Fill in the blanks:

The word "popularity" correctly completes the sentence, indicating that cricket is widely liked and supported by a large number of people in Bangladesh. The phrase "enjoys huge popularity" is a common and appropriate collocation used to describe something or someone that is very popular or has a significant following. This type of fill-in-the-blank question often assesses a candidate's vocabulary, understanding of common idioms, and ability to use words in appropriate contexts, which are essential skills for competitive exams.

The word "bitter" is primarily an adjective, meaning having a sharp, pungent taste or causing pain or unhappiness. For example, "The coffee was bitter" or "She felt bitter about the injustice."

The verb form of "bitter" is "embitter." To "embitter" means to make someone feel angry, resentful, or unhappy. It describes the act of causing bitterness in a person or a situation.

Example:

    
• His constant failures began to embitter him against the system.
    
• The unfair decision embittered the employees.

"Bitter" can also function as a noun, referring to the bitter taste itself (e.g., "The bitter of the medicine"). However, when transforming it into an action word, "embitter" is the correct verb to use.

The correct verb to fill the blank is "was". The noun "news" is an uncountable noun in English, even though it ends with 's'. Uncountable nouns always take a singular verb. Since the sentence is in the past tense (indicated by "gave"), the singular past tense verb "was" is appropriate.

The word "inside" is a preposition that indicates the position of something within the confines or interior of another object or space. It is used to show containment. In this sentence, the pencil is located within the physical boundaries of the pencil box.

While "in" could also be used here (e.g., "I kept the pencil in the pencil box"), "inside" often emphasizes the enclosure or interiority more strongly. Both are grammatically correct for indicating containment, but "inside" can sometimes suggest a deeper or more protected location.

Prepositions like "inside" are crucial for showing relationships between nouns and pronouns with other words in a sentence, specifying location, direction, time, and other abstract relationships.