Big book Test 24

GRE Verbal Problem Solving
1

Q1 Ironically, the party leaders encountered no greater
------- their efforts to build a progressive party than
the ------- of the progressives already elected to the
legislature.
(A) support for. .advocacy
(B) threat to … promise
(C) benefit from … success
(D) obstacle to … resistance
(E) praise for … reputation

Hi, I’m having trouble with choosing the right answer for this this question and my logic might be reason

The ‘Ironically’ indicates a contrast and the strategy I used was the Double possiblities.
The first idea is saying that these leaders had no ---------- to their efforts
Since it’s a contrast we are going against this idea.
The second idea says the progressies elected before had ‘something’

So if the leaders had no support, this means that the already elected had support
And if the leaders had no oppositon to their efforts, the already elected had oppositions.

I observed that the two blanks are synonyms.
Choice B and C are eliminated because of they are not synonymous

How do I choose between answer choice A and D.

Q2 It is strange how words shape our thoughts and
trap us at the bottom of deeply ------- canyons of
thinking, their imprisoning sides carved out by the
------- of past usage.

For this question, I have no clue of what is happening. The only things I noticed are
‘It is strange’ indicating a contrast and ‘their’ indicationg previously referenced. How do I tackle this question?

2

For the first one, in my opinion, the party leaders are trying to build a progressive party. So it does not make sense for the progressives to oppose this idea. So I would go with D.

For Q2, I had the same issue earlier, but: like a river carves a canyon | WordReference Forums

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3

Thank you. That makes sense.
I didn’t really know the meaning of progessive. I think that is what hindered my thought process.

Since it’s our expectations for the progressives to support these leader, and we have ironically, we have to go against that expectation.

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