In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Music is perhaps the most popular and widely practised (1)______ of fine arts, transcending all kinds of cultural and linguistic barriers. Any form of fine art is (2)________ to master and almost impossible to perfect, and music is no exception. Nature, it is learnt, has blessed almost two-thirds of the human race with musical ability of some sort. Music has the power to (3)______ out the deepest emotions. In fact, it is a magic medicine, and many seek refuge in it when they are depressed or stressed. It is this intimacy that makes us listen to music (4)______ even hum or sing sometimes. This singing, or realistically speaking, expressing one’s emotion musically sometimes takes a serious turn. The desire to sing before an audience is innocent and beautiful, and indeed, it is perfectly alright to have such a genuine desire. But it is also important to understand that singing is an (5)________ art—a highly refined one at that, which requires systematic, prolonged and strict training to be acceptable.
Choose the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 5.
- (a)uncomplicated
- (b)uniform
- (c)mixed
- (d)intricate
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The passage glosses the blank itself: "singing is an (5)______ art—a highly refined one at that, which requires systematic, prolonged and strict training".
An art described that way is complex and detailed, and intricate is the word for having many small parts arranged in a complex way.
The article helps too. An demands a following vowel sound, which rules out mixed, and uniform begins with a consonant /y/ sound and so takes a, not an. Option (d) satisfies both the article and the gloss.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)uncomplicated — Uncomplicated passes the article test but contradicts the passage's own gloss: an art called highly refined, and needing systematic, prolonged and strict training, is not an uncomplicated one.
- (b)uniform — Uniform means unvarying, and it also fails the article — uniform opens with the consonant /y/ sound, so English says a uniform, never an uniform.
- (c)mixed — Mixed begins with the consonant sound /m/, so an mixed is impossible, and mixed describes variety rather than the difficulty and refinement the sentence is building towards.
Concept
Two filters run on this blank and both point the same way.
The article is the mechanical one: a or an is chosen by the sound that follows, not the letter. An hour but a university, an honest man but a uniform.
The appositive after the dash is the semantic one. Everything after art— restates the blank: highly refined, and requiring systematic, prolonged and strict training. A word meaning complex is what the restatement asks for.
The article alone does not finish the item, since uncomplicated also begins with a vowel sound; it is the appositive that separates the two survivors.
Key facts
- Intricate means having many small parts or details arranged in a complex way.
- A or an is chosen by the following sound, not the spelling: a uniform, a university, an hour.
- The dash in this sentence introduces an appositive restating the blank as a highly refined art.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting an uniform because uniform starts with the letter u
- Choosing uncomplicated by reading the sentence as praise of singing rather than a warning about its demands
The last blank of an SSC cloze passage is settled by the phrase around it rather than by the article in front of it.
On 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.24 and Q.25, the blanks take monumental and fast-paced on the same kind of evidence from the surrounding words.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.