We come across many funny incidents in different walks of life. One of the…
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We come across many funny incidents in different walks of life. One of the funny incidents is the punchlines or a climax which gives the incident a sudden transformation or twist (into something not expected). It is this punchlines which makes the incident funny.
In the questions, an incident is described but the punchline is missing ________ indicated by blank. After the incident, two statements numbered I and II are given. Considering the incident, you have to decide which of the two statements fit as a punchline.
Incident: A visitor asked the guide during an exhibition "Why did they have these pictures?".
The guide replied: "________".
I. They couldn't find the artists.
II. I don't know, I have nothing to do with their business.
- A.
If you think only Statement I fits
- B.
If you think only Statement II fits
- C.
If you think both the statements I and II fit and the wavelength of approach in both the statements are also more or less the same
- D.
If you think both the statements I and II fit but the idea or wavelength of approach in both the statements are different and contrasting
Attempted by 10 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: A punchline is the closing line of a narrated incident that must satisfy two conditions together: it stays logically connected to the situation, and it delivers an unexpected, witty twist that makes the incident amusing. A response that is merely factually plausible but flat, blunt, or humourless does not qualify as a punchline, however reasonable it sounds.
Application: Here, the visitor asks the guide why the exhibition has “these pictures” (portraits). Statement I — “They couldn't find the artists” — answers with a witty misdirection: it implies that since the actual artists could not be located, their portraits are displayed in their place instead of the persons themselves. This turns a routine guide's answer into an absurd, funny twist that still stays logically tied to the visitor's question, so it satisfies both conditions required of a punchline.
Cross-check: Weighing this against the alternative readings below confirms the distinction.
A blunt, dismissive reply such as “I don't know, I have nothing to do with their business” never twists the situation into anything unexpected or funny — a merely plausible answer without wit does not become a punchline.
Two statements do not share “the same wavelength of approach” just because both are possible replies — one supplies a witty, unexpected twist and the other supplies a flat refusal, so treating their approach as similar misreads the tone of each.
Noting that two statements differ in tone does not, by itself, make both of them punchlines — only a statement that actually supplies the comic twist qualifies; a flat, humourless statement does not earn punchline status merely by contrasting with one that does.
Hence, only the statement that supplies the unexpected, humorous twist works as the punchline.