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 adverse (1)__________ of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving human mobility the world over, particularly in countries with high exposure and low (2)__________ capacity. While most climate-related mobility currently occurs within countries, desperation and deteriorating environments can also compel people to seek a livelihood elsewhere through (3)__________ migration. While climate change negatively impacts everyone, everywhere, those already in vulnerable situations due to geography, poverty, gender, age, disability, origin, or other status, including migrant women who (4)__________ climate-sensitive livelihoods, and children who are less able to survive extreme weather events, are at the greatest risk of suffering harm. It is (5)__________ to recognise this reality and take meaningful action to protect the human rights of those most affected by climate change, including migrants.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.
- (a)affects
- (b)effects
- (c)renounce
- (d)practice
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The blank sits between the adjective adverse and the preposition of, so the slot is a noun slot, and the clause's verb is are increasingly driving, so the noun must be plural.
Effects is the plural noun meaning results or consequences: The adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving human mobility.
affects is the verb affect carrying third-person -s. An adjective cannot modify a verb, which is what rules it out here → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)affects — Affects is a verb, so the adjective adverse cannot sit in front of it. In ordinary use affect is the verb that acts on something and effect is the noun that results.
- (c)renounce — Renounce is a verb meaning to give up formally. A verb cannot follow adverse, and nothing in the passage is being given up.
- (d)practice — Practice is a noun but the wrong one — it means a habit or method, and it is singular, which the plural verb are later in the clause will not accept.
Concept
A cloze blank is settled by two tests, and the grammatical one comes first.
Word class. adverse ______ of demands a noun, which removes the verbs affects and renounce before meaning is considered at all.
Number. The verb of the clause is are increasingly driving, so its subject must be plural. That removes the singular practice and leaves effects standing alone.
Meaning only confirms the choice: the passage goes on to describe what climate change does to people, and consequences is exactly what effects names.
The noun affect does exist, in psychology, where it means observable emotion. It is not the word for a consequence, and it would not survive the plural verb here either.
Key facts
- Effect is normally the noun (a result) and affect normally the verb (to influence).
- An adjective immediately before a blank marks that blank as a noun slot.
- A plural verb in the clause forces a plural noun as its subject.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing affects because the sentence is about climate change acting on people
- Overlooking are increasingly driving, which needs a plural subject
Cloze sets built on this pair recur: affect is a distractor at 09 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.22 and at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.23, and effect is a distractor at 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.23.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.