Hmm are you sure its supposed to say "aunsurprising"? Assuming that its supposed to be unsurprising instead -

unsurprising: not surprising
encouraging: supporting
telling: striking

languished: grow weak
burgeoned: thrive
imploded: burst inside. increase in demand here.

the phrase "regardless of its acclaim amongst certain members of the literati" tells us that short stories aren't popular among the general population. This thought is further supported as novels "continues to be popular amongst lay reader". This disparity is clearly striking since literati (or the people studying literature and other educated folks/peers/writers) like short stories but the general population doesn't.

It is (i)______ that the short story, regardless of its acclaim amongst certain members of the literati, has (ii)___________ amongst the public—all the more so because the novel, in some ways an inherently more demanding form, continues to be popular amongst lay readers who apparently subscribe to the trite credo that bigger is better.

(i)

(A) unsurprising
(B) encouraging
(C) telling

(ii)

(D) languished
(E) burgeoned
(F) imploded

Merged similar topic. Refer above for the explanation or ask if you do need further assistance

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Thanks for these inputs @Carcass

Look at here for instance and go through the links.

Maybe you will be surprised https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/free-gre- ... 18796.html

Regards

I understood this question in this way:

It is not surprising/unsurprisng that public didn't like short stories, so they fail/languish as lay readers like novels which are long

Please explain why unsurprising is wrong here.

OE

The word “surprising” would fit nicely in the first blank. For example, The short story surprisingly hasn’t been adopted by the public because the novel is “more demanding . . .” However, “surprising” isn’t an answer choice. (A) unsurprising is the opposite. (B) encouraging doesn’t fit the overall tone of the sentence, especially with the second half starting with “all the more so.” Why would it be encouraging that the public follows a “trite credo”? (C) telling, which means “striking or revealing,” matches up better with the second sentence: “It is all the more striking that the short story hasn’t been popular, because the novel, which requires more of the reader, has been popular.” What does “all the more so” mean? The phrase “all the more so” means “especially so,” and is used to emphasize a statement by adding more information. This is an escalation of the idea found in the first part of the sentence and especially in the first blank. The writer is making a more insistent point in the second part of the sentence about what was said in the first part. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to the second sentence for clues: all the clues are in this sentence.

Why doesn’t unsurprising work for the first blank? Look first at the sentence without the last clause: It is that the short story, regardless of its acclaim amongst certain members of the literati, has amongst the public—all the more so because the novel, in some ways an inherently more demanding form, continues to be popular amongst lay readers. If you had just this sentence, it might be clearer. This gives the reason why the short story should be popular, so its unpopularity is surprising. If you just stop here, it might be clearer that the first blank would be “surprising” or something similar. But the final clause does cause some confusion: . . . who apparently subscribe to the trite credo that bigger is better. This is an explanation of why this surprising situation is true. Note the negativity (“apparently,” “trite credo”) here. The author is being negative about the idea that “bigger is better” because he feels that it’s not true. So it’s surprising that people actually follow this “credo,” especially when novels are actually more difficult! It helps to keep in mind what the author’s beliefs are so as not to be tricked by other people’s opinions like this. The author finds it surprising, even if the people who think “bigger is better” would not.

If short stories are becoming less popular, doesn’t that contradict what the second sentence tells us? The first half is discussing short stories, while the second half is discussing novels. Short stories and novels are two different things! So there’s no contradiction if the writer says that the short story has “languished amongst the public.”

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