In the following passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered.…
2025
In the following passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered.
These numbers correspond to the question numbers; against each question, five words have been suggested, one of which fills the blanks appropriately. Claude Picasso once said: “I could have been born into any family. I was fortunate that I was born to an artist as extraordinary as Picasso, and Picasso turned out to be the family business.” Most of us who run family businesses can (___1____) with the words of Claude Picasso. There is great satisfaction that comes from trying to grow and build a dream that was (___2___) by one’s family. While I am not the biggest believer in (___3___), I realise that
there is a great responsibility to carry ahead the company built by previous generations and in turn pass it on to future generations.
Today, family business is the most common form of enterprise. However, with the pros come the cons. Standard wisdom is that the first generation starts the company, the second builds it and the third (___4____) the business. This is particularly true because they are brought up with silver spoons and want to start their own businesses. Also, they are tech-savvy, talented and armed with attractive foreign university degrees. But they also have to (__5___) with the fear of the unknown. Not all startups that we see mushrooming these days are successful.
Find out the appropriate word in 4th case.
- A.
Forms
- B.
Making
- C.
Destroys
- D.
Evolves
- E.
Releases
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
In a cloze / vocabulary-based fill-in-the-blank test, the correct word must satisfy two things at once: it must be grammatically well-formed in the sentence (correct part of speech and tense), and it must carry the meaning the surrounding context demands. A well-known business-succession idea often tested this way is the maxim "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations": the first generation founds a business, the second builds on it, and the third generation frequently squanders or ruins what was built.
The sentence reads: "the first generation starts the company, the second builds it and the third (___4___) the business." The blank needs a finite, present-tense verb that parallels "starts" and "builds", and the passage's surrounding lines - the "fear of the unknown" facing successors, and the remark that "not all startups... are successful" - point to a negative, cautionary outcome for the third generation, exactly the pattern the succession maxim describes.
Why the other options do not fit:
"Forms" repeats the action already used for the first generation ("starts") earlier in the sentence, so it breaks the intended starts -> builds -> [third-generation outcome] progression.
"Making" is a non-finite (gerund) form, so it cannot serve as the tensed verb parallel to "starts" and "builds" that the sentence structure requires.
This describes a business changing or adapting gradually on its own over time, whereas the sentence needs a verb describing a direct action the third generation itself takes to the business - parallel to "starts" and "builds" earlier in the same list - not something that happens to it independently.
"Releases" most naturally pairs with letting go of a product, an asset, or a person from an obligation; it does not describe an action a generation takes to a company it runs, so it does not fit the direct starts / builds / ___ pattern of actions in the sentence.
Hence, "destroys" - a finite, present-tense verb that fits both the grammar and the cautionary meaning of the passage - is the word that correctly completes blank 4.