Although nothing could be further from the truth,
freight railroads have been ------- of ------- the
nation’s shift from oil to coal by charging exorbitant
fees to transport coal.
A) accused . .impeding
B) proud … accelerating
C) guilty … delaying
D) conscious … contributing to
E) wary . .interfering with
How do I find the evidence for the given blanks from the question itself? How do I know whether the blanks are negative or positive?
For this one, it helps to zoom out a bit and try to understand the story:
“What I’m saying next is not true: the railroad industry has been ____ something ____ of ____ causing ____ the nation’s shift from oil to coal by charging exorbitant fees to transport coal.”
For me, the first part of the sentence doesn’t really help much, but looking at the second part, I’m going to concentrate on “the nation’s shift from oil to coal by charging exorbitant fees to transport coal.”
If the nation is trying to move from oil to coal, but freight railroads are “charging exorbitant fees” to transport coal (remember coal is where the nation wants to get to). What’s going on here? By charging really high, inhibiting fees, then it will probably make the move from oil to coal very difficult. This should narrow the choices down to [A] and [C]. Now, between “accused” and “guilty,” which one logically completes the story? “Accused” fits better because there isn’t strong support for within the sentence that would signify a judgment has been made, so “guilty” makes less sense here. Choice [A] fits best.
Thank you so much for this wonderful explanation! 