Most people at their first consultation take a furtive look at the surgeon’s hands in the hope of reassurance. Prospective patients look for delicacy, sensitivity, steadiness, perhaps unblemished pallor. On this basis, Henry Perowne loses a number of cases each year. Generally, he knows it’s about to happen before the patient does: the downward glance repeated, the prepared questions beginning to falter, the overemphatic thanks during the retreat to the door.
From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph
in the most appropriate way.
(1) Other people do not communicate due to their poor observation.
(2) Other patients don’t like what they see but are ignorant of their right to go elsewhere.
(3) But Perowne himself is not concerned.
(4) But others will take their place, he thought.
(5) These hands are steady enough, but they are large.
The main sentence of the paragraph that decides the
ending is “On this basis, Henry Perowne loses a
number of cases each year.” Option 1 moves away from
the core of the paragraph - losing patients.
Option 5 does not complete the paragraph and leaves
one wanting for more data to explain the importance of
hands being large.
Option 4 loses out on the sentence structure and style.
There is no logical continuity to the paragraph.
Option 3 provides a logical finish to the paragraph by
showing that in spite of the losing patients, Perowne is
not concerned.
Option 2 brings in a disconnect to the idea from the
paragraph. It states that other patients’ observations
are also negative and those who stay with Perowne do
so out of ignorance of available alternatives. This is not
in the continuation of the main idea expressed in the
paragraph.
Hence, the correct answer is option 3.