In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Now, we have Mr. X as the President of India. It has come as a surprise (1)______ Scheduled Tribes who are (2)______ the most marginalised groups of the country. The Adivasis of India have been (3)______ socially, economically and culturally. Despite various efforts taken by the Government of India, they are still under (4)______ and suffering. Therefore, the (5)______ a leader from a marginalised community or group does not indicate that now the entire community will be uplifted. However, this kind of move may bring certain changes in the status of the Adivasis.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no.2
- (a)therefore
- (b)through
- (c)among
- (d)onto
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The blank has to link one group, Scheduled Tribes, to a larger plural set: the most marginalised groups of the country.
That is the partitive relation among expresses. Who are among the most marginalised groups says they belong to that set, without ranking them first inside it.
The verb is the stative are, so what follows must describe membership rather than movement — which is option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)therefore — therefore is a conjunctive adverb. It joins a conclusion to a reason, and no reason-and-result is being drawn between the tribes and the list of groups.
- (b)through — through marks passage or means — through the forest, through hard work. A stative are cannot be followed by it to state which set somebody belongs to.
- (d)onto — onto marks movement to a surface. Nothing moves in a clause built on who are, so the preposition has nothing to attach itself to.
Concept
Among places something inside a group of more than two: among the crowd, among the finalists.
The construction among the most X is a hedge. It claims membership of the top band without claiming the single top place, which is exactly the care this passage is taking.
Compare between, which normally links two items or a set of separately named parties: between Delhi and Mumbai.
Word class eliminates faster than meaning here. One option is not a preposition at all, and two of the rest carry movement that a clause beginning who are cannot supply.
Key facts
- Among places something inside a group of more than two.
- Among the most X claims membership of the top band, not the top place.
- Therefore is a conjunctive adverb and cannot govern a noun phrase.
- Onto and through both imply movement, so neither follows the stative are here.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading the gap as a connector slot and choosing therefore.
- Choosing through by treating the groups as something the tribes pass through.
- Deciding by sound before checking that the verb are rules out any movement word.
SSC's cloze sets mix preposition blanks with connector blanks, and the four options can be drawn from both classes at once, as they are here.
A connector blank is keyed at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.22, where the passage needs a plain and. Preposition blanks of this shape run at 18 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.24 and 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.23.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.