A words in context question with a final summary tests how earlier details shape a word’s meaning. Read the last sentence, then look back to see which group or finding it sums up. Follow the contrast to work out whether that sentence agrees with the first idea or the later one. Predict the missing meaning in plain words, then test each choice by its meaning. A word can sound related to the topic without describing the link the text actually shows.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at how the second group understood its completed tasks. The last sentence sums up that group’s response.
- Hint 2
Compare the two readings of the same completed tasks. The difference is what the participants thought their past work meant.
- Hint 3
How can the second group see its contribution as enough while still finding the unfinished goal worthwhile?
Step-by-step
Follow the contrast and test the meaning
Step 1Find the group the blank describes
For the latter group, points back to only part of the study, so we need the meaning that fits that group’s response. Who does it name? It’s the participants introduced by By contrast,, rather than those who continued working. Follow the second group’s view of its progress, because the final sentence sums up that view.
- Step 2
See why they stopped
Why stop if the goal was still worth pursuing? The second group saw completed tasks as evidence that they had already contributed enough, while they still considered the unfinished goal worthwhile. They weren’t saying the goal was complete or no longer valuable; they were saying their own share of the work was enough. They saw no need to contribute more, even though there was still work worth doing.
- Step 3
Predict and test the words
Let’s predict a reason that makes stopping seem allowed. Now test that meaning in served as a ______ for disengagement: a rebuke is criticism, which would speak against stopping. A remedy is a cure or solution, but these accomplishments encouraged stopping instead of fixing it. A surrogate is a substitute, which would make past work replace stopping rather than support the decision to stop.
- Step 4
Check the word’s other meaning
License can mean permission or an excuse to do something, not only an official permit. Does that meaning work in a ______ for disengagement? Yes: the completed tasks served as permission to stop, so the word shows how the participants used their past work. Choice A.