The prisoner finally ........ that he drank to ........ on the night he committed the murder

Analyze the question This is a vocabulary-in-context (lexis) question. We need a pair of words that makes sense in the sentence: "The prisoner finally __ that he drank to __ on the night he committed the murder."

Explain the concepts

• Concede means to admit that something is true, often reluctantly.
• Excess means too much of something. "To drink to excess" is a common idiom meaning to drink too much alcohol.
• Accede means to agree to a request or demand, and access means a way of entering or using something.
• Exceed means to go beyond a limit, and extreme means very great or severe.
• Elude means to escape from or avoid, and escape means to get away.

Step-by-step solution

1. The first blank needs a verb meaning "admitted." A prisoner who finally admits something is conceding it. • A. acceded: means "agreed to," so it doesn't fit with "that he drank." • B. conceded: fits. • C. exceeded: means "went beyond," so it doesn't fit. • D. eluded: means "escaped from," so it doesn't fit.

2. The second blank must complete "drank to ____." The natural idiom is "drank to excess." • "Drank to access," "drank to extreme," and "drank to escape" do not work as well. "Drank to escape" is grammatical, but it is paired with "eluded," which fails in the first blank.

3. Putting it together: "The prisoner finally conceded that he drank to excess on the night he committed the murder."

Answer: B (conceded/excess)

Tip: In lexis questions with paired blanks, solve the blank you are surest about first. That usually eliminates most options. Also learn common collocations like "drink to excess" and "concede a point." Be careful with look-alike words such as accede/concede/exceed, which examiners love to use as distractors.