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Question

Difficulty: HardIdentifying Analogous Situations

In historical linguistics, the phenomenon of "semantic bleaching" occurs when a word possessing a highly specific, intense meaning is repeatedly used by speakers in trivial or exaggerated contexts to add rhetorical force. Over time, this widespread misapplication strips the word of its original intensity, leaving it fundamentally weakened and ineffective even when speakers attempt to use it in its original, literal sense. Which of the following scenarios is most clearly analogous to the process of semantic bleaching as described in the passage?

  1. A powerful antibiotic, originally reserved for life-threatening bacterial infections, is frequently prescribed by doctors to appease patients with mild viral colds, eventually accelerating bacterial mutation until the drug is useless against severe infections.Answer
  2. B
    A language instructor repeatedly corrects her students' minor grammatical mistakes during casual conversation, causing the students to become overly self-conscious and hesitant to speak naturally.
  3. C
    A prestigious university intentionally lowers its admission standards to increase tuition revenue, which permanently damages the institution's elite academic reputation among prospective students and employers.
  4. D
    A national government continuously prints excess currency to fund public infrastructure projects, ultimately causing hyperinflation that destroys the purchasing power of the money.
  5. E
    A manager frequently praises employees for mundane tasks to boost morale, which instantly causes all employees to completely ignore all future feedback and permanently stop working.

Answer

The correct answer describes a powerful antibiotic that loses its effectiveness against severe infections because it is continually prescribed for mild colds.
The correct answer flawlessly maps the relational structure of semantic bleaching to a medical context. Just as an intense word is overused in trivial contexts (rhetorical exaggeration) until it loses its primary meaning, a highly specific antibiotic is overused in trivial contexts (mild viral colds) until it loses its ability to treat the severe infections it was designed for.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the target phenomenon ('semantic bleaching') to extract its abstract relational structure.
Identified three core elements: (1) a specialized, intense tool, (2) widespread misapplication in trivial contexts for immediate effect, and (3) a resulting permanent loss of the tool's effectiveness in its original context.
Analogous situation questions require mapping the logical structure of a passage concept to a new scenario, independent of the original subject matter.
2
Evaluate the answer choices to find the scenario that perfectly aligns with all three structural elements.
The antibiotic scenario maps perfectly: potent drug (intense tool) -> used for mild colds (trivial misapplication) -> becomes useless against severe infections (loss of original effectiveness).
Only one option will maintain the exact causal mechanism described in the passage.
3
Eliminate distractors by identifying structural mismatches.
Discarded options based on familiar wording (language instructor), general dilution rather than misapplication (university), outside knowledge of inflation (currency), and extreme consequences (manager).
Distractors in analogy questions often replicate the subject matter or end result while altering the core causal mechanism.

Key Concept

Identifying Analogous Situations
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Topics

Identifying Analogous Situations

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