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 2nd case.
- A.
edging
- B.
dragging
- C.
trawling
- D.
goading
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept:
In a meaning-based cloze test, the correct word is the one whose literal or figurative sense matches the action or state described by the surrounding sentence and by what follows it in the passage — not simply a word that sounds plausible on its own.
Application:
The blank sits in ‘The mother duck began to walk back and forth, ___ one wing on the ground.’ The very next line shows the effect this action produced: the fox tells himself, “It seems that she’s hurt and can’t fly!” So the missing word must describe a wing being pulled limply along the ground — the exact picture of an injured, unusable wing that convinces the fox.
Cross-check — each option by meaning:
‘Edging’ means giving something a border or trimmed edge — a decorative or shaping action with no sense of motion or injury, so it cannot create the fox’s impression.
‘Trawling’ means towing a net through water to catch fish — its ‘dragging’ sense is tied specifically to fishing in water, not to a bird’s wing on dry ground.
‘Goading’ means provoking or prodding someone into acting or reacting — a verbal or psychological push, not any physical motion a wing can perform.
‘Dragging’ means pulling something along a surface without lifting it — exactly the motion of a wing trailing limply on the ground.
Result:
Only one option describes a wing being pulled limply along the ground, matching the fox’s reaction in the very next sentence, so that word correctly completes the blank.