bsudharsan wrote:
Even though our existing tolerant society tends to allow offensive expressions, the convention of ____________ lives on.
Two Answers |
A. dysphemism |
B. intolerance |
C. fortunateness |
D. euphemism |
E. genteelism |
F. serendipity |
To solve this question, let us deploy
IMS's four-step approach.
STEP #1 ->
STORYBOARDThe first step is to read and understand the story. Clearly, the sentence talks of a
convention (custom) that lives on despite our existing tolerant society tending to allow offensive expressions.
Now that the first step is done, let us proceed to the second step.
STEP #2 ->
RELATEThe second step is to check for clues that may give us an insight into what the blank deals with. A great clue here is 'even though', a phrase that denotes a contrast. So, even though offensive expressions are allowed by our tolerant society, there are other expressions that continue to live on. Let us now ask ourselves two questions:
-> What does the blank deal with?
-> What information do we have about what the blank deals with?
And here go the answers:
-> The blank deals with a convention that lives on.
-> This convention is in contrast to what the tolerant society allows: offensive expressions.
Now that we have some insight into what the blank deals with, let us proceed to the third step.
STEP #3 ->
PREDICTThe third step is to come up with our own word for the blank if possible. If not, we must have an idea in the form of a phrase. Since we are looking for a word (a noun to be precise) that is opposite to offensive, 'INOFFENSIVE' could be our own word for the blank.
Let us now proceed to the final step.
STEP #4 ->
ELIMINATEThe final step is to eliminate answer options that do not closely match with the word we have come up with, that is, 'INOFFENSIVE'.
(A) dysphemism -
NOT A MATCH -
Means 'an offensive expression substituted for an inoffensive one' -
ELIMINATE(B) intolerance -
NOT A MATCH -
Means 'lack of tolerance' -
ELIMINATE(C) fortunateness -
NOT A MATCH -
Means 'auspicious'. Can also mean 'success' -
ELIMINATE(D) euphemism -
A CLOSE MATCH -
Means 'an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one' -
KEEP(E) genteelism -
A CLOSE MATCH -
Means 'an expression regarded by its user as more polite than another' -
KEEP(C) serendipity -
NOT A MATCH -
Means 'luck or good fortune'. Especially used to mean 'a talent for making fortunate discoveries while looking for other things' -
ELIMINATEHence, D and E are the right answers.