Question:

Directions: The paragraph below has had its last sentence deleted. From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.

Given the cultural and intellectual interconnections, the question of what is “Western” and what is “Eastern” (or “Indian”) is often hard to decide, and the issue can be discussed only in more dialectical terms. The diagnosis of a thought as “purely Western” or “purely Indian” can be very illusory.

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The paragraph ends by calling the idea of a “purely” Western or Indian thought illusory. The last sentence should explain why, by echoing the word “purity”.
Updated On: Nov 4, 2026
  • The origin of a thought is not the kind of thing to which “purity” happens easily.
  • Though “occidentalism” and “orientalism” as dichotomous concepts have found many adherents.
  • “East is East and West is West” has been a discredited notion for a long time now.
  • Compartmentalizing thoughts is often desirable.
  • Thoughts are not the kind of things that can be easily categorized.
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Find what the paragraph is saying.
Cultures and ideas are interconnected, so it is hard to say whether a thought is Western or Eastern. The last line says that calling a thought “purely Western” or “purely Indian” is illusory. The missing sentence has to give the reason or the conclusion that follows from this.

Step 2: Check each option.
(5) “Thoughts are not the kind of things that can be easily categorized” is related but general. It does not refer to the idea of purity or origin that the paragraph has just used.
(2) This is not a complete sentence (it begins with “Though” and has no main clause), and it brings in a new idea, that many people accept the East-West divide.
(3) It speaks of the notion having been discredited for a long time, which the paragraph never says. It is also an assertion about history, not a conclusion from the argument.
(4) It says that compartmentalizing thoughts is desirable, which is the opposite of the paragraph’s stand.
(1) “The origin of a thought is not the kind of thing to which ‘purity’ happens easily” picks up the words “purely Western” and “purely Indian” and says that a thought’s origin is rarely pure. It follows directly from the previous sentence and closes the paragraph.

Final Answer:
The correct option is (1): The origin of a thought is not the kind of thing to which “purity” happens easily.
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