Choose the most appropriate option to fill in the blank:
The eye camp at the panchayat office was announced only a day before. As a result, ______ villagers turned up, and the doctors had hardly any work.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → few
Complete sentence: The eye camp at the panchayat office was announced only a day before. As a result, few villagers turned up, and the doctors had hardly any work. Here the doctors “had hardly any work”. This shows that almost nobody came.
| Option | Meaning and use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) a few | some, a small number: a positive sense | A few boys stayed back to help the coach. |
| (2) many | a large number | Many tourists visit Darjeeling in May. |
| (3) a little | with uncountable nouns (a little ink, a little time) | We still have a little time before the train leaves. |
| (4) few (answer) | hardly any: a negative sense, with countable plural nouns | Few students knew the answer, so the teacher explained it again. |