A single word — Aptitude Question
A single word: Fill in the blank: Despite the ______ evidence against him, the jury acquitted the defendant. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Fill in the Blanks & Para Jumbles
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 55 seconds
Question
Fill in the blank:
Despite the ______ evidence against him, the jury acquitted the defendant.
Options
- scanty
- overwhelming
- missing
- doubtful
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: B. overwhelming
Worked solution
- Despite demands a contrast with the acquittal.
- Only overwhelming evidence makes an acquittal surprising.
- Scanty, missing or doubtful evidence would make it expected.
Answer: overwhelming.
The idea
Let the connector set the direction, then choose the word that creates the required tension. Three options here remove the tension entirely.
Shortcut. Scanty, missing and doubtful all say the same thing — weak evidence — so none of them can be uniquely right. The odd one out, 'overwhelming', is also the only word that makes an acquittal surprising after 'Despite'.
Common trap. "doubtful" — 'doubtful evidence' sounds legal and apt beside an acquittal, but it explains the verdict instead of clashing with it, which 'Despite' requires.
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