NDA (II) 2016 GAT Q23: I feel ________ for those who are cruel to their

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2016 GAT Q23?

B. Correct — B, 'contempt'. The people in the sentence are the ones being cruel to their children, so what a decent reader feels towards them is scorn, and 'contempt' is the word for the feeling that someone is beneath respect. It also takes the preposition the sentence prints — one feels contempt for a person.

NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 23 of 150

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

I feel ________ for those who are cruel to their children.

(a)sympathy
(b)contempt
(c)admiration
(d)craving

Answer

Why

Correct — B, 'contempt'. The people in the sentence are the ones being cruel to their children, so what a decent reader feels towards them is scorn, and 'contempt' is the word for the feeling that someone is beneath respect. It also takes the preposition the sentence prints — one feels contempt for a person.

Why the others are wrong

(a)sympathy — Points the feeling the wrong way — sympathy would be felt for the children who suffer, not for the adults who are cruel to them.
(c)admiration — Turns the sentence upside down by praising cruelty.
(d)craving — Means a strong longing for something one wants; it fits the preposition but not the sense, since nobody longs for people who ill-treat children.

Concept

'Contempt' is the feeling that a person or an action is worthless and beneath respect.

The blank is filled from the moral direction of the sentence rather than from grammar, because all four nouns can stand after 'I feel' and before 'for'. Once you notice that the people described are the ones doing the cruelty, only a word of disapproval can go in. 'Sympathy' is what catches the hurried reader, who takes in 'cruel to their children' and feels for the children rather than reading who the sentence is about.

Key facts

'Contempt' is felt for a person one considers beneath respect.
'Contemptuous' describes the person feeling contempt; 'contemptible' describes the person deserving it.
'Feel contempt for', 'have sympathy for' and 'feel admiration for' all take 'for'.

Study next

Nouns of feeling and the prepositions they takeContemptuous and contemptible — a pair often confusedReading a sentence for its moral direction before filling a blankWords of disapproval — contempt, disdain, scorn, revulsion

Common traps

Filling the blank for the victims when the sentence names the offenders.
Mixing up 'contemptuous' and 'contemptible'.

Asked as a selecting-words item — pick the word most appropriate for the blank.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Fill the blank — His remarks were ________ of the court's authority.
- (a)contemptible
- (b)contemptuous
- (c)contented
- (d)contemporary
Answer(b) contemptuous — the remarks showed contempt.
practice — not a real PYQ
Fill the blank — We felt great ________ for the flood victims.
- (a)contempt
- (b)sympathy
- (c)envy
- (d)disdain
Answer(b) sympathy — fellow-feeling for those who suffer.