The Industrial Revolution saw a <u>massive</u> rise in the population of Europe.
- (a)enormous
- (b)erroneous
- (c)hazardous
- (d)perilous
Answer
Why
Correct: A, 'enormous'. 'Massive' here is a word about size (a very great rise in the population of Europe) and 'enormous' carries exactly that sense of magnitude. Put it back into the sentence and the meaning is untouched: 'an enormous rise in the population of Europe'.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)erroneous: Means mistaken or full of errors; it resembles the answer in sound and in nothing else.
- (c)hazardous: Means dangerous or risky, which says nothing about how large the rise was.
- (d)perilous: Means full of peril: again a comment on danger rather than on scale.
Concept
A synonym item is settled by putting each choice back into the printed sentence; the right word is the one that leaves the meaning unchanged.
All four choices end in '-ous' and two of them nearly rhyme with the answer. That sound-alike set is the whole trap. Fix what the underlined word is doing first: 'massive' is measuring a rise, and only a word about magnitude can replace it.
Key facts
- 'Massive' means very large or very heavy; used of a rise it means very great in amount.
- 'Erroneous' is built on 'error', 'hazardous' on 'hazard' and 'perilous' on 'peril'.
- Vast, immense, colossal and gigantic belong to the same magnitude family as 'enormous'.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking 'erroneous' because it looks and sounds like 'enormous'.
- Choosing by the shape of the ending rather than by the meaning.
Asked as a synonym item: choose the word nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
Related PYQs
The achievements of the team have been monumental in the last ten years.
- (a) enormous
- (b) memorable
- (c) striking
- (d) unimpressive
Answer(d) unimpressive
A magnitude adjective set the other way round, that item asked for the opposite of 'monumental' and put 'enormous' among its choices.
Practice
- practice, not a real PYQ
Which word is nearest in meaning to 'colossal'?
- (a)careless
- (b)huge
- (c)curious
- (d)costly
Answer(b) huge: 'colossal' describes something of very great size. - practice, not a real PYQ
Which word means 'mistaken'?
- (a)erroneous
- (b)enormous
- (c)erratic
- (d)eloquent
Answer(a) erroneous: 'erratic' means irregular and 'eloquent' means well-spoken.