ShmoopTube

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Here's a Shmoopy question for you... Which words could fill in the blanks so that

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the sentence below makes sense?

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Although the man believed in luck, he found that blank and blank were more important,

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and more useful, than superstition.

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And here are the potential answers...

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Our two missing words need to be somehow related. Maybe they're third cousins, twice removed...?

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How do we know they're related? Well... it would be the appearance of the magical

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conjunction "and." Using this logic, we can quickly get rid of

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choice (E), because "incompetence" and "mastery" are opposites.

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Although you very well may have mastered incompetence. Congress, we're talking to you.

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We also know that we're looking for positive-sounding

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words, since they're supposed to be more "important" and "useful" than believing in luck.

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Knowing this, we can get rid of some of these other choices too.

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"Fanaticism" is when somebody is dangerously obsessed with something.

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Most people would agree this is not a good thing, so (B) is out.

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When somebody is in a "frenzy" it means they're going totally psycho about something.

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Most would agree that being in a frenzy is generally a bad idea.

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So we're going to cross this one off... for our health, as well as everyone else's.

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Among other things, "impotence" can mean powerlessness and weakness, which nobody enjoys

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very much.

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Both "skill" and "preparedness" seem like good things to believe in. So (A) is the best

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answer.

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(A) for "Always be prepared."

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