Unless new reserves are found soon, the world’s supply of coal is being…
2023
Unless new reserves are found soon, the world’s supply of coal is being _______ in such a way that, with demand continuing to grow at present rates, reserves will be _______ by the year 2050.
- A.
consumed, completed
- B.
depleted, exhausted
- C.
reduced, argument
- D.
brunt, destroyed
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
This is a double-blank sentence-completion item where both blanks describe a finite resource (coal reserves) being used up over time.
First blank: “coal is being _______ in such a way” needs a verb meaning ‘used up / run down.’ Second blank: “reserves will be _______ by the year 2050” needs a word meaning ‘completely finished.’
‘Depleted’ means greatly reduced or run down, and ‘exhausted’ means completely used up — exactly the progression the sentence describes (steadily drained now, fully gone by 2050). So ‘depleted, exhausted’ fits both blanks.
The distractors fail on at least one word: ‘completed’ (a supply is not ‘completed’), ‘argument’ (an unrelated noun), and ‘brunt’ (a noun, not a verb — ‘is being brunt’ is ungrammatical). Hence the correct answer is ‘depleted, exhausted.’