Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word: “Corruption is an evil generally more ______ in the underdeveloped and developing countries of the world.”

Introduction / Context:
This sentence completion question deals with the spread of corruption in different types of countries. The blank must be filled with an adjective that describes how widespread or common corruption is in underdeveloped and developing nations.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Sentence: “Corruption is an evil generally more ______ in the underdeveloped and developing countries of the world.”
• Options: reluctant, distant, rampant, extravagant.
• The context suggests that corruption is frequent or widely present.

Concept / Approach:
The adjective “rampant” is commonly used with negative phenomena such as corruption, disease, crime, or rumours. It means widespread, growing without control, or very common. The other choices do not express this idea. “Reluctant” means unwilling, “distant” means far away, and “extravagant” means spending too much or being showy. Thus, “rampant” fits both the meaning and typical collocation.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Understand that the sentence is describing how common corruption is in certain countries. Step 2: Insert Option C: “rampant”. The sentence becomes “Corruption is an evil generally more rampant in the underdeveloped and developing countries of the world.” This is natural and meaningful. Step 3: Test Option A: “reluctant”. “More reluctant” describes people, not an evil like corruption. Step 4: Test Option B: “distant”. “More distant” refers to physical or emotional distance, which does not match “corruption”. Step 5: Test Option D: “extravagant”. “More extravagant” refers to spending habits or styles, not the frequency of corruption.

Verification / Alternative check:
Read the final sentence with “rampant” and compare it with common newspaper language. News reports often say “corruption is rampant”, “crime is rampant”, or “inflation is rampant”. This confirms that “rampant” is the correct collocation and appropriately captures the idea of an evil spreading freely without control.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A: “reluctant” indicates unwillingness and is usually used for people, not an abstract evil like corruption. Option B: “distant” indicates separation or remoteness and does not go with corruption in this context. Option D: “extravagant” describes lavishness, which is not the intended sense here.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes get confused by attractive sounding adjectives without checking if they normally appear with the noun in question. Learning common adjective and noun pairs such as “rampant corruption”, “severe shortage”, or “acute crisis” helps in quickly identifying the correct answer in such questions.

Final Answer:
The correct word to complete the sentence is rampant.