IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 14

Step 1 — the blank has text on both sides, so it must bridge them.

Before: the poetry was “a largely urban phenomenon, centered in Calcutta”.

After: “Then, gradually, it moved to other urban centres such as Madras and Bombay.”

Step 2 — read the signal word. “Then” marks a movement away from a starting point, so the blank must intensify the Calcutta concentration before the spread begins. Option (c) does precisely that:

“In fact, poetry writing for the first fifty years was confined to a few families who were residents of Calcutta”

“In fact” strengthens the preceding claim, “confined” narrows it further, and “the first fifty years” sets up the later movement.

Step 3 — it also seeds the ending. The paragraph closes on poets coming “from the upper classes” — anticipated by “a few families”.

Step 4 — eliminate.

(a) Attributes a decision to the British about where poetry would reach an audience — unsupported, and it does not intensify the Calcutta point.

(b) Claims the rulers set a mother-tongue condition — nothing in the paragraph suggests this, and it contradicts the fact that Indians were writing in English.

(d) Says the British felt only they could use English for poetry — directly contradicted by the paragraph, which is about Indian poets writing in English.

Answer: Option 3

Shortcut. “Then, gradually, it moved to…” is the key. A sentence beginning Then needs a prior state to move away from, so the blank must deepen the Calcutta concentration rather than introduce anything new.

Scan the openings of the four options: “In fact” is the only connective that strengthens a preceding claim. The other three open with new actors (the British, the rulers), which the paragraph has not been tracking.

A dependable habit: read the first two or three words of each option before reading any of them in full. Connectives tell you the logical role on offer, and usually only one role fits the slot.