Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: advantageous
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question tests your understanding of English vocabulary and collocations in a real life sounding sentence about a chess game. In competitive exams, you are often asked to select the most appropriate word that fits both the meaning and the tone of a sentence. Here the sentence describes how a chess player moved a piece to a better position on the board in order to secure a win. The task is to choose the word that best captures the idea of gaining a strategic benefit in chess, rather than simply having a pleasant or lucky situation.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
To answer this question, you need to understand the meanings and typical usage of each option. In chess, players talk about strong or weak positions, advantageous positions, and strategic advantages. The best word will show that the new position of the piece gives a clear strategic edge. We also must consider collocations. Native speakers commonly say an advantageous position in chess, sports and negotiations. Words like profitable, auspicious and worthwhile have different shades of meaning, usually linked with money, luck or general value, not specifically with strategic strength on a chessboard.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Read the full sentence and notice the key idea: the move helped in securing the win, so the position became stronger or better strategically.
Step 2: Consider profitable. It usually relates to making money or gaining financial benefit, not to chess positions.
Step 3: Consider auspicious. It refers to something that is lucky or favorable in terms of signs or omens, not a technical positional advantage in chess.
Step 4: Consider advantageous. It directly means giving an advantage, a superior or more favorable position, which fits chess terminology very well.
Step 5: Consider worthwhile. It means something is worth the time or effort, which is too vague for the precise sense needed here.
Verification / Alternative check:
Substitute each word into the sentence and read it aloud. The chess player moved his piece to a more profitable position sounds odd because chess is not about money. The chess player moved his piece to a more auspicious position sounds unnatural and overly focused on luck. The chess player moved his piece to a more worthwhile position is not wrong grammatically but does not match normal chess language. The chess player moved his piece to a more advantageous position, securing the win sounds natural, clear and idiomatic. This confirms that advantageous is the correct choice.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes choose words like auspicious because they associate winning with luck or good fortune. Others may pick worthwhile because it seems positive and they quickly decide based on a vague sense of positivity. A common mistake is to ignore collocations and context, and to treat all positive words as interchangeable. To avoid this, always look at how words are used with typical nouns and in which fields. In chess, the standard phrase is advantageous position or strong position.
Final Answer:
The word that correctly and naturally completes the sentence is advantageous, because it clearly indicates that the chess player obtained a stronger, strategically better position on the board, helping to secure the win.
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