GATE 2020 EE GA Q.4: solution and answer

Official answer: BSource: Official answer key, GATE 2020 EE (IIT Delhi)

1. Work out what the blank needs. The blank is the main verb of the sentence, in the past tense. Only the phrase "at the news of the coup" follows it and there is no object, so the verb has to work intransitively: it describes something the markets themselves did.

2. Use the context. A coup is a sudden, often violent seizure of power. It creates political uncertainty, investors sell, and prices fall sharply. So the verb should mean a sudden fall.

3. (A) poised. The word is almost always used as an adjective, meaning balanced or ready ("markets are poised for a rally"). As a verb, "to poise" means to balance something and takes an object. "Stock markets poised at the news" is not an idiomatic complete sentence, and it does not describe a reaction to bad news.

4. (B) plunged. Used intransitively, "to plunge" means to fall suddenly and steeply. "Stock markets plunged at the news of the coup" is grammatical, and it is the standard way to describe how markets react to a shock like a coup.

5. (C) plugged. "To plug" normally takes an object (you plug a hole, or plug a product). It has nothing to do with prices falling, and it leaves the sentence without an object.

6. (D) probed. "To probe" means to investigate. It takes an object ("probe the matter") or, used intransitively, needs "into" ("probe into the matter"). Markets do not investigate, and the sentence has no object for the verb to act on.

7. Only plunged fits both the grammar (a complete intransitive verb) and the meaning (a sharp fall after bad news). Answer: (B).