IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 36
IPMAT Indore 2024 previous year question on Word Usage in Context, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.
- AHe used a fan to diffuse the smoke that had accumulated in the kitchen while cooking.
- BEvery morning, the aroma of freshly baked bread diffuses throughout the house, enticing everyone to the kitchen.
- CRealising that the argument between the two groups of students was getting out of control, the teacher diffused the situation by quickly changing the topic.
- DThe stained glass diffused the light filtering through the windows.
Answer & solution
Answer: Option C
The word pair being tested: diffuse vs defuse.
diffuse — to spread out over a wide area; to scatter or disperse. (Of gases, light, aromas, ideas.)
defuse — literally, to remove the fuse from a bomb; figuratively, to make a tense situation less dangerous.
Checking each option:
(a) “a fan to diffuse the smoke” — smoke being dispersed through the air ✔
(b) “the aroma … diffuses throughout the house” — a scent spreading ✔
(c) “the teacher diffused the situation” ✘ — the teacher calmed a volatile argument. That is defusing a situation, not spreading it out. Writing diffuse here would literally mean the teacher spread the argument around, which is the opposite of what the sentence describes.
(d) “The stained glass diffused the light” — scattering light, the standard optical usage ✔
Answer: Option 3
Shortcut. Ask one question: is something spreading out, or calming down?
Spreading (smoke, aroma, light) \to diffuse
Calming (a row, a crisis, tension) \to defuse
Options (a), (b) and (d) are all physical dispersal; only (c) is de-escalation.
A memory hook: defuse contains fuse — think of a bomb. Diffuse contains -ffuse as in suffuse, spreading throughout. This is one of the most frequently misused pairs in written English, and it appears regularly in entrance papers.
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