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Difficulty: MediumSecondary and High-Frequency Alternative Meanings

Read the sentence below and fill in the blank with the single word that best completes the passage based on its secondary academic meaning.

Answer:In her study of ecosystem resilience, the environmental scientist observed that unseasonal temperature spikes inevitably 【tax】 even the most robust plant species, placing severe demands on their energy reserves and straining their physiological limits.

Answer

tax
In academic writing, the verb 'tax' frequently carries the secondary meaning of placing heavy demands upon, straining, or exhausting the resources of a system or organism. In this passage, unseasonal temperature spikes strain biological energy reserves, making 'tax' the precise contextual fit.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context of the blank within the passage.
The passage describes environmental stressors placing 'severe demands' and 'straining... physiological limits' on plant species.
The surrounding context requires a verb that means to overburden, strain, or place heavy demands upon an organism or system.
2
Identify the word that fits this context via its secondary meaning.
The word 'tax' primarily refers to levying financial duties, but in an academic context it functions as a high-frequency secondary verb meaning to burden or strain severely.
Using 'tax' fits both the syntactic requirement of the plural subject ('spikes inevitably tax...') and the semantic requirement of placing severe physical demands on energy reserves.

Key Concept

Secondary and High-Frequency Alternative Meanings
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Secondary and High-Frequency Alternative Meanings

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