ShmoopTube

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You look like you could use another shmoopy question...

00:07

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

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Participants in the food drive were dismayed by the blank of contributions this year and

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struggled to compensate the needy with funds.

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And here are the potential answers...

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The participants in the food drive had to kick in some cold hard cash to make up for

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the fact they didn't get many donations.

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Man, where's the love in their community?

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Anyway, we know we're looking for an answer choice that describes this downer of a shortage.

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We can nix "siege" easily, since it doesn't have anything to do with a shortage at all...

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...instead referring to an attack that cuts off access to supplies.

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Choices (B), (C), and (D) are all the opposite of what we're looking for.

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"Profusion" means a large quantity...

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..."deluge" means a downpour or flood...

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...and "barrage" means a military bombardment... or something that feels like one.

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If any of these things had happened, there would've been plenty of food.

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"Dearth" describes when there's a scarcity or shortage of something, so it looks like

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(A) is the one and only answer.

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Here's hoping there's no dearth of delicious old canned foods in our future.

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