In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option, in the questions that follow, to fill in each blank. A dance which is created or choreographed and performed according (1)___________ the tenets of the Natya Shastra is called a classical dance. The two broad (2)____________ of classical dancing are the tandava and the lasya. Power and force are typical of the tandava; grace and delicacy of the lasya. Tandava is (3)_______________ with Shiva, and lasya with Parvati. Dance which is pure movement is called nritta, and dance which is (4)_______________ in nature is called nritya. A dancer, in the classical tradition, has to have years of training before he or she can begin to perform on the stage. The four main (5)_____________ of classical dancing in India are : Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak .Bharat Natyam is the oldest and most popular dance-form of India.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.
- (a)vegetative
- (b)haphazard
- (c)commodious
- (d)interpretative
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The sentence is built on a contrast, and the contrast is the trigger: 'Dance which is pure movement is called nritta, and dance which is ____ in nature is called nritya.'
The blank must therefore name the opposite of movement for its own sake — movement that carries a meaning.
Interpretative is that word: it describes something that serves to express or convey meaning. Option (d) completes the pair.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)vegetative — vegetative belongs to plants and to growth without conscious activity. Applied to a dance it produces nothing the sentence could mean.
- (b)haphazard — haphazard means random and unplanned. It does not oppose pure movement, and it contradicts a passage that has just called this dance classical.
- (c)commodious — commodious means roomy or spacious, a word for a house or a vehicle. Size has no bearing on the contrast the sentence is drawing.
Concept
When a cloze sentence sets two things side by side, the blank is usually fixed by opposition. Find the term already supplied, then ask what its counterpart must mean.
The supplied term here is pure movement. Its counterpart is movement that stands for something — gesture that tells, expresses, interprets.
Interpretative, also written interpretive, means serving to explain or to convey meaning. No other option in the list touches expression at all.
The passage supplies its own technical labels — nritta for the movement side, nritya for the expressive side — so no outside knowledge of dance is needed to fill this blank.
Key facts
- Interpretative means serving to explain or to convey a meaning.
- The passage defines nritta as dance which is pure movement.
- With the keyed word in place, the passage defines nritya as dance which is interpretative in nature.
Study next
Common traps
- Guessing haphazard because it is the most familiar option, without testing it against the contrast.
- Skipping the first half of the sentence, which is where the answer is actually decided.
Adjective blanks decided by contrast recur in these passages — also asked 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.21, where simulated is keyed against a real-world environment, and Q.24 of that passage, where comprehensive is keyed.
Within this passage the neighbouring blanks test a preposition at Q.21 and a noun at Q.22.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.