https://www.gregmat.com/problems/verbal?problem=the-art-exhibit-featuring-avant-garde
I can’t figure out the answer to the question
The answers are there, or?
Its weigh and examine. I think because weigh in the right conext can mean to understand or measure the depth of for example when someone says “Weigh your options” they mean to examine what your options are.
subvert does mean destroy, weaken or damage - that’s what a quick google search gives me
which has the same broader meaning as of discard in this context if used together
i am struggling to accept how they are not synonyms
i did come with multiple possibilities here for the blank because it can ask you to keep, discard or improve on the preconceptions
improve doesn’t have a pair but it seems to have pair for both keep and discard
From a usage standpoint can we say:
The art exhibit, featuring avant-garde sculptures, challenges visitors to \underline{destroy/damage} their preconceptions about modern art?
Not really, right?
Admittedly, weaken can fit in the blank.
However, “weaken” preconceptions ≠ “discard” preconceptions.
That’s why those pairs don’t fit.
Avant-garde sculptures = pioneering or new sculptures
The sentence doesn’t actually tell us that the visitors must discard or change their preconceptions. Being “challenged” can simply cause them to reconsider those preconceptions in the face of avant-garde/new/pioneering sculptures. That’s why “weigh” and “examine” work: both capture the idea of critically considering them without adding an unsupported outcome of their reconsideration like discarding, subverting, etc.