Once a duckling has identified a parent, the instinctive bond becomes a powerful -------- for additional learning since, by --------- the parents, the duckling can acquire further information that is not genetically transmitted.
(A) impulse… Surpassing
(B) referent… Recognizing
(C) force… Acknowledging
(D) inspiration… Emulating
(E) channel… Mimicking
The answer is E. But I don’t understand what exactly in the sentence indicates “mimicking” for the second blank? I chose B for the word “identified”. Could anyone help me understand?
This line of thought would pay off if you did it for the blank next to identified. But you tried to relate identified and the second blank. For the second blank, D and E is our best shot. Then for the first blank, we eliminate inspiration.
Surpassing, recognizing and acknowledging is way off topic in terms of acquiring new information. Mimic and emulate mean follow, reproduce, model oneself on, take as a model etc. That was my reasoning at least, feel free to disagree.
You’re a hundred percent correct, always best to make guesses what the blank might be based on evidence. In case our guesses and the answer choices don’t align, we see if some of the answer choices can be eliminated.
