In an artificial language, the word briftamint means militant, the word uftonel means occupied, and the word uftonalene means occupation. Based on these patterns, which of the following words could reasonably mean occupant?

Introduction / Context:
This is a classic logical reasoning puzzle about an artificial language. We are given a few sample words along with their English meanings, and we must discover how different parts of the made up words relate to ideas like militant, occupied, and occupation. By analysing roots and suffixes we can infer which new word could represent occupant, that is, a person who occupies something. The question tests pattern recognition, word structure analysis, and the ability to generalise from a few examples.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• briftamint means militant.
• uftonel means occupied.
• uftonalene means occupation.
• We assume that the artificial language follows consistent rules for roots and endings.
• We want a word that most naturally corresponds to the English word occupant.

Concept / Approach:
The usual approach is to separate each artificial word into parts and identify common segments that appear in related meanings. First compare uftonel (occupied) and uftonalene (occupation). Both share the root ufton, which clearly relates to occupy or occupation. The endings el and alene then seem to mark grammatical variations like adjective and noun form. Next, briftamint includes the ending mint, and its meaning militant clearly describes a person. This suggests that mint is a suffix forming a person noun. To build occupant we want something like occupier or person who occupies, so we combine the occupation root ufton with the person suffix mint, yielding uftonamint in the answer list.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Notice that both uftonel and uftonalene start with ufton and both meanings relate to occupy or occupation, so ufton is the core root for occupy.Step 2: Observe that the endings differ: el in uftonel for occupied, and alene in uftonalene for occupation, indicating different grammar forms built from the same root.Step 3: Look at briftamint which means militant. A militant is a person, so we search for the part that can signal a person noun.Step 4: The common idea is that mint is likely a suffix meaning one who is associated with or characterised by the root idea, that is a person type.Step 5: To express occupant we want a person related to occupy, so we should form a word with the root ufton and a person suffix similar to mint.Step 6: Among the answer choices only uftonamint clearly contains the root ufton and the ending mint, so it best matches the pattern for occupant.

Verification / Alternative check:
Check each incorrect option. elamint does not include the key root ufton that is tied to the occupy concept, so it cannot be occupant.briftalene makes use of brifta and alene. From the data we know alene appears in occupation but paired with ufton, not with brifta, and brifta never stood for occupy in any example.elbrifta simply mixes the other pieces without including the person suffix mint and also lacks the clear root ufton.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A (elamint) has the mint ending but no clear connection to the occupy root, so it cannot precisely mean occupant.Option B (briftalene) contains alene, which seems linked to abstract nouns like occupation, but its root is brifta not ufton, so the meaning would be unrelated.Option D (elbrifta) uses pieces that were never tied to the occupy concept and therefore cannot represent occupant.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to focus only on the suffix mint because militant clearly refers to a person and then choose any option ending in mint, even if the root does not match the required concept.Another pitfall is to misread uftonel and uftonalene as totally different roots, missing the fact that ufton is the common base for occupied and occupation.

Final Answer:
The only word that keeps the right root for occupy and the correct person suffix is uftonamint, so this must mean occupant.