In the passage given below there are 10 blanks, each followed by a word given…
2026
In the passage given below there are 10 blanks, each followed by a word given in bold. Each blank has four alternative words given in options (A),(B),(C) and (D). You have to tell which word will best suit the respective blank. Mark (E) as your answer if the word given in bold after the blank is your answer i.e “No change required”.
The increasing cost of higher education in the United States has been a --(1)---(contrast) topic for debate in recent decades. American society - --(2)---(denigrate) the importance of education after high school, yet the cost of undergraduate and advanced degrees continually rises at a greater rate than ---(3)----(inflammation). According to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, cost factors prevent 48% of college-qualified high school graduates from pursuing further education (McKeon, 2004, p. 45). The current system requires the majority of students to ---- (4)----(dissipate) extensive debt with the expectation that they gain ----(5)---- (unprofitable) post-graduate employment to repay their loans.
Which word will best suit the respective blank 2
(question no 11 till 15 are linked together )
- A.
immaculate
- B.
immune
- C.
inimical
- D.
emphasizes
Attempted by 9 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In a cloze / sentence-completion blank, the correct word must satisfy two constraints together — it must be the right part of speech for the grammatical slot, and its meaning must fit the sentence's logic, including any contrast cue such as “yet.”
Application: Here the blank sits immediately after the subject “American society,” so the clause needs a finite, present-tense verb agreeing with “society” to be grammatically complete. Checking the four candidates against this requirement:
“immaculate” — an adjective meaning spotlessly clean; it cannot serve as the clause's main verb, and its sense has no connection to valuing education.
“immune” — an adjective meaning protected/unaffected; again not a verb, and its sense (being shielded from something) does not describe an attitude toward education.
“inimical” — an adjective meaning hostile; it would need a linking verb (“is inimical to”) that the sentence does not supply, so it cannot complete this slot as written.
“emphasizes” — the only present-tense, third-person-singular verb among the four; it slots in directly to complete the clause, and its meaning (to stress or give importance to) matches the sense that society values education highly even as costs keep rising.
Cross-check: Reading the completed sentence — “American society emphasizes the importance of education after high school, yet the cost of undergraduate and advanced degrees continually rises…” — is grammatically sound and sets up the passage's contrast between valuing education and its rising cost, confirming the choice independent of simple elimination.