2012-05-23 09:00:03

Because the hurricane brought dirty ocean water into the city's water supply, the city's mayor urged residents not to drink the ______ water, as it was no longer ______.

(A) polluted...succulent
(B) deleterious...innocuous
(C) contaminated...potable
(D) tainted...palatable
(E) refined...revolting

The correct answer is C

Explanation: To predict the missing words, look for keywords in the sentence. Here, the keywords are given in the first clause of the sentence, where it states that "the hurricane brought dirty ocean water into the city's water supply." The prompt hinges on a cause-and-effect relationship, and the two missing words come in the effect half of the sentence, meaning that both missing words describe the result of the hurricane mixing ocean water with the city's water. The result would logically be a corruption or pollution of the water supply.  The first missing word describes what the "water" now is, so it must mean something like "corrupted" or "unclean," and the second missing word describes what the water no longer was, which is to say "safe to drink." Because "contaminated" means "impure due to a pollutant being added" and "potable" means "safe to drink," choice C is correct.

None of the other answer choices work, either:

(A) polluted: contaminated or made impure by a hazardous substance & succulent: tender, juicy, or tasty (this choice does not work because being succulent is not synonymous with being safe to drink, as something can be safe to drink without being tasty)

(B) deleterious: harmful & innocuous: harmless (this almost works, except the prompt does not imply that the water supply was necessarily harmful, as it only indicates that the water supply was mixed with ocean water)

(D) tainted: contaminated or polluted & palatable: pleasant to taste (this choice does not work because being palatable is not synonymous with being safe to drink, as something can be safe to drink without being tasty)

(E) refined: without impurities & revolting: disgusting (these words could work int he sentence but only if their order were reversed)