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 3rd case.
- A.
Progeny
- B.
Legacies
- C.
Ancestral
- D.
Carry forwards
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
CONCEPT
In a cloze blank, first work out the part of speech the grammatical slot demands (e.g., the object of a preposition must be a noun, not an adjective or a verb phrase); only among same-part-of-speech candidates do you then choose by matching meaning and the sentence's contrast/parallel cues.
APPLICATION
Blank 3 sits right after the preposition “in” in “the biggest believer in ___”, so the slot needs a NOUN. That grammar test alone eliminates two options outright. Among the remaining nouns, the sentence sets up a contrast: “While I am not the biggest believer in ___, I realise that there is a great responsibility to carry ahead the company built by previous generations…” The writer is downplaying blind faith in something handed down from earlier generations while still owning the duty to continue it — exactly the sense of inherited assets, property, or tradition passed down through a family, which fills the blank correctly.
CROSS-CHECK — why each other option fails:
Progeny is a noun, but it denotes people (descendants/offspring), not an inheritable concept one can be “a believer in” — wrong semantic category for this slot.
Ancestral is an adjective (“of or inherited from ancestors”); it cannot stand alone as the object of the preposition “in” without a noun after it.
Carry forwards is a verb phrase (to continue/proceed with something); it also cannot serve as the object of “in”, even though it echoes the passage’s later idea of continuing the business.
Hence blank 3 is filled by the noun meaning things (money, property, position, or tradition) handed down from previous generations.