Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the underlined group of words. In industries, it is very common to observe that people show undue favour to one’s own relative during the hiring process.

Correct — A. The underlined words are show undue favour to one's own relative, and the single word for favouring your own family — especially in appointments and jobs — is nepotism.

The deciding word in the stem is relative. Nepotism is specifically favour shown to kin, which is what separates it from ordinary favouritism, and it is what none of the other three describes.

That gives option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  liberalism — Liberalism is a political outlook built on individual liberty and equality before the law. It has nothing to do with favouring relatives.
• (c)
  racism — Racism is prejudice or discrimination on grounds of race — a category the sentence never raises.
• (d)
  communism — Communism is a political and economic system based on common ownership, not a hiring practice.

One-word-substitute items are decided by the narrowest word in the definition, not by the general feel of it.

Here the definition says one's own relative, so the answer has to be the word about kin. Widen it by one step and you get favouritism, which is not on offer.

Nepotism comes from Latin nepos, a nephew or grandson. Its near neighbour is cronyism, which is favour shown to friends and associates rather than to family.

Key facts

• Nepotism is favouritism shown to relatives, typically in appointments or promotions.
• The word derives from Latin nepos, meaning nephew or grandson.
• Favour shown to friends and associates rather than family is usually called cronyism.

Common traps

• Picking any -ism that sounds like a workplace vice without checking the word relative.
• Confusing nepotism with cronyism, which covers friends and not family.
• Answering from the word industries in the stem rather than from the underlined definition.

No directly related past PYQ was found.