Select the appropriate pair of words to fill in the blanks:
To ______ her own argument, the young lawyer read out an old High Court ruling that had set a clear ______ for cases like this one.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → buttress, precedent
Complete sentence: To buttress her own argument, the young lawyer read out an old High Court ruling that had set a clear precedent for cases like this one.
| Buttress (answer) | Precedent (answer) | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | to support or strengthen an idea or argument | an earlier action or decision that is used as an example or rule for later ones |
| Example | The scientist buttressed her claim with ten years of rainfall data. | If the school lets one student skip the test, it will set a precedent for the whole class. |
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: undermine, standard — Incorrect. Undermine means to make something weaker, little by little. Example: Constant late nights slowly undermined Ravi’s health.
Option 3: buttress, record — Incorrect. A record (as in “set a record”) means the best result ever achieved in something. Example: The young athlete set a new state record in the long jump.
Option 4: conceal, verdict — Incorrect. Conceal means to hide something. Verdict means the decision a judge gives at the end of a trial. Example: The accused tried to conceal his face as the judge read out the verdict.