Re: The board voted unanimously to demand the CEOs immediate resignation;
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15 Oct 2024, 23:54
Official Answer: B, F
Read the sentence, looking for clues
The semicolon signals a straight-ahead connection between the ideas in the two parts of the sentence: the board “unanimously” demanded that the CEO resign in response to the “newly surfaced evidence.” The word “even” indicates that the one board member singled out in the sentence joined in this unanimous decision against the CEO, but that the member’s decision is unexpected.
Predict an answer
The blank describes a past action of the board member in regards to the original allegations against the CEO. Since “even” this board member agreed the CEO should resign in light of the new evidence, predict verbs that reflect that the board member previously did not take the allegations seriously, such as “not believed,”“ignored,” or even “scoffed at.”
Select the two choices that most closely match your prediction
(B) disregarded, which means “ignored” and (F) downplayed, which means “deemphasized,” are correct because they both mean that the board member did not originally take the allegations against the CEO seriously. (A) defended is incorrect because someone unconvinced by allegations might have defended the CEO, but not the allegations themselves. (C) supported and (E) commended, which means “praised,” are incorrect because they are opposite of the required meaning; it would not be unexpected that someone who was already supportive of the original allegations was convinced by new evidence. Likewise, a board member who had (D) initiated, or started, the allegations would not necessarily need to be convinced by new evidence.
Confirm your answer by reading your choices back into the sentence
The board voted unanimously to demand the CEO’s immediate resignation; even the board member who had previously disregarded/downplayed the original allegations of improper business dealings was convinced by the newly surfaced evidence.
TAKEAWAY: Clues on more difficult short verbal questions can be subtle; even punctuation marks like semicolons can be powerful roadsigns that help determine the meaning of a sentence.