A blank after 'despite' — Aptitude Question
A blank after 'despite': Fill in the blank: Despite his ______ preparation, he performed poorly in the interview. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Fill in the Blanks & Para Jumbles
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 50 seconds
Question
Fill in the blank:
Despite his ______ preparation, he performed poorly in the interview.
Options
- careless
- thorough
- brief
- reluctant
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: B. thorough
Worked solution
- Despite requires the two halves to clash.
- Only thorough preparation makes a poor performance surprising.
- Careless or brief preparation would explain the result rather than contrast with it.
Answer: thorough.
The idea
Let the connector fix the direction, then choose the word that creates the required tension.
Shortcut. 'Despite' flips the expected outcome, so the blank must normally predict success. Only 'thorough' is positive; careless, brief and reluctant would all predict the poor show.
Common trap. "careless" — picking the word that explains the poor performance, which is what 'because' would need, not 'despite'.
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