His knowledge of the subject was excellent but his classroom performance was_______.
A. extremely poor
B. good
C. desirable
D. praiseworthy
GATE 2020 · General Aptitude · Word Meaning · medium
Answer: A. extremely poor
Identify the contrast signal: The word 'but' in the sentence is a contrast conjunction. It tells us the second part of the sentence should be opposite to 'excellent'.
Evaluate each option: A. 'extremely poor' — negative, contrasts with excellent. FITS. B. 'good' — positive, no contrast. Does NOT fit. C. 'desirable' — positive, no contrast. Does NOT fit. D. 'praiseworthy' — very positive, no contrast. Does NOT fit.
Confirm the answer: His knowledge was excellent BUT his performance was extremely poor — this is logically consistent and grammatically correct.