Tag: softskills

The report 'prompted' (caused) governments to 'ban' (prohibit) sales. 'Prompted...ban' is the strongest collocation. Option A 'provoked...prohibit' is grammatically incorrect (prohibit takes an object, not 'to prohibit'). Option D's 'forbid' also has similar grammatical issues.

Literary criticism can adopt a 'superficial' (surface-level) scientific appearance 'within certain boundaries' (limits/constraints) and still remain useful criticism. This acknowledges that while criticism can never truly be scientific, it can appear so within defined contexts. Other options don't capture this nuanced relationship.

The word "barbecue" derives from the Taino language of the Caribbean (specifically the Haiti region), entering English via Spanish "barbacoa." It originally referred to a wooden framework used for smoking or cooking meat.

The lunula is the visible, pale, crescent-shaped area at the base of fingernails and toenails. It's the visible portion of the nail matrix where new nail cells are produced, appearing whitish due to the thickened nail bed obscuring blood vessels.

The "jay" in jaywalking refers to a "jay" - a term for a naive, rustic person unfamiliar with city ways and rules. Such a person would cross streets carelessly, haphazardly, and with bold impudence (disregard for urban etiquette), making "all of the above" correct.

Bigamy is the act of marrying someone while already legally married to another living person. Marriage after the death or divorce of a first spouse is simply remarriage and is legal - not bigamy. The definition in the question describes remarriage, not bigamy.

"Gesundheit" is German for "health" and is used after sneezing to wish someone good health, serving the exact same social function as "bless you" in English - both express concern for the sneezer's wellbeing.

HTTP 404 means "Not Found" - the server cannot find the requested resource. Option C correctly states this meaning. Options A and B incorrectly attribute negative meanings to the numeric code itself, which is purely a technical status indicator.

The "X" in X-ray was chosen because X is the algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity. When Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the rays in 1895, he couldn't identify their nature, so he labeled them "X" for unknown.