Question

Instructions: Each of the following items is followed by four words or group of words. Fill in the blank with the appropriate word or group of words.

A great literary or artistic work is known as ____.

• A. par excellence
• B. bete noire
• C. peccadillo
• D. magnum opus

Hint:

Think of the Latin phrase literally meaning "great work," used for an artist's finest achievement.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

A useful method here is to recall each phrase through a short example sentence, since these are all fixed foreign borrowings with fairly rigid usage patterns.

Par excellence is used like this: "He is a diplomat par excellence," meaning he is the best possible example of a diplomat. It always attaches to a noun to praise it, it is never itself the name of a created work.

Bete noire appears as: "Public speaking is his bete noire," meaning it is something he dreads or dislikes intensely. This is clearly unrelated to describing a celebrated piece of art.

Peccadillo appears as: "Forgetting a birthday is a minor peccadillo," meaning a small, forgivable slip. This is the opposite of something described as great.

Magnum opus appears as: "The novel is considered the author's magnum opus," meaning it is that author's single greatest work. This example sentence matches the question's definition word for word.

Since only magnum opus fits naturally into a sentence meaning "a great literary or artistic work," option D is confirmed as correct.