In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. From the beginning (1)_________ the eighteenth century, the ladies of European cities covered (2)_______ faces in layers of paint and powder. This particular fashion was largely brought (3) __________ by the urgent need to disguise the ravages of smallpox, (4)_________ left their faces pitted and scarred. During this same period, the ‘beauty spot’ was introduced to cover (5) __________ a facial defect.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 2.
- (a)they’re
- (b)their
- (c)there
- (d)them
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The passage sentence carrying blank 2 is "From the beginning (1) _____ the eighteenth century, the ladies of European cities covered (2) _____ faces in layers of paint and powder."
The trigger is the noun "faces" straight after the gap. A noun needs a determiner in front of it, and the question the slot asks is "whose faces?" — the ladies'.
"Their" is the only possessive determiner among the four options, so it is the only word that can fill the slot.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)they’re — Expand it: "they're" is "they are", which gives "covered they are faces" — a subject and a verb dropped where a determiner belongs.
- (c)there — "There" cannot modify a noun. It is an adverb of place, or the dummy subject in "there is / there are". "Covered there faces" is the homophone slip this item is built to catch.
- (d)them — "Them" is an object pronoun. It could be the object of "covered" on its own, but it cannot stand in front of another noun, so "covered them faces" is non-standard.
Concept
Their, there and they're sound identical and are the most heavily tested homophone set in Tier-I.
Their is a possessive determiner and always has a noun or noun phrase after it: their faces, their old habits.
There works as an adverb of place or as the dummy subject of "there is / there are". They're is only ever "they are", and can be replaced by those two words without loss.
The test is mechanical: if a noun follows the blank and you can sensibly ask "whose?", the answer is "their".
The plural subject — "the ladies of European cities" — is what makes the determiner plural.
Nothing in the topic of the passage decides this blank. The part of speech the slot demands decides it.
Key facts
- "Their" is a possessive determiner and is always followed by a noun or noun phrase.
- "They're" can always be expanded to "they are", and if that expansion is nonsense the word is wrong.
- "There" works as an adverb of place or as the dummy subject in "there is" / "there are".
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing "them" because "covered them" sounds acceptable, and ignoring the noun "faces" that follows the blank.
- Deciding by ear — they're, their and there are pronounced alike, so only the grammar separates them.
SSC plants at least one their/there/they're or its/it's blank in most cloze passages, and it is settled by the part of speech the slot demands.
This passage hands you a free check: it uses "their" again two lines down, in "left their faces pitted and scarred" (English Q.24 of this shift, 09 Sep 2024, 12:30).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.