NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 27 of 146

Correct — B, conserved. 'Conserve' means to use a limited store sparingly so that it lasts, and the sentence is built on exactly that idea. She spent nothing until the bulldozers and cranes arrived, and only then released what she had saved.

• (a)checked — 'Check' means to stop or restrain something already in motion, so it describes suppressing an outburst rather than banking a reserve for later use.
• (c)maintained — 'Maintain' means to keep something at a steady level, which says nothing about holding energy back for a decisive moment.
• (d)controlled — 'Control' means to regulate or hold in check, and like 'checked' it normally governs an impulse or a temper rather than a store that is deliberately spent later.

A near-synonym item separating the idea of conserving a resource from the idea of restraining an impulse.

Check, maintain and control all suggest holding something steady or holding it back. Only conserve carries the extra idea that what is saved is being kept for a later and better use, which is what the phrase 'started shouting only when' demands.

• 'Conserve' shares its sense of saving a limited stock with everyday phrases such as 'water conservation' and 'conservation of energy'.
• The words 'only when' signal that the action was withheld right up to a trigger event.

• Treating conserve, control and check as interchangeable because all three suggest some form of restraint.

Asked as a fill-in-the-blank item where four near-synonyms compete and the surrounding clause selects one.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word that fits — The trekkers _____ their water so that it would last the three remaining days.

  • (a)wasted
  • (b)conserved
  • (c)maintained
  • (d)checked

  Answer(b) conserved — a limited store is being made to last.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word that fits — With great effort he _____ his anger and said nothing.

  • (a)conserved
  • (b)controlled
  • (c)maintained
  • (d)reserved

  Answer(b) controlled — anger is held in check, not stored up for later use.