Start here · the first lesson of Missing sentence in the middle
Missing sentence in the middle
Para Completion · for IPMAT Indore, IPMAT Rohtak and JIPMAT
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The idea
A sentence is missing between two others, so the answer has to fit both neighbours. This is the most common Indore position: 9 of the 19 located PYQs (2019 old age, 2020 diseases, 2021 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 Goa and exams, 2023 Indian poetry and the Lucknow villas, 2024 Riken Yamamoto and sports careers). There are three kinds:
- Bridge (link-before-after): the blank carries the thought from one sentence to the next (troubles → the pandemic → "Yet Japan is a safe choice").
- Sequence slot: the paragraph is a list or a series of steps (Firstly… Equally important… [blank]… Above all), and the blank is the next item.
- Reference link: a word after the blank points back to it: "They become ill more easily", "several causes for this situation", "Villas, hence, provided an ideal substitute". The blank must supply that referent.
Textbook vs exam method
Textbook method
Read the paragraph with each option in the blank and keep the one that "flows best".
Exam method
- Start after the blank. Read the next sentence and circle its first few words: pronouns, labels (this situation, the savings), connectors (Yet, But, therefore, Then, In fact).
- Name what the blank must give. A referent for "They"; a negative for "Yet" to turn against; a cause for "therefore"; a situation for "this situation"; the next list item for "Equally important… Above all".
- Check the sentence before. The blank must also follow from it (2023: "centred in Calcutta" → the blank must still be about Calcutta, because "Then, gradually, it moved…" comes next).
- Eliminate in this order. fits one side only → repeats an earlier point → jumps ahead (conclusion, last step) → new topic.
- Read three sentences together. before + your option + after.