In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Augmented reality and virtual reality are two types of reality technologies that either augment or replace a real-world environment with a (1)________ one. In augmented reality, a virtual environment coexists (2)________ the actual world, to be instructive and offer more data about the real world that a user can access without having to search. When a handset is pointed at a piece of malfunctioning (3)________, for example, industrial AR apps might provide rapid troubleshooting information. Virtual reality is a (4)________ environmental simulation that completely replaces the user's surroundings with a totally virtual world. For example, VR may provide a user with a box containing a cartoon (5)________ of Mike Tyson in a virtual boxing ring.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.
- (a)comprehensive
- (b)transgressive
- (c)conclusive
- (d)reprehensive
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The clause after the blank supplies the clue: the simulation 'completely replaces the user's surroundings with a totally virtual world'.
Completely and totally both say all of it. The adjective in front must say the same thing about the simulation's scope, and comprehensive means covering everything, leaving nothing out.
Nothing in the sentence is being blamed, judged or proved, so an adjective of censure or of finality has nothing to attach to. Option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)transgressive — Transgressive means breaking a rule or boundary, usually a moral or artistic one. Replacing your surroundings is a question of scope, not of violation.
- (c)conclusive — Conclusive means settling a question beyond doubt, said of evidence or proof. A simulation demonstrates nothing and proves nothing here.
- (d)reprehensive — Reprehensive is built on reprehend, to rebuke, so it carries censure. It is also the option nearest in sound to the answer, which is why it is on the list.
Concept
All four options end in -sive and one of them is a syllable away from the answer. That crowding is deliberate: an adjective blank is built so that sound cannot decide it.
So let the sentence decide. Ask what the adjective has to cover - here a simulation that completely replaces a user's surroundings - and choose the word whose meaning matches that scale.
Comprehensive comes from Latin comprehendere, to grasp together, and that grasping-everything sense is exactly what the sentence is describing.
Comprehensive and comprehensible share a stem and are not interchangeable: comprehensive means all-inclusive, comprehensible means able to be understood.
Key facts
- Comprehensive means complete and all-inclusive, from Latin comprehendere, to grasp together.
- Transgressive means violating a boundary, rule or convention.
- Conclusive means decisive, settling a matter beyond further doubt.
- Comprehensive and comprehensible carry different meanings despite the shared stem.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking reprehensive on sound, since it is one syllable away from comprehensive.
- Choosing conclusive because a finished simulation sounds like a result.
Adjective blanks are built out of near-neighbours you have to separate by sense. At 10 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.24 the four options are indistinct, nebulous, clearest and vague - three of them mean unclear, and the answer is clearest.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.