In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in…
2024
In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the four answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent.
India lost its tag as the world's fastest-growing economy last month as its fourth quarter GDP growth fell to 6.1%, the slowest in two years.____________________________. On the contrary, most waited for the economy to rebound as it quickly healed from the impact of the demonetisation of high-value rupee notes in November. Critics of demonetisation felt vindicated, particularly after GDP figures for the third quarter suggested that the shocking, overnight move to demonetise had very little negative impact.
- A.
The Opposition parties were just waiting to pounce on the opportunity to blame the PM.
- B.
It was no big surprise, given the same thing was also predicted by the finance forecast.
- C.
All the countries had been expecting a rather timid growth rate of India.
- D.
Very few economists expected the slowdown.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In a sentence-insertion (para-completion) question, the missing sentence must satisfy two conditions: it should read smoothly with what comes before it, and it must set up the connector (here, "On the contrary") that immediately follows so that the following sentence's subject and meaning make sense in contrast.
Application: The sentence after the blank begins with "On the contrary, most waited for the economy to rebound..." The word "most" needs a group to refer back to, and that group must be introduced in the missing sentence, with the following sentence expressing the opposite expectation for that same group. Naming "economists" as the group in the blank creates exactly this link: a minority of economists expected the slowdown, while the majority ("most" [economists]) instead expected the economy to bounce back - a clean contrast that "On the contrary" is built to introduce.
Contrast (why the other options don't fit):
"The Opposition parties were just waiting to pounce on the opportunity to blame the PM" shifts to a political actor with no logical link to an economic 'most' in the next line, and it duplicates the "critics" theme that the passage introduces on its own a sentence later.
"It was no big surprise, given the same thing was also predicted by the finance forecast" never names any group, so the following "most" is left without anything to refer back to.
"All the countries had been expecting a rather timid growth rate of India" makes "countries" the subject, which does not fit with "most waited for the economy to rebound as it quickly healed" - nations do not "wait" for another nation's economy to heal in this sense.
Cross-check: Reading the full paragraph with 'very few economists expected the slowdown' in the blank confirms the fit: a small minority foresaw the dip, while the majority (most economists) expected a quick rebound instead - exactly the two contrasting camps that 'On the contrary' sets up, with the passage's opening line (India actually losing its growth-tag as GDP fell to a two-year low) showing which camp turned out to be right.