In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. 2022 sees us entering a third year of the pandemic, and the harm 1________ children is increasingly evident: A record rise in child poverty. Setbacks to progress on 2_________ vaccinations. Disruption to education for entire generation. That harm 3________ as an unintended side effect of the world's efforts to manage the crisis. COVID has been a uniquely dis-equalizing crisis. Lopsided 4________ vaccines aside, learning losses have been greatest among poorest children, and job losses have been disproportionately borne by women and youth. What next for the world’s children in the year ahead? As in the past two years, prospects for children will continue to hinge 5________ on the pandemic and how it is managed.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank No. 5.
- (a)minor
- (b)foremost
- (c)almost
- (d)most
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The blank sits between the verb hinge and its preposition on, so it must be an adverb commenting on that verb.
foremost means before all others in importance.
Hinge foremost on the pandemic says that of everything shaping the year ahead, the pandemic ranks first — which answers the question the paragraph has just asked about what comes next for children.
It is the same word you know from first and foremost, used here on its own.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)minor — Minor is an adjective and cannot modify the verb hinge. Its meaning also fights the sentence, which is insisting that the pandemic still counts for most.
- (c)almost — Almost hedges: hinge almost on the pandemic would say the dependence not quite holds, while the sentence says it will continue.
- (d)most — most measures how much the outcome depends on something and invites a comparison the sentence never completes. The paragraph is ranking the pandemic first among the forces of the year ahead, which is what foremost states outright.
Concept
An adverb may stand between a verb and its preposition when it comments on the verb: hinge foremost on, depend largely on, rely chiefly on. Decide what part of speech the slot wants before you weigh the meanings.
foremost works as both adjective and adverb. As an adverb it means before everything else in rank — it ranks a cause rather than measuring it.
Hinge on already asserts that the outcome depends on the thing, so the natural adverb beside it is one of priority.
Of the four options, most is the one that can be defended as ordinary English. The key takes foremost because the sentence is ranking causes rather than measuring how much a single cause counts.
Read the sentence as the answer to the question the paragraph has just asked about the year ahead, and the ranking sense is the one it wants.
Key facts
- Foremost means before all others in rank and serves as both adjective and adverb.
- First and foremost is the idiom the word is best known from, where foremost reinforces first.
- Hinge on means to depend on and takes its preposition directly: prospects hinge on the pandemic.
Study next
Common traps
- Taking most because it fits the rhythm of the sentence, when the paragraph is ranking rather than measuring.
- Reading almost as a stronger form of most.
In this passage the earlier blanks turn on structure at blank 1, collocation at blank 2, agreement at blank 3 and a confusable pair at blank 4. Blank 5 asks only which adverb the sense wants.
Another five-blank pandemic cloze runs at 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.21 to Q.25, and its last blank is a grammar one, keying whose.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.