In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Appearances may not reveal the man. So, you shouldn't make (1) _________ about a man's character based on how he (2) _________ . People smile and smile, yet prove to be (3) _________ . On the other hand, people with rough exteriors prove to be the (4) _________ and most considerate people on earth. They are the people who are beautiful from (5) _________ .
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.(
- (a)personality
- (b)style
- (c)within
- (d)exterior
Answer
Why
Correct — C. Beautiful from within is a set phrase meaning beautiful in character rather than in appearance, and that is precisely the conclusion the passage has been building.
The contrast running through it is exterior against interior: appearances mislead, rough-looking people prove kindest. The closing blank has to name the inside.
Within does that in one word, and it is the form English takes after from. Option (c) completes the argument.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)personality — personality names a person's whole set of traits, good and bad alike. Beautiful from personality is not English, and personality does not stand opposed to the exterior the way the passage needs.
- (b)style — style is outward manner and presentation — the very thing the passage says misleads. It sides with appearances instead of opposing them.
- (d)exterior — exterior means the outside, the exact opposite of what the sentence concludes. It also contradicts the clause just before, which praised people with rough exteriors.
Concept
The last blank of a cloze block usually carries the passage's conclusion, so read the argument rather than the sentence alone.
This passage runs one contrast from start to finish: appearance against character. Smiling people prove grumpy; rough-looking people prove kind. The final sentence has to land on the inward side of that pair.
From within is the fixed expression for inner quality — beauty from within, strength from within, change from within. A bare noun such as personality or style does not go in that slot.
Exterior is the tempting wrong answer because the word itself appears a line earlier in the passage. Familiarity is not evidence; here the repeated word is the opposite of what the sentence needs.
Key facts
- Beautiful from within means beautiful in character rather than in appearance.
- Within works as both preposition and adverb, and after from it means on the inside.
- Exterior means the outer surface, the opposite of within.
- The passage sets exterior against interior throughout, so the closing word must be the inward one.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing exterior because the word already appears in the paragraph and feels familiar.
- Picking personality because it sounds like inner character, without testing whether from personality is English.
The closing blank of a cloze block rewards the student who has read the whole passage, because only the writer's own conclusion fits it. The earlier blanks of this block are English Q21 to Q24 of this shift.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.