NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q8: The British who ruled India for 200 years were here to

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q8?

C. Correct — C, 'exploit'. To exploit a resource is to work it for gain, and when the gain goes to an outside power at the expense of the country that owns the resource, exploit is the word English reaches for. The sentence states a purpose — the rulers were 'here to' do something with India's natural resources — and only 'exploit' names a use of resources.

NDA (II) 2023 General Ability Test · Question 8 of 146

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

The British who ruled India for 200 years were here to __________ India’s natural resources.

(a)spoil
(b)implore
(c)exploit
(d)drill

Answer

Why

Correct — C, 'exploit'. To exploit a resource is to work it for gain, and when the gain goes to an outside power at the expense of the country that owns the resource, exploit is the word English reaches for. The sentence states a purpose — the rulers were 'here to' do something with India's natural resources — and only 'exploit' names a use of resources.

Why the others are wrong

(a)spoil — It means to damage or ruin, or to over-indulge a person. The sentence is about drawing benefit from the resources, not merely harming them.
(b)implore — To implore is to beg earnestly, and it takes a person as its object, not a mineral or a forest.
(d)drill — One drills a well or drills for oil. 'Drill natural resources' is not a phrase English uses.

Concept

'Exploit' means to make use of a resource for profit, and it carries a critical edge when the use is one-sided.

Note the words 'here to', which set up a purpose. Once the blank is read as the purpose of a two-hundred-year presence, options naming an emotion or a mechanical action fall away at once.

Key facts

'Exploit' has a neutral sense of putting a resource to use and a critical sense of using it unfairly.
'Implore' belongs to the group of verbs that take a person as object, like beseech and entreat.

Study next

Verbs of resource use such as exploit, extract, harness and depleteWords that carry a built-in negative shadePurpose infinitives as a clue to the missing verb

Common traps

Choosing 'spoil' because the sentence sounds critical of the rulers.
Overlooking that 'implore' cannot take an inanimate object.

Asked as a fill-in-the-blank item — choose the word that completes the sentence.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best completes the sentence. The company was accused of trying to __________ cheap labour.
- (a)implore
- (b)exploit
- (c)drill
- (d)spoil
Answer(b) exploit — to exploit is to use something or someone for gain, often unfairly.
practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word that best completes the sentence. She had to __________ him to reconsider his resignation.
- (a)exploit
- (b)drill
- (c)implore
- (d)spoil
Answer(c) implore — to implore is to beg earnestly, and it takes a person as its object.