i dont get this

[rocky80]

He wrote and distributed his own self-serving obituary to a strongly _________ audience who gave it a _________ reception .

1. disbelieving.....caustic.
2. pejorative......bemused
3. literary........ fabatical
4. inspiratinal.... jocular
5. enthusiatic.....sober [is something wrong with this answer? ]

[rschunti]

Is answer "A" because Disbelieve-->To refuse to believe in; reject and caustic will be in the second blank because of this.

I was also thinking pejorative and bemuse but bemuse does not fit in the second blank.

[rocky80]

yeah its A

[maqsood]

can anyone explain y is it disbelieve in first blank?

[FrancaisDeutsch]

I would say E.

Why?

The audience was very enthusiastic about receiving this self-serving obituary, but they reacted in a sober fashion after having received it.

The person wrote a self-serving obituary to an audience which seemed very enthusiastic about receiving it (not sure why). They reacted in the opposite way.

"Enthusiastic" is the opposite of "sober"

This is not an easy one.

[sporty.arjun]

the answer is A because the crowd could not believe that he is giving his own obituary.....since they could not believe it it implies they did not like it and gave a scathing reply(hence caustic)...hence A

[FrancaisDeutsch]

Originally Posted by sporty.arjun

the answer is A because the crowd could not believe that he is giving his own obituary.....since they could not believe it it implies they did not like it and gave a scathing reply(hence caustic)...hence A

I now think the answer is B.

pejorative audience = disparaging audience = an audience that looks down upon what you're doing

bemused = bewilderment

In other words, his audience looked down upon that fact that he wrote an self-serving obituary. Thus, not only were they very disparaging about, but very bewildered by it as well.

He distributed his self-serving obituary to a disparaging audience who received it with bewilderment.

[Goldust]

If the audience were disparaging, then they would not be bemused by it, but they would scorn it or something.

For SCs, don't just look at what the words mean but take into account the sentence as a whole. Something intangible lies in there. For instance, the use of the phrase "self-serving" almost certainly means that the author is against what the person in question did. In other words, he would support the audience.

[chestnut.cc]

A is the best ans... hes distributing his own obituary... which would earn a caustic response at best...

[FrancaisDeutsch]

Originally Posted by Goldust

If the audience were disparaging, then they would not be bemused by it, but they would scorn it or something.

For SCs, don't just look at what the words mean but take into account the sentence as a whole. Something intangible lies in there. For instance, the use of the phrase "self-serving" almost certainly means that the author is against what the person in question did. In other words, he would support the audience.

None of the answers make that much sense to me.

I initially thought A like everyone else and would have chosen A on a test as I go on first instinct. But, I started to read into the question and become confused.

I could see how it's A, but I also could see how it's B: a disparaging (pejorative) audience would also be baffled (bemused) by someone writing his own self-serving obituary. So, it could have received a "bemused reception". But, then again, I'm stretching things. It's A.

But, "self-serving" is the key word, which makes the answer A (self-serving > caustic reponse)