Text Completion: Logic First, Vocabulary Second
The sentence is a logic puzzle
Each blank is constrained by a signal: contrast (although, yet, paradoxically, despite), support (because, indeed, moreover, so), or definition (a phrase that restates the blank). Locate the signal before weighing vocabulary; the words are the last step, not the first.
Method
Read the whole sentence ignoring the blanks and predict a plain word of your own for each. Then match your prediction to the choices. For two- and three-blank items, no choice is correct until every blank produces a coherent sentence - a word can be perfect in blank (i) and impossible in blank (iii).
Traps
- Neighbor-word attraction: a choice that echoes a nearby word often lacks any logical fit.
- One-blank-at-a-time thinking: the tempting pair frequently collapses on the remaining blank.
- Tone mismatch: grammatically fine but wrong register - praise where the sentence describes criticism.
- Ignoring the second sentence: it often supplies the definition the first blank needs.
Rule of thumb
Start with the blank carrying the most constraints (the one with a definition or a strong signal). Eliminate there, then verify the surviving combination by rereading the full sentence.
Worked example
“Although the committee's report was ______, its recommendations were adopted almost unchanged.” The although demands a negative word in contrast with acceptance: reviled or derided fits. A choice such as conciliatory or lauded reverses the logic, and a word that merely echoes “report” (e.g., documentary) has no evaluative force at all. Predict first, match second.