Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. A government by the officials

Correct — C. Read the stem as a -cracy compound: the ending means rule, and the first half names who rules.

Bureau is the office, so bureaucracy is rule by the office-holders — the appointed officials who staff a government's departments.

That is exactly what 'a government by the officials' says: not a hereditary ruler, not one strongman, not the rich. Option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Monarchy — A monarch is a single hereditary ruler, so a monarchy is government by a king or queen. The office is inherited, not filled by appointment.
• (b)
  Autocracy — Auto- means self: an autocracy is rule by one person holding absolute power. The stem names officials, plural and appointed.
• (d)
  Plutocracy — Plutos is Greek for wealth, so a plutocracy is rule by the rich. Money, not office, is the qualification the word names.

One-word substitutes for forms of government are built from two Greek pieces: a stem naming who holds power and a suffix meaning rule.

-cracy comes from kratos, power. -archy comes from arkhein, to rule. Democracy is rule by the people, plutocracy by the wealthy, theocracy by religious authority, oligarchy by a small group.

So the whole item reduces to one question: what qualifies a person to rule? Here the stem answers it in a word — being an official.

Key facts

• The suffix -cracy comes from the Greek kratos, meaning power or rule.
• Bureaucracy joins the French bureau, an office, to that suffix: rule by the office.
• Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, from the Greek ploutos, wealth.
• Autocracy is rule by one person holding unlimited authority.

Common traps

• Choosing Autocracy because officials sound powerful, when autocracy fixes on a single ruler
• Treating Bureaucracy as too informal a word to be the intended answer

No directly related past PYQ was found.