In the following passage ten blanks are left out labeled with numbers 1, 2, 3…
2025
In the following passage ten blanks are left out labeled with numbers 1, 2, 3 and so on. You have to choose a set of words that is correct grammatically and contextually in order to fill the blank.
The Union Cabinet has approved a series of changes in foreign direct investment norms as the government prepares to enter the last lap of its economic policy-setting phase ahead of the 2019 election. Key among these was the decision to _____ 1 _____ up to 49% overseas ownership, including by a foreign airline, in Air India. This comes just a little more than six months after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for a strategic _____ 2 _____ of the airline. The relaxation in ownership norms clears the decks for possible bidders such as the Singapore Airlines-Tata combine and Jet Airways — with its overseas equity and route partners — to make a more detailed commercial _____ 3 _____ of the investment opportunity the state-owned flag carrier presents. For the fiscally constrained government, the _____ 4 _____ couldn’t have come sooner. With the Union Budget due soon and the government _____ 5 _____ short of its budgeted strategic disinvestment goal for the current financial year — as of end-November, only 28% of the targeted ₹15,000 crore had been realised — the hope must be for an _____ 6 _____ timetable for the stake sale. Still, the fulfillment of a necessary condition for a strategic sale doesn’t automatically become sufficient grounds for a successful privatisation. Given the carrier’s accumulated debt of about ₹50,000 crore and the fact that the interest of potential investors is likely to be focused on Air India’s _____ 7 _____ long-haul international routes and its fleet of more than 40 wide-bodied aircraft, disinvestment will be neither easy nor guaranteed. At the very least, the government needs to set a distinct, _____ 8 _____ road map for the sale process. The other reform cleared by the Cabinet was the _____ 9 _____ decision to put 100% FDI in Single Brand Retail Trading under the ‘automatic’ route, accompanied by the long-sought relaxation of mandatory local sourcing norms. This had been a major issue with potential investors including Apple, which had repeatedly urged the government to take a more _____ 10 _____ view given the level of technological advancement incorporated in its products and the difficulty in finding local sources of supply at the requisite scale.
Choose a set of words that is correct grammatically and contextually in order to fill the blank 3
(question no 1 till 10 are linked together)
- A.
evaluation, assessment
- B.
opinion, viewpoint
- C.
viability, validity
- D.
aspect, issue
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: In a grammar-and-context cloze blank, the correct word pair must collocate naturally with its surrounding phrase and match the register of the passage — here, formal business journalism describing investors weighing a deal. Words that are close synonyms in isolation can still fail this collocation test, so the task is to find the pair that reads naturally in this exact slot, not merely the pair closest in dictionary meaning.
Application: The blank sits inside "to make a more detailed commercial _____ 3 _____ of the investment opportunity." "Commercial evaluation" and "commercial assessment" are standard collocations in business reporting for appraising a deal's worth, and both nouns pair naturally with "of the investment opportunity" — exactly the formal appraisal the passage describes potential bidders such as the Singapore Airlines-Tata combine and Jet Airways undertaking before committing to Air India's stake sale.
"Opinion" and "viewpoint" name a subjective personal stance, not a structured business appraisal — bidders forming a "commercial opinion" of a deal does not match the formal, analytical register of the passage.
"Commercial viability of the investment opportunity" reads naturally on its own, but "commercial validity of the investment opportunity" does not — English does not use "validity" this way, so even though half the pair fits the full construction, the pair as a whole breaks down.
"Aspect" and "issue" name a facet or a problem, not an act of appraisal — "commercial aspect/issue of the investment opportunity" describes a feature of the deal rather than the detailed review the sentence describes bidders performing.
Hence the pair evaluation, assessment is the only set that collocates correctly and matches the passage's formal business register — the correct answer.