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 5.
- (a)Therefore
- (b)However
- (c)Nevertheless
- (d)Moreover
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The blank opens the closing sentence, and that sentence is a conclusion: we should not completely cancel out the possibilities.
A recommendation drawn from what has just been argued needs a result connector, and Therefore is the only one offered.
The sentence before it allows that some calamities may be foreshadowed by bad omens. It is because of that allowance that the writer refuses to rule the possibility out — so option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)However — However would set the closing sentence against the one before it. The two agree: bad omens may foreshadow calamities, so the possibility should not be dismissed.
- (c)Nevertheless — Nevertheless concedes and then resists, meaning in spite of that. Nothing is being resisted, because the final sentence follows from the point just made rather than pushing back at it.
- (d)Moreover — Moreover adds one more point of the same kind. This sentence adds no evidence — it draws the conclusion the passage has been building towards, which is a different job.
Concept
The last sentence of a passage is usually its conclusion, and conclusions take result connectors: therefore, hence, thus, consequently, so.
Read backwards from the blank. If the sentence after it states a verdict, a recommendation or a decision, the connector is almost always a result word.
Contrast connectors do the opposite job — they hold two ideas apart. Additive connectors extend a list. Neither can introduce the sentence that closes an argument by settling it.
Therefore is offered at four of this passage's five blanks and is the key at only one of them, this one. Repeating a plausible option across blanks is how SSC punishes a candidate who fills them by feel instead of by direction.
Key facts
- Therefore, hence, thus and consequently are result connectors and introduce what follows from an argument.
- Therefore appears as an option at four of this passage's five blanks and is keyed at one.
- However and nevertheless reverse direction, so neither can open a sentence that agrees with the one before it.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing however for the final blank because a passage is expected to end on a twist
- Reading not completely cancel out as a contrast, when it is the conclusion the passage has been heading for
The five blanks of this passage are asked as five separate questions, English Q.21 to Q.25 (09 Sep 2024, 09:00), and the closing blank is keyed on a conclusion rather than on a contrast.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.