Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the underlined group of words. His parents didn’t allow him to enrol in the arts college because he is a dabbler in arts, science or literature.
- (a)Taciturn
- (b)Connoisseur
- (c)Dilettante
- (d)Ignoramus
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The sentence hands you the definition: he is a dabbler in arts, science or literature — he takes each up for the pleasure of it and drops it before it turns into work.
Dilettante is the one word for that person: an amateur who dips into a subject without serious study. It comes from the Italian dilettare, to delight, and it keeps that flavour — the dabbler is in it for enjoyment, not mastery.
That is also why the parents refuse the arts college. They doubt the commitment, not the interest.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Taciturn — Taciturn describes someone who says little — a matter of temperament, not of study. The sentence reports nothing about how much he talks.
- (b)Connoisseur — A connoisseur is the dabbler's opposite: an expert judge of an art whose opinion is worth having. The parents object precisely because he has no such depth.
- (d)Ignoramus — Ignoramus means someone who knows nothing of a subject. The man here knows a little of several subjects, which is a different failing altogether.
Concept
One-word substitution rewards you for reading the definition as a definition. The operative word here is dabbler, and it carries two ideas at once: breadth across several fields, and shallowness in each.
Test every option against both halves. Dilettante keeps both. The other three each answer a question the sentence never asked — how much he speaks, how expert he is, how ignorant he is.
Words for people cluster in ladders of degree: novice, dabbler, connoisseur, virtuoso. Find the ladder the definition is on, then pick the rung.
Modern usage sometimes lets dilettante stay neutral, meaning no more than a lover of the arts. The sentence supplies the dismissive sense — the parents are refusing him a place because of it.
Key facts
- Dilettante: an amateur who takes up a subject for pleasure and never masters it, from the Italian dilettare, to delight.
- Connoisseur: an expert judge in matters of taste, from the French connaitre, to know.
- Taciturn: habitually silent or reserved, from the Latin tacere, to be silent.
- Ignoramus: an ignorant person, from the Latin for we do not know.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing Connoisseur because it also names someone involved with the arts, when it names the opposite level of skill.
- Reading dabbler as ignorant and taking Ignoramus, when a dabbler knows a little of several things.
SSC likes the person-type substitute. This shift also asks for the bright-side type at English Q.5, keyed Optimist, and 13 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.17 keys Reticent for one who speaks less in a forum — the sense Taciturn carries here.
Connoisseur itself turns up as a correctly spelt option in a spelling item at 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.12.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.