Correct option is C
• Explanation: The bracketed word “fastly” is incorrect because “fast” is an adjective/adverb that does not normally take “-ly” in this sense. We say “fast increasing” or “increasing rapidly”, but “fastly increasing” is non-standard and grammatically incorrect.
• Also, the sentence needs an adverb that logically fits population growth due to the Neolithic Revolution, which indicates a very rapid and accelerating rise. Hence, “exponentially” is the most meaningful replacement.
• Correct replacement – exponentially:
• Meaning: Increasing very rapidly, at an accelerating rate (growing by multiples).
• (Hindi meaning: घातीय रूप से / बहुत तेज़ी से बढ़ना (तेज़ी लगातार बढ़ती जाती है))
• Example: During the industrial era, cities expanded exponentially.
• Correct sentence:
• During the time period of ancient history, starting roughly from 3000 BC, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution.
• Grammatical Rule Used (English):
• Some adverbs do not follow the “adjective + ly” pattern (e.g., fast, hard, late).
• “Fast” itself is used as an adverb: “run fast”, “grow fast”.
• “Fastly” is generally considered incorrect in standard English for this usage.
• When we need a formal adverb for rapid growth, words like rapidly, steadily, exponentially are preferred depending on context.
• व्याकरण नियम (Hindi):
• अंग्रेज़ी में कुछ शब्द जैसे fast, hard, late adverb के रूप में बिना “-ly” के ही प्रयोग होते हैं।
• इसलिए “fastly” का प्रयोग सामान्यतः गलत माना जाता है।
• यहाँ population growth के लिए उपयुक्त adverb exponentially है, जो तेज़ी से बढ़ती हुई वृद्धि (accelerating growth) दर्शाता है।
• Why other options are incorrect:
• (a) languidly – in a slow, weak manner (Hindi: सुस्ती से / ढीलेपन से) → population “languidly increasing” अर्थ के विपरीत है।
• (b) indolently – lazily (Hindi: आलस से) → अर्थ गलत है।
• (d) No Correction Required – गलत, क्योंकि “fastly” सही शब्द नहीं है।
So the correct answer is (c).
English
80 Questions
160 Marks
60 Mins
