ShmoopTube

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by accusations.

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Like when your younger sibling blames you for breaking that lamp

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and you might have been the one who broke the lamp.

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[ chuckles ] Check out the following sentence.

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Their accusations were bolstered

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by the large amount of evidence. Hmm.

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All right, the word "bolstered" most nearly means what?

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And here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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Ooh, this question deals with accusations and evidence.

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It's like a little ASVAB police procedural drama on TV.

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CSI: Shmoop.

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Yeah, like that. All right.

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Now, A - appealed

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means to plead for or request.

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Like the kid appealed for a later bedtime.

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Well, evidence isn't gonna request accusations.

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So option A is guilty of being incorrect.

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And B - denied means rejected.

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It's unlikely a large body of evidence would somehow reject

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an accusation.

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It would probably have just the opposite effect, in fact.

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And exorbitant is an adjective

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and doesn't fit into the sentence. It means highly excessive,

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as in "the divorce fees were exorbitant."

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Bolster is literally a word for a pillow.

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It means to hold something up or support it.

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A lot of evidence would probably support

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an accusation, so answer D is correct.

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One thing that can't be denied? Our crazy ASVAB skills,

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which are supported, or bolstered, by the steps we took

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to answer this question.

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[ musical tone ]

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