18 February 2025 · Shift 3

Verb-noun collocation The blank needs the verb that habitually goes with the noun 'a debt'. The fixed English collocation is 'forgive a debt' - the lender writes the amount off, so the borrower no longer has to repay it. That sense fits the sentence perfectly: it is impossible that a bank would cancel money owed to it. A debt can be repaid, cleared, incurred or forgiven, but it is never 'formatted', 'followed' or 'fragmented', so (b), (c) and (d) are not English collocations at all. Hence option (a) is correct.

Word meaning in context 'Listless' means having no energy or enthusiasm - tired, spiritless and indifferent. Option (d) states exactly that condition: 'Tanuja felt exhausted and devoid of energy.' The other three are traps built on the look of the word rather than its meaning - (a) plays on a 'roster' (a list of names), (b) on a 'list of documents' and (c) on a 'list' as an ordered data structure. None of those three says anything about a lack of energy. Hence option (d) is correct.

Synonym 'Superficial' means existing only on the surface - done for show, without depth or real feeling. 'Shallow' carries the very same idea of lacking depth and sincerity, so it is the closest synonym. The sentence itself confirms the sense: the compliments lacked 'genuine warmth or understanding'. 'Substantial' (significant, solid) and 'profound' (deep and meaningful) are opposites of the word, and 'kind' names the warmth the compliments were said to be missing. Hence option (d) is correct.

Past tense agreement Rule: when one past action was already going on and a second action cut into it, the longer action takes the past continuous and the interrupting action takes the simple past - 'was playing … when I walked'. Segment (b) uses the present perfect 'have walked', which cannot be paired with a past continuous clause and cannot be used with a definite past time either. Corrected segment: 'when I walked'. Segment (a) 'He was playing cricket' is correct past continuous, and (c) 'early in the morning.' and (d) 'past the stadium' are ordinary phrases with no verb to go wrong. Hence the error lies in option (b).

Adjective collocations Fix the easiest blank first and let it eliminate options. Blank (3) sits before 'impression', and the fixed phrase is 'leave a lasting impression'. So (3) = lasting, which at once rules out (a) and (c). Blank (1) describes the speech as a whole: a conference address that moves an audience is a 'persuasive speech'. This rules out (b), which puts 'persuasive' at (3). Blank (2) stands inside the list 'clear, ___ and passionate', which describes how the talk was arranged, so 'well-structured' belongs there. Read back: 'His persuasive speech was clear, well-structured and passionate, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.' Hence option (d) is correct.

Spelling The wrongly spelt word is 'recalcitrent'; the correct spelling is 'recalcitrant'. It ends in the Latin -ant suffix, like 'defiant' and 'resistant', so the vowel before the final t is a, not e: re-cal-ci-trant. 'Recalcitrant' means stubbornly refusing to obey or cooperate - exactly the attitude of a diplomat who will not compromise. 'Compromise', 'erudition' (deep learning) and 'arrogance' are all spelt correctly in the sentence. Hence option (a) is correct.

Spelling The wrongly spelt word is 'immedietely'; the correct spelling is 'immediately'. Build it from its adjective: immediate + ly = immediately, so the vowel run is -iate-, never -iete-. 'Receiving' follows the 'i before e except after c' rule correctly, and 'parcel' and 'opened' are also correct. Hence option (a) is correct.

Adjective collocations Each blank must take the adjective that naturally belongs to the noun right after it. Water at a calm beach is 'clear', beach sand is 'soft', and a sunset is 'stunning' (extremely beautiful) - these are the standard pairings. So (1) clear, (2) soft, (3) stunning. Options (b), (c) and (d) all misplace at least one adjective - 'soft waters' and 'stunning waters' with 'clear sunsets' break the collocations and spoil the serene picture the sentence is drawing. Hence option (a) is correct.

Synonym 'Glee' means great delight or open joy, often at a turn of events that suits the speaker. 'Happiness' - a feeling of joy and pleasure - is the closest match. 'Sorrow' and 'unhappiness' are direct opposites, and 'wickedness' names a moral fault rather than an emotion, so it cannot be a synonym even though Maya's joy is at a rival's loss. Hence option (d) is correct.

