Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow. One would…
2023
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
One would think that the larger the company is in which we are engaged, the greater variety of thoughts and subjects would be started in discourse; but instead of this, we find that conversation is never so much straitened and confined as in numerous assemblies. When a multitude meet together on any subject of discourse, their debates are taken up chiefly with forms and general positions; nay, if we come into a more contracted assembly of men and women, the talk generally runs upon the weather, fashions, news, and the like public topics. In proportion as conversation gets into clubs and knots of friends, it descends into particulars, and grows more free and communicative : but the most open, instructive, and unreserved discourse, is that which passes between two persons who are familiar and intimate friends. On these occasions, a man gives a loose to every passion and every thought that is uppermost, discovers his most retired opinions of persons and things, tries the beauty and strength of his sentiments, and exposes his whole soul to the examination of his friend.
As used in the passage, which option best conveys the meaning of the word communicative?
Answer: B. Speaker speaks and the listener listens and understands — ConceptA meaning-in-context question asks for the choice that best fits the word’s use in the whole passage, not every smaller action that can occur inside…
- A.
Speaker speaks and the listener listens
- B.
Speaker speaks and the listener listens and understands
- C.
Speaker speaks
- D.
More than one of the above
- E.
None of the above
Attempted by 13 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
A meaning-in-context question asks for the choice that best fits the word’s use in the whole passage, not every smaller action that can occur inside that meaning. Communicative describes readiness to talk and share information; here the surrounding sentences develop that sharing as increasingly open, instructive, and unreserved.
Application
The author moves from restricted public talk to intimate discourse in which a person discloses private opinions and exposes those thoughts to a friend’s examination. Among the offered descriptions, “Speaker speaks and the listener listens and understands” most fully represents that two-way sharing: the thought is expressed, received, and meaningfully engaged with.
Contrast
“Speaker speaks and the listener listens” names expression and reception, but not the friend’s examination of the disclosed thought that makes the exchange instructive in this passage.
“Speaker speaks” names expression alone and omits the interpersonal exchange developed by the surrounding sentences.
“More than one of the above” would require multiple descriptions to be equally complete best-fit meanings; the shorter descriptions name only parts of the fuller exchange.
“None of the above” would require every offered description to miss the contextual sense, although one description captures expression, reception, and meaningful engagement.
Cross-check
The official BPSC answer key confirms “Speaker speaks and the listener listens and understands” for this question. This agrees with the passage-based best-fit reading rather than treating each partial sub-action as a separate complete meaning.
Result
The best-supported answer is “Speaker speaks and the listener listens and understands.”