In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary (1) _________ of average accomplishment in important areas of human development, (2) _________ living a long and healthy life, being informed and having a good quality of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of the normalised (3) _________ for each dimension. The health component is (4) _________ by life expectancy at birth, while the education dimension is measured by the average number of years of schooling for individuals aged 25 and above, as well as the (5) _________ number of years of schooling for school-age children.
Select the most appropriate answer for blank number 5.
- (a)accompanied
- (b)hypnotised
- (c)neglected
- (d)predicted
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The blank qualifies a noun phrase — the ______ number of years of schooling for school-age children — so it needs a participle that can describe a number.
The contrast decides which one. The first half of the clause counts schooling already completed: the average number of years for individuals aged 25 and above.
The second half is about school-age children, whose schooling is not finished, so its figure cannot be a count of what has happened. A number of years still to come is a predicted one — option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)accompanied — Accompanied means went along with. A number of years is not accompanied by anything, and the word says nothing about schooling that still lies ahead.
- (b)hypnotised — Hypnotised applies to people, not to a count of years. It cannot qualify a number in any register.
- (c)neglected — Neglected means left uncared for. That would be a judgement on the schooling, where the sentence is naming a figure the index uses.
Concept
Read a cloze blank as the joint between the two halves of its sentence.
One half is printed in full: the average years of schooling for adults aged 25 and above — schooling that is over and can be counted.
The other half covers children still at school, whose schooling is not over. Whatever fills the blank has to mark that difference, and only a word about what is still to come — expected, projected, predicted — can do it.
UNDP calls this indicator expected years of schooling. The paper has swapped expected for a blank, so the option nearest in sense to expected is the one that fits.
Key facts
- The HDI education dimension combines mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 and above with expected years of schooling for children.
- A participle standing before a noun must be able to qualify it, and of the four only predicted can qualify a number.
- The two halves of this clause contrast schooling already completed with schooling still ahead.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing a word for sounding formal without testing whether it can qualify a number.
- Missing the contrast between individuals aged 25 and above and children still at school.
- Reading neglected as a comment on poor schooling, when the sentence is naming an indicator.
This is the last of the five cloze blanks running from English Q.21 to Q.25 of this paper.
Blank 5 turns on the contrast the sentence sets up between adults and children, much as blank 2 at English Q.22 turns on the relation between its two halves.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.