In each of the questions given below five words are given in bold. These four…

2023

In each of the questions given below five words are given in bold. These four words may or may not be in their correct position. The sentence is then followed by options with the correct combination of words that should replace each other in order to make the sentence grammatically and contextually correct. Find the correct combination of the words that replace each other. If the sentence is correct as it is then select option (e) as your choice.

Single-use plastics have emerged (A) as one of the world's most buried (B) environmental threats (C), with vast amounts of waste pressing (D) in landfills or dumped (E) untreated in rivers and oceans.

  1. A.

    C-E

  2. B.

    A-B

  3. C.

    B-D

  4. D.

    D-A

  5. E.

    No interchange required

Attempted by 1 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C

Concept

In a word-swap (interchange) question, you must restore each underlined word to the place where it makes the sentence grammatically and contextually correct. The reliable method is to test collocations: an adjective + noun pair and a verb that fits its object. Only the two words that are sitting in each other's correct places need to be exchanged; everything else stays put.

Application

Read the sentence and check each bold word against its surroundings:

  1. "plastics have emerged as ..." - 'emerged' fits the verb position after 'have'. It stays.

  2. "one of the world's most ___ environmental threats" - the natural collocation is 'most pressing environmental threats', not 'most buried'. So this place needs 'pressing'.

  3. "environmental threats" - 'threats' is the correct noun here. It stays.

  4. "with vast amounts of waste ___ in landfills" - waste is 'buried in landfills', not 'pressing in landfills'. So this place needs 'buried'.

  5. "or dumped untreated in rivers and oceans" - 'dumped' is correct. It stays.

So 'buried' and 'pressing' are each occupying the place that belongs to the other: 'buried' should be where 'pressing' stands, and 'pressing' should be where 'buried' stands. Exchanging exactly this 'buried'-'pressing' pair fixes the sentence: '... most pressing environmental threats, with vast amounts of waste buried in landfills or dumped untreated ...'. This is the B-D interchange.

Cross-check

Re-read with the swap applied: 'Single-use plastics have emerged as one of the world's most pressing environmental threats, with vast amounts of waste buried in landfills or dumped untreated in rivers and oceans.' Every collocation now reads naturally, confirming that exactly two words needed to move and no other pair produces a correct sentence.

Explore the full course: Ctet Paper 2