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GATE 2025 EC GA Q.1: solution and answer

GATE 2025 · ECGA Q.1 · 1 mark · MCQ

Here are two analogous groups, Group-I and Group-II, that list words in their decreasing order of intensity. Identify the missing word in Group-II.

Group-I: Abuse → Insult → Ridicule

Group-II: ______ → Praise → Appreciate

  1. (A)

    Extol

  2. (B)

    Prize

  3. (C)

    Appropriate

  4. (D)

    Espouse

See the question in the paper
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Answer and solution

ANSWER

(A) Extol. Extol means to praise enthusiastically, so Extol → Praise → Appreciate runs from strongest to mildest, just as Abuse → Insult → Ridicule does.

Official answer: ASource: Official answer key, GATE 2025 EC (IIT Roorkee)

  1. Read the pattern in Group-I. Abuse → Insult → Ridicule are all ways of speaking against someone, ordered from the harshest (abuse) to the mildest (ridicule, i.e. mocking).

  2. Group-II is the positive counterpart. Praise → Appreciate are ways of speaking in favour of someone, and praise is stronger than appreciate. So the blank needs a word with the same meaning that is stronger than praise.

  3. Extol (A): to praise highly and with enthusiasm. That is a stronger form of praise, so it fits at the top of the chain.

  4. Prize (B): as a verb, to value something highly. It describes how much you value a thing. It is not a way of expressing approval that is stronger than praise, so it breaks the chain.

  5. Appropriate (C): as a verb it means to take something for one's own use, and as an adjective it means suitable. Neither meaning has anything to do with praise.

  6. Espouse (D): to adopt or support a cause or belief. It has nothing to do with praising a person.

  7. Only extol gives an order from strongest to mildest, Extol → Praise → Appreciate, just as Abuse → Insult → Ridicule does. The answer is (A).

KEY IDEA

Both chains list the same kind of action in decreasing intensity: Group-I is disapproval (abuse > insult > ridicule) and Group-II is approval. The missing word must be a stronger form of praise, which is extol.

WATCH OUT FOR

Picking a word because of how it looks or sounds rather than what it means. Prize resembles praise and Appropriate resembles appreciate, but neither expresses approval more strongly than praise. Another mistake is reading the chain in the wrong direction and looking for something milder than appreciate.

From the GATE 2025 EC paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 32 Grammar & vocabulary questions, with notes

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