We <u>carried on</u> the search for the missing person. (Select the word that is most opposite in meaning to the underlined word.)
- (a)delayed
- (b)reconsidered
- (c)broke up
- (d)called off
Correct — D, 'called off'. 'Carry on' means to continue with something already under way, and the phrasal verb that cancels such a thing outright is 'call off'. A search is either continued or called off, which makes the pair a clean reversal.
- (a)delayed — A delayed search is still going to happen; postponing something is not the reverse of continuing it.
- (b)reconsidered — Reconsidering means thinking again about a decision, which leaves the search itself untouched.
- (c)broke up — 'Break up' means to disperse a gathering or to end a relationship, and it is not the verb English uses of a search; 'broke off' would have been the real rival, and the paper does not print it.
'Carry on' and 'call off' are the standard pair for continuing and cancelling an activity already in progress — an operation, a strike, a match or a search.
The one worth pausing over is 'broke up', because a single letter separates it from 'broke off', which really would compete with the answer. English fixes 'break off' for stopping something midway and 'break up' for dispersing or ending a union, and searches are broken off, never broken up. Testing each phrasal verb in the actual sentence, rather than by its rough sense, is what exposes this.
- 'Call off the search' is the standard collocation in news reporting.
- 'Break off' means to stop something abruptly in the middle; 'break up' means to disperse or to come apart.
- 'Carry on' also works as an instruction meaning go ahead, as in 'carry on with your work'.
- Marking 'delayed' by treating postponement as the reverse of continuing.
- Accepting 'broke up' as though it were 'broke off'.
Asked as an antonym item — choose the word most opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
The football match has to be _____ because of the weather.
- (a) called off
- (b) continued
- (c) put off
- (d) turned off
Answer(a) called off
The same phrasal verb tested from the other side a year later. There the candidate has to supply 'called off' and reject 'put off', which fixes the difference this item also turns on — calling something off ends it, putting it off merely moves it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the group of words most opposite in meaning to 'carry on' in 'They carried on the talks for a week.'
- (a)took up
- (b)broke off
- (c)put through
- (d)went over
Answer(b) broke off — to break off talks is to stop them midway.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the group of words nearest in meaning to 'called off' in 'The rally was called off.'
- (a)cancelled
- (b)postponed
- (c)announced
- (d)attended
Answer(a) cancelled — to call something off is to cancel it.