There are two blanks in the sentence given below. From the pairs of words…
2019
There are two blanks in the sentence given below. From the pairs of words given below the sentence, choose the pair that fills the blanks most appropriately.
Private companies supplying 'breakfast cereals' have started ________ in agriculture in poorer countries. This has ________ the spectre of land grabs and political conflicts.
Answer: D. Investing ... raised — Both blanks must be checked together. For the first blank, companies that commit capital to a sector are said to be "investing in" it, so "investing in…
- A.
Spending ... intensified
- B.
Dealing ... inflated
- C.
Ploughing ... increased
- D.
Investing ... raised
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Both blanks must be checked together. For the first blank, companies that commit capital to a sector are said to be "investing in" it, so "investing in agriculture" is the natural, idiomatic choice. "Spending in", "dealing in" and "ploughing in" do not correctly describe a company putting capital into a sector.
For the second blank, the fixed English idiom is "to raise the spectre of", meaning to bring up a worrying or threatening possibility. So "raised the spectre of land grabs and political conflicts" is correct, while "intensified", "inflated" and "increased" do not collocate with "spectre."
Only the pair "Investing ... raised" satisfies both blanks, so it is the correct answer.