Select the correct option: Her rebuttal, though eloquent, failed to the central issue raised by the opposition.

Question

Select the correct option:

Her rebuttal, though eloquent, failed to the central issue raised by the opposition.

1. A. address (Correct answer)
2. B. digress
3. C. circumvent
4. D. elude

Correct Answer

Option A — address

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is address.

Key Points

• To address an issue means to deal with or engage it directly, which is what a rebuttal is expected to do.
• The sentence says the rebuttal *failed to* do this despite being eloquent, so the missing verb must describe the engagement that did not happen.
• The distractors point the wrong way:
  • Digress — to wander from the subject, which needs no object
  • Circumvent — to go around or avoid, so "failed to circumvent" would mean she *did* confront it
  • Elude — to escape from, and an issue eludes a person rather than the reverse

Additional Information

• Address is a contronym-adjacent word with several distinct senses: a location, a formal speech, and to direct attention to a matter — context alone decides.
• Verbs of engaging a problem: address, tackle, confront, grapple with, take up; verbs of avoiding one: circumvent, sidestep, evade, skirt, bypass.
• Reading the sentence with each option inserted, checking whether the resulting meaning is coherent, resolves most of these faster than defining the words in isolation.