Fill in the blank with the correct word from the bracket :
Mandela's speech swings between references to the past and a __ (bleak/promising) future.
Fill in the blank with the correct word from the bracket :
Mandela's speech swings between references to the past and a __ (bleak/promising) future.
Official answer
promising — the future-facing lines speak of hope, glory and permanence ('never again', 'so glorious a human achievement'), the opposite of a bleak, gloomy outlook.
Marking scheme
- 1.1 mark for correctly filling the blank with 'promising'.
Hint
Look at the tone of the sentence describing the future — is it hopeful or hopeless?
Quick oral answer
The correct word is 'promising' — Mandela's speech moves from the pain of the past to a hopeful, glorious vision of the future.
Common mistakes
- 1.Choosing 'bleak' by focusing only on the past suffering mentioned, without noting the hopeful shift when Mandela speaks of the future.
- 2.Not connecting the blank to the celebratory final line about the 'glorious human achievement'.
Analysis and explanation
The extract mentions past suffering but pivots to a hopeful vision of the future.
Key points
- Past references: 'continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering'; 'the oppression of one by another'.
- Future references: the pledge that oppression will 'never, never, and never again' occur, and the celebratory 'sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement'.
Common mistakes (exam caution)
- Being distracted by the past suffering and wrongly labelling the whole extract's tone as negative, instead of noticing that suffering is framed as something now being left behind — the correct word is 'promising', not 'bleak'.
Interesting facts
The contrast between a painful past and a hopeful future is a recurring rhetorical structure in many freedom-movement speeches, including those of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
Question details
Q28 of 72 questions
- Board
- CBSE
- Class
- Class 10
- Subject
- English (Language & Literature)
- Year
- 2026
- Section
- Section C
- Marks
- 1
- Type
- Fill in the Blank
- Chapter
- Long Walk to Freedom — First Flight (Nelson Mandela)
- Topic
- Vocabulary in context — Long Walk to Freedom
- Bloom's level
- understand
- Syllabus topic
- First Flight: Long Walk to Freedom — Vocabulary and inference from context
- Author
- CBSE
- Reviewed by
- Padhantu Academic Team
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Frequently asked questions
Why is 'promising' correct instead of 'bleak'?
Because Mandela's references to the future are hopeful and celebratory ('the sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement'), not dark or hopeless, so 'promising' fits the context.