ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by fruit,

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a tasty snack, but a completely unacceptable excuse for a dessert. [a waitress serving an apple for dessert]

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Like, come on, people. Fruit? Really?

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In our cultural studies class,

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we learned that fear

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engenders violence.

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All right, so we're looking for the word that replaces [music playing in the background]

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"engenders." And here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right. Well, to engender means

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to create or produce, usually in a deep and meaningful context.

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For example, you're probably not gonna [Man making a sandwich and not liking it]

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engender yourself a sandwich, but

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rom-coms might engender unrealistic expectations

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for your love life. Let's start with A - prevents. [Man watching a Rom-com on TV]

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Well, if you're preventing something, you're keeping it from happening,

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like keeping your mom from cleaning your room.

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And we know that to engender is [Mom cleaning her kids room]

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to create something, not stop it,

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so A isn't gonna work. [Kid grabbing her secret book from her mom]

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Next up, C - substitutes.

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To substitute means to exchange one thing for another,

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like when your mom goes on a health bender and tries

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to replace cheese with, uh, [Mom adding butternut squash to the pasta]

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butternut squash.

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Her bowl of cheese-less lies

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might engender nausea, but creating

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and substituting are different things.

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So then there's D - underestimates.

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Well, an estimate is a quickly formed opinion [girl eating the butternut squash from the pasta]

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on somebody or something, so when you

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underestimate, you form an opinion that turns out

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to be too, uh, low.

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So, for example,

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you might underestimate a mouth breather's

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ability to be a good kisser. [Man and a Lady in a park on a blind date]

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Underestimating could cause

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a pleasant surprise, but it's definitely not the same as engendering.

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Which leaves us with just B - causes.

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To cause means to produce a result.

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Sound familiar? Just like trying out that scene [a man and woman getting wet in the rain]

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from The Notebook. It can cause

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two severe cases of the flu

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and it can also engender them. [Couple covered in blankets and thermometer in their mouth]

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So the correct answer is B - causes.

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And remember, the only way to keep your parents out of your stuff

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is to let go of all earthly possessions. [girl throwing her book in the garbage]

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[ clicking ]

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