GATE 2025 ST – Question 6
From E.V. Lucas’s “A Funeral”: “His life was divided between the books, his friends, and long walks. A solitary man, he worked at all hours without much method, and probably courted his fatal illness in this way. To his own name there is not much to show; but such was his liberality that he was continually helping others, and fruits of his erudition are widely scattered, and have gone to increase many a comparative stranger’s reputation.” Based only on this passage, which is true?
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Correct answer: (A) The solitary man is dead.
Explanation
“Fatal illness” and the retrospective account indicate that he died. His learning benefited others’ reputations, not the reverse. “Fruits” and “courted” are figurative rather than literal fruit or a workplace. **A**.