Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The children were to be driven, as a special treat, to the sands at Jagborough. Nicholas was not to be of the party; he was in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was a frog in it. Older and wiser and better people (his aunt) had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed complete nonsense, and described with much detail the coloration and markings of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of the incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas's basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself, so he felt entitled to know something about it. The sin of taking a frog from the garden and putting it into a bowl of wholesome bread-and-milk was enlarged on at great length, but the fact that stood out clearest in the whole affair, as it presented itself to the mind of Nicholas, was that the older, wiser, and better people had been proved to be profoundly in error in matters about which they had expressed the utmost assurance. "You said there couldn't possibly be a frog in my bread-and-milk; there was a frog in my bread-and-milk," he repeated, with the insistence of a skilled tactician who does not intend to shift from favourable ground.
Which fact stood out most clearly to Nicholas in the whole affair?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → That the grown-ups had been proved wrong about something they were very sure of
The passage says that the fact that “stood out clearest” to Nicholas was that the older people had been “profoundly in error”.
- Profoundly in error means completely wrong.
- The grown-ups had been very sure that there was no frog in his bowl. But there was a frog.
- For Nicholas, this was the most important point: the grown-ups were wrong.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: That he would surely be punished for taking a frog from the garden — Incorrect. Wrong focus: Nicholas was in trouble. But the passage does not say that punishment was the main thing on his mind.
Option 3: That he had lost a special trip to the sands at Jagborough — Incorrect. Wrong focus: He did miss the trip. But the passage does not say that this was the main point for him.
Option 4: That his aunt had refused to listen to his description of the frog — Incorrect. Only partly true: The aunt did tell him not to talk nonsense. But this was not the point that stood out most for him.