51 Direction: Evaluate the following word, accompanied by three sentences…
2025
51 Direction: Evaluate the following word, accompanied by three sentences containing it. Determine the sentence(s) that accurately convey the meaning of the given word.
Dark horse A. The unknown candidate turned out to be a dark horse, winning the election by a large margin. B. She wore a dark horse dress to the party and received many compliments. C. The latest novel by the author is a dark horse, becoming a bestseller unexpectedly.
- A.
Only A
- B.
Both A & B
- C.
Both A & C
- D.
All A, B & C
- E.
None of these
Attempted by 6 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: The idiom "dark horse" describes a competitor, candidate, or entrant who is little known publicly beforehand but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds -- the phrase comes from horse racing, where a horse with no known form wins a race against expectation.
Application: Test each sentence against that exact sense -- a previously little-known contender who ends up succeeding beyond expectation.
Sentence A: an unknown candidate winning an election by a large margin -- a contender nobody expected to do well, succeeding unexpectedly. This matches the idiom's sense.
Sentence B: "dark horse dress" uses the phrase as a literal label for the garment's colour or style, not to describe an unexpectedly successful contender. This does not carry the idiom's meaning at all.
Sentence C: a novel that unexpectedly becomes a bestseller -- the novel plays the role of the entrant nobody expected to succeed, which then does. This matches the idiom's sense in exactly the same way as sentence A.
Cross-check: A and C independently satisfy the "little-known contender unexpectedly succeeds" test, while B only borrows the words literally for a dress and never invokes that sense. So the sentences that accurately convey the meaning of "dark horse" are A and C.