In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. There is a saying that coming events cast their shadows before. (1)________, it is not universally true. Something can happen within a second, and one may not (2)________ it. (3)________, some instances show that predictions based on certain signs have gone wrong. People generally say that natural calamities can be predicted by observing the animals. But what if animals are suffering from some disease and don’t show any signs before the event appears? They may fail to make peculiar sounds or actions about the events which are going to take place. (4)________, some unnatural calamities that are likely to appear may forecast their shadows by some bad omens. (5)________, we should not completely cancel out the possibilities that animals can sense certain unnatural happenings.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.
- (a)Therefore
- (b)Secondly
- (c)Besides
- (d)Despite
Answer
Why
Correct — C. Besides adds a further consideration, and that is what this sentence does — it sets one more point beside the ones already made.
The other three fall to grammar and to logic.
Despite is a preposition and cannot head a clause on its own.
Secondly needs a firstly earlier in the passage, and there is none.
Therefore would claim this sentence follows from animals failing to give signs, which it does not.
That leaves option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Therefore — Therefore needs the previous sentence to be a cause. Animals failing to signal an event does not produce bad omens before a calamity, so the result link is simply false.
- (b)Secondly — Secondly belongs to a numbered sequence. The passage never says firstly, and nothing before the blank is offered as point one, so the ordinal has nothing to count from.
- (d)Despite — Despite is a preposition and must be followed by a noun phrase, as in despite the signs. It cannot introduce the full clause that follows this blank.
Concept
Besides does two jobs. As a connector it means in addition, and as a preposition it means apart from. Only the connector use fits a blank followed by a comma and then a whole clause.
That comma is the test that settles this item. A connector can stand at the head of a sentence, take a comma, and be followed by a subject and a verb. A preposition cannot.
Despite fails that test. Its clause-taking equivalents are although, though and even though, while the noun-phrase forms are despite and in spite of.
The link this blank makes is loose — the passage is adding a further thought rather than drawing a tight logical line. Where the sense is loose, let grammar decide: two of the four options can be dismissed without reading the sentence at all.
Key facts
- Besides as a connector means in addition and is followed by a comma and a full clause.
- Despite is a preposition and takes a noun or a gerund, never a clause.
- Although, though and even though are the clause-taking equivalents of despite.
- Secondly requires an explicit first point earlier in the text.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading despite as a synonym of although and letting it head a clause
- Choosing therefore merely because the two sentences sit next to each other
- Treating besides and beside as interchangeable
Connector blanks in SSC cloze passages are often decided by word class rather than by meaning, as here — one option is a preposition among three adverbs. The remaining blanks of this passage are English Q.21 to Q.23 and Q.25 (09 Sep 2024, 09:00).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.