In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Americans have been arguing about pandemic (1) ________________ for two years, and the debate is particularly fraught among parents of small children, for good reasons. While (2) ____________ such as masking and isolation mean temporary discomfort or inconvenience for most people, their (3) _______________ for still-developing young children are more mysterious, and possibly more significant and lasting. Children with speech or language disorders offer perhaps the (4) _____________ example of these murky trade-offs. Pandemic restrictions vary by state, county and school district, but I spoke with parents in California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Iowa and Maryland, who said their children’s speech therapy has been (5) ______________: first by the loss of in-person therapy and then by masking requirements, in places that have them.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 3
- (a)marginalisation
- (b)disapproval
- (c)consequences
- (d)foundations
Answer
Why
Correct — C. 'Their' points back to the measures, and the verb is are, so the blank needs a plural noun naming something measures can have.
The sentence is a contrast. The measures 'mean temporary discomfort' for most people, but for young children what they produce is unclear — and the word for what an action produces is consequences.
The collocation seals it: consequences for somebody, and the passage supplies 'for still-developing young children'. Option (c) fits both the grammar and the sense.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)marginalisation — Marginalisation is uncountable here and clashes with the plural 'are'. It also names the exclusion of a group, not the effect a policy has on them.
- (b)disapproval — Disapproval is singular, and it names an opinion held about the measures rather than something the measures do to children.
- (d)foundations — Foundations is plural, so the grammar check passes, but the sense fails. Masking and isolation lay no foundations, and the sentence is about outcomes.
Concept
Blank 3 is the second half of a 'While X, Y' contrast, and the contrast tells you what kind of word is missing.
The first half says what the measures do to most people: cause temporary discomfort. The second half must therefore say what they do to children — an outcome word, not an attitude word and not a structure word.
Then apply grammar. The verb 'are' restricts the blank to a plural noun, and marginalisation and disapproval fail that test before their meanings are weighed.
The passage calls these outcomes 'more mysterious' and 'more significant and lasting', so the word has to stay neutral about direction — a consequence can run either way.
Key facts
- A consequence is a result that follows from an action.
- The noun takes 'for' when naming who is affected: consequences for children.
- 'While X, Y' sets up a contrast, so both halves must make the same kind of claim about different people.
- The plural verb 'are' restricts the blank to a plural noun.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing 'foundations' because it is plural and the grammar check alone lets it through.
- Reading the sentence as being about how people feel, which pulls towards 'disapproval'.
This blank sits inside a contrast sentence, with the pivot word removed. Blank 5 of this passage, Q.25, works the same way, except that its evidence sits after the blank instead of before it.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.