In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. We naturally seek the company of those whose (1) _________ are the same as our own. Fools do not like the (2) _________ of wise men, and wise men avoid fools. Serious-minded people do not find much in common with (3) _________ folk, and vice versa. Sinners feel uncomfortable with (4) _________ and do not seek their company. We can, therefore, as a rule, judge a man’s (5) _________ by the company he keeps.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.
- (a)frivolous
- (b)grave
- (c)solemn
- (d)thoughtful
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The sentence is 'Serious-minded people do not find much in common with (3) _________ folk, and vice versa.'
do not find much in common with demands a contrast, so the folk in the blank must be the opposite of serious-minded. Frivolous means not serious, given to trifling things → option (a).
'And vice versa' seals it: the dislike runs both ways, so the two groups cannot be the same kind of people.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)grave — Grave means solemn and serious. Put it in and the sentence says serious people have little in common with serious people, which is the opposite of the point being made.
- (c)solemn — Solemn is another word for grave and earnest, so it repeats serious-minded instead of opposing it. The blank needs the other half of the contrast.
- (d)thoughtful — Thoughtful describes someone who reflects before acting, which is again on the serious side of the line the sentence is drawing.
Concept
This passage argues in pairs: fools against wise men, then this contrast, then sinners against saints.
When a sentence says one group does not find much in common with another, the blank takes an opposite, never a synonym.
Three of these four options mean roughly serious. Once you see the contrast, they collapse into a single wrong answer and frivolous is left standing alone.
Grave, solemn and thoughtful are not identical to one another. The sentence does not ask you to separate them — only to say which side of the divide each falls on, and all three fall on the same side.
Key facts
- Frivolous means not serious, concerned with trifling things.
- Grave and solemn both mean serious and earnest, which is why neither can be the contrast here.
- Phrases such as find little in common with signal opposition between two groups.
Study next
Common traps
- Filling the blank with a word that describes the first group rather than the second.
- Missing 'and vice versa', which states that the distance runs both ways.
- Choosing thoughtful because it sounds complimentary and the sentence sounds approving.
A blank whose options are three near-synonyms and one outlier is usually a contrast blank — find the word in the sentence that demands an opposite.
The same five-blank cloze runs at 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.21 to Q.25 and 26 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.21 to Q.25.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.