In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Earthquake is the (1)_________ breaking and displacement of substantial portions of the earth's outer rocky crust. During an earthquake, rock disturbances can cause rivers to change their flow. Landslides (2)__________ by earthquakes can cause significant destruction and loss of life. Tsunamis are a (3)_________ of damaging waves caused by large earthquakes that occur under the ocean. Earthquakes rarely directly kill anyone. Many (4)__________ and injuries are caused by falling debris and the fall of structures. The (5)_________ of an earthquake relies on how much and how far rock cracks and shifts.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.
- (a)depth
- (b)magnitude
- (c)corpse
- (d)discipline
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The gap is the subject of relies on how much and how far rock cracks and shifts, so it names a quantity those two measurements decide.
Magnitude is the size of an earthquake, and it is computed from exactly that: how far the rock slips along the fault, and how much of the rock ruptures.
"How much" and "how far" are the passage's plain-English version of rupture area and slip. Option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)depth — Depth is set by where the rupture begins below the surface, not by how far the rock moves. A shallow quake and a deep one can be the same size, so depth is not what the sentence describes.
- (c)corpse — Corpse means a dead body. It is a countable noun about a person, and it cannot be the subject of "relies on how much and how far rock cracks".
- (d)discipline — Discipline means a field of study, or controlled behaviour. Seismology is a discipline; an earthquake does not have one.
Concept
Read the verb before you read the options. Relies on how much and how far tells you the gap holds a measured quantity — something that rises and falls with a number.
Magnitude is that quantity for an earthquake: a single figure for its size, derived from how much rock ruptured and how far it slipped.
Depth, by contrast, locates the quake rather than sizing it, and a corpse and a discipline are not properties of a quake at all. Grammar and geology point the same way here.
Magnitude and intensity are different measures and it is worth keeping them apart.
Magnitude describes the event at its source and is one number for the whole earthquake. Intensity describes the shaking felt at a place, and it differs from town to town for the same quake.
Key facts
- Magnitude is a single number for the size of an earthquake at its source.
- Intensity measures the shaking at a particular place, so one earthquake has many intensities.
- Depth is where the rupture begins below the surface, and it is independent of magnitude.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing depth because it is the other earthquake number a student remembers.
- Picking corpse from the paragraph's earlier talk of deaths, without reading the verb.
- Assuming the grandest-sounding word wins, when the sentence has already said what it wants.
This is the last gap of the paragraph, and it rewards a reader who went back to the passage instead of answering from the option list.
The passage's other gaps are at English Q.21, Q.22, Q.23 and Q.24 of the 13 Sep 2024, 12:30 paper.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.