Parallel structure 'Not only … but also' joins two items of the same grammatical kind, and the first item here is the adjective 'rare'. So the blank must also be an adjective describing the heirloom: 'priceless' means so valuable that no price can be put on it, which pairs naturally with 'rare'. 'Productivity' and 'profit' are nouns and 'artist' names a person, so none of them can follow 'was also' in a description of an heirloom. Hence option (d) is correct.

Adverb vs adjective Segment (A) reads 'The cat quiet stalked its prey'. Rule: a word that tells us HOW an action is performed modifies the verb, so it must be an adverb, not an adjective. Here it modifies the verb 'stalked', so the adjective 'quiet' must become the adverb 'quietly': 'The cat quietly stalked its prey'. Segments (B) and (C) are correct participle phrases ('moving stealthily', 'demonstrating its hunting skills') and (D) 'with great precision and grace' is a well-formed prepositional phrase, so none of them carries the error. The faulty segment is A, which is listed as option (b).

Idiom meaning The idiom 'far and wide' means over a large area - in all directions, everywhere. E.g. 'The news of his victory spread far and wide within hours.' 'Now and then' means occasionally, giving away a secret is 'to let the cat out of the bag', and 'by itself' means alone or automatically - none of these is about extent of area. Hence option (a) is correct.

Antonym 'Young' means being at an early stage of life or development. The antonym must express the opposite end of that scale - 'mature' means fully grown and fully developed. 'Boyish' is a near synonym of young, while 'moist' (slightly wet) and 'stiff' (rigid) belong to entirely different fields of meaning. Hence option (b) is correct.

Active voice, simple past 'Had been solved' is a passive form, but the sentence already has an object after it - 'the murder mystery'. A passive verb cannot take an object, so the bracketed part is wrong. The sentence reports one completed action finished inside a stated period ('within a week'), which calls for the simple past active: 'The detective solved the murder mystery within a week.' Option (a) 'have been solved' repeats the same passive error and adds a wrong subject-verb agreement with the singular 'detective'. Option (d) 'solve' is the bare present form and leaves the sentence with no past-tense verb at all. Hence option (c) is correct.

One-word substitution The underlined word is 'transactions' - the business dealings that the software update improved. 'Deals' is the everyday word for business transactions, so it slots in without changing the meaning: 'brought quite a few improvements in the deals'. 'Interplay' means the way two things affect each other, 'interpretation' means an explanation of meaning, and 'intralingual' means within a single language - none of the three names a business dealing. The three wrong choices are also all built on the prefix inter-/intra-, which is the trap: sharing a prefix with a business word does not make a word mean 'transaction'. Hence option (d) is correct.

Coordinating conjunction Blank (76) stands between the two adjectives 'simple' and 'impactful', both of which praise recycling in the same direction. Two ideas that point the same way are joined by the conjunction 'and'. 'But' and 'yet' both signal a contrast, and there is none here - being simple does not work against being impactful. 'Also' is an adverb, not a coordinating conjunction, so it cannot join two adjectives on its own. Hence option (c) is correct.

Introducing examples

Preposition with gerund Blank (78) opens the sentence and is followed straight away by the -ing form 'adopting', so it must be a preposition that can take a gerund. 'By + gerund' is the structure that states the means by which a result is achieved: 'By adopting this habit, individuals … participate in sustainable practices.' 'Again' and 'Also' are adverbs and 'And' is a conjunction; none of the three can be followed directly by a gerund, and none of them expresses method. Hence option (b) is correct.

Adverb of manner Blank (79) modifies the verb 'participate', so it must be an adverb - that alone rules out the adjective 'strong'. 'Actively' means taking a real, practical part in something, which is exactly what separating recyclables at home amounts to. 'Vehemently' and 'vociferously' mean forcefully and loudly; both describe protesting or arguing, not quietly taking part in a household habit. Hence option (c) is correct.

Adjective before noun Blank (80) comes immediately before the noun 'living', so it must be an adjective - the adverb 'wisely' cannot qualify a noun and is out at once. Of the three adjectives left, 'responsible living' is the set phrase for a way of life that takes care of the environment, which is exactly the example the passage says is being set for future generations. 'Independent living' means living without help from others, which the passage never discusses. 'Obligated' means forced by duty and is normally used of a person, not of a lifestyle; it also contradicts the passage's idea of a habit people freely choose. Hence option (a) is correct.