Directions: In the passage given below words are given in bold, each followed…
2023
Directions: In the passage given below words are given in bold, each followed by a number given in the brackets. Every word in bold has five alternatives. Find the word which best suits the place. If the given word suits the blank, mark 'no correction/change required' as the answer.
It took the Delhi High Court to set right last week a largely inexplicable instance of official gender equality(Q1): it ruled that the Indian Navy must grant permanent commission to women as well, as the Army and the Air Force had to do following a 2010 order by a different bench of the same court. somehow(Q2) now, women could qualify only for the Navy’s Short Service Commission with tenure of up to 14 years; this made them ineligible for pension and often unable to find other work they were qualified for, virtually midway through their working lives. Following the latest ruling, women who qualify(Q3) for the permanent commission will be able to work until the age of 54, as their male counterparts do. The 19 women who filed plea(Q4) before the court argued that they had received the same training as their male counterparts and worked for a comparable number of years in different departments, but could go no further for the only reason that they were women. The High Court rightly ruled that it could not support any provision that would restrain the professional increment(Q5) of women. Grant of the permanent commission would allow women to rise in rank along with the men, and gain pay parity.
Choose the correct answer from the given options to fill the blanks which are numbered 2
- A.
Until
- B.
Up to
- C.
For
- D.
Since
Attempted by 8 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Answer: "Until"
Explanation: The sentence requires a phrase that indicates a restriction that existed up to the present moment. The idiomatic collocation is "until now":
Until now, women could qualify only for the Navy’s Short Service Commission with tenure of up to 14 years;...
"Up to" — "Up to now" can sometimes be used similarly, but here it would clash stylistically with the later phrase "up to 14 years," making the sentence awkward. "Until now" is clearer.
"For" — "For now" means 'for the time being' (temporarily) and does not express that a restriction held up to the present moment, so it changes the intended meaning.
"Since" — "Since now" is ungrammatical because 'since' requires a past reference point (for example, 'since 2010'). It cannot be used with 'now' to indicate a prior restriction.
Conclusion: "Until" is the best choice because it idiomatically and unambiguously expresses that the limitation applied up to the present time.