Frustrated council members noted that some of the strategies designed to ________ traffic congestion only served to ________ the problem.
a) ease; perpetrate
b) consolidate; fix
c) alleviate; exacerbate
d) allay; impede
e) avoid; mollify
Council members would obviously want to do something to help ease the problem of traffic congestion. The first words in choices (A), (C), and (D) would all work. (B) wouldn’t make sense. (E) wouldn’t work because you can’t avoid a problem that is already there. The members would be frustrated if their plans either didn’t work or made the problem even worse. (A) wouldn’t make sense; one who perpetrates is comitting some sort of crime. (B) would make no sense for obvious reasons. That leaves us with (D). The answer is (D).
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