Read the sentence, looking for clues
The sentence starts off with a clue, "due to." That means the low voter turnout
caused by the storm is the key here. It was something the reporters felt affected
the campaign.
Predict an answer
Low voter turnout caused by a storm doesn't sound like something good for a
campaign that is trying to get people to go out and vote for its candidate. It can
predicted, therefore, that storm's effect was damaging to the campaign.
Select the two choices that most closely match your
prediction
(A) harmful and (E) deleterious are synonyms that match the
prediction and are the correct answers.
(D) calamitous is the only other
negative word in the choices, but it means "catastrophic," which is too strong for
this sentence. Low voter turnout may not be a good thing, but there is nothing in
the sentence to suggest that it is disastrous. There is also no other word in the
choices with such an extreme meaning.
(B) benign and (C) inconsequential are similar, neutral words
that mean "not harmful" and "not significant," respectively. They don't make sense
here, as reporters would not go out of their way to comment on an event that had no
real effect on the campaigns. Finally, (F) beneficial is a positive word meaning "helpful." This sentence
requires negative words.
Check your answers to see if the sentence retains the
same meaning
Due to the low voter turnout, reporters described the storm's effect as harmful/deleterious to the candidate's campaign for mayor, which depended on
a grassroots voter registration drive.
TAKEAWAY: Don't forget to use the choices for clues. If it wasn't exactly clear
from the sentence how bad the low voter turnout would be for the campaign, the
choices contained only one highly negatively charged word, in (D), while there are
two moderately negative words.
