Thanks makes sense!

Churchill conceded that Russia, (i) _________ an ally of France and Great Britain, was in fact (ii) _________ to their security, but argued that Russian national interest would compel it to make (iii) _________ with those countries.

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
(A) steadfastly	(D) pledged	(G) common cause
(B) nominally	(E) indifferent	(H) rack and ruin
(C) sporadically	(F) immune	(I) vim and vigor

Explanation

“In fact” suggests that Russia did not have the same concern for the security of France and Great Britain as one would expect of an ally. For the first blank, we’d like a word that describes a not-fully-committed ally, and for the second blank, we’d like a word that means “not concerned.”

Nominally works for the first word, as it means “in name (only).” Indifferent works for the second, as it means that Russia didn’t really care. The “but” that introduces the last clause tells you that Churchill argued that Russia would act as an ally, albeit only for its own national reasons. To make common cause is to act as an ally.

Nominally, indifferent, common cause.

How about "sporadically" for the first blank .. sporadically = occasional, infrequent

@HEcom
context said Russia didn't care much about security of other nations so sporadically is wrong here and nominally would be correct answer
as Russia is ally only in name not in real sense

The phrase "was in fact" suggests that there is a contradiction between the kind of ally Russia was (appearance) and its consequence to the national security of France and Great Britain (actual fact). Thus, the words we choose for the first and second blanks should reflect this contradiction.

We can right away rule out steadfastly because we know that it was an appearance.

We can choose nominally because it means something that is in name only; something that is officially though perhaps not in reality - or in other words
an appearance.

Well if Russia was nominally an ally then the second blank should be a word that indicates the reality, which is contradictory to it being an ally, and therefore the word indifferent is the best choice.

Churchill conceded that Russia, (i) nominally an ally of France and Great Britain, was in fact (ii) indifferent to their security

The "but" after the comma indicates a new idea that is in contradiction to the earlier sentence fragment, which states that Russia was indifferent to the security concerns of France and Great Britain. Well then the second part of the sentence should assert the opposite - namely, Russian national interest would compel it to make common cause with those countries.

"to make vim and vigor with those countries" is wrong and bad usage.

Coming back to the first blank,

If we say "sporadically an ally" we would have to choose "pledged to their security", in which case the third blank would have to be filled with a word which means "discord with those countries". But no option that is a synonym of "discord" is available which makes good sense from the point of view of grammar and usage. Of course "rack and ruin" is a synonym of discord but "to make and ruin with those countries" is bad usage, in fact wrong usage. But "to make common cause" is accepted usage, a common expression used regularly and fits in perfectly.

So we are justified in eliminating "sporadically" for the first blank.

These are the absolute toughest 3-blank questions you can ever find on a standardized test. The reason is because there are NO context clues whatsoever here. You literally have to analyze the relationship between the words and just jumble them around in your head. In essence, this is more like a brainteaser instead of a legitimate problem that tests anything. Another thing is that the grammatical structure does not make sense. The "but argued that" phrase does not line up with what came before. This question should not be asked.

By the way, A) steadfastly can also work here. This question got thrown out, by the way. It was one that I successfully argued against.

If the first and the second blank should contradict each other then the answer to the first blank should not be nominal as nominal is a somewhat negative word and indifferent (second black) is too a negative word.
Because "in fact" asserts what was previously stated and does not introduce a contrast, the answer to the first blank should be "nominal".
The answers you mentioned are correct but the reasoning is wrong.

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