Below, a passage is given with five blanks labelled (A)-(E). Below the…
2025
Below, a passage is given with five blanks labelled (A)-(E). Below the passage, five options are given for each blank. Choose the word that fits each blank most appropriately in the context of the passage and mark the corresponding answer.
William Shakespeare was a great English ____(A)_____, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early ____(B)_____ centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. Shakespeare’s poems and plays show love for nature and rural life which ____(C)_____ his childhood. It is believed that he may have become well known in London‘s ____(D)_____ life by 1592. By that time, he had joined one of the city’s ____(E)_____ theatre companies.
Which of the following words most appropriately fits the blank labelled (B)?
- A.
Fifteenth
- B.
Sixteenth
- C.
Seventeenth
- D.
Eighteenth
Attempted by 293 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Answer: Seventeenth.
Explanation: The sentence pairs 'late sixteenth' with 'early ____' — the century that comes after the sixteenth is the seventeenth, so 'seventeenth' completes the phrase 'late sixteenth and early seventeenth.'
Fifteenth: Incorrect because it is earlier than the sixteenth, not the following century.
Sixteenth: Incorrect because the sentence already refers to the late sixteenth; the blank should be the subsequent (early) century, not the same one.
Eighteenth: Incorrect because it refers to the 1700s, which is too late for someone born in 1564 to be active in the early eighteenth century.