The soldier was greatly praised for his valour.

Correct — B, (b) cowardice.

The underlined word is ‘valour’, and the Directions printed over the first item of this set ask for the word OPPOSITE in meaning to it. Valour is courage in the face of danger, and particularly courage in battle — the word English keeps for the soldier’s virtue, which is why gallantry awards are given ‘for conspicuous valour’ and why the Latin root ‘valere’, to be strong, also gives us valiant. Its exact contrary is cowardice: the failure of courage, the want of the will to face danger. Praise for valour and contempt for cowardice are the two ends of a single scale, and no other word in the set touches that scale at all.

The difficulty of the item is deliberately hidden in the shape of the options. All four are abstract nouns, all four name a defect of character, and all four would fit the slot in a sentence. What separates them is which virtue each is the failure of. Clumsiness is the failure of skill or grace, selfishness the failure of generosity, tactlessness the failure of tact. Only cowardice is the failure of courage, and courage is what ‘valour’ names.

That is the whole method for an antonym item of this kind. Name the virtue or quality the underlined word stands for; then ask, of each option in turn, which quality it is the absence of. A candidate who instead asks which option sounds most unlike a soldier will find three that qualify.

The sentence itself does only one job: ‘the soldier was greatly praised for his valour’ fixes the military sense of the word, so that the reader is not left choosing between courage in battle and the older, wider sense of worth.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)clumsiness — Clumsiness is awkwardness of movement or of handling — dropping things, knocking things over — and, by extension, want of tact or skill in managing a situation. Its opposites are dexterity, deftness, grace and adroitness. A soldier may be brave and clumsy at the same time without any contradiction, and that test alone disposes of the option: two words cannot be opposites if one person can properly be described by both at once. It is offered here because clumsiness is an unheroic quality and the sentence is about a hero, which is a resemblance of atmosphere rather than of meaning.
• (c)selfishness — Selfishness is concern for one’s own advantage without regard for others, and it is opposed to generosity, unselfishness and altruism. It comes closer than the other two wrong options because self-sacrifice and courage often appear together in accounts of soldiers, and a citation for gallantry frequently describes a man risking himself for his comrades. But the two qualities are distinct: a selfish man may be perfectly brave in his own interest, and an unselfish man may be timid. The overlap in the picture is not an overlap in the meaning, and an antonym item is decided on meaning.
• (d)tactlessness — Tactlessness is the want of tact — of the sense of what to say and when to keep silent so as not to give offence. It is opposed to tact, diplomacy and delicacy, and it belongs to the vocabulary of social dealings rather than of danger. Nothing about facing an enemy under fire is being tested when a person is called tactless. The option is the clearest example in this set of a word that is simply from another field, and it can be eliminated the moment the candidate has named the scale that ‘valour’ sits on.

The item tests the ability to name what a quality is the OPPOSITE of, when several candidate words are all faults and only one is the relevant fault.

English has a rich vocabulary for courage and its failure, and it is worth banking as a set. On the side of courage: valour, bravery, gallantry, fortitude, intrepidity, mettle, grit, nerve, daring, boldness. On the side of its failure: cowardice, timidity, faint-heartedness, pusillanimity, poltroonery. The words are not interchangeable. Valour and gallantry are used of conduct in battle; fortitude is endurance of pain or hardship rather than daring; intrepidity is fearlessness; timidity is a shrinking disposition rather than the specific failure of nerve that cowardice names.

The roots repay attention because they recur across the paper. ‘Valour’ comes from Latin valere, to be strong or worth, which also yields value, valid, valiant, prevail and convalesce. ‘Cowardice’ comes through Old French couard, from Latin cauda, a tail — the image is of an animal turning tail, and English keeps the same picture alive in ‘to turn tail’ and ‘with his tail between his legs’.

The wider principle is that an antonym is defined against a single axis. Clumsy, selfish and tactless are all uncomplimentary, but each denies a different virtue, and denying some other virtue is not the same as being the opposite of this one.

Key facts

• ‘Valour’ is courage in the face of danger, especially in battle; it comes from Latin valere, to be strong, the root also of valiant, valid, value and prevail.
• ‘Cowardice’ is the failure of courage; the word descends through Old French couard from Latin cauda, a tail, the same image English keeps in ‘to turn tail’.
• Words on the courage side of the scale differ in sense: gallantry and valour describe conduct in battle, fortitude is endurance of hardship, intrepidity is fearlessness, and nerve or mettle is steadiness under strain.
• Words on the other side differ too: timidity is a shrinking disposition, faint-heartedness a want of resolve, and pusillanimity a formal term for smallness of spirit.
• Clumsiness denies dexterity, selfishness denies generosity and tactlessness denies tact; none of them denies courage, which is why none of them is the opposite of valour.
• The Directions governing this item were printed once, over Q6, and ask for the word opposite in meaning to the underlined one.

Common traps

• Reading the item as a synonym question. Nothing in the printed sentence says which is wanted; the instruction was given once at the head of the set.
• Choosing the option that seems least soldierly. Three of the four name faults a soldier might have, and only one names the fault that is the absence of valour.
• Confusing an overlap in the picture with an overlap in the meaning. Bravery and unselfishness often appear together in a citation, which does not make selfishness the opposite of valour.
• Skipping past the sentence. It is there to fix the military sense of ‘valour’ rather than to hint at the answer.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word : The villagers spoke of the fortitude with which she bore a long and painful illness.

  • (a)recklessness
  • (b)weakness
  • (c)impatience
  • (d)indifference

  Answer(c) impatience — fortitude is the courage to ENDURE pain or hardship steadily over time, so its opposite is the inability to bear it, which is what impatience names here. ‘Recklessness’ is an excess of daring rather than a want of endurance, ‘weakness’ is a general want of strength on no particular axis, and ‘indifference’ is a failure to care rather than a failure to endure.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word : His candour during the inquiry surprised the officers who had expected evasion.

  • (a)duplicity
  • (b)rudeness
  • (c)timidity
  • (d)arrogance

  Answer(a) duplicity — candour is frankness and openness in speech, so its opposite is double dealing and concealment, which duplicity names exactly. ‘Rudeness’ denies courtesy, ‘timidity’ denies boldness and ‘arrogance’ denies humility, so all three deny some other virtue rather than the one the underlined word stands for.