Fill in the Blanks Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The word is setbacks.

'Despite' introduces something that would be expected to prevent the outcome in the main clause. The mission succeeded, so the blank needs a word for obstacles or reverses: despite several setbacks, the mission succeeded.

'Attempts' gives no contrast and clashes with 'its attempt' later in the sentence. 'Meetings' and 'delegations' are ordinary parts of a peace mission, not things it succeeds in spite of, so 'despite' would make no sense with them.

Answer: A

The blank takes got it fixed.

The sentence needs the causative pattern get + object + past participle, which says that someone else did the work: since he could not fix the car himself, he got it fixed by a mechanic. The past tense matches 'did not manage' in the first clause.

'Getting it fixed' is not a finite verb and cannot complete the clause after 'he'. 'Gets fixed' is in the present tense and drops the object 'it'. 'Got fixed' leaves out the object as well, so it would mean that he himself was repaired in the garage.

Answer: B

The best match is (i) wasn't (ii) Even (iii) was (iv) Only.

Prof. P wasn't merely a man who told funny stories: even in his blackest moments he could laugh at himself. 'Wasn't merely' sets up the stronger claim, and 'even' marks the surprising extreme that supports it.

Prof. Q was a man who hardly told funny stories: only in his blackest moments was he able to find humour. The inverted word order 'was he able' is required after a restrictive 'Only ...' opening, and 'only' fits a man who rarely joked.

'Even ... was he able' would be ungrammatical (the inversion needs 'only'), and pairing 'was merely' with 'Only' or 'wasn't' with 'hardly' makes each description contradict itself.

Answer: C

The correct sequence is scored; despite.

The second sentence is in the past tense ('needed'), so the first blank needs the finite past-tense verb 'scored'; 'The team scored more than 300 runs'. 'Score' is the wrong tense for a completed innings, and 'scoring' is a participle that leaves the sentence without a main verb.

The second blank needs a preposition of contrast: the team made a big score even though it rained, so 'despite rains' fits. 'Instead of rains' makes no sense, and 'in spite of' has the right meaning but comes paired with the ungrammatical 'scoring'.

Answer: B

The correct sequence is a; an; and; at.

'A pit' takes 'a' because 'pit' begins with a consonant sound, and 'an elephant' takes 'an' before the vowel sound. 'More bewildered and miserable' joins two adjectives with 'and', and one looks up 'at' a crowd.

The first option puts 'an' before 'pit' and 'at' between the adjectives. The third and fourth put 'and' or 'at' before 'pit', which is ungrammatical, and the fourth also ends with 'look up and a crowd'.

Answer: D

The sentence reads You should know when to say no.

The two blanks are homophones. The first needs a verb after should, and the verb meaning 'be aware of' is know. The second blank is the thing you say, the refusal no. So the order is know / no.

'no / no' and 'no / know' put the word no after should, where a verb is required. 'know / know' makes 'say know', which has no meaning.

Answer: D

The answer is on: 'Is there any good show on television tonight?'

English uses on for a broadcast medium: on television, on the radio, on TV. The preposition describes the channel through which the programme reaches you, not a physical position.

In television refers to working in the industry ('she works in television'), not to a programme being broadcast. At marks a point or place and does not combine with television here. Within means inside a boundary and makes no sense with a broadcast.

Answer: D

The answer is summarily.

Summarily means promptly and without the usual formalities or delay. An officer found guilty of embezzlement being 'summarily dismissed in accordance with the Service Rules' is the standard phrase for an immediate dismissal that the rules allow for serious misconduct.

Sumptuously means lavishly or expensively, which does not describe a dismissal. Brazenly means shamelessly and would describe the officer's conduct, not the employer's action. Unintentionally contradicts a dismissal carried out deliberately under the rules.

Answer: C

The sentence takes couldn’t help laughing.

The idiom cannot help doing something means being unable to stop oneself, and it is always followed by the -ing form of the verb: 'I couldn’t help laughing' says the film was so funny that laughing was involuntary.

'Could help laughing' drops the negative, so it says the opposite of the intended sense. 'Couldn’t help laughed' uses a past form where the gerund is required, and 'could helped laughed' puts a past form after the modal 'could', which always takes the base verb.

Answer: D

The correct filler is low levels of: the Government is concerned with the low levels of digital literacy prevalent in India.

Literacy, income and similar measures are described as high or low, so low levels is the natural collocation, and it fits the sense, since a government is concerned about a shortfall.

Tiniest is a superlative of size, used of physical things, not of a rate. Superb means excellent and contradicts the idea of concern. Smaller is a comparative and needs something to be compared with (smaller than what?), which the sentence does not supply.