Question

Complete the sentence with a suitable option:
Satish was endowed ____ a natural talent for music.

a. in
b. by
c. for
d. with

Answer 1

Hint: The phrase ‘to be endowed’ ends with a certain preposition, which changes its meaning to ‘to be given’.

Complete step-by-step answer:

The phrase ‘to be endowed’ has two meanings. However, in the above sentence, we would assume the meaning to be ‘to provide with a quality, ability, or asset’.

Now, let’s examine the given options to find the correct preposition:

in - When we fill the blank with the preposition ‘in’, it makes no grammatical sense. It will be considered wrong as ‘endowed in’ is not a correct phrase. So, option ‘a’ is incorrect.
by - When we fill the blank with the preposition ‘by’, it changes the meaning. The meaning of the sentence becomes Satish was endowed by _____. However, the sentence would only be grammatically correct if the blank was filled by a person. Since it is not, option ‘b’ is incorrect.
for - When we fill the blank with the preposition ‘for’. it is grammatically unsound. The phrase to be endowed for is completely incorrect. So, the option ‘c’ is wrong.
with - When we fill the blank with the preposition ‘with’, it completes the phrase. The meaning of the sentence becomes clear. Satish was provided with a natural talent for music. Hence, option ‘d’ is the correct answer.

Note: Use the elimination method to correctly identify the right preposition to complete the phrase.