ShmoopTube

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour...

00:05

Which word could fill in the blank so that the sentence below makes sense?

00:09

Regardless of status or wealth, one must be blank and continue to work hard in order to

00:14

keep what one has earned.

00:15

Here are the potential answers.

00:27

This sentence is lecturing us on how to keep what we've earned, so we're looking for

00:31

a word that describes a positive way of working.

00:34

(A), (C) and (E) are all easy to eliminate.

00:39

"Absurd" means ridiculous, "asinine" means stupid, and "impetuous" means thoughtless.

00:47

If anybody used those words to describe us, we wouldn't be expecting an employee of

00:51

the month award.

00:53

"Sensible" isn't a totally asinine choice.

00:57

Most people would agree that working hard is a pretty sensible thing to do.

01:01

However, "persistent" seems to work a little better in this sentence.

01:06

We're looking for something that describes continued work, and "persistent" means

01:11

to... keep on keeping on. So (D) is the best answer.

01:15

D for our work here is "Done."

Full Transcript