Question

'People are crowding around ___ pit into which ___ elephant has fallen. I have never seen an elephant looking more bewildered ___ miserable. Here it is in a most undignified position, thrust into a pit and made to look up ___ a vast, curiosity-stricken crowd.'

Choose the option with the correct sequence of words to fill the blanks.

• A. an; a; at; and
• B. a; an; and; at
• C. and; a; an; at
• D. at; a; an; and

Hint:

Check the sound right after each blank to choose "a" or "an", and recall the fixed phrase "look up at" someone or something.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The passage has four blanks. We need an article for the pit, an article for the elephant, a joining word between two adjectives, and a preposition that completes a phrasal verb.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Use "a" before a word that starts with a consonant sound and "an" before a word that starts with a vowel sound. Two adjectives describing the same noun are joined with "and". The fixed phrase for raising one's eyes toward something is "look up at".

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
The first blank comes before "pit", which starts with the consonant sound /p/, so it takes "a".
The second blank comes before "elephant", which starts with the vowel sound /e/, so it takes "an".
The third blank joins "bewildered" and "miserable", both describing the elephant, so it needs "and".
The fourth blank completes the phrasal verb "look up at", the standard way to say someone raises their eyes toward something facing them, here the crowd.
Putting these together gives: "a pit", "an elephant", "bewildered and miserable", "look up at a vast, curiosity-stricken crowd".

Step 4: Final Answer:
The correct sequence is "a; an; and; at", which is option (B).