Select the correct spelling of the underlined word in the sentence. Can you please come back to reality from the fectitious world you live in?

Correct — C. The sentence asks someone to "come back to reality" from the world they live in, so the underlined word must mean invented or imaginary.

That word is spelt fictitious — the fict- of fiction and fictional, then the -itious ending you already know from ambitious and superstitious.

The paper prints it as fectitious; only option (c) restores both the right word and the right spelling.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  factional — Factional means belonging to a faction — the rival groups inside a party or an organisation. It is a real word, but it says nothing about imagination, and it is not a spelling of the word the sentence needs.
• (b)
  fractional — Fractional means forming a fraction, or very small in amount. A fractional world is not the opposite of reality, so the sense fails before the spelling is even in question.
• (d)
  factitious — Factitious is the trap, and it is a genuine English word: artificially produced or contrived rather than arising naturally. But it means manufactured, not imagined, and the contrast the sentence draws is with reality.

A spelling item set inside a sentence tests two things in one move. First, which real word the context needs — here, a word opposed to reality.

Second, how that word is spelt. Three of the four choices are real English words, so guessing by look alone will not save you.

Fictitious belongs to the fiction family: fiction, fictional, fictitious, all from Latin fingere, to shape or invent. Keep the fict- and the rest follows the ordinary -itious pattern.

Key facts

• Fictitious means invented or imaginary, and belongs with fiction and fictional.
• Factitious is a separate real word meaning artificially created or contrived rather than natural.
• Fractional means forming a fraction, or very small in amount.
• The -itious ending recurs in ambitious, superstitious, nutritious and fictitious.

Common traps

• Picking factitious because it looks nearest to the misprinted fectitious
• Deciding on spelling alone without asking which of the four real words the sentence wants

No directly related past PYQ was found.