Alfred was a potentate during the Middle Ages.
- (a)Monarch
- (b)lenient
- (c)liberal
- (d)democrat
Correct — A, Monarch. A 'potentate' is a ruler holding great power — a king, emperor or sovereign prince — and 'monarch' is the only option that names a ruler at all. The sentence places Alfred among the rulers of the Middle Ages, so the word being replaced has to be a noun for a person who reigns.
- (b)lenient — 'Lenient' is an adjective meaning mild in punishment. It cannot replace a noun naming a person, and mildness forms no part of the tested word's meaning.
- (c)liberal — 'Liberal' describes an outlook rather than an office. A potentate may be liberal or harsh; the word says only that he holds power.
- (d)democrat — A democrat holds that authority flows from the people, which pulls against the personal, concentrated power a potentate wields.
'Potentate' is built on the Latin potens, powerful — the root behind 'potent', 'potential' and 'omnipotent' — and names a ruler who wields great power in his own person.
Three of the four options describe temperament or political outlook and only one names an office, so noticing that the tested word is a noun for a person clears most of the field before meaning is even weighed. One incidental detail of the printing: option (a) alone carries a capital M in a list of otherwise lower-case options, which is a typographic slip in the booklet and carries no meaning.
- 'Potentate' is a noun for a powerful ruler and is applied to kings, emperors and sovereign princes.
- The Latin potens, powerful, also gives 'potent', 'potential' and 'omnipotent'.
- Choosing an adjective where the sentence needs a noun.
- Reading 'potentate' as 'potent' plus an ending and expecting a quality rather than a person.
Asked as a synonym item where part of speech alone eliminates most of the options.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'potentate'. The traveller was received by the potentate of a desert kingdom.
- (a)merchant
- (b)ruler
- (c)priest
- (d)soldier
Answer(b) ruler — a potentate is a person who holds great ruling power.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the meaning of 'sovereign' as used here. The sovereign opened the new session of Parliament.
- (a)a minister
- (b)a supreme ruler
- (c)a judge
- (d)an ambassador
Answer(b) a supreme ruler — as a noun, 'sovereign' names the reigning head of state.