A words in context question tests whether you can use clues to find a missing word’s exact meaning. Read the whole passage to find the clue and its direction. A contrast turns from one idea to another, while a colon often explains the missing word. Use those signals to predict in plain words, then test each choice’s meaning against your prediction. A word can sound right but still describe something the clue never says.
Hints
- Hint 1
The opening says Ortiz separates confidence and permanence. Find what the passage says about each.
- Hint 2
At nevertheless, look for what Ortiz does when the corpus expands.
- Hint 3
The words after the colon explain the blank. Use the link between “one analysis” and “the next” to predict the missing word.
Step-by-step
Separate confidence from permanence
Step 1Read the current result
The likelihood of 0.96 is reported without hedging, meaning Ortiz doesn't soften the result with cautious wording. The blank asks us to describe her conclusions. What does that firm wording tell us about them? She states the current result firmly, but the opening separates confidence and permanence, so we need to check what happens in later analyses.
- Step 2
Follow the turn
The signal nevertheless brings a turn: Ortiz treats the attribution as authoritative only for the corpus then available. What happens when that collection of material expands? She reruns the analysis whenever the corpus expands, which makes each conclusion depend on the evidence used in that particular run. The new analysis may give a different answer without making her earlier report hesitant or unclear. Her certainty now doesn't make the answer permanent.
- Step 3
Predict and test permanence
The words after the colon restate the point: their decisiveness within one analysis does not determine the outcome of the next. Let's predict accepted for now, but open to change. Which choice conflicts with that limit? Immutable means unable to change, so it would make Ortiz's conclusions fixed across analyses.
- Step 4
Check each word’s exact meaning
Which words describe uncertainty rather than a limit on how long an answer holds? Inconclusive means not giving a firm answer, and equivocal means unclear or open to more than one meaning; neither fits the decisiveness within one analysis the passage describes. Provisional means accepted for now and open to later change, so it allows a conclusion to be decisive without being permanent. Choice D.