Read the following passage and answer the question by choosing the correct option:
With the growth of British trading interests and the rapid expansion of the British presence in India after 1757, more and more Indians started learning English. After using the language for purely commercial transactions, they started to use it for creative writing. Indians were not alone in writing in English. Natives of all the colonies of the British Empire attempted creative writing in the imperial language. There is a major difference between India and other erstwhile colonies: no written language other than English is available for the colonies established in Africa, the Caribbean islands, America and Australia. In India, we have a very long tradition of written literature, thousands of years old in Sanskrit and Tamil, and many centuries old in other Indian languages. In the first decade after India attained independence, Indian writing in English was condemned as unpatriotic; 'Angrez chale gaye, par Angrezi chhod gaye' ('The English quit India, but they left behind the English language'). It was felt that all Indians can and should produce literary works only in their mother tongue.
English writing in India gradually found acceptance and it is possible that the popularity of the fiction of R.K. Narayan had a role in this. In 1954, the Sahitya Akademi instituted awards for "the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages'; English was included, and the first award went to R.K. Narayan for 'The Guide' in 1960. Commissioning M.K. Naik to write "History of Indian English Literature" in line with the histories of literature in other Indian languages also served to give recognition to this writing. Many Indian universities, led by the University of Mysore, made it a subject of academic study.
The synonym for the word "OUTSTANDING" is:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → prominent
- Outstanding means excellent, standing out from others because it is very good or important. In the passage: awards for "the most outstanding books of literary merit".
Example: Her outstanding performance won her the first prize. - Prominent means important, well known and standing out from the rest. Both words describe what stands above the rest in quality or importance.
Example: He is one of the most prominent writers of his state.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: ordinary — Incorrect. Ordinary means common, with nothing special about it. It is the opposite of outstanding.
Example: It was an ordinary day with nothing new to report.
Option 3: insignificant — Incorrect. Insignificant means too small or unimportant to matter. It is also opposite in meaning to outstanding.
Example: The difference in price was insignificant.
Option 4: popular — Incorrect. Popular means liked by many people. A book can be popular without being of outstanding merit, so the two words do not mean the same.
Example: Cricket is the most popular sport in India.
Note: In the original NTA paper, Option 3 read "noticeable". NTA accepted this option as a correct answer as well. To leave only one correct answer and avoid confusion for students, it has been changed here to "insignificant".
Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is grammatically or factually correct. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window and give the reason in one or two lines.
| Synonyms of outstanding: prominent, excellent, exceptional, remarkable Antonyms of outstanding: ordinary, insignificant, mediocre, average |