In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. According to a poll conducted in 2018–19 by an online internship and training platform, (1)__________ number of businesses actively (2)__________ intern profiles has increased over the previous five years. This study demonstrates that India received 80% more internship applications in 2018, with 2.2 million applications (3)________ 1.27 million in 2017. The rise was influenced (4)__________ part by an increase in the number of industries seeking fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to improve (5)__________ on existing projects. Obtaining an internship prior to entering the job market, which was once viewed as a Western concept, is quickly gaining steam in Indian workplaces.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.
- (a)according to
- (b)similar to
- (c)compared to
- (d)combine to
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The clause sets two measurements against each other — 2.2 million applications in 2018 and 1.27 million in 2017 — and the sentence has already announced that contrast with 80% more.
Compared to is the phrase English uses to attach a figure to the earlier figure it is being measured against: 2.2 million applications compared to 1.27 million in 2017.
Option (c) supplies that contrast of quantities. The rest either credit a source or claim a likeness the numbers deny.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)according to — According to attributes information to a source, which is how the passage opens — according to a poll conducted by an online internship and training platform. It cannot join two quantities.
- (b)similar to — Similar to claims the two figures are alike. They are not: 2.2 million against 1.27 million is the rise the same sentence has just reported.
- (d)combine to — Combine to needs an infinitive after it — combine to form, combine to give — and it adds the two figures. The sentence is contrasting them, not summing them.
Concept
The blank holds a linking phrase, and linking phrases are chosen by the relation between the two things they join.
The relation is stated before the blank: 80% more in 2018 than in 2017. That calls for a phrase of contrast, and compared to is the standard one for setting a figure against its benchmark.
Compared to and compared with are both current. Traditional usage reserves compared with for weighing like against like and compared to for likening one thing to another, but the two have largely merged and SSC is not testing that distinction here.
Read the numbers before you read the options. Two figures from two different years, with a percentage change already stated, can only be in a relation of contrast.
Key facts
- Compared to links a figure with the earlier figure it is measured against: 2.2 million compared to 1.27 million.
- According to marks a source rather than a comparison, as in the passage's own opening clause.
- Traditional usage assigns compare with to weighing like against like and compare to to likening one thing to another.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing according to because the passage opens with it and the phrase feels familiar.
- Choosing similar to without noticing that the sentence has already put the two figures 80% apart.
SSC cloze passages set linking-phrase blanks whose relation is stated in the same sentence, as it is here by 80% more.
10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.21 turns on the same reading, where the verb unveiled fixes at as the preposition for a conference.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.