some sc..need help~

[joanne7485]

I have two sentence completion questions and they don't have explanations, need help~

1. Glendon provides a dark underside to Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis that saw rugged individualism as the essence of American society- an individualism that she sees as________atomism.
(a) antithetical toward
(b) skeptical of
(c) degenerating into
(d) aspiring to
(e) renewed by


2. The texts we have them were written down and edited carefully by Christians proud of their ancestors but unstable to bear the thought of their indulging in heathen practices; thus, all references to the ancient religion of the Celts were_______, if not_______.
(a) deleted...expunged
(b) muddied...suppressed
(c) labored...denigrated
(d) aggrieved...overawed
(e) obscure...ironic

my answers are
1. d
2. a

but the Official Answer are
1. c
2. b

can someone explain these to me?

thanks

[Sagitha]

Hi,
For the first one, I chose c because

Glenton saw a dark underside means something negative to the thesis

the thesis was seen as something positive - essence of American society : individualism

So what is negative if looked at individualism from a negative angle? Atomism

So I think c : positive degenerating into something negative

Rgds,
S

[mewidyu]

The texts we have them were written down and edited carefully by Christians proud of their ancestors but unstable to bear the thought of their indulging in heathen practices; thus, all references to the ancient religion of the Celts were_______, if not_______.
(a) deleted...expunged
(b) muddied...suppressed
(c) labored...denigrated
(d) aggrieved...overawed
(e) obscure...ironic

watever christain had written it was totally the inspiration of ancestor even he didnt bear the heaten of their own thought.....that mean he just muddled the content and any referencesis not present in content (if not....) it was suppressed....the reason behind may be he was forgot or didnt thought it is important....so i think it must be (b)

[joanne7485]

thanks..this will help~

[paul2432]

Regarding the second:

The "if not" wording indicates the first blank is a similar meaning to the second blank, but to a lesser degree. (a) is not correct because deleted and expunged mean the same thing. (b) is the only answer that fits.

Also, I believe the word "unstable" should be "unable".

Paul

Paul