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"His face _____ with joy when the solution of the puzzle was _____ to him." The words that best fill the blanks in the above sentence are: A. shone, shown B. shone, shone C. shown, shone D. shown, shown

GATE 2018 · General Aptitude · Most Appropriate Word · medium

Answer: The correct pair is 'shone, shown' (A).

  1. Fill the first blank: 'His face _____ with joy.' The idiom 'face shone with joy' means the face radiated joy. 'Shone' is the simple past of 'shine'. 'Shown' would mean 'his face was displayed', which is unnatural.
  2. Fill the second blank: 'The solution was _____ to him.' This is a passive construction (was + past participle). The verb is 'show' -> past participle 'shown'. 'Shone' is the past tense of 'shine' (intransitive) and cannot be used in this passive frame.