Question : Comprehension:
In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.
Last week, I made the mistake of revisiting the village where I grew up. It used to be a small, friendly community with two farms and a number of old cottages around the village green. I realised very quickly that although in (1)_______ ways it appears unchanged, in reality hardly anything is the same. All the pretty cottages are there, of course, and both the traditional farmhouses. (2)_______, none of the inhabitants are country people. All of them are commuters, who leave early every morning for the nearby town. Neither of the farmhouses is attached to a farm these days; the land (3)_______ and is managed by somebody in an office somewhere who has little interest in the village (4)_______. There are a few new houses but, they have no local character. You can see the same style anywhere in the country. The whole village, (5)_______, has been tidied up so much that it looks no more picturesque than any suburban street.
Question:
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank number 2.
Option 1: When
Option 2: But
Option 3: As
Option 4: Because
Correct Answer: But
Solution : The correct choice is the second option.
Explanation : The conjunction "but" is used to introduce a contrast or opposition to the previous statement. In this case, the sentence starts by mentioning the pretty cottages and traditional farmhouses, and the use of "but" signals a shift in the description to highlight a contrasting fact—that none of the inhabitants are country people.
So, the complete sentence would be: "All the pretty cottages are there, of course, and both the traditional farmhouses. But none of the inhabitants are country people."