Identify and correct the incorrectly spelt words in the given passage. The…
2025
Identify and correct the incorrectly spelt words in the given passage.
The treaty relied on mutual deterrence as a stabilizing force, though some saw it as an
anachronysitic approach in a multipolar world. Its language remained belicosely rigid,
leaving little room for renegotiation. Critics argued that the framers had misjudged the
geostretegic realities of the postcolonial era. This resulted in a framework both
outdated and irreconcilabal with emergent doctrines.
- A.
anachronistic, bellicosely, geostrategic, irreconcilable
- B.
framework, bellicose, geostrategik, irreconcilable
- C.
anachronystic, bellicosely, geostrategic, emergent
- D.
treaty, deterrence, geostretegic, stabilizing
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Spelling-correction passages test recognition of standard English orthography for words that are often misspelled. Typical error patterns include an extra or misplaced syllable inserted into a root, a missing doubled consonant, a vowel swapped inside a Greek- or Latin-derived root, and a nonstandard suffix ending in place of the standard one. Solving such an item means isolating exactly which words in the passage are misspelled and knowing the standard spelling that replaces each one, while leaving every already-correct word untouched.
"anachronysitic" (as it appears in the passage) ends in "-ysitic" rather than the standard adjectival suffix "-istic"; correcting the ending gives "anachronistic".
"belicosely" (as it appears in the passage) is missing the doubled "l" that the adjective "bellicose" takes; restoring the double "l" and keeping the adverb suffix "-ly" gives "bellicosely".
"geostretegic" (as it appears in the passage) spells the root after "geo-" as "stret-"; the standard root (from "strategic") is spelled "strat-", giving "geostrategic".
"irreconcilabal" (as it appears in the passage) ends in "-abal"; the standard suffix on this prefix+verb combination ("ir-" + "reconcile") is "-able", giving "irreconcilable".
Every other word in the passage — treaty, deterrence, stabilizing, framework, emergent, and the rest — already follows standard spelling and is not part of the four errors to be fixed.
The set "framework, bellicose, geostrategik, irreconcilable" pairs "framework" (a word the passage already spells correctly and is not one of the four errors) with "bellicose" (drops the adverb suffix "-ly" rather than only restoring the missing double "l") and "geostrategik" (still ends in "-ik" rather than "-ic").
The set "anachronystic, bellicosely, geostrategic, emergent" leaves the "anachron-" root ending in "-ystic" rather than "-istic", and pairs it with "emergent", a word the passage already spells correctly.
The set "treaty, deterrence, geostretegic, stabilizing" lists three words — "treaty", "deterrence", "stabilizing" — that the passage already spells correctly, alongside "geostretegic", which keeps the same "stret-" spelling found in the passage.
The set that corrects all four misspelled words — and only those four — is anachronistic, bellicosely, geostrategic, irreconcilable. Re-reading the passage with this replacement set confirms every other word stays unchanged, and each replaced word now follows a standard pattern: the "-istic" suffix, the doubled "l" in bellicose, the "strat-" root in geostrategic, and the "-able" suffix in irreconcilable.