Question

Identify the correct word from the given options, which means the following:
The study of birds
a. ornithology
b. philology
c. orology
d. geology

Answer 1

Hint: All of these options have completely different meanings. Understand their meanings. They start with different prefixes. Find the prefix that refers to ‘birds’. This will lead you to the correct answer.

Complete answer: In grammar, a substitute is used as a word to replace a word that serves as a specific kind of replacement. When one word replaces an entire phrase and still retains the original meaning, it is called a ‘substitute noun’. For example, the phrase ‘the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for’ can be summarised by the word ‘serendipity’. The only way to identify them correctly is to memorise them or use etymology to guess them as accurately as possible. The given phrase refers to changing the structure of something to make something different out of it.

Let us go through the available options:
 a. ornithology - The word ‘ornithology’ refers to a branch of zoology that concerns the methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds’, so this word has the same meaning as the given phrase. It means the same thing. This is the required answer. So, (a) is the correct option.
b. philology - The word ‘philology’ refers to ‘the study of literary texts as well as oral and written records', so this word does not have the same meaning as the given phrase. It does not mean the same thing. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c. orology - The word ‘orology’ refers to ‘the study of mountains’, so this word does not have the same meaning as the given phrase. It does not mean the same thing. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. geology - The word ‘geology’ refers to ‘the study of the Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them', so this word does not have the same meaning as the given phrase. It does not mean the same thing. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: Try to identify the meanings of the given options and then, understand the meaning of the given phrase. The phrase refers to a very specific situation. Go through the given options and find the correct option accordingly.