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 5.
- (a)ascend
- (b)blend
- (c)legend
- (d)amend
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The frame is a fine (5)______ of humour and pathos: article, adjective, blank, then of plus two nouns. Only a noun that takes an of-phrase can sit in that slot.
Blend is that noun — a mixture whose parts combine smoothly, which is also what balanced and controlled has just claimed about the writing.
A fine blend of humour and pathos → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)ascend — Ascend is a verb meaning to rise or go up. A verb cannot follow a fine, and nothing in the sentence is climbing.
- (c)legend — Legend is a noun, so the grammar survives, but it means a traditional story or a celebrated figure. A fine legend of humour and pathos says nothing about how the two are combined.
- (d)amend — Amend is a verb meaning to alter or improve a text or law. Like ascend it cannot follow an article and an adjective, and it takes a direct object rather than an of-phrase.
Concept
Read the frame before the meanings. A fine ______ of X and Y fixes three things at once: the slot is a singular countable noun, it must accept of, and it must name a relation between X and Y.
Two of the four options are nouns at all — blend and legend — so the field halves before any vocabulary is weighed.
Between those two, blend names a combination, which is what an of-phrase joining humour and pathos requires. A legend is a story, and a story is not a way of combining two qualities.
Ascend, blend, legend and amend are chosen for a shared -end ending, not for related meanings — they are a rhyme set.
Whenever the options rhyme, the item is testing word class and collocation, so begin by asking what the slot can grammatically hold.
Key facts
- A blend is a mixture whose parts combine smoothly, and it takes an of-phrase — a blend of humour and pathos.
- Ascend and amend are verbs, so neither can follow an article and an adjective.
- Legend is a noun but names a traditional story or a celebrated person, not a combination.
- In the frame a fine ______ of X and Y the blank has to be a noun.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing legend because it is a noun and stopping there, without testing it against the of-phrase.
- Reading amend as a noun on the strength of amendment.
The last blank of an SSC cloze is often the vocabulary blank, with the grammar already settled by the frame around it.
The same frame-first move is keyed at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.24, where the slot before world must hold an adjective and unreal wins over the noun reality.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.