Solving the Sentence Completion Question

The question asks us to choose the best pair of words to fill the two blanks in the given sentence. We need to select words that make the sentence grammatically correct and logically meaningful in the context provided.

The sentence is: The mother-in-law ranted at her daughter-in-law about her _______ for eating and _______ to work.

The sentence describes a mother-in-law ranting about two things related to her daughter-in-law: something about her relationship with eating, and something about her relationship with working.

Let's look at the options provided:

• vibrant, able: If we use these, the sentence becomes "about her vibrant for eating and able to work". 'Vibrant for eating' doesn't make sense. 'Able to work' is a neutral quality, and a mother-in-law would typically rant about someone *not* working or *not* wanting to work, rather than just being able to.
• charge, outlay: If we use these, the sentence becomes "about her charge for eating and outlay to work". These words don't fit the context of a personal habit or attitude that someone would rant about in this manner.
• fondness, aversion: If we use these, the sentence becomes "about her fondness for eating and aversion to work".
  Fondness for eating means having a strong liking for eating. This could imply eating too much, or prioritizing eating over other things.
  Aversion to work means having a strong dislike or unwillingness to do work.
  This pair fits the context of a complaint from a mother-in-law about a daughter-in-law who perhaps eats excessively or spends too much time eating (fondness for eating) and dislikes or avoids working (aversion to work). This combination makes for a logical reason for a rant.
• rare, unusual: If we use these, the sentence becomes "about her rare for eating and unusual to work". 'Rare for eating' doesn't make sense grammatically or contextually. 'Unusual to work' suggests that working itself is unusual for her, which isn't a typical complaint; the complaint would be about *not* working when she should.
• exceptional, vivid: If we use these, the sentence becomes "about her exceptional for eating and vivid to work". 'Exceptional for eating' doesn't make sense in this context. 'Vivid to work' is also not meaningful.

Comparing the options, the words fondness and aversion create a sentence that is grammatically correct and makes perfect sense in the context of a mother-in-law complaining about a daughter-in-law's habits and attitude towards work.

Thus, the correct words to fill the blanks are fondness and aversion.