Read the sentence, looking for clues
Paraphrase the first part of this sentence as A
new company's potential is hard for investors to discover. Thus, they
are interested in "clues to its resilience and vitality," so they care about the
health of the company. Since the sentence is discussing "new" companies with
"potential," their future health is not yet known.
Predict an answer
The investors are trying to "discern" the health of companies, so a good
prediction for blank (iii) is that they "want" clues.
Because investors want clues to a company's "resilience and vitality," predict
that what is difficult to discern is the company's potential to "succeed" or "be
healthy."
How healthy a new company might someday be has yet to be discovered, to predict
"hidden" for blank (i).
Select the choice(s) that most closely match(es) your
prediction
The investors (I) quest for, or "seek," clues to the health of a
new company. To (G) circumvent is "to
get around" something, and the investors want the clues-they don't want to avoid
them. To (H) capitulate to might have
been tempting if you were thinking about the capital that investors provide to
businesses, but capitulate means "to
surrender."
The investors are interested in a company's potential to (D) flourish, or "thrive." (E) succumb means "to give in," which is the opposite of what the
investors are looking for. (F) equilibrate means "to reach a state of balance." While a company
might want to equilibrate in various
ways (e.g., bring its risks and opportunities into balance), the context clues in
this sentence point to a positive, not a neutral, word.
The word latent in (C) means "having the potential to develop but
not evident now," and that's a match for the prediction. (A) evident is the opposite. (B) mature is also the opposite, since new
companies are not mature.
Check your answer
The latent potential of a new company
to flourish in an emerging and as yet
unstructured market is often difficult for investors to discern as they quest for clues to its resilience and
vitality.
TAKEAWAY: Sometimes the clue to a blank can be in a different part of the
sentence. Read the entire sentence before predicting for any of the blanks.
