Text completion: dependent meanings across two and three blanks
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| dogmatic/dɒɡˈmætɪk/ | 武断的 | wǔ duàn de |
| conjecture/kənˈdʒektʃə/ | 推测 | tuī cè |
A decision before an answer
- Choices are independent across columns; the meanings of the blanks still have to work together.
- Your goal: Predict each blank from contrast, support and qualification cues.
Read the relationship
- Read the complete passage before starting a blank. Mark contrast cues such as although, support cues such as because, and a qualification that limits an apparent claim. Predict a plain-language role for each blank before looking for a difficult word. A later sentence may supply the clearest evidence for an earlier blank.
- Use one choice from each column and check the completed whole.
“Although initially doubtful, the panel later ____ its objection when repeated tests succeeded.” Best word?
Successful tests explain withdrawing the objection; contrast reverses the initial stance.
Use the defining rule
- For two or three blanks, begin with the one whose context is most constrained. Use its proposed meaning to check the remaining passage, then return and verify the first choice. Answer columns do not restrict one another mechanically, but the resulting ideas must form one coherent account. Do not choose a superficially positive word merely because the subject sounds admirable.
- Distinguish independent answer columns from interdependent passage meanings.
Which paraphrase fits “qualified rather than absolute”?
A qualified conclusion keeps conditions and limits.
Check the conditions
- A correct response needs one answer for every blank. The official task gives three choices per blank for multi-blank items, with no partial credit. Our additional checkbox drill labels each column explicitly: select exactly one entry from each labelled blank. It checks the full answer set locally; it is a practice adaptation, not the official column interface.
- Distinguish independent answer columns from interdependent passage meanings.
Original two-blank case: “Although the proposal was initially (i) ____, the pilot’s consistent results made its critics (ii) ____.” Blank i: plausible / dubious / settled. Blank ii: reconsider / celebrate failure / lose interest. Choose dubious and reconsider: initial doubt contrasts with subsequent evidence prompting reassessment. Original three-blank case: “The curator’s account is (i) ____ about the object’s origin: it distinguishes verified records from (ii) ____, and its final conclusion is therefore (iii) ____ rather than absolute.” i: cautious / dogmatic / irrelevant; ii: certainty / conjecture / documentation; iii: qualified / categorical / unrelated. Cautious, conjecture and qualified preserve the passage’s evidential restraint.
A conclusion with explicit conditions is ____ rather than absolute.
Qualification limits the strength or scope.
Original three-blank case from the worked example: select exactly one labelled entry for each blank, three total.
Cautious / conjecture / qualified connects uncertainty to a limited conclusion. Every blank must be correct; the local checkbox format adapts the official columns.
Apply the task format
- Read the completed passage using every chosen word. Check grammar, logical direction and strength. Reject a word that contradicts an explicit limitation even if it pairs well with one other blank. Keep a record of why each distractor fails: wrong polarity, wrong degree, wrong logical relation or wrong meaning in context.
- Distinguish independent answer columns from interdependent passage meanings.
Independent columns do not mean independent interpretations. Getting two of three blanks right is not a correct complete answer.
Which answer fits this case?
Predict each blank from contrast, support and qualification cues
Answer columns can be chosen without checking the resulting passage.
Choices are mechanically independent, but their meanings must be coherent together.
Keep the distinctions
- conjecture 推测 — A proposed explanation not established by the available evidence.
- dogmatic 武断的 — Treating a view as certain without allowing appropriate doubt.
- Predict each blank from contrast, support and qualification cues.
- Use one choice from each column and check the completed whole.
- Distinguish independent answer columns from interdependent passage meanings.
Match each term with its precise meaning in this lesson.
Keep the distinctions stated in the teaching example.
Put this lesson’s reasoning or event sequence in order.
The order follows the stated process; check each stage before the next.