As the Southwest monsoon __________ through most of July, flash floods caused by the waters of the Narmada hit Jabalpur town.
- (a)lashed
- (b)flourished
- (c)occupied
- (d)dried
Correct — A, 'lashed'. Rain, wind and storms are said to lash a place, meaning they beat down on it hard, and that violence is what produces the flash floods named in the second half of the sentence. 'Lashed through most of July' also suits the time frame, describing rain that kept up for weeks rather than a single burst.
- (b)flourished — To flourish is to grow well or thrive. It describes plants, people or a business, not rainfall that goes on to cause floods.
- (c)occupied — To occupy is to take up space or hold a place, and it needs an object. A monsoon does not occupy through a month.
- (d)dried — It reverses the sense. Rain that dried up could not be the cause of flash floods described in the same sentence.
The blank needs a verb for heavy rain acting on a place, and 'lash' is the verb English keeps for rain, wind and storms striking hard.
The clue sits in the second clause. Flash floods on the Narmada can only follow rain that was heavy and sustained, so the missing verb has to carry force. Reading backwards from the flood is faster than trying all four words in the blank.
- 'Lash' is used of rain, wind, waves and storms striking something hard.
- 'Flourish' takes a living thing or an enterprise as its subject.
- Picking a word that fits the grammar but reverses the meaning of the sentence.
- Testing each option in the blank before reading the rest of the sentence.
Asked as a fill-in-the-blank item — choose the word that completes the sentence.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best completes the sentence. A severe cyclone __________ the Odisha coast for two days.
- (a)flourished
- (b)lashed
- (c)occupied
- (d)dried
Answer(b) lashed — storms, wind and rain are said to lash the place they strike hard.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best completes the sentence. The kitchen garden __________ after the first showers of the season.
- (a)lashed
- (b)drilled
- (c)flourished
- (d)exploited
Answer(c) flourished — plants flourish when they grow well.