Read the sentence, looking for clues
The straight-ahead roadsign "rendering" means that the two parts of the sentence
have a cause-and-effect relationship. There were "distinctive and unambiguous
symptoms," and the virus had become "epidemic" (or widespread), which meant that the
plans to deal with the infected were now pointless; the plans must therefore have
been to stop the spread.
Predict the answer
Symptoms that are "distinctive and unambiguous" can be observed, so for the first
blank, predict a verb that means something like "be observable." For the second
blank, a good prediction would be that they had planned to "quarantine" the
infected.
Select the answer choices that most closely match
your predictions
(C)
manifest, "become visible" or "make
known through display," completes the sentence logically and is the first correct
answer. (A) fulminate, "denounce
strongly," does not fit the context and is incorrect. (B) equivocate, "use purposefully ambiguous
language," is incorrect because it does not make sense in the sentence
either.
(D) sequester, or "keep separate," makes perfect sense as a plan to
prevent the spread of the virus and is the second correct answer. Even if you didn't
know the formal definition, you may have remembered that juries are often sequestered to keep them separate from
possible outside influences. This is sometimes a plot point in TV crime dramas.
(E) assimilate, which means
"understand" or "absorb," does not make sense in this context, nor
does (F) exonerate, "clear from
guilt," so these choices are incorrect.
Check your answer
By the time distinctive and unambiguous symptoms began to manifest, the modified virus had already been
communicated on an epidemic scale, rendering the previously optimistic plans to
sequester infected individuals
beside the point.
TAKEAWAY: If you can't define one of the choices, there might be a commonly used
context for the word that can help you figure out its general meaning.
