Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
The professor's explanation (1)/ was filled in clarity (2)/ yet managed to obfuscate (3)/ more than elucidate. (4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Correct Answer
(2)
Explanation
To find the error, examine the prepositional phrase structure in Part 2:
The Error: The phrase "filled in clarity" uses an incorrect preposition. The verb "filled" requires the preposition "with" when describing what occupies a space or container.
Contextual Clue: Furthermore, the sentence uses the conjunction "yet", which sets up a contrast. The second part says the explanation "managed to obfuscate (confuse) more than elucidate (clarify)." For this contrast to make sense logically, the first part should mean the explanation lacked clarity. Therefore, the phrase should be "lacking in clarity" or "devoid of clarity".
The Correction: Whether fixing the preposition to "filled with clarity" (grammatical fix) or adjusting it to match the logical meaning ("lacking in clarity"), the structural error resides entirely within Part 2.
Key Points
Prepositional Collocation: The standard idiomatic pairing is always filled with, never "filled in".
Exam Shortcut: When you see the word "filled" followed by "in" to describe a state or quality, tag it immediately as a preposition error.