In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Gandhi, (1)_________ father of the Indian nation, practiced ‘ahimsa’ in his personal and political life. He firmly believed that non-violence is not meant merely for monks, saints and priests; it is for commoners too. If violence is the law of the (2)_______-beasts, non-violence is the law of the civilised human species. ‘The spirit of the brute is inactive and so he knows no law; he knows only physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law, to strength of the spirit,’ Gandhi said. Ahimsa, to Gandhiji, meant that one should love all; even (3)________ enemies. And the expression of love, ahimsa, should be in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon the so-called enemy, and then the enemy must return that love. It is a practically (4)________ philosophy. Gandhi was realistic; he believed that non-violence provides the fullest protection to one’s self-respect and sense of humour. It won’t work in the defence of (5)_______ gains and immoral acts. He called his marches off when people indulged in violence during protests for India’s freedom. His faith in ‘ahimsa’ played an influential role in enabling the creation of an independent India in 1947, with minimum bloodshed, breaking the shackles framed by the British.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.
- (a)her
- (b)its
- (c)one’s
- (d)one
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The subject of the clause is the indefinite pronoun one — one should love all — and English keeps that pronoun in its own series: one, one’s, oneself.
The slot in front of enemies asks whose, so it needs a possessive determiner, and one’s is the possessive that answers to one.
Formal usage does not switch from one to he, she or it halfway through a sentence, which is what every other determiner offered here would force. Option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)her — Her genders a general statement that has no woman in it, and it points back to nothing. The determiner has to answer to the clause's own subject, which is one.
- (b)its — Its is the possessive of it, used of things and animals. The clause is about people loving their enemies, and one stands for a person.
- (d)one — One is the plain pronoun, not a possessive, so one enemies leaves the noun with nothing to say whose it is. The apostrophe and s are doing the work in this slot.
Concept
When a sentence takes one as its subject, the pronouns that follow must stay in the same series: one, one’s, oneself.
That is the whole test here. The blank wants a possessive determiner, and consistency with the subject decides which possessive it is.
Formal British usage carries the series right through a sentence — one should guard one’s tongue. Informal English slips into their or your, and an SSC cloze does not.
The passage uses the same pronoun again later, in the fullest protection to one’s self-respect, so the paper is consistent with itself.
Key facts
- The indefinite pronoun one has the possessive one’s and the reflexive oneself.
- Personal possessives such as my, your, his, its, our and their are written without an apostrophe.
- The possessive of one is written with an apostrophe before the s, formed the way a noun forms its possessive.
- A possessive determiner stands before a noun to show whose it is.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing one because the subject is one, and missing that the slot needs a possessive
- Choosing her to escape the formality of the correct possessive, which the sentence still requires
Cloze blanks test small function words as often as content words. This blank wants a possessive determiner, while blank 1 at English Q.21 of this paper wants an article.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.