True friends never _____ their loved ones in adversity.
- (a)abuse
- (b)criticize
- (c)befool
- (d)desert
Correct — D, desert. To desert someone is to abandon a person who is depending on you, which is exactly what the closing phrase 'in adversity' calls for, so the sentence reads 'True friends never desert their loved ones in adversity.'
- (a)abuse — To abuse is to treat someone badly or insult them, and that would be wrong of a friend at any time, so the phrase 'in adversity' at the end would add nothing.
- (b)criticize — Friends do criticize one another, often helpfully, and there is no rule that criticism stops when times are hard.
- (c)befool — To befool is to trick someone or make a fool of them, which again has nothing to do with whether times are good or bad.
The closing words of a sentence often decide which verb belongs in the blank, because only one of the choices is specifically about behaviour in hard times.
'In adversity' is the test. Three of the verbs describe things a true friend would not do at any time, so they leave that phrase doing no work; only 'desert' names a failing that shows itself precisely when a friend is in trouble.
- 'Desert' as a verb is stressed on the second syllable and means to abandon; as a noun with the stress on the first, it means a dry region.
- The proverb 'A friend in need is a friend indeed' makes the same point.
- 'Adversity' means hardship or misfortune.
- Picking a verb that is broadly negative without checking whether the rest of the sentence needs it.
Asked as a blank-filling item where a phrase at the end of the sentence rules out three of the four verbs.
We fail to understand your reasons for _____ the college without completing the degree.
- (a) attending
- (b) joining
- (c) leaving
- (d) refusing
Answer(c) leaving
Same skill — four verbs, and the rest of the sentence chooses between them. There 'without completing the degree' can only follow 'leaving'; here 'in adversity' can only follow 'desert'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best fills the blank — The captain refused to ____ his crew when the ship began to sink.
- (a)criticize
- (b)abandon
- (c)praise
- (d)question
Answer(b) abandon — the moment of danger is what makes 'abandon' the only fitting verb.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best fills the blank — He stood by his friend in ____ and never once complained.
- (a)prosperity
- (b)adversity
- (c)curiosity
- (d)generosity
Answer(b) adversity — standing by someone is worth saying only of hard times.