He ________ to listen to my arguments and walked away.
- (a)denied
- (b)disliked
- (c)prevented
- (d)refused
Correct — D, 'refused'. Of the four verbs, only 'refuse' is followed straight by a to-infinitive and means to decline to do something — he refused to listen. Walking away in the second half of the sentence confirms a flat refusal rather than a dislike or an obstruction.
- (a)denied — 'Deny' means to say that something is not true, and it is followed by a noun or an -ing form — 'denied listening' — never by 'to listen'.
- (b)disliked — 'Dislike' reports a feeling and takes an -ing form after it, as in 'disliked listening to my arguments'.
- (c)prevented — 'Prevent' needs another person as its object — you prevent somebody from doing something — whereas here the man is stopping himself.
Verbs of declining, denying and stopping sit close in meaning but differ sharply in what may follow them and in who acts on whom.
Because the blank stands immediately before 'to listen', any verb that cannot take a to-infinitive is out before meaning is considered at all. That one structural test clears away three options and leaves the right verb standing.
- 'Refuse' is followed by a to-infinitive, as in 'refused to answer'.
- 'Deny' is followed by a noun or an -ing form, as in 'denied taking the money'.
- 'Prevent' takes an object, then 'from', then an -ing form.
- Treating 'deny' and 'refuse' as interchangeable.
- Ignoring what the words after the blank demand.
Asked as a selecting-words item — pick the word that fits the blank.
He refused to change his decision; he refused it point out.
- (a) He refused to change
- (b) his decision;
- (c) he refused it point out.
- (d) No error
Answer(c) he refused it point out.
Same ground — what may follow 'refuse'. That NDA error-spotting item marks a segment faulty because 'refused it point out' breaks the to-infinitive pattern; this item rewards the same knowledge by making 'refused' the only verb that fits 'to listen'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The minister ________ any knowledge of the deal.
- (a)refused
- (b)denied
- (c)prevented
- (d)aspired
Answer(b) denied — 'deny' takes a noun object and means to state that something is untrue.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Heavy rain ________ us from starting on time.
- (a)refused
- (b)denied
- (c)prevented
- (d)avoided
Answer(c) prevented — 'prevent' takes an object, then 'from', then an -ing form.