More often than not, mothers are ____________ for oddities of behavior in…

Concept: A two-blank sentence-completion item is solved by checking two independent things for every option: (a) the TONE the missing word must carry — does the stem frame the described behaviour positively, neutrally, or negatively; and (b) the LOGICAL RELATION the connector must signal — does the second sentence continue the same idea (‘therefore’, ‘in the same manner’) or does it introduce a contrast or surprise (‘however’, ‘interestingly enough’)? An option is correct only if BOTH blanks satisfy their own requirement.

Application: Reading the passage against that test:

• Blank 1 — the stem calls the offspring’s behaviour ‘oddities’, a critical, negative framing, so the missing word must itself carry a negative sense (mothers being held responsible/at fault), not a positive one.

• Blank 2 — the following sentence reports that, despite hardship, single mothers’ children do NOT show the same ‘outrageous’ behaviour as children from nuclear families. That is presented as an unexpected finding relative to the stereotype set up in the first sentence, so the connector must signal contrast/surprise, not plain continuation or similarity.

Cross-check: Testing each option against both requirements together confirms this:

• A word describing praise fails blank 1 outright — it conflicts with the negative framing of ‘oddities’, regardless of which connector accompanies it.

• A negative-toned word paired with a connector that signals a direct, same-direction consequence satisfies blank 1 but not blank 2 — the second sentence is a contrasting, unexpected fact, not a consequence of the first.

• A negative-toned word paired with a connector that signals similarity also fails blank 2, since the second sentence is not a parallel case but a contrast to it.

Result: Only the pairing of a negative, fault-finding word for blank 1 with a contrast/surprise connector for blank 2 satisfies both requirements at once — ‘blamed, interestingly enough’.