0
Jeff_999 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Sentence completion

0 "The National Archives contain information so __ that researchers have been known never to publish because they cannot bear to bring their studies to an end. 02br
00A divisive 02br
00B seductive 02br
00C selective 02br
00D repetitive 02br
00E resourceful" 02br
02br
00The answer is A. But I don't know what "divisive" means here. Could you please explain the sentence for me? Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

0It makes no sense to me, Jeff. I would have chosen 'B', unquestionably. Are you sure there is no typo?

— Mister Micawber

  • 0It makes no sense to me, Jeff.
  • I would have chosen 'B', unquestionably.
  • Are you sure there is no typo?
  • Is this from an official examination?
  • 0-
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

11 Answers
0
0It makes no sense to me, Jeff. I would have chosen 'B', unquestionably. Are you sure there is no typo? Is this from an official examination? 0-
0
0
0 From Cambridge: 02br
00divisive 02br
00adjective 02br
00describes something that causes great and sometimes unfriendly disagreement within a group of people: 02br
02br
00Maybe it means the information is so controvertial and controversed that the researchers have a huge amount of threads to research and can't come to a final result? 0
0
0
0 Thank you! 02br
02br
02br
00But Mr. Micawber, I just went back and checked the transcript. The sample question is from the GRE real test paper held in Oct. 1996. 02br
02br
00But I can't make sure there is no typo. 02br
02br
00To me, logically, since researchers cannot bear to bring their studies to an end, the information con
0
0
0 Hello Jeff 02br
02br
00I'll be with MrMicawber. As you know well, a researcher can publish their study only after they have completed the study. However, some information contained in the Archive is seductive (= having a nature to lead researchers astray or to error), and so they often cannot their study to end. 02br
02br
00paco 0-
0
0
0To me, the key phrase is 'cannot bear', which means 'really, really 01b00do not want to02b00 stop their research'. This can only suggest that there is something about the archived information that they find very attractive. The only attractive adjective is 'seductive' ('resourceful' of course would apply to the researchers, not the archives, so it is eliminated). 02b
0
0
0 "The National Archives contain information so __ that researchers have been known never to publish because they cannot bear to bring their studies to an end. 02br
00A divisive 02br
00B seductive 02br
00C selective 02br
00D repetitive 02br
00E resourceful" 02br
02br
00The answer is A. But I don't know what "di
0
0
0'Publish or perish', Ranchhand-- they'd never get funded for continued studies if they didn't publish. 0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
02br
10No explanation on the answer page, eh? 12blockquote
12br
02br
00Nope, there is no explanation. 02br
02br
00But there's another question brought up. What function "01i00never to publish02i00" performs here? 02br
02br
00I still believe that the reason
0
0
0 I agree with M.M. that the key words are "can't bear". The logic of the given answer is a mystery to me, unless the researchers are so keen on controversial subjects and tug of wars that they cannot bear to end their research. 0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
00'Publish or perish', Ranchhand-- they'd never get funded for continued studies if they didn't publish. 12blockquote
12br
02br
00The sample question is from the GRE real test paper held in Oct. 1996. 02br
02br
00RH: True, Mr Micawber, true, but given the source for this bit of language, we can't assume th
0

Related Questions