In the following passage, choose the most suitable word for blank number (4).…
2026
In the following passage, choose the most suitable word for blank number (4). This is a Meaning-Based Cloze Test, so the passage and all options are deliberately kept in English, as it is intended to test English-language skills:
It was a dappled three-storied house, away from the _____(1)_____ alleys of Benaras. There was a profound tranquillity about it. Set in the heart of a lush garden, you could stretch your arms from a window and caress a _____(2)_____ parrot. A small amphitheatre hosted many _____(3)_____ under the starlit sky. And then there was a room with elegant French windows – the taalim room. At least twenty men and women spent hours there, _____(4)_____ in their music. The sitar, slide guitar, vocals, sarod, santoor, tabla – all rising to the didactic call of Ravi Shankar, who sat on a raised platform, singing, playing his sitar, instructing. The Guru would sometimes smile, sometimes frown, but he would not relent until every single disciple who had gathered at Hemangana, from all over the world, had _____(5)_____ his every single musical utterance.
Fill in the blank (4).
Answer: D. Immersed — ConceptIn vocabulary-based cloze questions, the chosen word must match both the sentence's meaning AND its correct grammatical collocation (the preposition or…
- A.
Drenched
- B.
Impressed
- C.
Plunged
- D.
Immersed
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
In vocabulary-based cloze questions, the chosen word must match both the sentence's meaning AND its correct grammatical collocation (the preposition or construction it idiomatically takes). Words that seem similar in meaning often differ sharply in the contexts and prepositions they pair with.
Application
Here the blank describes people who spent hours in a room, deeply and continuously engaged with music. The word 'Immersed' precisely captures this sense of sustained, deep engagement, and it correctly takes the preposition 'in' ('immersed in music').
Cross-check / Contrast
Word | Core sense | Preposition it takes | Fit in "spent hours ___ in their music" |
|---|---|---|---|
Drenched | Soaked right through by a liquid; figuratively saturated with light or colour | in / with | Carries wetness or saturation, not engagement in an activity |
Impressed | Made to feel admiration or respect for something | by / with | Needs 'by' or 'with', so 'in' is ungrammatical here |
Plunged | A sudden steep dive, or an abrupt entry into something | into | A one-off sudden action, not hours of continuous engagement |
Immersed | Sunk fully below the surface; figuratively wholly absorbed in an activity | in | Matches both the sense of sustained absorption and the preposition 'in' |
Hence, 'Immersed' is the correct word for blank (4).