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 beginning of the story is (1)______ in its presentation but (2)______ the style eases out and becomes haunting in its simplicity. The author brings out the human elements in his story. This common element of sympathy and sacrifice is given a new (3)_____ by the old artist who shows by his last desperate act that one can be a hero for one day if only one cares (4)______. O Henry’s treatment of his material is balanced and controlled, a fine (5)______ of humour and pathos.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.
- (a)prone
- (b)delectable
- (c)quaint
- (d)habitual
Answer
Why
Correct — C. Blank 1 sits in an adjective slot: The beginning of the story is (1)______ in its presentation. What settles it is the but immediately after, which sets this description against the style easing out and becoming haunting in its simplicity.
So blank 1 needs the opposite pole from easy and simple — something odd, old-fashioned, a little mannered. Quaint is exactly that word.
Quaint in its presentation, then easing towards simplicity → option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)prone — Prone in the sense wanted here — liable to something — needs a complement: prone to error, prone to flooding. Its other sense is physical, lying face down, which a story's presentation cannot be.
- (b)delectable — Delectable means delicious, or delightful to the senses. It is pure praise, so it gives the but nothing to turn against and the contrast in the sentence dies.
- (d)habitual — Habitual describes something done by habit or repeatedly. The opening of a story happens once, and habitual in its presentation says nothing a reader can use.
Concept
A cloze blank is decided by the connective, not by which word reads most attractively.
The connective here is but, which splits the sentence in two: blank 1 describes the beginning, and the second half says what the style becomes — haunting in its simplicity.
Whatever fills blank 1 must therefore pull away from simple and easy. Quaint — curious, old-world, slightly mannered — supplies that contrast, and none of the others stands opposed to simplicity at all.
The passage never names the story. Its details — O Henry, an old artist, a last desperate act that makes him a hero for one day — point to a well-known O Henry tale, but you need none of that background.
Every blank in this set is settled inside the sentence that carries it.
Key facts
- Quaint means attractively unusual or old-fashioned.
- But signals contrast, so the two halves of a but-sentence must pull in opposite directions.
- Prone meaning 'liable to' takes to and a following noun or verb — prone to error, prone to exaggerate.
- Prone also means lying flat and face downward, and in that sense it takes no complement — the prone figure, he lay prone.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing delectable because it is the most flattering word available.
- Filling the blank before reading as far as the but that governs it.
The five blanks of an SSC cloze test different skills — vocabulary fit, connective, collocation, form — so name the type of each blank before you weigh meanings.
A vocabulary-fit blank of just this kind is keyed at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.21, where three important (1)_______ for ordinary humans takes aspects over angles, methods and problems.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.