NDA (I) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 28 of 149

Correct — C, cut a sorry figure. The set idiom for making a poor or pitiable impression is 'cut a sorry figure', so the sentence reads 'She cut a sorry figure in her first performance on the stage.' An idiom must be reproduced with the exact words it is stored in.

• (a)made a sorry figure — The verb welded to 'figure' in this expression is 'cut', and swapping in 'make' breaks the collocation the item is testing.
• (b)cut a sorry face — The noun', meaning the impression a person presents; 'cut a sorry face' carries no accepted meaning.
• (d)No improvement — The adjective in the idiom is 'sorry', not 'sad', so the original phrase is a near miss rather than the expression itself.

An idiom item on 'cut a sorry figure', meaning to make a poor showing in front of others.

The wrong options are each one word away from the idiom, which is exactly how idiom questions are built. 'Make a sorry figure' does turn up'.

• Related expressions built on the same verb include 'cut a fine figure' for a striking appearance and 'cut no ice' for failing to impress.
• Idioms are learnt whole, so their verb, adjective and noun cannot be freely substituted.

• Accepting an option that keeps the meaning but changes one word of a set phrase.

Asked as a sentence-improvement item in which one word of a familiar idiom has been altered.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which option best improves the underlined part — His long speech <u>cut no ice</u> with the villagers.

  • (a)cut no ices
  • (b)cut not ice
  • (c)cut no icing
  • (d)No improvement

  Answer(d) No improvement — 'cut no ice with somebody' is already the correct idiom.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which option best improves the underlined part — After the scandal he <u>cut a sorry face</u> before the press.

  • (a)cut a sorry figure
  • (b)cut a sad figure
  • (c)made a sad face
  • (d)No improvement

  Answer(a) cut a sorry figure — the noun in the idiom is 'figure'.