Select the correct option:
Only after years of archival research did the historian manage to _____________ the contradictory accounts of the regime's collapse.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. reconcile.
Context: The sentence describes a historian performing 'archival research' to deal with 'contradictory accounts' (stories that disagree with each other) regarding a regime's collapse.
Meaning of the words:
Retract: To withdraw a statement or accusation as untrue or unjustified.
Revise: To re-examine and make alterations to something, especially written matter.
Reconcile: To find a way in which two or more opposing ideas or facts can both be true or exist together.
Reverberate: (Of a loud noise) be repeated several times as an echo.
Correct word: Reconcile
Reason: When dealing with contradictory information, the goal is to make those conflicting pieces of evidence consistent or compatible with each other. Reconcile is the only word that fits the logical requirement of resolving contradictions within a historical study.
Final Sentence: Only after years of archival research did the historian manage to reconcile the contradictory accounts of the regime's collapse.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.