Question

Complete the following proverb-
A bad man is better than a bad ______.
a) Name
b) Cloth
c) Woman
d) Boy

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given incomplete proverb and try to make out the complete proverb. Try to think of its core metaphoric meaning as well.

Complete answer:
 Half of the proverb says that a bad man is better than a bad'. It can be filled in with the correct word from among the four given options. The complete proverb is “A bad man is better than a bad name”. It is one of the famous analogy that a bad man is better than a better name. A name is an abstract thing that is connected to a person and it tells about the personality and thoughts of a person. Whether it be good or bad reaches common people swiftly as compared to a person with bad character or thoughts.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer -
Option ‘a’ is Name. It is the correct answer as it correctly completes the given proverb. ‘A bad man is better than a bad name’ is a correct proverb. It means ‘A bad name spreads very fast and reaches everywhere before a bad man even reaches there’.
Option ‘b’ is Cloth. It is an incorrect option as it cannot be placed in the given incomplete proverb.
Option ‘c’ is Woman. It is also an incorrect option.
Option ‘d’ is Boy. It is an incorrect option as it is very inappropriate.
Hence, the option ‘a’ is the correct option. The complete proverb would be – A bad man is better than a bad name.

Note:
 In such types of questions, you must see the metaphoric meaning of the given sentence as well. This sentence is much of a literal meaning, though.