IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 14

IPMAT Indore 2024 previous year question on Idioms and Phrases, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Idioms and PhrasesVocabularyMultiple choiceMedium

Complete the following sentence by choosing the most appropriate word/phrase from the options given below.

In a circus where performers share dressing rooms, training spaces and work in a fast-paced environment, the success of a show __________ fostering team-work and collaboration.

  1. A
    comes with
  2. B
    come along with
  3. C
    comes down to
  4. D
    comes about
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The idiom. To come down to something means to depend ultimately on it — to be reducible to a single decisive factor.

Why it fits. The sentence builds up a list of shared conditions and then identifies the one thing that determines success: team-work. “Comes down to” is precisely the phrase for naming a decisive factor.

Why the others fail:

(a) comes with — means is accompanied by. That makes team-work a by-product of success rather than its cause, reversing the intended logic.

(b) come along with — ungrammatical here: the subject “the success” is singular and needs comes. The agreement error alone eliminates it.

(d) comes about — means happens or occurs, and is intransitive. It cannot take “fostering team-work” as an object.

Answer: Option 3

Shortcut. Two quick filters settle this.

Subject–verb agreement: “the success … come along with” is wrong, so (b) goes without any idiom knowledge.

Transitivity: come about takes no object, so (d) cannot be followed by a noun phrase.

Between (a) and (c), ask which direction the causation runs. The sentence is naming what success depends on, so comes down to ✔ — always check whether an option reverses cause and effect.

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