Question

Find the synonym of the underlined word.
According to latest findings, both a person’s heredity and his environment help to shape his character.
A. Obstacles of life
B. Qualities by birth
C. Social status
D. Intelligence
E. Terminal behavior

Answer 1

Hint: In this question we need to look for the synonym of the given word ‘heredity’ let’s first understand what synonym means – Two words with a nearly common meaning or same meaning words are called synonyms.

Complete answer:
The word heredity means: physical and mental qualities that we get from our parents, genetics, congenital characteristics, qualities that are passed from a parent to child, etc.
Now let’s examine and understand the given option above.
Obstacles of life: it means barrier, hurdle that prevents action or progress. It may be something which is material or non material, that blocks a way of figurative progress. So it is neither related nor appropriate to answer the given question.
Synonym: hurdle, impediment, etc.
Social status: it means a person’s reputation, respect, honor, importance in relation to other people within a society, etc. So it is neither related nor appropriate to answer the given question.
Synonym: quality status, rank, position, etc.
Intelligence: the word intelligence means: it is an ability to learn, think or understand capacity of logic, etc. So this word is neither related nor appropriate to the given question.
Synonym: intellect, mind, brain, observation, etc.
Terminal behavior: it is a kind of behavior which should be expressed using action verbs, it is a kind of performance which can be observed and recorded, etc. So this option is also neither related nor appropriate to the given question.
Synonym: extreme, final, end, ultimate, etc.
Qualities by birth: Here it has the same meaning “and mental qualities that we get from our parents, genetics, congenital characteristics, qualities that are passed from a parent to child, etc”.

As it is a related and appropriate answer for the given question, so the suitable synonym will be option B.

Note: Knowing actual meaning of the given question is necessary in order to choose the correct and appropriate answer. Try to identify the meaning of the word and evaluate whether it has a positive negative or neutral connotation.