliberate about the difference rather than trusting the ear, because the two phrases are often loosely swapped in speech.
- (b)in lieu of — ‘In lieu of’ means instead of, in place of — and the substitution is between two THINGS, not between two people. It is a phrase of accounts and administration, which is why it is worth knowing precisely on this paper: payment in lieu of notice, leave encashment in lieu of unavailed leave, a cash allowance in lieu of rent-free accommodation, an ex gratia payment in lieu of compensation. Put it in this sentence and it says the mother received a gallantry award as a substitute for her son, which is both false and unfeeling: nothing was given to her instead of him. ‘Lieu’ is the French word for place, and the phrase keeps that sense of one thing occupying another’s place.
- (d)for the sake of — ‘For the sake of’ states a purpose or a beneficiary — she gave up her career for the sake of the children, let us assume it for the sake of argument, for the sake of peace, for old times’ sake. It answers the question ‘why?’ or ‘for whose benefit?’, and neither question is being asked here. The mother is not receiving the medal in order to benefit her son, nor out of consideration for him; she is receiving it because it is his and somebody must take it. The phrase would also be strange in its implications, suggesting that the ceremony was performed to do the dead man a favour rather than to honour him.
Concept
This item tests fixed prepositional phrases, the small set of three- and four-word units that English uses to mark relations too precise for a single preposition. Each is learnt whole, and each carries one relation only.
‘On behalf of’ marks representation: X acts, and the act counts as Y’s. Note the pair it belongs to. ‘On behalf of’ means as the agent or representative of somebody; ‘on the part of’ means done by somebody, as in ‘negligence on the part of the contractor’. Careful writers also keep ‘in behalf of’ for ‘in the interest of’, though that distinction has faded in modern usage.
‘In lieu of’ marks substitution of one thing for another, and it is heavily used in service rules, pay orders and contracts. ‘For the sake of’ marks purpose or benefit. ‘In the name of’ marks invoked authority, or the name in which a thing is registered.
Two more of the same family are worth banking together because examiners return to them: ‘in view of’ (because of, considering), ‘in respect of’ (concerning), ‘in the event of’ (if something happens), ‘with a view to’ (with the intention of, and followed by a gerund), ‘in consideration of’ (in return for), ‘in pursuance of’ (in carrying out).
The way to store them is by the question each answers — who is standing in? what is replacing what? why? by whose authority? — because that is the form in which the sentence will ask.
This is the last item of the ‘Fill in the blanks’ set and the last of Part A’s first page. The Directions were printed once above Q1. The item differs from the four before it in a way the transcription notes record: the options are phrases, not single words, which changes what the candidate has to do. There is no collocation to hear and no near-synonym to weigh; the task is to identify the RELATION between the two nouns on either side of the blank, and then to recall which fixed phrase carries that relation.
The phrases chosen are exactly the ones an Enforcement Officer or an Accounts Officer will meet in official writing. ‘In lieu of’ appears in pay and leave rules, ‘on behalf of’ in every authorisation and representation, ‘in pursuance of’ and ‘in respect of’ in orders and notices. The English section of this paper leans on that vocabulary deliberately, because a candidate who confuses ‘in lieu of’ with ‘on behalf of’ will one day write a sanction that says something the office did not intend.
The sentence is also carefully built to reward reading. ‘Bereaved’, ‘proudly’, ‘brave son’ and ‘laid down his life’ all establish that the son is dead and honoured, which is what makes representation the only relation available.
Key facts
- ‘On behalf of’ means as the representative of, in the place of a person who cannot act himself — counsel appears on behalf of a client, a relative receives a posthumous award on behalf of the recipient.
- ‘On the part of’ is its near neighbour and means done by, as in ‘a lapse on the part of the officer’; the two are not interchangeable.
- ‘In lieu of’ means instead of and substitutes one THING for another; it is the phrase of service rules and accounts — payment in lieu of notice, allowance in lieu of quarters. ‘Lieu’ is the French word for place.
- ‘For the sake of’ states a purpose or a beneficiary — for the sake of argument, for the sake of peace — and answers ‘why?’ rather than ‘who is standing in?’.
- ‘In the name of’ either invokes an authority (in the name of the law) or records the name under which something is held (the account is in the name of his wife).
- Related fixed phrases from the same official register: in view of, in respect of, in the event of, with a view to, in consideration of, in pursuance of.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing the phrase that sounds most respectful or most formal. All four here are formal; only one names the relation the sentence describes.
- Confusing ‘in lieu of’ with ‘on behalf of’. The first substitutes one thing for another and the second puts one person in another’s place, and the mistake is common enough to be worth drilling.
- Treating ‘in the name of’ as a synonym for representation because the two are loosely swapped in conversation. In careful English it invokes an authority or records a registered name.
- Skipping the words around the blank. ‘Bereaved’, ‘brave son’ and ‘laid down his life’ are what establish that the honour is the son’s and the mother is standing in for him.
Prepositional-phrase items are a regular feature of the English sections of the EPFO recruitment tests, and they draw on the same official vocabulary the job itself uses — in lieu of, on behalf of, in respect of, in pursuance of. Expect all four options to be genuine phrases rather than inventions, and expect them to differ by RELATION rather than by meaning: substitution against representation, purpose against cause, condition against consequence. The reliable method is to restate the sentence in plain words first — here, ‘the mother took the medal that belonged to her dead son’ — and then to ask which of the four phrases states that relation.
Related PYQs
EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q1Open & attempt →Directions : Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space and four words or group of words given after the sentence. Select the word or group of words you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. It's time you went out and ____________ your own living.
- (a) afforded
- (b) earned
- (c) gained
- (d) won
Answer(b) earned
The item carrying the Directions for this set, printed once over Q1 and governing all five sentences including this one.
EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q20Open & attempt →Psychology did not develop into a science (a) | based of careful observation (b) | and experimentation until the late 1800s. (c) | No error (d)
- (a) Psychology did not develop into a science
- (b) based of careful observation
- (c) and experimentation until the late 1800s.
- (d) No error
Answer(b) based of careful observation
A spotting-errors item from the last set of Part A whose whole error is a wrong preposition, ‘based of’ for ‘based on’ — the same knowledge tested from the other side.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Select the phrase most appropriate for the blank space : Officers who could not avail themselves of their earned leave were paid an amount ________ the leave due to them.
- (a)on behalf of
- (b)in lieu of
- (c)for the sake of
- (d)in the name of
Answer(b) in lieu of — the money is being given INSTEAD of the leave, which is substitution of one thing for another, and ‘in lieu of’ is the phrase service rules use for it. ‘On behalf of’ would need one person representing another, ‘for the sake of’ would state a purpose, and ‘in the name of’ would either invoke an authority or name the holder of an account.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Select the phrase most appropriate for the blank space : The junior counsel appeared ________ the appellant, who was too ill to attend the hearing.
- (a)in lieu of
- (b)for the sake of
- (c)on behalf of
- (d)in the name of
Answer(c) on behalf of — the counsel is acting as the appellant’s representative, so that what he does in court counts as the appellant’s act, and that relation is exactly what ‘on behalf of’ carries. ‘In lieu of’ would make the counsel a substitute thing rather than a representative, ‘for the sake of’ would state a purpose, and ‘in the name of’ would claim to act by the appellant’s authority in the way an order is issued in the name of the President.