In each question, an incomplete statement (Stem) followed by fillers is given.…
2025
In each question, an incomplete statement (Stem) followed by fillers is given. Pick out the best one which can complete incomplete stem correctly and meaningfully.
With great efforts his son succeeded in convincing him not to donate his entire wealth to an orphanage ......
- A.
and lead the life of a wealthy merchant
- B.
but to a home for the forsaken children
- C.
and make an orphan of himself
- D.
as the orphanage needed a lot of donations
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
A sentence-completion filler must satisfy the sentence on two levels at once: it must continue the grammar of the stem cleanly, AND the resulting sentence must make coherent, non-contradictory sense as a whole thought -- not merely be grammatically attachable.
Application
Here the son convinces the father not to give away his ENTIRE wealth to an orphanage. The filler must supply the reason the son had for objecting. 'and make an orphan of himself' does exactly that: if the father gave away everything, he would be left with nothing of his own -- as destitute and unsupported as the orphans he wanted to help -- so he would, in effect, orphan himself. The word 'orphan' echoing inside 'orphanage' is the deliberate wordplay/tone cue that ties the ending back to the stem.
Contrast with the other fillers
'and lead the life of a wealthy merchant' -- attaches grammatically but never explains WHY the son objected; it is a stray consequence, not a reason.
'but to a home for the forsaken children' -- an orphanage IS already a home for forsaken children, so this filler names the same place twice, producing a redundant, self-contradictory sentence.
'as the orphanage needed a lot of donations' -- this is a reason TO donate, which contradicts the stem's own point that the son argued AGAINST donating.
The best, most meaningful filler is: "and make an orphan of himself."