Question

Choose the word which is closest to the opposite in meaning to the italicized word and fill in the blank.
I never drive to work, I _________ walk.
A) Seldom
B) Often
C) Always
D) Sometimes

Answer 1

Hint: Antonyms are the words that are opposite in meaning to another. The root words for the word 'antonym' are the words 'anti' meaning 'against' or 'opposite' and 'onym' meaning 'name’. For instance: the antonym of ‘hot’ is ‘cold’.

Complete answer:
The meaning of the word never is ‘at no time in the past or future; not ever or not at all’. So, as per the question we must find the word which is opposite in meaning to the word never.
Option A) Seldom - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of seldom is ‘not often; rarely or infrequently’ and this is not antonym of the word never. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Often - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of often is ‘frequently; many times’ and this is not antonym of the word never. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) Always - is the correct answer because the meaning of always is ‘at all times; on all occasions or every time’ and this is the antonym of the word never as they have different meanings or they are opposite in meaning to each other. Thus, this is the correct answer.
Option D) Sometimes - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of sometimes is ‘occasionally, rather than all of the time or occasionally’ and this is not antonym of the word never. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Hence, the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note:Antonyms are the words that are opposite to each other i.e. antonym of never is always, and synonyms are the words that are similar in meaning. So, the synonym of never is not at all. However, in this question, often and seldom (given in the options) are also antonyms of each other (opposite in meaning). Thus, Option C is the most appropriate answer as compared to the other options as they do not have the opposite meaning to the given word.