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 4.
- (a)up
- (b)to
- (c)on
- (d)in
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The blank completes the fixed adverbial phrase in part, meaning partly or to some extent.
English builds this as in part and in large part, and pairs it with a passive verb and by: the rise was influenced in part by an increase in industries seeking fresh perspectives.
Substitute partly and the sense holds. No other preposition here forms an idiom with the bare noun part, so option (d) is what the phrase requires.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)up — Up part is not an English phrase. Up attaches to verbs to build phrasal verbs — take up, sum up — and not to the noun part in an adverbial slot.
- (b)to — To part reads as the infinitive of the verb part, meaning to separate, which derails the clause: the rise was influenced to part by. The phrase for a share of a cause is in part.
- (c)on — On works here only with the article and a following of — on the part of the industries, meaning by them. With the bare noun, on part is ungrammatical.
Concept
This is a collocation blank, not a logic blank. All four options are short function words, and what matters is the phrase each forms with part.
In part is a fixed adverbial meaning partly, and it lives comfortably inside a passive clause with by: was caused in part by, was driven in part by, was influenced in part by.
Its near neighbour is on the part of, meaning by or from a person or group. That phrase needs both the and of, and losing either word breaks it.
Collocation blanks reward memory rather than reasoning, so collect these as whole phrases instead of as loose prepositions.
Note where the phrase sits: between the verb and its agent. In part qualifies how much of the cause is being claimed, so the sentence is saying this was one contributing cause and not the whole of it.
Key facts
- In part means partly or to some extent, and often appears as in large part.
- On the part of means by or from a person or group, as in an error on the part of the clerk.
- The frame was influenced in part by names a contributing cause rather than the sole cause.
Study next
Common traps
- Testing the preposition against the word before the blank, influenced, instead of the word after it, part.
- Recalling on the part of and choosing on even though the article and of are missing.
Single-preposition blanks recur across SSC cloze passages, and each is settled by the word immediately after the blank.
11 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.21 asks for the preposition in come as a surprise to, and 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.21 for the one in unveiled at a conference.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.