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Question

Difficulty: MediumWord Formation: Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots

Which of the following words correctly completes the sentence below?

"The committee commended the chief structural engineer for her ________ design, which solved the building's stability issue through a remarkably clever and inventive application of physics."

  1. ingeniousAnswer
  2. B
    ingenuous
  3. C
    disingenuous
  4. D
    uningenuous

Answer

The word 'ingenious' correctly completes the sentence because it describes something marked by special aptitude, cleverness, or inventiveness.
The word 'ingenious' is formed from Latin roots denoting innate talent and inventive skill. In this context, it accurately describes a structural design that is brilliantly clever and resourceful.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the contextual clue in the sentence stem.
The phrase 'solved the building's stability issue through a remarkably clever and inventive application' indicates an adjective meaning highly inventive or brilliant is required.
The sentence praises the engineer's skill and originality.
2
Examine the morphology and etymology of the base root and affixes.
The root 'ingenium' (genius, natural capacity) + suffix '-ous' yields 'ingenious', meaning characterized by cleverness and originality.
Morphological derivation dictates that 'ingenious' refers to mental skill and inventive design.
3
Differentiate from paronyms and morphological errors.
'Ingenuous' means naive/candid, 'disingenuous' means insincere, and 'uningenuous' is a non-standard morphological construction.
Selecting the correct affixation prevents confusion between closely related root derivatives.

Key Concept

Paronym Differentiation and Morphological Affixation
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Topics

Word Formation: Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots

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