In the following passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered.…
2024
In the following passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered. These correspond to the question numbers; against each question, five words have been suggested, one of which fills the blank appropriately.
The Sam Kee Building, located at 8 West Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is (____1______) the "shallowest commercial building in the world", according to the Guinness Book of Records. The Sam Kee Company—one of the wealthiest firms in Chinatown— purchased a standard-sized lot in 1903. In 1912, however, Vancouver widened Pender Street and expropriated 24 feet (7.3 m) of the above-ground (____2______) —effectively (or so it was first believed) making conventional commercial use of the remaining frontage impractical, if not impossible. Refusing the neighbors offer to (____3_____), Sam Kee decided to build anyway. In 1913, the architects Brown and Gillam designed this narrow, steel-framed building's ground-floor depth (from storefront to rear of building) to measure 4'11" (1.50 m), with a second-floor depth (from overhanging bay window to rear) of 6' (1.83 m). The basement (_____4____) sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the (_____5_____) for living quarters.
Choose the correct answer from the given options to fill the blanks which are numbered 4
- A.
Seems clogged
- B.
Extends beneath the
- C.
Submerged into
- D.
Is devoid of any
Attempted by 133 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Correct completion: Extends beneath the.
Filled sentence: The basement extends beneath the sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the upper floor for living quarters.
Why this fits:
The phrase "Extends beneath the" makes a grammatically correct and meaningful clause describing that the basement continues under the sidewalk, matching the historical context.
The phrase "Seems clogged" does not fit the sentence structure or meaning and therefore is inappropriate.
"Submerged into" suggests being under a liquid and uses an awkward preposition here, so it does not suit a description of a building basement.
"Is devoid of any" would create an illogical meaning in context; it does not convey the intended idea that part of the property (the basement) continues under the sidewalk.
Therefore, "Extends beneath the" is the best choice because it produces a clear, grammatical, and contextually appropriate sentence.