Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option:
Mark Twain, one of ________ and ________ American writers, lived in a small town in his childhood.
a) greater/most popular
b) great/more popular
c) the greatest/most popular
d) more great/most popular
e) most great/the popular

Answer 1

Hint: In the given sentence, a statement is being made about Mark Twain, the American writer in an extreme sense. This means that the word needed is a superlative adjective, which can fulfill the comparison being made.

Complete answer:
Degrees of comparison are used to compare and contrast multiple subjects or objects in a sentence. The three degrees of adjectives are the positive degree, comparative degree, and superlative degree.

1) Positive - The positive degree is the most simple degree of comparison. It has no special ending. It makes no comparison, just describes the existence of a particular quality.
2) Comparative - This degree compares two or more things to find which one exists in a higher or lower degree. It either has the word ‘more’ before the adjective or has the suffix ‘-er’ after the adjective.
3) Superlative - This degree denotes the most extreme form of the adjective. It is formed by using the article ‘the’ before the adjective and adding either ‘most’ before the adjective or
the suffix ‘-est’ after the adjective.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let us look at the given options-
a) greater/most popular - The first adjective is in the comparative degree and the second adjective is in the superlative degree. This is not the required answer. So, this an incorrect option.
b) great/more popular - The first adjective is in the positive degree and the second adjective is in the comparative degree. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) the greatest/most popular - Both of these adjectives are in the superlative degree. This the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
d) more great/most popular - The first adjective is in the comparative degree and the second adjective is in the superlative degree. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
e) most great/the popular - The first adjective is in the superlative degree and the second adjective is in a positive degree. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
 Look at the given sentence and note that there is a general extreme statement being made. The blank is before a preposition. This means that the blank should be filled by a specific part of speech. Choose the correct option accordingly.