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 5.
- (a)schools
- (b)terminologies
- (c)characters
- (d)functions
Answer
Why
Correct — A. What follows the colon is a list of dance styles — Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak — so the blank must be the noun that names a style or tradition of an art.
That noun is schools. A school of an art is an established manner of practising it, handed down by training, which is why the sentence just before this one is about years of training in the classical tradition. Option (a) is the fit.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)terminologies — terminologies means the vocabulary of a subject. Bharat Natyam and Kathakali are dance forms, not terms, so the list after the colon refuses this word.
- (c)characters — characters means roles in a story, or the qualities of a person. Neither reading turns four named dance forms into characters.
- (d)functions — functions means purposes or duties. The list names what the dances are, not what they are for.
Concept
The colon does the work in this sentence. Whatever follows it must be an instance of the noun in the blank, so read the list first and ask what the four items are examples of.
They are named traditions of performance. School carries that sense in English: the school of an art is a body of practice with its own conventions and its own line of training.
The list settles the choice, not which option sounds most technical.
The passage's own list stops at four. Other traditions such as Odissi and Kuchipudi are also treated as classical Indian dance, but the blank asks only what fits this sentence, not what a full list would hold.
Key facts
- A school of an art is an established tradition or manner of practice with its own conventions.
- The passage names Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Kathak as the four it calls main.
- Terminology means the set of terms used in a subject, not the subjects themselves.
Study next
Common traps
- Taking school in its literal classroom sense and rejecting it out of hand.
- Choosing terminologies because the four dance names look like unfamiliar terms.
The closing blank of these passages is often a noun that the list or clause after it defines — also asked 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.25, where rendition is keyed, and 09 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.25, where the phrasal cover up is keyed.
Within this passage, Q.22 tests the same noun-choice skill and takes aspects.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.