In the following question, a paragraph is given with few blanks. Choose the word from the given options that will fill all the blanks and make the paragraph grammatically correct and contextually meaningful.

____________ the bell rang, the committee came to order and asked Riya to ____________ the proceedings. What looked like a ____________ discrepancy in the figures soon turned serious, and the chair granted only a ____________ for each member to speak.

Correct option is D

Correct answer: (d) minute
How it fits all blanks:
· “the minute the bell rang” = as soon as the bell rang.
· “asked Riya to minute the proceedings” = to record/prepare the minutes.
· “a minute discrepancy” = very small.
· “granted only a minute for each member to speak” = one minute.
Why others don’t work:
· (a) record: works for proceedings only; not for the other blanks.
· (b) tiny: works for “discrepancy” but not the others.
· (c) time: awkward in “the time the bell rang” (needs “by the time/at the time”) and doesn’t fit “to time the proceedings.”
· (e) hour: fits only the last blank.