Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The _________________ argument put forth for not disclosing the facts did not impress anybody.
a) Convincing
b) Specious
c) Intemperate
d) Spurious

Answer 1

Hint: The sentence is trying to tell that the superficial, plausible but actually wrong argument given has not impressed anybody. They are misleading. Hence, try to find a word synonym for misleading.

Complete answer:
 Before getting to the answer let us understand the meaning of the different options provided and understand why or why not they can be used in the above sentence.
Option (a) – convincing: someone who is capable of making others believe that something is true or real, or make something very vividly clear. For example, he made a pretty convincing case.
Option (b) – specious: means something that misleading, superficial, only plausible, and actually wrong. For example: he gave specious arguments to win the case.
Option (c) – intemperate: means to show or have a lack of self – control. For example he often has intemperate outbursts.
Option (d) – spurious: means not being what it purports to be, something that is fake or false and not valid. For example: that is a spurious claim.
Now, as the sentence is trying to tell that the superficial, plausible but actually wrong argument or misleading argument is given has not impressed anybody. So as per this, the correct solution would be option (b), i.e. specious.
Therefore, the complete sentence would be – ‘The specious argument put forth for not disclosing the facts did not impress anybody’.

Note:
In the above-given options, almost all the words seem to share a similar meaning but that is not so. Because something being not real and something being misleading is totally different things.