Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable preposition.
The price of petrol is increasing _______ a rate of 0.5% per day.

• A. at
• B. of
• C. off
• D. with

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

at

‘At’ functions as a preposition of measure that indicates the exact rate at which something increases. The measure is exact and is repetitive. In the given sentence the price of the petrol increases everyday uniformly. Hence option A is correct. On the other hand ‘of’ is used to denote belonging and is not used to refer to a rate. Thus option B is incorrect. ‘Off’ and ‘with’ are unsuitable in the given context because they don’t denote a measure, while the sentence needs to be filled with a preposition of measure. ‘Off’ means to get rid of something while ‘with’ denotes a tool. Therefore options C and D are incorrect.