He completed the onerous task with relative ease.
- (a)smooth
- (b)complex
- (c)risky
- (d)wearying
Correct — D, wearying. An 'onerous' task is one that lays a heavy burden on whoever takes it on — laborious and tiring — so 'wearying' names the same quality. The phrase 'with relative ease' is a contrast, telling you the task itself was heavy even though he handled it lightly.
- (a)smooth — 'Smooth' says the task went easily, which is what the second half of the sentence claims about him, not about the work.
- (b)complex — 'Complex' measures how complicated a task is. An onerous task can be perfectly simple and still exhausting, so the two words are not equivalent.
- (c)risky — 'Risky' means carrying danger, which is a different complaint from being burdensome.
'Onerous' comes from the Latin onus, a burden — the same onus that appears in 'the onus is on him'. It marks weight and effort, not difficulty of understanding.
The sentence is built as a contrast: a heavy task, handled lightly. Candidates who read 'with relative ease' as a description of the task choose 'smooth', and those who equate any hard job with a complicated one choose 'complex'. Holding on to the burden sense of onus keeps both traps out.
- 'Onus' means a burden or a responsibility, as in 'the onus of proof'.
- 'Onerous' is normally used of duties, tasks and obligations.
- Reading 'with relative ease' as a description of the task instead of the doer.
- Equating burdensome with complicated.
Asked as a synonym item where a contrast phrase in the sentence points away from the correct shade of meaning.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'onerous'. Nursing her ailing parents through the winter was an onerous duty.
- (a)pleasant
- (b)burdensome
- (c)optional
- (d)brief
Answer(b) burdensome — onerous duties are heavy and tiring.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the phrase nearest in meaning to 'exonerate'. The inquiry exonerated the officer.
- (a)cleared of blame
- (b)promoted
- (c)punished
- (d)transferred
Answer(a) cleared of blame — to exonerate is to lift the burden of blame from someone.