Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardPrepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct prepositions in the blanks.

Answer:The tribunal declared that the submitted documentation was completely bereft 【of】 credible financial records, rendering the director's defence tantamount 【to】 an outright admission of corruption.

Answer

The first blank requires 'of' to form the adjectival collocation 'bereft of', and the second blank requires 'to' to form the dependent prepositional structure 'tantamount to'.
The correct prepositions are 'of' for the first blank and 'to' for the second blank. In standard formal English, the adjective 'bereft' takes the dependent preposition 'of' to signify complete lack or deprivation. Similarly, the adjective 'tantamount' takes the fixed preposition 'to' when describing something that is equal in seriousness or significance to another thing.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the required dependent preposition for the adjective 'bereft'.
The adjective 'bereft' strictly requires the preposition 'of' when indicating a state of being deprived of or lacking something.
Prepositions such as 'with', 'from', or 'in' are ungrammatical collocations when paired with 'bereft'.
2
Determine the required preposition for the adjective 'tantamount'.
The adjective 'tantamount' obligatorily pairs with 'to' when denoting equivalence in meaning, force, or effect.
Using 'with', 'for', or 'of' after 'tantamount' violates standard English prepositional rules.

Key Concept

Dependent Prepositions and Adjectival Collocations
Rate this question

Topics

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

More questions from this topic