We reached the station late, and … missed the train.
Topic-wise GATE CS PYQs with verified steps
GATE CSE 2023 · Q1
MCQ1 markEasy
Time
We reached the station late, and ________ missed the train.
Select one answerSingle correct
Pick an option to check
Solution
Step-by-step verified solution
Official answer: B) nearly
Verbal AptitudeThe sentence requires an adverb meaning 'almost' or 'very close to' happening.
nearly means 'almost' (e.g., *nearly missed the train* means almost missed it, or narrowly avoided missing it, but here in conjunction with being late, it signifies almost missing it / coming very close to missing it).
near is an adjective or preposition.
utterly means 'completely' or 'absolutely', which does not fit standard usage with 'missed'.
mostly means 'mainly' or 'for the most part', which is semantically incorrect.
Therefore, nearly (Option B) is the correct choice.
Try the question first, then check your work.
Examiner trap
The misconception this question tests
Identify the adverb that means 'almost' to describe how close the person came to missing the train.
This Verbal Aptitude previous year question is Q1 of the GATE CSE 2023 paper. Find more GATE CSE PYQs on Verbal Aptitude in General Aptitude, or browse all GATE CSE PYQs.
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Verbal Aptitude in GATE CSE
Verbal Aptitude has 41 GATE CSE PYQs across 13 papers from 2011 to 2026. 29 of them are 1-mark MCQs like this one, and GATE CSE 2023 has 4.
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Independent practice explanation verified by the GateAI team. GATE is conducted by the IITs; question text follows the official paper.