From Powerprep (test 2)

[wood]

That many lawyers have acquired a reputation for ________ even the most solemn and binding undertakings does not ________ discovery of attorneys devoted to both legal and ethical right.

(A) enforcing..promote
(B) articulating..ensure
(C) repudiating..permit
(D) disapproving..produce
(E) subverting..preclude

[rumen]

your answer is E, I believe

[Psyoutlaw]

E sounds good too.

[wood]

You're both right... What about some explanations?

[rumen]

in my opinion the second word is the key word, preclude;that lawyers are famous for subverting the most solemn.... doesn't , terminates, let's say, the discovery of attorneys who are DEVOTED to legal and ethical rights. Now, you see that only the word"preclude" has the meaning of terminating or ending, the other choices have quite different meanings. When you take into account the first blank, your choice is narrowed down to the last 2 choices, since only there the first word have negative meaning

[wood]

That's my problem... why does the first blank have to be negative?

[rumen]

if you see the general idea and sense of the sentence, I think you will comprehend, that the attorneys have reputation for doing something bad(speaking generaly) but still there are some devoted to moral and ethical rights. So the first blank should be negative, and as far as the second one is concerned , the answer is conspicuous, also " even the most..." reveals that the firs blank should have negative meaning..hope it is useful

[pamrs]

Originally posted by wood

That's my problem... why does the first blank have to be negative?

Read it like this:

"That many lawyers have acquired a reputation for (doing something to) EVEN the most SOLEMN and binding undertakings does not ________ discovery of (THESE OTHER) attorneys devoted to both legal and ethical right."

These latter type of attorneys are devoted to doing right, but the former type EVEN* does something to the most SOLEMN undertakings. Must be doing something bad to the solemn undertakings.

*like it's notable that they do it at all, but even more so that they do it EVEN to solemn undertakings

[wood]

Thanks to both of you... got a better idea of the sentence now.

Pam, is that useful to rever the sentence mentally while answering a SC question? I actually find it too time consuming and might be prone to errors, no?