GATE CSE 2024 | Set 1 | GA | Question: 6

Question

In the given text, the blanks are numbered $\text{(i) - (iv)}$. Select the best match for all the blanks.

Steve was advised to keep his head (i) before heading (ii) to bat; for, while he had a head (iii) batting, he could only do so with a cool head (iv) his shoulders.

• A. (i) down (ii) down (iii) on (iv) for
• B. (i) on (ii) down (iii) for (iv) on
• C. (i) down (ii) out (iii) for (iv) on
• D. (i) on (ii) out (iii) on (iv) for

Answer 1

In the first blank, we can only use "down" and not "on". Here, "keeping head down" would mean "he was advised not to engage (fight) with the players of other team" and this fits well in the given context because further down the passage it was said he could do good batting only when he has a cool head.

In the second blank, we can use both "down" and "out". In the context of cricket using either of the words would result in same meaning.

In the third blank, we can use both "on" and "for". Here, "he had a head on batting" would mean "he played aggressively" and "he had a head for batting" would mean "he had the cognitive ability for being good at batting".

In the fourth blank, we can only use "on" and not "for".

Answer - C

Comments

@Avalongod To me "down" seems more appropriate, but please do explain your point as well.

@Yash Singhal "With down the first and 4th sentence are not synonymous". Who said they have to be synonymous? While talking do you generally repeat whatever you said but in different words without being asked? And note that the entire thing is just one big sentence.

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You may be correct here but i didn't considered whether they are sounding correct. To. me on seems much more contextual fit with respect to what it is trying to convey that's why putting my opinion here

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@shishir__roy nice explanation.