Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one.
1The regulator's decision to publish enforcement data has ............... reforms that were previously considered politically impossible.
Wrong!
"brought about" means caused something to happen; the sentence refers to measurable changes caused by the reforms.
2The director put the delay ............... legal advice rather than a lack of funding.
Wrong!
"down to" attributes a result to a cause; here the director attributes the delay to legal advice.
3The merger fell ............... when the smaller company withdrew hours before the agreement was due to be signed.
Wrong!
"through" is used when plans or agreements fail to be completed; the merger collapsed before it was signed.
4Despite strong doubts in the boardroom, the risky proposal was carried ............... with unexpected confidence.
Wrong!
"carried off" means succeeded in doing something difficult; the proposal was risky but succeeded.
5The figures in the scanned contract were so blurred that no one could ............... whether the clause had been amended.
Wrong!
"make out" means manage to understand or discern; the blurred figures were difficult to read.
6After three inconclusive meetings, the committee finally came ............... with a compromise that both sides could defend publicly.
Wrong!
"come up with" means produce or suggest an idea; the committee needed a compromise.
7The report glossed ............... the accounting error in a single footnote, although it had affected three years of results.
Wrong!
"gloss over" means avoid discussing something fully; the report minimized the accounting error.
8For all the technical language in the contract, the dispute boils ............... to who accepts the risk if demand collapses.
Wrong!
"boil down to" means be essentially a matter of; the sentence reduces the disagreement to who accepts risk.
9The new emails bear directly ............... the tribunal's central question: whether the dismissal was lawful.
Wrong!
"bear on" means be relevant to; the new evidence is relevant to whether the dismissal was lawful.
10The judge asked the jury to set ............... the possibility of media influence and focus only on the evidence presented in court.
Wrong!
"set aside" means disregard or exclude for the moment; the judge tells the jury not to consider speculation.
11The policy paper draws ............... on research from countries that had already tested similar welfare reforms.
Wrong!
"draw heavily on" means use something as a source; the policy used research from other countries.
12The spokesperson played ............... the risk of further outages, even though engineers had not yet identified the fault.
Wrong!
"played down" means made something seem less important or serious; the spokesperson minimized the risk.
Answers
- The regulator’s decision to publish enforcement data has brought about reforms that were previously considered politically impossible.
- The director put the delay down to legal advice rather than a lack of funding.
- The merger fell through when the smaller company withdrew hours before the agreement was due to be signed.
- Despite strong doubts in the boardroom, the risky proposal was carried off with unexpected confidence.
- The figures in the scanned contract were so blurred that no one could make out whether the clause had been amended.
- After three inconclusive meetings, the committee finally came up with a compromise that both sides could defend publicly.
- The report glossed over the accounting error in a single footnote, although it had affected three years of results.
- For all the technical language in the contract, the dispute boils down to who accepts the risk if demand collapses.
- The new emails bear directly on the tribunal’s central question: whether the dismissal was lawful.
- The judge asked the jury to set aside the possibility of media influence and focus only on the evidence presented in court.
- The policy paper draws heavily on research from countries that had already tested similar welfare reforms.
- The spokesperson played down the risk of further outages, even though engineers had not yet identified the fault.
