How to Solve ‘Fill in the Blank’ Questions
- Read the statement carefully first, and try to fill the missing word without looking at the options
- Choose the word from the options that best replaces the word that you had thought of initially
- Read the sentence again by replacing the blank with the option that you have chosen
- You must ensure that the word you have inserted in the blank, enables you to read the sentence smoothly and correctly
- Read the sentence one last time to ensure that there are no grammatical errors in the sentence. Also check whether the sentence actually makes sense or not, once you have placed the option you think is correct in place of the blank.
Points to Remember
- Questions on ‘fill in the blank’ are frequently asked in the exam. To be able to solve such questions correctly, you must have a very good vocabulary.
- It is very important that you read the sentence in the question very carefully. In most of cases, clues about the type of information needed to fill the gap — a person’s name, a date or a fact — can be derived by a good understanding of the meaning of the sentence itself.
- You should keep a close look at grammar clues, for e.g., if the article, “an” comes before the blank, then the answer must begin with a vowel. Such grammatical clues can be of great help in deciding the answers.
- You should understand the context of the sentence, on reading the sentence and options,you must determine the tone of the missing word — whether the required word is positive or negative in the meaning it implies
- In certain questions, more than one option can be implied. In such cases method of elimination by simultaneously checking which of the options best satisfies both the entries is very useful.
- In some questions, your knowledge and understanding of Common idioms and phrases in the English Language may be tested. Hence, be sure to have a good skill set of such phrases.
- Ensure that the meaning of the sentence is intact. Once you have placed the likely option, do check that the sentence gives out a plausible meaning.
- You must recognize the logical structure of a sentence and pay attention to what the question requires.
Questions for practice:
Direction to solve: Each question below has two blanks. There are five pairs of words below each sentence. Each pair is numbered. Choose the pair of words which can be filled up in the blanks in the sentence in the same order so as to complete the sentence meaningfully.
1. The ______ playing of loud music has led the angry residents of this vicinity to file a police complaint and move court against the organizer’s lack of for ___________ the people’s need for a peaceful neighbor-hood.
(1) peaceful, thought
(2) abrupt, hope
(3) incessant, consideration
(4) fashionable, friendliness
(5) intermittent, interpretation
2. The ___________ of the chronic balance of payments deficit which has ___________ the Finance Ministry under three Prime Ministers is very real.
(1) temptation, reviled
(2) understanding. menaced
(3) impact, underestimated
(4) obligation, blessed
(5) the , plagued
3. Britain for the present, is deeply ___________ in economic troubles, and the economic future, heavily ___________ looks uncertain.
(1) engrossed, responsive
(2) ingrained, skeptical
(3) saturate, enveloped
(4) mired, mortgaged
(5) restrained, participative
4. Our Constitution was based on the belief that the free___________ of ideas, people and cultures is essential to the___________ of a democratic society.
(1) selection, concurrence
(2) interchange, preservation
(3) reversal. Upholding
(4) dissemination congruence
(5) distinction, design
5. As this country has become more ___________ industrial and internationalized, it has She all Western democracies, experienced a necessary increase in the ___________ of the executive.
(1) urbanized, role
(2) objective, wealth
(3) synthesized, efficiency
(4) civilized, convenience
(5) concretized, vision
Answers :-
1 (3) ; 2 (5) ; 3 (2) ; 4 (2) ; 5 (1)
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