Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the underlined word in the following sentence. I do not have any access to the information in this matter.

Correct — D. The underlined word is the noun access, the right or opportunity to reach something. Its opposite must also be a noun naming the opposite state.

Denial is the refusal of that right, and 'denial of access' is the ordinary collocation the two words form.

Option (d) names a withholding. The rest name either a means of getting to something or a different idea altogether.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Clue — A clue is a piece of information that helps you work something out. That is a neighbour of 'information' in the sentence, not an opposite of access.
• (b)
  Reach — Reach sits on the synonym side — what is within your reach is what you can access. Choosing it inverts the task the question sets.
• (c)
  Doubt — Doubt is uncertainty of belief. It contrasts with certainty, not with permission or entry, so it is not the opposite of access.

An antonym item is settled by part of speech first, sense second. 'Access' is a noun here, so the answer has to be a noun for the opposite state.

Access names the permission or possibility of getting to something. Its true opposites are words of refusal and exclusion: denial, prohibition, exclusion.

Words that merely feel negative, like doubt or difficulty, are not opposites, and a near synonym like 'reach' is the trap running the other way.

Key facts

• Access as a noun = the right or opportunity to use, enter or obtain something.
• Denial = the act of refusing something to someone, as in 'denial of access'.
• Reach belongs on the synonym side of access, not the antonym side.

Common traps

• Answering 'Reach', which is the synonym the option list is baiting with
• Switching part of speech and treating 'access' as the verb 'to access'

No directly related past PYQ was found.