The apparent rigidity of military discipline often _____ the surprising level of independent thinking expected of the modern officer.
A.belies
B.impinged
C.supplants
D.negates
E.mitigates
The reply above is right. "surprising" is a typical mark for this kind of tricks. I just can't understand your obsession with "negates". Could you please try to translate this sentence and understand it as a whole?
Yes, apparent is apparent, so what? what are you trying to say? Did you really understand what I was saying in the last reply?