Three Blanks, Two Tempting Answers
Internal memo from the Accounting department.
"Effective April 1, expense reports must be submitted (1) the 25th of the month to be reimbursed in that month's cycle. Reports received after that date will be held (2) the following cycle. Receipts are required for any single expense of $75 or more; (3) , a signed statement from the employee is acceptable."
A coordinator asks about a report she plans to submit on April 26. It includes one $90 meal with no receipt attached.
1. Choose the word for blank (1) and explain why the alternative that also sounds natural is wrong.
Read the worked answer
by
- The sentence describes a deadline: submit on or before the 25th and you are paid this month. "By" marks the latest acceptable moment.
- "until" is the trap. It describes how long an action continues ("held until the 25th"), never a cutoff for submitting. "Submitted until the 25th" would mean the submitting continues through the 25th - the opposite logic.
- "since" and "within" fail too: "within the 25th" is not idiomatic for a calendar deadline.
Rule the exam is testing: same time word, two jobs - point-in-time cutoff vs. duration.
2. Now do blank (2) in the very next sentence, where the correct word flips.
Read the worked answer
until
- "Will be held until the following cycle" describes a condition that continues - the report sits in limbo and then is processed later. That is duration, which is exactly what "until" does.
- "By the following cycle" would mean the holding is finished by then and implies nothing about when it is processed.
Point of judgment: Blanks (1) and (2) sit two sentences apart and take opposite answers because one is a cutoff and one is a span. Test-takers who pattern-match on "the 25th" get one of them wrong.
3. For blank (3), choose between otherwise / therefore / meanwhile / likewise - then say what actually happens to the coordinator's April 26 report.
Read the worked answer
(3) Otherwise - "if a receipt is not available, a signed statement is acceptable instead." It supplies the fallback for the case just described. "Therefore" claims a consequence that does not follow; "meanwhile" and "likewise" are time/addition links with nothing to link.
The coordinator's report:
- Submitted April 26 - past the 25th - so it is held until the following cycle, regardless of the missing receipt.
- The $90 meal exceeds the $75 threshold, so a receipt is required; since there is none, she must attach a signed statement, which the memo permits.
- Both defects are fixable, but the late date alone delays payment one cycle.
Trap to avoid: Answering only the receipt issue. The date is the controlling problem.