When staying in a hotel, Bernard would arrange for his valet to bring him his newspaper in the dining room so that everyone would realize that he had a manservant; this (i)____ embarrassed his nephew who, though equally rich, preferred a more (ii)____ life-style.
Blank (i)
A. ostentation
B. arrogance
C. dissimulation
Blank (ii)
D. opulent
E. libertine
F. understated
The answer is A & F. But I am wondering why not A & D. Which word here signals that the pair of words should be opposite?
The Nephew felt embarrassed, that it happened that way. It seems the nephew does not want this to be obvious for anyone to see it happening. The nephew preferred the whole process to be ‘‘understated’’(not obvious).
I think If THOUGH in the question is omitted then answer D would be correct.
The answer is A & F. But I am wondering why not A & D. Which word here signals that the pair of words should be opposite?
Is though.
The fact that the nephew was embarrassed shows you that his attitude was different from that of his uncle.
Thanks Dozy & Ebenezer Adu. I understand now.
What does suggest “Is through”?
Where do you see ‘is though?’
Have you misread Ebenezer’s answer because of the way he punctuated it? He meant: “I think if the word “though” was omitted from the question…”
Thanks.
When staying in a hotel, Bernard would arrange for his valet to bring him his newspaper in the dining room so that everyone would realize that he had a manservant; this (i)____ embarrassed his nephew who, though equally rich, preferred a more (ii)____ life-style.
What does the “would” suggest, past, future, imaginary or what? Can I ommit the second “wold”?
The first “would” shows repeated/habitual action in the past. The second “would” emphasises the purpose/result of the action as part of the pattern "so (that) (someone) would (do sth.) I suppose you could argue that it’s future-in-the-past. If you omit the second “would” then you must change “realize” to “realized”.