Question

Fill in the correct word keeping in mind the lest-should condition:

Be careful lest you should __________ into bad company.

• A. rise
• B. not fall
• C. fall
• D. None of these

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

fall

"Lest" means "for fear that" or "in order to avoid" and is usually followed by an action/situation that must be avoided. Moreover, the construction of "should" in such a sentence is usually should + base verb.

Option C is correct. Here, the subject needs to be careful so that they may not be influenced by "bad company". Here "fall" is a verb that matches the negative situation. The answer is therefore, "should fall".

Option A is incorrect. The sentence would become grammatically incorrect since "rise into bad company" makes little sense and "to rise into" is positive, such as rising in status, which is the opposite of being influenced by "bad company".

Option B is incorrect. In this option, the situation becomes desirable. The purpose of being careful is lost if the subject wants to fall into bad company. This defeats the purpose of using "lest" and is thus incorrect.

Option D is incorrect since the answer is option C.