Question:

Choose the appropriate words to fill in the blanks.

A candidate in the medical viva voce exam faced a tinge of intellectual ______ when asked to spell the ______ gland. The fact that he carried notes on his person would definitely be termed as ______ by faculty, but may be termed as ______ by more generous sections of students.

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Watch the "prostate" versus "prostrate" spelling trap first, then match immoral and amoral to the stricter and more forgiving viewpoints.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • ambivalence, prostrate, amoral, immoral
  • ambiguity, prostrate, amoral, immoral
  • ambivalence, prostrate, immoral, amoral
  • ambivalence, prostate, immoral, amoral
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
There are four blanks. The last two blanks need a contrasting pair, since faculty (strict) would view the act one way and generous students would view the same act more kindly. The middle blank names a gland, and the first blank names a state of mind.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Fix each word pair by meaning first. "Prostate" is the male gland near the bladder; "prostrate" means lying face down and is a spelling trap, not a real gland name. "Immoral" means going against moral rules on purpose; "amoral" means simply not concerned with morality at all, a softer, more neutral word. "Ambivalence" means having mixed or uncertain feelings about a choice; "ambiguity" means the situation itself is unclear or confusing.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
The gland the candidate is asked to spell is the "prostate" gland, a real anatomical term, so any option using "prostrate" for this blank is wrong on a factual level; that removes the first three options, since all three use "prostrate".
For the first blank, the candidate feels torn or mixed about the question, which fits "ambivalence" (an internal mixed feeling) better than "ambiguity" (which would describe the question being unclear, not how the candidate feels).
For the last two blanks, carrying notes into a viva is a rule violation, and strict faculty would call this "immoral", meaning a deliberate wrong. Generous students, wanting to be kind, would downgrade this to "amoral", meaning they see it as morally neutral rather than wrong. This gives immoral for faculty and amoral for the kinder students.
Only the fourth option pairs "prostate" (correct spelling of the gland) with "immoral" for faculty and "amoral" for generous students, alongside "ambivalence" for the first blank.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The sentence is completed by ambivalence, prostate, immoral, amoral, which is option 4.
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