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14 Jun 2024, 11:08
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
42% (00:47) correct
57% (01:30) wrong based on 14 sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
What readers most commonly remember about John Stuart Mill’s classic exploration of the liberty of thought and discussion concerns the danger of (i)_________: in the absence of challenge, one’s opinions, even when they are correct, grow weak and flabby. Yet Mill had another reason for encouraging the liberty of thought and discussion: the danger of partiality and incompleteness. Since one’s opinions, even under the best circumstances, tend to (ii)_________, and because opinions opposed to one’s own rarely turn out to be completely (iii)_________, it is crucial to supplement one’s opinions with alternative points of view.
Blank (i)
A. tendentiousness
B. complacency
C. fractiousness
Blank (ii)
D. embrace only a portion of the truth
E. change over time
F. focus on matters close at hand
Blank (iii)
G. erroneous
H. antithetical
I. immutable
Blank (i)
A. tendentiousness
B. complacency
C. fractiousness
Blank (ii)
D. embrace only a portion of the truth
E. change over time
F. focus on matters close at hand
Blank (iii)
G. erroneous
H. antithetical
I. immutable
18 Jun 2024, 10:45
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What readers most commonly remember about John Stuart Mill’s classic exploration of the liberty of thought and discussion concerns the danger of (i)__________: in the absence of challenge, one’s opinions, even when they are correct, grow weak and flabby. Yet Mill had another reason for encouraging the liberty of thought and discussion: the danger of partiality and incompleteness. Since one’s opinions, even under the best circumstances, tend to (ii)__________, and because opinions opposed to one’s own rarely turn out to be completely (iii)__________, it is crucial to supplement one’s opinions with alternative points of view.
The First Blank
Right after the first blank we have the colon, and we know what comes after the colon explains what comes before it. We have the following sentence fragment after the colon:
in the absence of challenge, one’s opinions, even when they are correct, grow weak and flabby.
Since in the absence of challenges, one becomes complacent resulting in our opinions (apart from other things) becoming weak and flabby, complacency is the correct choice for the first blank. The answer is Choice B.
One cannot say that absence of challenges makes one tendentious, that is expressing or intending to promote a particular and especially a controversial point of view. In fact, it is in one sense, the very opposite of complacency.
And absence of challenges will not encourage fractiousness, which is the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline. Again, this is the opposite of complacency.
Hence we reject Choice A and Choice C.
The Second blank
Yet Mill had another reason for encouraging the liberty of thought and discussion: the danger of partiality and incompleteness.
Here the author talks about the danger of partiality and incompleteness. Therefore, the best way to complete the sentence fragment that follows is:
Since one’s opinions, even under the best circumstances, tend to (ii)embrace only a portion of the truth
The correct choice is embrace only a portion of the truth. The answer is Choice D.
The choices change over time and focus on matters close at hand are not implied by the clues in the sentence. So we reject Choice E and Choice F.
The Third Blank
and because opinions opposed to one’s own rarely turn out to be completely (iii)__________, it is crucial to supplement one’s opinions with alternative points of view.
Now if one's opinions, even in the best of circumstances, tend to embrace only a portion of the truth, then we need to complete them by supplementing them with alternative points of view. And we can do these because these alternative points of view, in this case opinions opposed to one's own, rarely turn out to be completely (iii)erroneous. If they were completely erroneous we cannot use them to supplement our views.
Also, opinions that are not completely antithetical (opposed to our views) or those that are not completely immutable, can still turn out to be completely erroneous. So we reject choice H and Choice I.
Thus, the correct choice is erroneous. The answer is Choice G.
The First Blank
Right after the first blank we have the colon, and we know what comes after the colon explains what comes before it. We have the following sentence fragment after the colon:
in the absence of challenge, one’s opinions, even when they are correct, grow weak and flabby.
Since in the absence of challenges, one becomes complacent resulting in our opinions (apart from other things) becoming weak and flabby, complacency is the correct choice for the first blank. The answer is Choice B.
One cannot say that absence of challenges makes one tendentious, that is expressing or intending to promote a particular and especially a controversial point of view. In fact, it is in one sense, the very opposite of complacency.
And absence of challenges will not encourage fractiousness, which is the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline. Again, this is the opposite of complacency.
Hence we reject Choice A and Choice C.
The Second blank
Yet Mill had another reason for encouraging the liberty of thought and discussion: the danger of partiality and incompleteness.
Here the author talks about the danger of partiality and incompleteness. Therefore, the best way to complete the sentence fragment that follows is:
Since one’s opinions, even under the best circumstances, tend to (ii)embrace only a portion of the truth
The correct choice is embrace only a portion of the truth. The answer is Choice D.
The choices change over time and focus on matters close at hand are not implied by the clues in the sentence. So we reject Choice E and Choice F.
The Third Blank
and because opinions opposed to one’s own rarely turn out to be completely (iii)__________, it is crucial to supplement one’s opinions with alternative points of view.
Now if one's opinions, even in the best of circumstances, tend to embrace only a portion of the truth, then we need to complete them by supplementing them with alternative points of view. And we can do these because these alternative points of view, in this case opinions opposed to one's own, rarely turn out to be completely (iii)erroneous. If they were completely erroneous we cannot use them to supplement our views.
Also, opinions that are not completely antithetical (opposed to our views) or those that are not completely immutable, can still turn out to be completely erroneous. So we reject choice H and Choice I.
Thus, the correct choice is erroneous. The answer is Choice G.
03 Oct 2024, 12:00
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OE
An overview of the passage suggests that the first sentence is relatively selfcontained and that the blank is answerable without the succeeding sentences, where the topic shifts slightly. The colon after the first blank signals that what follows will define the word in the blank and will explain what danger Mill was concerned about. It says that without challenge, one’s opinions grow “weak and flabby” and therefore one becomes complacent, not tendentious or fractious. A quick reading of the next two sentences suggests that the topic will be another danger that Mill described, “the danger of partiality and incompleteness.” Free and open discussion needs to take place because each person’s opinion tends to “embrace only a portion of the truth” and others’ views are partially right, or never completely “erroneous.” The other choices for the second and third blanks deal with change, immediacy, or antithesis, none of which relate to the second danger of “partiality” or “incompleteness.” Thus, the correct answer is complacency (Choice B), embrace only a portion of the truth (Choice D), and erroneous (Choice G).
An overview of the passage suggests that the first sentence is relatively selfcontained and that the blank is answerable without the succeeding sentences, where the topic shifts slightly. The colon after the first blank signals that what follows will define the word in the blank and will explain what danger Mill was concerned about. It says that without challenge, one’s opinions grow “weak and flabby” and therefore one becomes complacent, not tendentious or fractious. A quick reading of the next two sentences suggests that the topic will be another danger that Mill described, “the danger of partiality and incompleteness.” Free and open discussion needs to take place because each person’s opinion tends to “embrace only a portion of the truth” and others’ views are partially right, or never completely “erroneous.” The other choices for the second and third blanks deal with change, immediacy, or antithesis, none of which relate to the second danger of “partiality” or “incompleteness.” Thus, the correct answer is complacency (Choice B), embrace only a portion of the truth (Choice D), and erroneous (Choice G).
