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While the guitar has (i) over the course of its centuries-long histor
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04 Apr 2022, 10:19
04 Apr 2022, 10:19
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Question Stats:
63% (01:06) correct
36% (00:40) wrong based on 66 sessions
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While the guitar has (i) _______ over the course of its centuries-long history, perhaps most notably with the invention of the electric guitar in the 1930s, the modern guitar exhibits (ii) _______ the vihuela of 15th-century Spain. A skilled guitarist would likely be able to pick up this (iii) _______ instrument, also an ancestor of the viol, and competently play a tune.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
|---|---|---|
| A. stagnated | D. an incongruity with | G. inferior |
| B. evolved | E. an affinity to | H. archaic |
| C. regressed | F. a divergence from | I. avant-garde |
Re: While the guitar has (i) over the course of its centuries-long histor
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09 Apr 2022, 22:57
09 Apr 2022, 22:57
Expert Reply
OE - B, E, H
The first blank is a good one to start with here. It describes something that's happened to the guitar over its long history. Since the given example is the invention of the electric guitar, you can predict that the guitar has "grown" or "changed." (B) evolved is a match and is correct. (A) stagnated, or "remained the same," doesn't fit, as an innovation is specifically mentioned in the first sentence. (C) regressed, or "moved backward," does imply a change, but there's no indication that the guitar has changed in a negative or regressive fashion.
The second blank explains the relationship between a modern guitar and a 15th-century instrument. "While" is a detour road sign; it indicates that there's a contrast between this relationship and the evolution of the guitar. Furthermore, the second sentence indicates that a skilled guitarist would be able to "competently" play the vihuela. A good prediction would be that even though the guitar has gone through changes over the centuries, it is still similar to the vihuela. This idea is reinforced by the next sentence, which says that a modern guitarist could probably play the old instrument. (E) an affinity to is the correct answer; an affinity is a "similarity" or a "likeness." (D) an incongruity with and (F) a divergence from both indicate a dissimilarity with the vihuela, which is not supported.
The third blank is directly connected to the vihuela; since all that's known about it from this text is that it's from the 15th century, predict that this blank means "old." That's (H) archaic, which means "outmoded" or "antiquated." (G) inferior ("of lesser quality") is wrong because there's no support for the idea that the vihuela is worse than the guitar or any other instrument. (I) avant-garde may be tempting because it's a term that's often used in the context of music and other
arts; however, it relates to "new" or "experimental" concepts, so it doesn't fit here.
The second blank explains the relationship between a modern guitar and a 15th-century instrument. "While" is a detour road sign; it indicates that there's a contrast between this relationship and the evolution of the guitar. Furthermore, the second sentence indicates that a skilled guitarist would be able to "competently" play the vihuela. A good prediction would be that even though the guitar has gone through changes over the centuries, it is still similar to the vihuela. This idea is reinforced by the next sentence, which says that a modern guitarist could probably play the old instrument. (E) an affinity to is the correct answer; an affinity is a "similarity" or a "likeness." (D) an incongruity with and (F) a divergence from both indicate a dissimilarity with the vihuela, which is not supported.
The third blank is directly connected to the vihuela; since all that's known about it from this text is that it's from the 15th century, predict that this blank means "old." That's (H) archaic, which means "outmoded" or "antiquated." (G) inferior ("of lesser quality") is wrong because there's no support for the idea that the vihuela is worse than the guitar or any other instrument. (I) avant-garde may be tempting because it's a term that's often used in the context of music and other
arts; however, it relates to "new" or "experimental" concepts, so it doesn't fit here.
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GRE 1: Q154 V157
Re: While the guitar has (i) over the course of its centuries-long histor
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10 Apr 2022, 04:18
10 Apr 2022, 04:18
2
Carcass wrote:
OE - B, E, H
The first blank is a good one to start with here. It describes something that's happened to the guitar over its long history. Since the given example is the invention of the electric guitar, you can predict that the guitar has "grown" or "changed." (B) evolved is a match and is correct. (A) stagnated, or "remained the same," doesn't fit, as an innovation is specifically mentioned in the first sentence. (C) regressed, or "moved backward," does imply a change, but there's no indication that the guitar has changed in a negative or regressive fashion.
The second blank explains the relationship between a modern guitar and a 15th-century instrument. "While" is a detour road sign; it indicates that there's a contrast between this relationship and the evolution of the guitar. Furthermore, the second sentence indicates that a skilled guitarist would be able to "competently" play the vihuela. A good prediction would be that even though the guitar has gone through changes over the centuries, it is still similar to the vihuela. This idea is reinforced by the next sentence, which says that a modern guitarist could probably play the old instrument. (E) an affinity to is the correct answer; an affinity is a "similarity" or a "likeness." (D) an incongruity with and (F) a divergence from both indicate a dissimilarity with the vihuela, which is not supported.
The third blank is directly connected to the vihuela; since all that's known about it from this text is that it's from the 15th century, predict that this blank means "old." That's (H) archaic, which means "outmoded" or "antiquated." (G) inferior ("of lesser quality") is wrong because there's no support for the idea that the vihuela is worse than the guitar or any other instrument. (I) avant-garde may be tempting because it's a term that's often used in the context of music and other
arts; however, it relates to "new" or "experimental" concepts, so it doesn't fit here.
The second blank explains the relationship between a modern guitar and a 15th-century instrument. "While" is a detour road sign; it indicates that there's a contrast between this relationship and the evolution of the guitar. Furthermore, the second sentence indicates that a skilled guitarist would be able to "competently" play the vihuela. A good prediction would be that even though the guitar has gone through changes over the centuries, it is still similar to the vihuela. This idea is reinforced by the next sentence, which says that a modern guitarist could probably play the old instrument. (E) an affinity to is the correct answer; an affinity is a "similarity" or a "likeness." (D) an incongruity with and (F) a divergence from both indicate a dissimilarity with the vihuela, which is not supported.
The third blank is directly connected to the vihuela; since all that's known about it from this text is that it's from the 15th century, predict that this blank means "old." That's (H) archaic, which means "outmoded" or "antiquated." (G) inferior ("of lesser quality") is wrong because there's no support for the idea that the vihuela is worse than the guitar or any other instrument. (I) avant-garde may be tempting because it's a term that's often used in the context of music and other
arts; however, it relates to "new" or "experimental" concepts, so it doesn't fit here.
Hi Carcass,
Here I correctly guessed first two blanks, but for the second blank I chose 'avant-garde', for which I didn't knew its exact meaning while attempting. The problem was I incorrectly judged that, "this" in "pick up this ___" was referring to modern guitar, hence picked up avant-garde, because other two option didn't make sense to me. How to exactly understand that "this" refers to the ancient guitar, what is the grammar behind it.
