Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. The evening time when the sun has just set and it is almost dark.

Correct — B. The clue fixes two things at once: the time is evening, just after the sun has set, and the light is almost dark rather than fully dark.

Dusk is precisely that stage — the darker end of twilight, after sunset and before night proper.

So the one-word substitute is dusk, option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Night — Night is the stretch of full darkness that follows dusk, and the clue stops at almost dark.
• (c)
  Dawn — Dawn is the first light of morning, which puts it at the opposite end of the day from the evening the clue names.
• (d)
  Day break — Day break is another word for dawn, so it fails for the same reason — it is a morning word, not an evening one.

One-word substitutes are decided by matching every element of the clue, not the general drift of it.

This clue carries three elements: evening, the sun has just set, and almost dark. Dusk satisfies all three. Night satisfies darkness but not just set, and dawn and daybreak fail the very first word.

The useful pairing to keep is that dusk and dawn are mirror images — one is the fading light after sunset, the other the growing light before sunrise. Twilight is the general term and covers both.

Key facts

• Dusk is the darker stage of twilight, immediately after sunset.
• Dawn and daybreak both name the first light of the morning.
• Night is the period of full darkness that follows dusk.
• Twilight is the general term for the half-light at either end of the day.

Common traps

• Reading almost dark as dark and choosing night
• Skimming past evening and picking a morning word
• Treating twilight-family words as interchangeable

No directly related past PYQ was found.