ShmoopTube

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Get a Shmoop of this... Which word could fill in the blank so that

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the sentence below makes sense?

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Although the students were assigned blank reading homework every night, some of them

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looked forward to spending some time each day with a book.

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And here are the potential answers...

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In this sentence, "although" indicates that the word in the blank somehow contrasts with

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the idea of looking forward to hardcore reading time.

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We can cross out "ridiculous" and "fruitless," because even the most dedicated students probably

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wouldn't look forward to silly or pointless reading.

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"Contemptuous" means with hate or disgust, which would be an odd way to describe a reading

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assignment.

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The teacher who assigned it, maybe, but not the assignment itself.

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We can turn the page on (D) as well, because "constructive" is way too positive to

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fit in here. We need something kinda cranky.

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Looks like our answer is "compulsory." Even though the kids have to read whether

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they like it or not, some of them are down with reading anyway.

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The answer is (A). A for "...And on to the next one..."

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