In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. Tea prices in the domestic (1)__________ continue to rule high in the current year despite the expectation of a higher production as compared to the previous year. During the past three months, tea prices have been (2)__________ with the prices of other companies. Unlike last year, tea prices have generally shown (3) __________, when tea prices rose dramatically, this year, prices seem to have (4) __________ at a rather high level. In the subsequent four months, the (5)__________ average price showed a downtrend.
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 2.
- (a)aligning
- (b)encountering
- (c)favouring
- (d)countering
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The preposition after the blank decides it. The passage reads "have been (2)__________ with the prices of other companies", and align with is the one phrase in this set built on with.
To align with something is to fall into line with it, which is what prices moving in step with other companies' prices do.
The present perfect continuous, have been plus the -ing form, also wants a verb of gradual movement, and aligning supplies it. Option (a) is the key.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)encountering — Encounter means to meet or come up against and takes a plain object with no preposition: you encounter a problem, not encounter with it. It also says nothing about prices matching.
- (c)favouring — Favour means to prefer or to benefit, and it too takes a plain object. Favouring with the prices of other companies leaves the sentence with no sense a reader can recover.
- (d)countering — Counter means to oppose or hit back, the opposite of falling into line. Counter with does exist, but it means to reply using something, as in countered with an offer, not to match a level.
Concept
Many verbs are locked to one preposition, and that preposition is often the fastest route to a cloze answer. Read the words on both sides of the gap before you read the options.
Align with belongs to a family of matching verbs that take with: agree with, comply with, coincide with, keep pace with. Verbs of meeting or opposing — encounter, counter, resist, oppose — take a bare object instead.
The tense adds a second clue: have been aligning describes a process still under way across the past three months.
The sentence sets tea prices beside the prices of other companies, so the verb must express a relation between two sets of prices, not an action done to one of them.
Key facts
- Align with means to fall into line or agree with something.
- Matching verbs take with: agree with, comply with, coincide with.
- Encounter and favour are transitive and take no preposition before their object.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing countering because the prices of other companies suggests rivalry.
- Reading only the words before the blank and never reaching the with that settles it.
A cloze blank followed by a preposition is answered by the verb that takes that preposition, not by meaning alone.
The other four blanks of this passage are English Q.21 and Q.23 to Q.25 of this shift (9 Sep 2024, 16:00).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.