Question:medium

Choose the appropriate words to fill in the blanks.

Mark Twain was responsible for many striking, mostly cynical ______, such as "Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest." ______ can sometimes end up as ______, but rarely would someone use them as an ______.

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Work out which of the three related words, epigram, epitaph or epigraph, fits each blank by meaning before looking at the options.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • epitaphs, Epitaphs, epigrams, epigraph
  • epigraphs, Epigraphs, epitaphs, epigraph
  • epigrams, Epitaphs, epigrams, epigraph
  • epigrams, Epigrams, epigraphs, epitaph
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

This question tests three closely related words built from the same root "epi-": epigram, epitaph and epigraph. Each has a distinct, specific use, and the sentence is built so that only one arrangement of the three makes sense across all four blanks.

  1. Option 1 (epitaphs, Epitaphs, epigrams, epigraph): This puts "epitaphs" (tomb inscriptions) in the first blank, but Mark Twain's quoted line is a witty remark, not something written on a grave, so this is wrong from the very first blank.
  2. Option 2 (epigraphs, Epigraphs, epitaphs, epigraph): This calls Twain's cynical sayings "epigraphs", but an epigraph is a quotation borrowed by someone else to open a book, not something a person is "responsible for" producing themselves. Wrong.
  3. Option 3 (epigrams, Epitaphs, epigrams, epigraph): The first blank is right, since Twain's lines are epigrams. But the second blank repeats the same word and should stay "epigrams", not switch to "Epitaphs", so this option breaks the sentence's own logic.
  4. Option 4, originally E (epigrams, Epigrams, epigraphs, epitaph): Twain wrote epigrams (blank 1), and epigrams (blank 2) can later be quoted as epigraphs at the start of a book or chapter (blank 3), but they are rarely solemn enough to serve as an epitaph on a tombstone (blank 4). Every blank fits.

Reading the finished sentence confirms it: "Mark Twain was responsible for many striking, mostly cynical epigrams... Epigrams can sometimes end up as epigraphs, but rarely would someone use them as an epitaph." That flows correctly and uses each word for its real meaning.

Let's summarize:

  • Epigram: a short, witty saying.
  • Epigraph: a quotation placed at the start of a book, chapter or building.
  • Epitaph: words inscribed on a tomb.

So the sentence is completed by epigrams, Epigrams, epigraphs, epitaph, which is option 4 (originally E).

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