ShmoopTube

00:03

Shmoop... here it is... Shmoop... here it is...

00:07

Which words could fill in the blanks so that

00:09

the sentence below makes sense?

00:11

Fame is truly in the eye of the beholder: As blank as fog, it can surround a person

00:16

in one moment and burn away in the next.

00:22

See how the sentence uses "as" to compare fog and fame? Looks like we have ourselves

00:28

a simile. It might make things a little more complicated, but we'll zero in on the context

00:34

to sort this one out.

00:35

The sentence says that like fog, fame can be here one minute and disappear again in the next.

00:42

Unless we're talking about The Fog, in which case everyone should run for his or her life.

00:48

So, basically, we're on the hunt for an adjective that applies to both fame and fog,

00:52

while referring to something difficult to grasp or control.

00:56

How about (A)?

00:57

Yeah, that works. "Ethereal" means delicate and easy to disperse. It can definitely be

01:03

used to describe something that's here today and gone tomorrow.

01:06

We'll go through the rest of the answers to make sure this one's the best.

01:10

(B) doesn't work because "ubiquitous" means something that's really common

01:14

or always around all over the place.

01:17

Like your brother's underwear.

01:18

How about (C)?

01:19

Well, "effervescent" means bubbly.

01:21

We've never heard of any bubbly fame, so (C) gets thrown out.

01:25

(D) is a definite no. "Pristine" means clean, and as we all know, fame is usually

01:30

pretty... messy.

01:32

And then there's (E), which doesn't fit either.

01:35

"Viscous" usually refers to thick liquid.

01:38

So we're back to where we started.

01:40

The answer is "ethereal."

01:41

Or A.

01:42

As in, "Arrested."

Full Transcript