In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. (1) _________ a letter came to inform them that Raka’s mother Tara had another breakdown and was in a nursing home in Geneva and that Raka’s grandmother Asha, (2) _________ seen another grandchild safely into the world, was flying to Switzerland to be with her, Nanda Kaul (3) _________ her lips, (4) _________ the blue sheets of paper with that distasteful sprawl (5) _________ them, and hid them in her desk.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.
- (a)by
- (b)in
- (c)across
- (d)at
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The word the preposition serves is sprawl — "the blue sheets of paper with that distasteful sprawl ____ them".
A sprawl of handwriting spreads over the surface of a page from one side to the other, and the preposition English uses for that spread is across.
The sense is straggling writing covering the sheets, which is why Nanda Kaul calls it distasteful.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)by — By means beside, or marks the doer in a passive sentence. "A sprawl by them" would put the writing next to the sheets rather than on them.
- (b)in — In places something inside a bounded space or container. Handwriting lies on the surface of paper; it is not enclosed within it.
- (d)at — At marks a single point in space, not an area covered. A sprawl is by definition spread out, so a point preposition contradicts the noun.
Concept
A preposition is chosen by the word in front of it as much as by the word after it.
The noun here is sprawl — something spread untidily over an area — so the blank needs a preposition of extent. Across covers movement or spread from one side of a surface to the other; over would do the same work, and it is not offered.
The three rejected options each name a different relation: position beside (by), containment (in), and a point (at). None of them can express spread.
When a cloze deletes a preposition, the deleted word is normally governed by a noun or a verb a few words earlier, not by the pronoun that follows it.
Look left before you look right.
Key facts
- Across expresses movement or extent from one side of a surface to the other.
- At marks a point in space rather than an area that is covered.
- In places something inside a bounded space or container.
- By means beside, and in a passive sentence it marks the agent.
Study next
Common traps
- Testing the preposition against "them" alone instead of against the noun sprawl that governs it.
- Defaulting to in because "sheets of paper" suggests something is contained.
Single-preposition cloze blanks are set on 10 Sep 2024, 09:00 at English Q.21 (a plan unveiled at a conference), on 24 Sep 2024, 12:30 at English Q.21 (according to) and on 23 Sep 2024, 09:00 at English Q.23 (acquaintance with).
Each turns on the word before the blank, not the word after it.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.