"The judge's standing in the legal community, though shaken by false allegations of wrongdoing, remained ______ ." The word that best fills the blank in the above sentence is A. undiminished B. damaged C. illegal D. uncertain

GATE 2018 · General Aptitude · Most Appropriate Word · medium

Answer: A. undiminished

1. Parse sentence structure: Main clause: 'the judge's standing ... remained ______'. Concessive clause: 'though shaken by false allegations of wrongdoing'. The 'though' tells us the main clause contradicts the expectation set by the concessive — standing was shaken but still remained [positive state].
2. Use 'false' as an additional clue: Since the allegations are false (untrue), they should not have a lasting negative effect on an innocent judge. This supports choosing a word that means the standing was preserved, not damaged. Options B (damaged) and D (uncertain) contradict this logic.
3. Eliminate and confirm: B. damaged — contradicts the 'though' structure (if damaged, 'though' would not make sense). C. illegal — a reputation cannot be illegal. D. uncertain — possible, but 'though' implies the standing actually survived. A. undiminished — means 'not reduced', perfectly completing 'remained undiminished'.