Re: It is telling that a politician long adept at inhabiting any role
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08 Dec 2025, 06:25
Blank (i): What did he do to a disgruntled electorate?
The electorate is disgruntled meaning they are not happy.
What can an opportunistic politician do to them?
Options:
A. easily placate
B. only repel
C. shrewdly
“only repel” contradicts the idea that “he has been able to ___ a disgruntled electorate.”
That would indicate failure, but the sentence indicates success so
“shrewdly a disgruntled electorate” is ungrammatical and does not fit
“easily placate a disgruntled electorate” fits perfectly as placate means to appease/calm
Blank (i) = A. easily placate
Blank (ii): What is being said about the electorate’s nature?
It says this outcome “speaks more to the electorate’s ___ nature than to his ability.”
Meaning: the electorate was swayed easily, not because the politician is great but because they are weak or changeable.
Options:
D. fickle: easily changeable
E. disaffected : unhappy, alienated
F. docile : submissive
Disaffected contradicts “he placated them.”
Docile means obedient, but electorate being submissive has no evidence
Fickle = easily swayed fits perfectly
Blank (ii) = D. fickle
Blank (iii): What doesn’t this outcome say about him?
“... more to the electorate’s fickle nature than to his ability to be (iii) ______.”
So (iii) must be a good thing that the politician is not doing
Options:
G. persuasive
H. candid
I. misleading
The electorate was swayed because they are fickle, not because he is persuasive.
So his ability to be persuasive is what is not relevant
"Candid" = honesty does not fit as it is irrelevant.
"Misleading" = negative, and contradicts the idea
Blank (iii) = G. persuasive