Question:medium

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
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

This sentence tests two spelling traps (prostate vs prostrate) and two near-synonym pairs (ambivalence vs ambiguity, and immoral vs amoral) at the same time.

  1. Option 1 (ambivalence, prostrate, amoral, immoral): The gland name here is "prostrate", which actually means lying face down, not a gland at all, so this option is wrong on the spelling itself.
  2. Option 2 (ambiguity, prostrate, amoral, immoral): Same spelling mistake with "prostrate" for the gland, and it also swaps the faculty and students order, so it fails twice over.
  3. Option 3 (ambivalence, prostrate, immoral, amoral): The order of "immoral" and "amoral" is correct here, but the gland is again spelled "prostrate" instead of "prostate", so it is still wrong.
  4. Option 4, originally D (ambivalence, prostate, immoral, amoral): This is the only option that spells the gland correctly as "prostate" and keeps "immoral" for the strict faculty view and "amoral" for the more forgiving student view.

Putting it together: "A candidate ... faced a tinge of intellectual ambivalence when asked to spell the prostate gland. The fact that he carried notes ... would definitely be termed as immoral by faculty, but may be termed as amoral by more generous sections of students." Every word does its intended job.

Let's summarize:

  • Prostate is the gland; prostrate means lying face down, so it can never fill a "gland" blank.
  • Ambivalence describes a person's mixed feelings; ambiguity describes an unclear situation.
  • Immoral means a deliberate wrong; amoral means indifferent to right and wrong, which is why the kinder students use the softer word.

So the completed sentence needs ambivalence, prostate, immoral, amoral, which is option 4 (originally D).

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