A man of letters
- (a)An excellent artist
- (b)A scholar in literature
- (c)An outstanding sportsman
- (d)A known novelist
Answer
B
Why
Correct — B, A scholar in literature. 'A man of letters' is a scholar or learned person, especially one devoted to literature and writing — 'letters' here means literature and learning — so option (b) is the meaning.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)An excellent artist — The idiom is about literary learning, not the visual or performing arts.
- (c)An outstanding sportsman — Sport has nothing to do with 'letters', which refers to literature and scholarship.
- (d)A known novelist — Too narrow — a man of letters may write novels but the phrase covers all literary scholarship, not just one who is famous for novels.
Concept
An idiom-meaning item — 'a man of letters' denotes a scholar of literature, where 'letters' stands for literature and learning rather than posted mail.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the meaning of the phrase 'a woman of substance'.
- (a)a wealthy or influential woman of strong character
- (b)a chemist
- (c)a tall woman
- (d)a talkative woman
Answer(a) a wealthy or influential woman of strong character — one of importance and worth.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the meaning of the phrase 'a jack of all trades'.
- (a)a card player
- (b)a person skilled in many kinds of work
- (c)an expert in one field
- (d)a lazy worker
Answer(b) a person skilled in many kinds of work — someone who can turn a hand to many tasks.