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Question

Difficulty: MediumPrepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct prepositions to fill the blanks.

Answer:The investigative panel concluded that the managing director had acquiesced 【in】 the fraudulent financial transactions and was entirely devoid 【of】 remorse for his actions.

Answer

The correct prepositions are 'in' for the first blank and 'of' for the second blank.
The verb 'acquiesce' requires the dependent preposition 'in' to express tacit agreement or compliance, while the adjective 'devoid' consistently pairs with 'of' to mean completely lacking.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the correct dependent preposition that follows the verb 'acquiesce'.
The verb 'acquiesce' strictly collocates with the preposition 'in' when expressing passive compliance or agreement.
Using 'to' or 'with' after 'acquiesce' is a common prepositional error resulting from native language interference or erroneous analogy with 'agree to'.
2
Identify the standard preposition paired with the adjective 'devoid'.
The adjective 'devoid' takes the fixed preposition 'of' to denote being completely destitute or lacking in a quality.
Phrases such as 'devoid with' or 'devoid from' violate standard grammatical collocations in formal English.

Key Concept

Dependent Prepositions and Fixed Prepositional Collocations
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Topics

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

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