Multiple choice

It was as if the plague had broken out in the country and news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, a wise man, a knowledgeable one, whose words and breath was enough to heal everyone who had been infected with the pestilence, and as such news would go through the land and everyone would talk about it, many would believe, many would doubt, but many would get on their way as soon as possible, to seek the wise man, the helper, just like this the myth ran through the land, that fragrant myth of Gotama, the Buddha, the wise man of the family of Sakya.

  1. It was as if the plague had broken out in the country and news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, a wise man, a knowledgeable one, whose words and breath was enough to heal everyone who had been infected with the pestilence

  2. It was as if the plague had broken out in a country and the news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, the wise man, the knowledgeable one, whose word and breath was enough to heal everyone who had been infected with the pestilence

  3. It was as if the plague had broken out in a country and news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, a wise man, a knowledgeable one, whose word and breath was enough to heal everyone who had been infected with the pestilence

  4. It was as if plague had broken out in the country and the news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, a wise man, a knowledgeable one, whose word and breath was enough to heal anyone who had been infected with the pestilence

  5. It was as if plague had broken out in a country and news had been spreading around that in one or another place there was a man, a wise man, a knowledgeable one, whose words and breath was enough to heal everyone who had been infected with a pestilence

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

'Plague' being a specific disease would require 'the' while 'country' being referred to could be any country so 'a' would be the appropriate article for it. 'News' cannot take the till it becomes specific by revealing its subject which is not the case here. 'Word' and 'Breath' are followed by 'was' so they must both be singular. The 'healing' is not for any specific individual but everyone so 'everyone' is the preferable construct. The 'pestilence' refers to the plague mentioned earlier so it should take 'the'. Hence (3).