SarkariPYQ

SSC CPO 2022 PYQ — Question 49

SSC CPO - 9 Nov 2022 - Shift 3 • English • Q49

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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 round 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 farm houses. (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 are 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.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Explanation

The correct answer is option 2 i.e. itself.

  • Itself is a suitable option.
  • Itself is a reflexive pronoun that refers to non-human things or phenomena.
  • Using "itself" is permissible since "village" refers to a non-human entity.
  • Compared to other options: 
    • Themself: One common way to refer to a person is using the pronoun "themself," which is gender-neutral and singular. But here, we're talking about the town, not an individual. "Themself" is thus inappropriate in this context.
    • Herself: Herself is a reflexive pronoun used to refer to a female subject. "Herself" is inappropriate because the village is not a person.
    • Himself: This pronoun is reflexively used to refer to a masculine subject. Once more, calling the village "himself" is inappropriate because it is not a person.