IPMAT Indore 2022 · Verbal Ability · Question 19

Blank 1 — which films of the 1920s? The decade is the clue: the 1920s were the era of silent film, and “Visually strong” is exactly how one describes cinema that had no dialogue to rely on. The two halves fit together precisely.

monochrome (c) is true of the period but adds nothing to “visually strong”, and it is not what makes 1920s film distinctive as a category.

classic (a) and action-packed (b) are vague and unconnected to the visual emphasis.

Blank 2 — how are they preserved? The clause continues “and suffer from censorship cuts”, so the preservation must be bad:

poorly ✔

badly (b) is equally negative in meaning and would fit — but its option fails on blanks 1 and 3.

dispassionately (a) ✘ — describes manner, not quality, and makes no sense of “suffer from”.

barely (c) ✘ — “barely preserved” means scarcely preserved at all, which overstates and reads awkwardly.

Blank 3 — what does poor preservation lead to? Here is the key logical turn: the films are described as “visually strong”, yet people think them “primitive and barely watchable”. That belief is therefore mistaken, and caused by the damaged copies that survive:

\text{misconception}

conclusion (a) and observation (c) treat the belief as valid, contradicting “visually strong”.

accusation (b) is the wrong register — nobody is being accused of anything.

Answer: Option 4

Shortcut. Blank 3 carries the whole argument. The sentence opens by calling the films “visually strong” and ends with people thinking them “primitive and barely watchable” — a contradiction that can only be resolved if that belief is wrong. So the blank must mean a false belief: misconception.

Options offering conclusion or observation would endorse the belief and break the sentence’s logic.

Then blank 1 confirms: 1920s + visually strong = silent film, which relied on images because it had no sound.

The habit worth building: locate the blank that resolves a tension in the sentence. It is usually the only one you need.