Question

To get success in UPSC Civil Service exams, Ramesh had to _____.

Direction: Complete the above sentence by selecting the correct idiom from the following

1. burn his bridges
2. burn the midnight oil
3. burn the candle at both ends
4. burn his fingers
5.

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : burn the midnight oil

The correct answer is 'burn the midnight oil'.

• An idiom is a saying or expression that is widely used among speakers of a certain language and whose figurative meaning is different from its literal meaning. 
  • For eg.- throw caution to the winds - to take a decision without caring about the negative effects that come with it.
• The given sentence is conveying that Ramesh had to work hard for long hours in order to get success in Civil Service exams.
• The idiom that can be most appropriately used to fill in the blank is 'burn the midnight oil'.
• Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.

• Let's look at the remaining options 

Idiom	Meaning	Example Sentence
burn his bridges	remove someone's all options of retreat, act decisively	She has already burned his bridges with his previous employer by publicly criticizing their marketing policy.
burn the candle at both ends	exhaust someone's energies or resources by leading a hectic life	Since the starting of my new job, I have been burning the candle at both ends.
burn his fingers	to bear an unpleasant result of an action that has been taken in the past	The minister was warned not to venture into this sort of contract but if he wants to burn his fingers in spite of that then he may continue.