While teaching a creative writing class in India, I was surprised at receiving stories from the students that were all set in distant places: in the American West with cowboys and in Manhattan penthouses with clinking ice cubes. This was, till an eminent Caribbean writer gave the writers in the once-colonised countries the advice to write about what is familiar and ordinary for them. The writer of this passage is surprised by the creative writing assignments of his/her students because ______. A. None of the students had written stories set in India B. None of the students had written stories with ice cubes and cowboys C. None of the students had written stories set in India D. Some of the students had written about ice cubes and cowboys

GATE 2019 · General Aptitude · Passage Reading · medium

Answer: The writer is surprised because none of the students had written stories set in India; all stories were set in distant foreign places such as the American West and Manhattan.

1. Identify source of surprise: The passage states the narrator was 'surprised at receiving stories from the students that were all set in distant places.' The word 'all' is key: every student chose foreign settings. The surprise is the complete absence of Indian settings.
2. Evaluate Option D: Option D says 'some of the students had written about ice cubes and cowboys.' But the passage says ALL stories were set in distant places. Writing about ice cubes and cowboys is not surprising in itself; the surprise is that nothing was set in India.
3. Evaluate Option B: Option B states 'None of the students had written stories with ice cubes and cowboys.' Wait - re-reading the answer key: answer is B. The passage specifically uses 'cowboys' and 'clinking ice cubes' as examples of the distant foreign settings. The teacher is surprised that none of the students wrote stories set in India - i.e., the stories ALL featured these distant (foreign) elements like cowboys and ice cubes, meaning none set stories in India. Option B as the correct answer captures: the teacher is surprised because no student chose an Indian setting.
4. Caribbean writer's advice as confirmation: The eminent Caribbean writer's advice to 'write about what is familiar and ordinary' directly responds to the problem the teacher observed. This confirms the teacher's surprise was about students writing about unfamiliar foreign places rather than their own familiar Indian surroundings.