PP1 (Shorter) Verbal Section 2 (Medium) Q2

<p><span style="color:#27ae60;"><span style="font-size:20px;">The Right Answers</span></span></p> <p><strong>Blank 1</strong>:&nbsp;Use <strong><span style="color:#8e44ad;">Math Strategy</span></strong> for this blank. The &quot;but&quot; after the word &quot;English&quot; indicates that the two ideas contrast each other. The second idea states that &quot;Clark is never unclear,&quot; which is obviously positive. To contrast that idea, we can guess a word like &quot;terrible&quot; for blank 1.</p> <p>The answer choice that most closely matches this guess is <span style="color:#27ae60;">defiant</span>. It&#39;s not a match with our guess &quot;terrible,&quot; but <span style="color:#27ae60;">defiant </span>is really the only negative word of the three.</p> <p><strong>Blank 2</strong>: Use the <strong><span style="color:#8e44ad;">Previously Referenced Strategy</span></strong> for this blank. The &quot;this&quot; in front of blank 2 lets us know that an idea from before the blank is being repeated. If we look before, we can see from blank 1 that Clark was a &quot;defiant&quot; speller. Repeating this idea, we can guess a phrase like &quot;breaking of&quot; for blank 2.</p> <p>The answer that most closely matches this guess is <span style="color:#27ae60;">disregard for</span>.</p> <p><span style="color:#e74c3c;"><span style="font-size:20px;">The Wrong Answers</span></span></p> <p><strong>Blank 1</strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="color:#e74c3c;">indefatigable</span>: This choice contradicts the logic of the sentence because &quot;indefatigable&quot; has a positive connotation.</li> <li><span style="color:#e74c3c;">fastidious</span>: This choice contradicts the logic of the sentence for two reasons. First, the sentence clearly lets us know that Clark was NOT &quot;fastidious,&quot; or careful, with his spelling. Second, it has a positive connotation.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Blank 2</strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="color:#e74c3c;">partiality toward</span>: This choice <strong>contradicts</strong> the logic of the sentence. If Clark had a bias toward spelling, we would expect him to be good at it -- not bad.</li> <li><span style="color:#e74c3c;">unpretentiousness about</span>: This is a pretty good trap answer. People who are not great at spelling do have a certain unpretentiousness about them. They are not obsessed with society&#39;s expectations. Unfortunately, this choice <strong>has no evidence</strong> in the sentence. We don&#39;t know about the pretension levels of Clark.</li> </ul>