OE


Blank (i) offers a strong clue, so it's a good place to start: languages do something to "new words" while "abandoning old" and "changing others." Predict "adopting" or "creating." (B) is a clear match, since embracing means "accepting." (A) Auguring means "predicting." This is a tempting trap, but it does not match the word "evolve," which appears earlier in the sentence. Languages would not "change" merely by predicting new words. Lastly, (C) obscuring means "hiding," but nothing in the sentence suggests that a language would hide new words.


The next easiest blank is likely blank (iii), since the sentence gives examples of modern phrases that came from Shakespeare. Use those examples to predict "credits," but be flexible with these phrasal answer choices. (G) matches well: the clues in the sentence indicate that these modern English phrases came from Shakespeare. (H) portends several disconcerting means "predicts several disturbing" phrases, but the sentence does not suggest that these phrases are disturbing. The verb in (I), attributes, could work in the context of the sentence, but the other words in the answer choice, few impeccable, make this incorrect, since the sentence does not indicate that Shakespeare made few or "perfect" contributions to modern English.
Finally, predict for blank (ii). The sentence claims that modern English seems to have "little connection" with Shakespeare's language, and the structural keyword "since" offers the explanation. Speakers of modern English "avoid" or "don't use" these archaic words. (D) means "shun" and is correct. (E) appropriate means "take for one's own use," but that is the opposite of the sentence's meaning, while (F) mitigate means "reduce" or "alleviate," but current speakers do not reduce these words.