Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Question

Planting trees along the river was intended to ____ flooding by slowing the flow of rainwater into the channel.

Accepted Answer

A. mitigate. Slowing rainwater into the river would make floods less severe. To 'mitigate' is to lessen the severity of something.

Answer

B. provoke — 'Provoke' means to cause — the opposite of what slowing the water would do.

Answer

C. measure — Trees don't measure anything; the sentence is about reducing floods.

Answer

D. overlook — 'Overlook' means to fail to notice; the trees are meant to act on the flooding, not ignore it.

Craft and Structure practice question