Here shouldn’t the first idea be “she was criticized not because she was hardworking” so “not _____” would be something like “not lazy” ?
There are two 'not’s in the first sentence. She was criticized by her fellow layers NOT because she was (NOT ____)
(NOT ____) here should mean something bad
which means the blank should be something good, so that NOT ____ means something bad.
I am drawing a parallel with the example Greg gave in the class. Both the blanks talk about beauty. So in the qs shouldn’t it be as follows
Gregs eg - I dislike you not because you are beautiful but because your beauty gives you so many opportunities (Both blanks are beauty)
She was criticized not because she was _______ (blank should be hardworking)
If you add not before the blank it flips the logic so
**She was criticized not because she was not _______ (blank should be lazy)