I’m just unable to wrap my head around the wordings of this one. I know that this is a double possibility, and I saw Greg’s video on this and I agree with what he’s saying:
If the person is NOT HIDING affection i.e., showing, then he loves her - makes sense
If the person is NOT SHOWING affection i.e., hiding, then he dislikes her - makes sense
I chose the opposite pairs because of the word “accused” - isn’t it a negative word that signifies blame? I don’t understand that.
Alternatively, if I use the semicolon as a support, both the ideas should have the same connotation, right? Let’s say in the first case, the second idea obviously has a positive connotation; I can’t understand how the first sentence has a positive connotation: “The old man could not have been accused of hiding his affection”.
I don’t understand what you meant that you chose an opposite pair. Did you mean answer choice (E)?
But you’re right that “accuse” generally means “blame”, and in fact, it can be used as a clue. It suggests that blank 1 has a negative connotation. This leaves “sparing”, “rationing”, and “stinting” as answer choices, which all kinda mean “give little”.
But since there’s a “could not”, the first idea chunk goes
From: the old men could not have been accused of giving little of his affection.
To: the old men gives a lot of his affection.
If I’m reading you correctly, maybe you confused about the connotations, so let’s go from there.
We know that blank 1 has a negative connotation, because of the word “accused”. And we’ve narrowed down to “three choices” that all mean “give little”.
We also know that, because of the “could not”, it changes the meaning from “give little” to “give a lot” of affection. So the first idea chunk has a positive connotation.
Now, knowing that the first idea chunk has a positive connotation, and knowing that there is a semicolon (which you rightly pointed out as a support), this mean the second idea chunk also has a positive connotation.
That would mean blank 2 would also be positive. Looking at the answer choices we’ve narrowed down, “tolerance of” and “antipathy” has a negative connotation, but “adoration of” has a positive connotation. So we choose “adoration of”.
Hence, (D) is the right answer and here’s what the passage looks like now:
Original: The old men could not have been accused of stinting his affection; his conduct toward the child betrayed his adoration of her.
Rephrasing: The old men is known for giving a lot of his love; his behaviour with this kid revealed that he loves her.
My confusion here lies with the phrase, ‘conduct toward the child betrayed’. Doesn’t this imply that there was contrast between his feelings and his conduct?
So if the old man loves the child (feeling), his conduct was the opposite? Which means he withheld his affection or not showing his affection.
And if he hates the child, his conduct is the opposite, which means he showed his affection or not withheld his affection