Ironically, Carver's precision in sketching lives on the edge of despair ensures that his stories will sometimes be read too narrowly, much as Dickens' social-reformer role once caused his broader concerns to be (i) _______.
The idiomatic expression here is "much as" which indicates parallelism or similarity in the two ideas connected by "much as".
First Idea: Ironically, Carver's precision in sketching lives on the edge of despair ensures that his stories will sometimes be read too narrowly
Second Idea: Dickens' social-reformer role once caused his broader concerns to be (i) _______
Really speaking it is only the part highlighted in blue that one needs to pay attention to, as they are parallel. They represent the (similar) outcomes of two different things.
Carver's precision in sketching....... LED TO his stories being read narrowly.
Dickens' social reformer role.... LED TO his broader concerns to be
The idiomatic phrase "much as" insists that both the parts convey the same idea. So the second part should also proclaim that Dickens' social reformer role caused him to be read narrowly or his broader concerns to be ignored.
The word from the list of choices is ignored.
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