If ‘→’ denotes increasing order of intensity, then the meaning of the words [talk → shout → scream] is analogous to [please → ______ → pander]. Which one of the given options is appropriate to fill the blank?
flatter
flutter
fritter
frizzle
ANSWER
(A) flatter. The chain please → flatter → pander is one act, pleasing someone, growing stronger at each step, just as talk → shout → scream grows louder.
Official answer: ASource: Official answer key, GATE 2024 EE (IISc Bengaluru)
Read the pattern first. In talk → shout → scream the act stays the same (using your voice to communicate) and only the intensity goes up. The second chain has to work the same way: one act, getting stronger at each step.
Fix the two ends. To please is to make someone happy or satisfied. This is the mild form. To pander is to give in to someone's wishes or weaknesses too readily, often improperly, just to gratify them. This is the extreme form.
So the middle word must mean pleasing someone more strongly than 'please' but not yet as far as 'pander'.
flatter means to praise someone excessively or insincerely in order to please them. It goes further than simply pleasing and stops short of pandering, so please → flatter → pander rises steadily, just as talk → shout → scream does.
Rule out the others by meaning. flutter means to flap or tremble lightly, fritter means to waste something (time or money) bit by bit, and frizzle means to fry something until crisp or to curl hair tightly. None of them is about pleasing a person, so none can sit between 'please' and 'pander'.
Only (A) flatter completes the chain.
KEY IDEA
In an intensity analogy, every word in a chain names the same act at a different strength. Pin down the mild end and the extreme end first. The blank is then the option that means the same act at a strength between the two. Here that act is pleasing someone: please (mild), flatter (stronger, insincere praise), pander (extreme, improper indulgence).
WATCH OUT FOR
Choosing by sound rather than meaning. flatter, flutter, fritter and frizzle look and sound alike, and 'flutter' in particular is easily mistaken for 'flatter' under exam pressure. Only flatter is about pleasing a person. The other three have nothing to do with the please–pander scale.
From the GATE 2024 EE paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 41 Reasoning questions, with notes
