Couldnt get my head in the 2 questions below. Both are double possibilities. Where are the hints here?
For the first one:
This one is quite tough, in my opinion.
[Although (-)] Shakespeare received little formal education, scholarship has in recent years ------ the view that he was ------- the work of classical authors.
Although would contrast what is left and to the right of the comma, so the idea on the right has to be something like “scholars went against the idea that shakespeare was formally educated”.
Also, there is a time contrast “in recent years” which suggests the idea to the left (from the past) is now suggested to be incorrect.
However, because we have 2 blanks missing, the right hand side is a block of 4 that can be one of the following:
- scholars have proven that he was formally educated
- scholars have proven wrong that he wasn’t formally educated
For scenario one:
- Blank 1 has to be something like “proven” or “shown”, so “substantiated” works.
- Blank 2 has to be something like “he was formally educated”, so being “influenced by” or “obsessed by” the classics works.
However, in old GRE the choices are paired, and we can’t pair a possible Blank 1 with a possible Blank 2 so this scenario is not what is happening.
For scenario two:
- Blank 1 has to be something like “proven wrong” so “eroded” or “questioned” or “undermined” works.
- Blank 2 has to be something like “he wasn’t formally educated”, so being “oblivious to” or “unfamiliar with” classical authors works.
Here, we can match “undermined” and “unfamiliar with”, so this must be the scenario.
Try the second one yourself.