Question
YukiHader
28 January

  • Simplified Chinese (China)
  • English (US)
Question about English (US)

The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but rarely _____ by a faculty members of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems.

The answer is ’espoused‘
But I wonder why I can’t fill the blank with ‘ignored’ or ‘underestimated’
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Answers
sobiro
28 January

Featured answer
  • English (US)
In this context, espoused means supported or accepted. In the sample sentence, there is the implication that this thesis is unfairly UNsupported and UNaccepted by the professor's colleagues, especially in this part: "hardly new, BUT rarely _____" because of the word "BUT" showing that there is a contradiction happening. Since older ideas are usually more accepted by academia, you would expect the professor's thesis to be more accepted by his colleagues. BUT, instead, his thesis is rarely supported, or rarely espoused. If his thesis were rarely underestimated, or rarely ignored, there would be no need for the word "BUT," because this would mean his colleagues are agreeing with him. The sentence would probably read like this: "The medical professor’s thesis, rarely underestimated by a faculty member of his distinction, is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." Or if the word but were included, something else might change, like "The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but often ignored by a faculty member of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." In American academia, new ideas usually receive a lot of pushback even if they're accurate and especially if they're revolutionary, because a lot of academia is tied up in ego and the status quo. So, usually, a new or revolutionary thesis WILL be unsupported and in fact criticized, since it will essentially make a lot of old farts feel and look stupid and turn their worldview upside down. However, this is not always the case. Some ideas, like a more holistic view of patients, fell out of fashion for a while and were rejected by some of these old farts despite said old farts previously believing in them, and are only recently being explored again. Of course most of this context is unnecessary, but... on a test, context can save you sometimes. This was definitely a tricky question!

In this context, espoused means supported or accepted.

In the sample sentence, there is the implication that this thesis is unfairly UNsupported and UNaccepted by the professor's colleagues, especially in this part: "hardly new, BUT rarely _____" because of the word "BUT" showing that there is a contradiction happening. Since older ideas are usually more accepted by academia, you would expect the professor's thesis to be more accepted by his colleagues. BUT, instead, his thesis is rarely supported, or rarely espoused.

If his thesis were rarely underestimated, or rarely ignored, there would be no need for the word "BUT," because this would mean his colleagues are agreeing with him. The sentence would probably read like this: "The medical professor’s thesis, rarely underestimated by a faculty member of his distinction, is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." Or if the word but were included, something else might change, like "The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but often ignored by a faculty member of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." In American academia, new ideas usually receive a lot of pushback even if they're accurate and especially if they're revolutionary, because a lot of academia is tied up in ego and the status quo. So, usually, a new or revolutionary thesis WILL be unsupported and in fact criticized, since it will essentially make a lot of old farts feel and look stupid and turn their worldview upside down. However, this is not always the case. Some ideas, like a more holistic view of patients, fell out of fashion for a while and were rejected by some of these old farts despite said old farts previously believing in them, and are only recently being explored again. Of course most of this context is unnecessary, but... on a test, context can save you sometimes.

This was definitely a tricky question!

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GoB999
28 January

  • English (US)
  • English (UK)

If you fill the blank as 'rarely ignored', or 'rarely underestimated' it means that faculty members seriously acknowledged the professor's thesis.

This has the opposite meaning of what your paragraph implies. Therefore 'espoused', meaning 'that which is chosen and followed by most people' is the correct answer.

Rarely espoused means that few faculty members paid attention to the professor's thesis.

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Highly-rated answerer
sobiro
28 January

  • English (US)
In this context, espoused means supported or accepted. In the sample sentence, there is the implication that this thesis is unfairly UNsupported and UNaccepted by the professor's colleagues, especially in this part: "hardly new, BUT rarely _____" because of the word "BUT" showing that there is a contradiction happening. Since older ideas are usually more accepted by academia, you would expect the professor's thesis to be more accepted by his colleagues. BUT, instead, his thesis is rarely supported, or rarely espoused. If his thesis were rarely underestimated, or rarely ignored, there would be no need for the word "BUT," because this would mean his colleagues are agreeing with him. The sentence would probably read like this: "The medical professor’s thesis, rarely underestimated by a faculty member of his distinction, is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." Or if the word but were included, something else might change, like "The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but often ignored by a faculty member of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." In American academia, new ideas usually receive a lot of pushback even if they're accurate and especially if they're revolutionary, because a lot of academia is tied up in ego and the status quo. So, usually, a new or revolutionary thesis WILL be unsupported and in fact criticized, since it will essentially make a lot of old farts feel and look stupid and turn their worldview upside down. However, this is not always the case. Some ideas, like a more holistic view of patients, fell out of fashion for a while and were rejected by some of these old farts despite said old farts previously believing in them, and are only recently being explored again. Of course most of this context is unnecessary, but... on a test, context can save you sometimes. This was definitely a tricky question!

In this context, espoused means supported or accepted.

In the sample sentence, there is the implication that this thesis is unfairly UNsupported and UNaccepted by the professor's colleagues, especially in this part: "hardly new, BUT rarely _____" because of the word "BUT" showing that there is a contradiction happening. Since older ideas are usually more accepted by academia, you would expect the professor's thesis to be more accepted by his colleagues. BUT, instead, his thesis is rarely supported, or rarely espoused.

If his thesis were rarely underestimated, or rarely ignored, there would be no need for the word "BUT," because this would mean his colleagues are agreeing with him. The sentence would probably read like this: "The medical professor’s thesis, rarely underestimated by a faculty member of his distinction, is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." Or if the word but were included, something else might change, like "The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but often ignored by a faculty member of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems." In American academia, new ideas usually receive a lot of pushback even if they're accurate and especially if they're revolutionary, because a lot of academia is tied up in ego and the status quo. So, usually, a new or revolutionary thesis WILL be unsupported and in fact criticized, since it will essentially make a lot of old farts feel and look stupid and turn their worldview upside down. However, this is not always the case. Some ideas, like a more holistic view of patients, fell out of fashion for a while and were rejected by some of these old farts despite said old farts previously believing in them, and are only recently being explored again. Of course most of this context is unnecessary, but... on a test, context can save you sometimes.

This was definitely a tricky question!

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YukiHader
28 January

  • Simplified Chinese (China)
@GoB999 Thank you so much for giving me a detailted explanation of these words！I did miss that implication…
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YukiHader
28 January

  • Simplified Chinese (China)
@sobiro Yes it‘s a question on the GRE test😭 That’s really nice of you to give me such a detailed answer which clarifies my confusion about its implication entirely！Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰
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sobiro
28 January

  • English (US)

@YukiCarinet It's no problem. :) I hate tricky word questions like this... 😂

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The medical professor’s thesis—hardly new, but rarely _____ by a faculty members of his distinction—is that patients are more than the sum of their symptoms and systems. The answer is ’espoused‘ But I wonder why I can’t fill the blank with ‘ignored’ or ‘underestimated’
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