Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: intervention
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This fill-in-the-blank question tests your vocabulary and your ability to choose a noun that fits both grammatically and logically in a sentence about foreign policy. The sentence warns that our nation's involvement in another country's war could draw us into a crisis. The key is to select the word that naturally describes involvement in someone else's conflict.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The standard term used for a country becoming involved in another country's internal or external conflict is "intervention". We often read about military intervention, political intervention, or humanitarian intervention. "Intention" means plan or purpose, "perfection" means flawlessness, and "invention" means creation of something new. Only "intervention" captures the idea of actively entering someone else's war, which could indeed pull the intervening nation into crisis.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the core idea: our country taking some active role in someone else's war.
Step 2: Examine "intervention." This noun means interference or involvement in a situation, especially by a foreign country in the affairs of another.
Step 3: Replace the blank with "intervention": "Our nation's intervention into another country's war could pull us into the crisis." This sounds logical and matches typical political language.
Step 4: Examine "intention." This refers to a plan or purpose, and "nation's intention into another country's war" is not a standard collocation.
Step 5: Examine "perfection." This word relates to being flawless; "nation's perfection into another country's war" makes no sense.
Step 6: Examine "invention." This refers to creating something new; "nation's invention into another country's war" is clearly illogical.
Step 7: Conclude that "intervention" is the only option that expresses the intended meaning in a natural and grammatically correct way.
Verification / Alternative check:
Check with common phrases in news reports: "military intervention in Syria", "foreign intervention in the civil war", "UN intervention in the conflict." You will see "intervention" used repeatedly to describe the entry of one country into another's war or crisis. Replacing "intervention" with "intention", "perfection", or "invention" in those contexts would produce nonsense, confirming that "intervention" is the correct word here.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
"Intention" is wrong because it refers to a mental state or plan, not the act of entering a conflict. "Perfection" is wrong because it has nothing to do with war or involvement; it means flawlessness. "Invention" is wrong because it refers to creating new devices, ideas, or processes, not joining another country's war.
Common Pitfalls:
A common trap is to choose a word that only vaguely fits the grammar but not the meaning, especially when the words share the suffix "-tion". Students might pick "intention" because it sounds formal; however, good vocabulary skills require matching collocations, not just forms. Always check if the word you choose actually appears in similar real-life contexts.
Final Answer:
The correct word is intervention, giving "Our nation's intervention into another country's war could pull us into the crisis."
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