In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Global warming is a major problem. The result will be the problems created by the rising temperatures of the Arctic region. As a result of global warming, (1)_________ in rainfall and plant distribution affect the migration patterns, feeding behaviour, and breeding preferences of numerous bird species. The increase in the temperature may also alter ocean currents, which may alter the (2)__________ ecology as a whole. Greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the ongoing melting of the Arctic. This will result in a (3)__________loop since greenhouse gases trap the heat in the atmosphere and the additional emissions may (4)__________ the global warming process. Now, the only way to reverse the harm is for every person to be environmentally sensitive. This may offer us hope that we will be able to leave a green planet to our future generations, who presently appear to face (5)__________.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.
- (a)stabilisation
- (b)fixation
- (c)stagnation
- (d)alterations
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The verb governed by this blank is affect, five words later, and it carries no -s. Its subject must therefore be plural, and alterations is the only plural on offer.
Sense agrees with grammar. Global warming is being described as changing rainfall and plant distribution, and those changes then affect migration, feeding and breeding.
Filled in: 'alterations in rainfall and plant distribution affect the migration patterns' → option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)stabilisation — Stabilisation is singular and would need 'affects'. It also claims rainfall is steadying, the opposite of what the passage says global warming is doing.
- (b)fixation — Fixation is singular, and it means an obsession or a fixing in place — neither sense works with 'in rainfall and plant distribution'.
- (c)stagnation — Stagnation is singular and names a halt to change, while the sentence needs the change that shifts migration and breeding patterns.
Concept
A cloze blank is usually decided twice — once by grammar, once by sense. Take the grammatical test first, because it is mechanical and quick.
Here the verb affect has no -s, so its subject is plural, and three of the four options are printed as singulars.
Only then weigh the meaning: the sentence reports what global warming does to rainfall and plant distribution, so the noun has to name change, not steadiness.
The blank stands at the head of a long subject and the verb that settles it comes five words later, after 'in rainfall and plant distribution'. Find the verb before you weigh the vocabulary.
Key facts
- A present-tense verb written without -s takes a plural subject.
- Alteration means a change, while stagnation means an absence of change.
- Stabilisation, fixation and stagnation are all printed here in the singular and cannot govern the plural verb affect.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing on meaning alone and never noticing that one option is plural.
- Reading the verb 'affect' as the noun 'effect', which loses the agreement test altogether.
A five-blank cloze closes the English section here, as it does at Q.21-25 on 25 Sep 2024, 09:00 (the Kuno Palpur passage) and on 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 (the social media passage).
Grammar-decided blanks like this one sit in the same passage as purely lexical ones, so decide for each blank which test applies.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.