Question

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate option:
A: It's risky to take an exam without reading the whole book
B: But it's my last chance ______________.
a) New brooms sweep clean
b) No news is good news
c) Once bitten twice shy
d) Sink or swim
e) Poverty is no sin

Answer 1

Hint: The given question is a question about proverbs. Proverbs are not exactly equal to their literal meaning. The meaning of proverbs can be deduced through metaphors. In the given question, person A is saying that it is risky to give an exam without reading the whole book to which person B replies that it is his last chance. He has to give the exam without reading the whole book. Select the appropriate proverb to express this response of person B.

Complete answer:
 The correct answer is option d because “Sink or swim” means that you sink, that is you fail, or swim, that is you are successful. Thus, applying this proverb to the given statement, we can say that the person is taking a risk by not reading the whole book and giving the exam so he is either going to be successful, that is, swim or is going to fail, that is, sink.
Option a is wrong because “new brooms sweep clean” means that a new administration has come into power and so there may be new changes. An example of a sentence is: Now that the school has a new principal, we are going to see a change in a lot of things because new brooms sweep clean.
Option b is wrong because “no news is good news” means that during troubling times if a person is not getting updates on news about a certain worrisome thing, it is considered to be good news. This proverb comes from the idea that if something bad happened, then the person would have been informed about it.
Option c is inappropriate to be used because it means that a person who has had a bad experience regarding something would not be very excited to do that same thing again. For example, if you try horse riding for the first time and you get chased by the horse (which is a bad experience) you would think twice before engaging in an activity like horse riding again.
Option e is not appropriate because “poverty is no sin” is a very straightforward proverb and just means that being poor is not a crime or a sin. It does not apply to the situation given in the sentence.

Note:
 It is always beneficial if students are well aware of the popular proverbs which are in use. Some proverbs have very straightforward meanings and can be deciphered from their words itself but some proverbs have meanings that have to be deduced and which are difficult to understand just from their wordings. It is advised to all students to learn up popular proverbs from various websites and grammar books.