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 2.
- (a)hardly
- (b)gradually
- (c)recently
- (d)initially
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The verb the blank modifies is eases out — a change that arrives by degrees, not at a stroke. The blank is the adverb saying how that change arrives.
Gradually is the word here that describes slow, step-by-step movement, and it works with eases instead of fighting it.
But gradually the style eases out and becomes haunting → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)hardly — Hardly is a negative adverb meaning barely or almost not. It would deny the very change the clause reports, and hardly the style eases out breaks the word order too.
- (c)recently — Recently places an event in real time near the present. The sentence is tracking movement inside the story, not saying when the book was written or read.
- (d)initially — Initially means at the start — which The beginning of the story has already said. It would make the but repeat the first half instead of turning against it.
Concept
A cloze adverb is chosen by the verb it modifies and by the connective standing in front of it.
The verb is eases out, which encodes a slow release. The connective is but, which demands a move away from the opening description.
Gradually satisfies both: it is an adverb of slow change, and it marks the passage from the beginning to what the style later becomes. Recently and initially anchor a moment rather than describing a process, which is why they fail even when they sound natural.
But gradually is a fixed rhythm in literary description — an opening state named, then a slow turn away from it.
Recognise the pairing and the blank is settled before you test the four meanings one at a time.
Key facts
- Gradually describes change happening in small steps over a stretch of time.
- Hardly means barely and carries a negative sense, so it reverses the clause it enters.
- Initially means at the beginning, which this sentence has already stated in its first clause.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing initially because the sentence is about a beginning, and missing that the beginning has already been named.
- Treating hardly as a neutral intensifier rather than as a negative.
SSC often settles a cloze blank by one nearby word rather than by the passage as a whole — here it is the verb eases out.
The same close reading keys 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.24, where the verb depend fixes the preposition on against depend from, depend at and depend in.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.