Select the option that best completes the sentence: The efforts of the security services have not been quite ______
- (a)upto the incredibility
- (b)up-take
- (c)up-tight
- (d)upto the mark
Correct — D, up to the mark. The idiom 'up to the mark' means reaching the required or expected standard, so 'have not been quite up to the mark' says the efforts fell a little short of what was needed. The other options are not established idioms in this slot: 'up to the incredibility' is meaningless, 'uptake' means the act of taking something up, and 'uptight' means tense or anxious — none conveys 'not quite good enough'.
- (a)upto the incredibility — Not an English idiom; 'incredibility' does not combine with 'up to' to describe a standard of performance.
- (b)up-take — 'Uptake' means absorbing or taking something up (as in 'quick on the uptake'); it does not describe whether an effort met the standard.
- (c)up-tight — 'Uptight' means tense or nervous; it describes a mood, not whether the efforts reached the required standard.
Idiom 'up to the mark' = meeting the required standard; the negative 'not up to the mark' = below standard, unsatisfactory.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the idiom that means 'reaching the required standard':
- (a)up in arms
- (b)up to the mark
- (c)up and about
- (d)up in the air
Answer(b) up to the mark — the only option meaning 'up to the expected standard'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The new recruit's performance was not ______; he needs more training.
- (a)up to the mark
- (b)over the moon
- (c)under the weather
- (d)on the ball
Answer(a) up to the mark — the sentence needs an idiom meaning 'not up to standard'.