Astronomy vocabulary: select the best noun phrase describing the goal of finding life beyond Earth Context: Hubble Space Telescope tasks include searching for planets and studying interstellar matter. Complete the sentence: "The Hubble Space Telescope will search for planets around the stars, a key to the ______ extraterrestrial life, and examine interstellar dust and gases out of which stars are born." Choose the correct option.
Verbal Ability
Selecting Words
Difficulty: Easy
Choose an option
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Aexistence of
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Bdetection for
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Cevidence at
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Ddiscovery from
Answer
Correct Answer: existence of
Explanation
Given data
- Phrase pattern: "a key to the ______ extraterrestrial life".
- Intended meaning: whether life exists beyond Earth.
Concept/ApproachThe idiomatic and logical collocation is "a key to the existence of extraterrestrial life" — i.e., understanding whether such life exists.
Option analysisexistence of — correct grammar and meaning. ✅detection for — wrong preposition; natural phrase is "detection of".evidence at — wrong preposition and sense.discovery from — incorrect preposition; "discovery of" would still be less precise than "existence of" here.
Common pitfalls
- Mixing prepositions after abstract nouns (of/for/at).
Final Answerexistence of