Read the sentence carefully and select the most suitable idiom to fill in the blank. The renowned publisher decided to withdraw a book from the market. No one was interested in the book as the arguments presented were ____________.

Correct — C. The blank has to say what was wrong with the arguments, because that is the stated reason nobody wanted the book.

Beside the mark means off the point, irrelevant — the image is of a shot that misses the target. Arguments that are beside the mark never address the issue.

That is the fault the sentence needs before a publisher would withdraw the book, and option (c) supplies it.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  under the rose — Under the rose (from the Latin sub rosa) means in secret or in confidence. The arguments were printed in a published book, so secrecy explains nothing here.
• (b)
  high and mighty — High and mighty describes an arrogant, superior manner in a person. It is not a verdict on whether an argument holds, which is what the blank has to deliver.
• (d)
  out of the woods — Out of the woods means past the danger or the worst of a difficulty. It is a favourable turn, so it cannot explain why readers stayed away and the book was pulled.

An idiom-fill item is decided by the logic of the sentence, not by which phrase sounds best. Read what the blank must do — here it must give the reason for 'No one was interested'.

Beside the mark belongs to a small archery family — wide of the mark, off the mark, beside the point — all of them meaning that something misses its target and is therefore irrelevant.

Once you know the blank needs a fault in the arguments, idioms about secrecy, arrogance or relief are out on logic alone, before any ranking of meanings.

Key facts

• Beside the mark = irrelevant, off the point, missing the target.
• Under the rose = in secret, a translation of the Latin sub rosa.
• Out of the woods = out of danger or past the worst of a difficulty.
• High and mighty = arrogant, behaving as though superior to others.

Common traps

• Choosing out of the woods because it is the most familiar phrase of the four — familiarity is not fit.
• Reading 'beside the mark' as 'close to the mark', on the everyday sense of 'beside' as 'next to'.

No directly related past PYQ was found.