Fill in the blank with the correct option :
_____, they slept soundly.

Question

Accepted Answer

Option 2, "Hot though the night air was," is the correct answer because it uses the correct structure for an inversion showing concession. Inversion is used here to emphasize the adjective "hot." The structure "adjective + though + subject + verb" is a grammatically correct way to express "even though the night air was hot." This creates a smooth and logical connection to the second part of the sentence, "they slept soundly," implying that despite the heat, they were able to sleep well.

Here's why the other options are incorrect:

*   **Option 1: Hot though was the night air:** This option is grammatically incorrect. The word order "was the night air" is inverted incorrectly. While inversion is used in the correct answer, this option inverts the subject and verb without the proper conjunction or context to make it grammatically sound.

*   **Option 3: Hot was the night air that:** This option is incorrect because it introduces a relative clause ("that") unnecessarily. The word "that" implies a restrictive clause, which doesn't fit the intended meaning of concession. It changes the meaning and makes the sentence awkward and less logical.

*   **Option 4: Hot although the night air was:** While "although" can express concession, using "although" in this way is less emphatic and less common than the "though" inversion. More importantly, the sentence structure is less concise and elegant than Option 2. While grammatically correct, it doesn't fit the context as well as Option 2, which uses the more emphatic and stylistically appropriate inversion.