SAT OwlQuestion bank / Words in Context
The following text is from a 1909 novel by Bernard Ashcombe.
Colonel Wythe had a way of ______ any disagreement before it began. If a guest at his table seemed about to dispute some point, the colonel would at once turn the conversation to the weather, or the harvest, or the merits of the soup, and the dispute would never come.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
inciting
prolonging
mediating
forestalling
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
The colonel changes the subject before a dispute can start, so "the dispute would never come." "Forestalling" means preventing something by acting ahead of time, which fits "before it began."
Choice C, "mediating," means helping settle a dispute already underway, but the colonel stops disputes from starting at all.
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