Due to the extraordinary circumstances, British business owners found themselves in a (i)__ position during the Second World War, forced to accept regular interference from government and to acquiesce to (ii)__ role for labor unions in negotiating the terms and conditions of employment.
Blank(i)
A. defensive
B. dominant
C. customary
Blank(ii)
D. a traditional
E. an enhanced
F. a diminished
Can someone please explain how to solve this with math strategy?
No effort = no improvement. Explain what you tried here.
Okay so how I made a semantic guess was that the farmers were forced to accept regular interference and also the word ‘to acquiesce’ ,meaning forcefully give in to something… so both blanks are part of a negative idea. Hence first will be a defensive position and second I guessed as diminished , since the role of labour unions became small as the government started to have more say ..is what I interpreted.
The answer made more sense once I knew it, but how do I approach such problems in exam.
How does the final clause inform the second blank?
I.e. you probably ignored the second clause, which is why you picked diminished.