Inserting The Missing Character Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: cdbda

Filling the gaps gives dcba repeated three times. The five missing positions read in order are c, d, b, d, a. The known letters already show d and b in the first block and a and c in the second, which is enough to identify the four-letter cycle before any option is tested.

Answer: C

Correct answer: LKJM

Filling the gaps gives JKLM, JKLM, JKLM - the same four letters repeated three times. The missing characters are therefore the third of the first group, the second of the second, the first of the third and the fourth of the last, which read in order are L, K, J, M.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Waller

“Nightwalker” contains only one L, and “Waller” needs two, so it cannot be formed. The other three all can: talker, tailer and winer each draw a letter at most as many times as it appears. Counting the repeated letters of the source word first - here just one each of everything - is the quickest way through this type.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Between

“Between” is used for two, and “among” for three or more, so a choice restricted to two takes “between”. “From the two” and “in the two” are not idiomatic here. The rule is worth stating precisely: it is the number of items being distinguished that matters, not the number of groups.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Y

The letters sit at the positions of the perfect squares: A is 1, D is 4, I is 9, P is 16, so the next is position 25, which is Y. The gaps between them grow by two each time - 3, 5, 7, then 9 - which is the same pattern seen from the other side.

Answer: B

Correct answer: AAAB

Filling the gaps gives \[ \mathrm{A\,B\ AA\,BB\ AAA\,BBB}, \] which is one A and one B, then two of each, then three of each. The pattern is invisible until the blanks are filled, so the method is to try each option and look for structure rather than to guess at the rule first.

Answer: A

Correct answer: BAAC

Filling the gaps gives ABBC repeated three times. The four missing positions are the second letter of the first block, the first of the second, the first of the third and the fourth of the third, which read in order are B, A, A, C.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Lost, rescued

The second blank follows “from a bore well she had slipped into”, which requires a verb of extraction - rescued. The first must then work with “her life”, and only “lost” does. The sentence reports that the child died after being brought out, which is grim but grammatically the only pair that fits both blanks.