| For decades many scientists ________ that global warming posed a grave risk to the planet, but in the twenty-first century nearly all of them ________ that the threat is real. | |||
| a) agreed…insist | |||
| b) denied…concur | |||
| c) argued…accede | |||
| d) contended…acknowledge | |||
| e) disaffirmed…reject | |||
When you see the word “but” on a sentence completion question, you know that there is going to be a contrast between what precedes it and what comes after it. Here, it’s the second part of the question that gives us an important clue. The threat of global warming is now believed to be a real one (by many people, anyway); so before, it would not have been taken as a serious threat. The first blank must filled in by a word that has something to do with a rejection of the idea that global warming is a problem. That immediately excludes (A), (C), and (D). So is it (B) or (E)? Many now agree, or concur, that the threat is real. The answer is (B).
source: about.collegeapps.com
