Sentence Completion
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which graphically exposed the ……………………..of the indiscriminate use of pesticides, is widely credited with having …………………….. the modern environmental movements. (A) advantages……..inaugurated (B) hazards………...defused (C) benefits………...launched (D) deaths………….contained (E) dangers…………inspired This is a complex sentence, with one main clause (Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is widely credited with having …………………….. the modern environmental movements) and one subordinate adjectival clause (which graphically exposed the ……………………..of the indiscriminate use of pesticides). One word is missing from each of these clauses. We can infer that Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson, and in this book, Rachel Carson had graphically exposed the ………….. of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The use of the words exposed and indiscriminate use of the pesticides implies that the first missing word must have a negative, and not a positive connotation. With this clue, let us now look at the choices for the first missing word and eliminate those words which have positive connotations. On the basis of this test, the words advantages and benefits can be rejected. Therefore the choices (A) and (C) are eliminated even without our having to examine the suitability of their pair words for the second missing word. If we examine the remaining choices, with the choice (D), the phrase “exposed the deaths of the indiscriminate use of pesticides" does not make any sense. So, the choice (D) can also be eliminated. So, the only two choices which are possible answers from the point of the suitability for the first missing words are hazards and dangers. Now, we must test the suitability of their respective pair word for filling in the second blank. With the pair word hazards, the main clause of the sentence reads: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is widely credited with having defused the modern environmental movements. This sentence does not make sense when the book had pointed out the hazards of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. So, from the suitability for filling in the second missing word, the choice (B) is also eliminated. Now, we are left with only (E). With both the words in the choice (E), the sentence reads: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which graphically exposed the dangers of the indiscriminate use of pesticides, is widely credited with having inspired the modern environmental movements. This sentence makes sense. So, the choice (E) is the answer.
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