Craft and StructureHardChoosing a precise verb in a history of science text
Craft and Structure practice question
Decades before the celebrated papers on stellar composition appeared, Cecilia Payne's notebook calculations ____ their central findings: her analysis, set aside and little read at the time, had already identified hydrogen as the sun's dominant element.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A. anticipatedCorrect
- B. contradicted
- C. popularized
- D. duplicated
Answer: A. anticipated
Her unpublished calculations reached results the later, celebrated work arrived at independently — she 'anticipated' those findings, coming to them first.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. contradicted
- Her results matched the later work; nothing says they conflicted.
- C. popularized
- Notebooks that stayed unpublished could not have popularized anything.
- D. duplicated
- She worked decades before, so she could not have been copying the later papers — 'duplicated' reverses the order.
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