Question

Fill in the blanks with the most suitable option:
Is the professor ________? (the staff room)
A) In
B) Beneath
C) Upon
D) At

Answer 1

Hint: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Try to visualise the position of the professor wrt the staff room. And for that position, use an appropriate preposition to describe it aptly.

Complete answer:
If you have visualized by now as mentioned in the hint, you might have arrived at the answer, but if not, then don’t worry.

Option A: ‘In’ refers to the position wherein the object is placed inside something. Here, the professor is inside the staff room. Hence, the question asks ‘is the professor in the staff room. Therefore, this is the correct answer.
Option B: ‘Beneath’ refers to the position of an object under the given place. Here, the professor can’t be under the staff room. Hence, using beneath doesn’t make any sense.
Option C: ‘Upon’ refers to the position of an object on the given place. Here, the professor can’t be in the staff room. Hence, using upon doesn’t make any sense.
Option D: ‘At’ is often used for time, or the part of the day. Sometimes it is also used to show direction. But here, the professor can’t be in the staff room because it would mean that he is somewhere near the staff room but not exactly in the staff room. Hence, we can’t use this.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: Every preposition conveys a different meaning. It is essential for us to know all the meanings of the preposition along with its usage, because sometimes according to the usage the meaning also changes. Hence it is essential to be doubly sure next time when to answer such questions.