In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. The third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017- 2031, underlying India’s plan for wildlife conservation, was unveiled (1)______ the Global Wildlife Programme conference. The plan recognises (2)________ addresses concerns pertaining to climate changes and its impact on wildlife . The plan details the importance of ecosystems for food production, health and other aspects of (3)______ survival and sustainable development. It also emphasises preservation of genetic (4)_______ and sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems which has direct bearing on our scientific advancements and support to millions of rural communities. The plan underscores rehabilitation of threatened wildlife species (5)_______ inland aquatic, coastal and marine ecosystems while conserving their habitats.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.
- (a)conflict
- (b)rejection
- (c)focus
- (d)diversity
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The blank completes genetic ______, and the noun is the object of preservation.
Genetic diversity is the established term — the variety of genes within a species — and it is exactly the kind of thing a conservation plan preserves.
It also fits what the sentence goes on to name: genetic, then species, then ecosystems, the familiar three levels of biodiversity. Option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)conflict — conflict is not something a plan preserves. Preservation takes a valued object — diversity, habitat, heritage — and genetic conflict names no recognised object of conservation.
- (b)rejection — rejection belongs to refusals and, in medicine, to the body turning down a transplant. Either way, a wildlife plan does not set out to preserve rejection.
- (c)focus — focus is an abstract noun about attention. Genetic focus is not a term, and attention is not a thing a conservation plan can preserve.
Concept
A cloze blank that follows a technical adjective is a collocation test. Genetic takes a short list of nouns: genetic diversity, genetic material, genetic resources, genetic engineering.
Then check the verb. The noun is the object of preservation, and preservation takes something valued — diversity, habitat, heritage. Conflict, rejection and focus are none of those.
Two filters, applied in that order, leave one option standing.
All four options are nouns and all four are grammatical in the slot, so grammar decides nothing here. Diversity is also the only one that names a property of populations, which is what a wildlife plan can act on.
Key facts
- Genetic diversity is the variety of genes within a species or population.
- Biodiversity is usually described at three levels: genetic, species and ecosystem.
- Preservation and conservation take valued objects such as diversity, habitat and heritage.
Study next
Common traps
- Filling the blank on grammar alone, when all four options are nouns and all four fit.
- Choosing focus because it sounds like policy language.
- Skipping past the verb preservation, which is what rules conflict and rejection out.
Blanks that follow a fixed adjective reward reading the two words as one unit rather than parsing the whole sentence.
A near-identical shape is keyed at 12 Sep 2024, 9:00 AM, English Q.23, where infection, condition, supervision and dimension compete after is given a new ______, and the key is dimension.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.