Once in a blue moon
- (a)romantic moment
- (b)occasionally
- (c)rarely
- (d)often
Correct — C, rarely. The idiom 'once in a blue moon' describes something that happens very seldom — an actual blue moon (a second full moon within one calendar month) is itself an uncommon event — so 'rarely' states its meaning.
- (a)romantic moment — The phrase is about how often something happens, not about romance; the word 'moon' misleads towards this choice.
- (b)occasionally — 'Occasionally' means from time to time, a higher frequency than the 'very seldom' sense the idiom carries.
- (d)often — This is the opposite of the idiom, which stresses rarity rather than frequency.
An idiom item — 'once in a blue moon' is a fixed expression meaning something happens very seldom, so the answer is its figurative meaning rather than any literal reading of 'moon'.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the option that best states the meaning of the idiom 'few and far between'.
- (a)happening very often
- (b)rare and infrequent
- (c)close together
- (d)evenly spread out
Answer(b) rare and infrequent — 'few and far between' describes things that occur seldom.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the option that best states the meaning of the idiom 'at the drop of a hat'.
- (a)very reluctantly
- (b)immediately and without hesitation
- (c)only after careful thought
- (d)when reminded repeatedly
Answer(b) immediately and without hesitation — one acts at once when the occasion arises.