In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the…
2023
In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer out of the four alternatives for the given blanks.
A mother duck and her little ducklings were on their way to the lake one day. Suddenly the mother duck saw a fox in the distance. She was frightened and shouted, “Children, hurry to the lake. There’s a fox!” The ducklings (1) towards the lake. The mother duck began to walk back and forth (2) one wing on the ground. When the fox saw her, he said to himself, “It seems that she’s hurt and can’t fly! I can easily catch and eat her!” Then he ran towards her. The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake so, he (3) be able to harm her ducklings. The mother duck saw that they had reached the lake. She was (4), so she stopped. The fox thought she was tired and he came closer, but the mother duck quickly spread her wings and (5) up in the air. She landed in the middle of the lake and her ducklings swam to her.
Find the appropriate word in 5th case.
- A.
risen
- B.
rises
- C.
rose
- D.
arise
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In a passage narrated consistently in the simple past tense (as shown by verbs like saw, shouted, ran), every blank that completes a main verb must also take the simple past form. Mixing in a present-tense, base, or participle form breaks the tense agreement a past-tense narrative requires throughout.
Application: The blank completes: "she quickly spread her wings and ___ up in the air." 'Spread' here is already the simple-past form of 'spread' (its base and past forms are identical), so the missing verb must match it with the simple past of 'rise', giving "spread her wings and rose up in the air."
Cross-check: This reading stays consistent with the rest of the narration -- saw, shouted, ran, landed -- all simple past, confirming that this is the verb form that keeps the whole passage in one tense.
Why the other forms don't fit:
'Risen' is the past-participle form of 'rise' (used with has/have/had, as in 'had risen'), not a stand-alone simple-past verb, so it cannot carry this clause on its own.
'Rises' is the present-tense (third-person singular) form, which contradicts the simple-past narration established earlier in the passage.
'Arise' is the base/present form, suited to general or repeated statements (e.g. 'problems arise'), not to narrating one specific completed past action.
Therefore, 'rose' is the word that correctly fills the fifth blank.