Since the general "did nothing" after promising "to change the schedule, the soldiers were clearly annoyed by his shift. The correct answer will indicate the general changed his approach. "Reneged," meaning to go back on or retract a statement, is the best choice among the answers.

The "accused criminal" is trying to do something regarding his crimes with "community service." The use of "accused" indicates the subject is trying to do something positive about his crimes. "Expiate," meaning to atone or make amends, is the correct answer choice.

The sentence explicitly says the professor lectures on "whatever she felt like discussing."  This indicates the "assigned reading and course description" had very little bearing on the subject of the lectures.  The sentence's use of "did not usually," however, means the correct answer needs to mean be relevant to or address, the definition of "pertain."

The sentence explains that "a clever reader would know what to expect" about the ending "early on in the novel." This means the author would be giving clues and details in the early chapters of the novel. "Foreshadow," meaning to indicate and signal a future event, is the correct answer.

The Mayor needs City Council sponsors for "his municipal tax plan." This means the correct answer will show an increase in support.  "Undergird," meaning to build up or strengthen, is the best choice among the answers.

The teacher's actions, described by the missing word, is "deeply unpopular with both students and fellow faculty."  This indicates the correct answer is something negative and unliked. "Denigrated," meaning belittled and criticized, is the best choice among the answers.

The sentence does note that "the detective believed the witness," but also notes he needs "other evidence."  Since the detective trusts the witness, he needs to back up the story.  "Corroborate," meaning validate and corroborate, is the best choice among the answers.

The sentence notes the young man was "rejected" even though he thought the woman was "hitting on him." This indicates the correct answer has to mean misinterpreted or wrongly understood, the definition of "misconstrued."

In this question, you might not know what exactly "deriding" means, but you can guess by context clues that the philosopher "courted controversy" because she opposed traditional values like piety and charity in some way. The word "instead" lets you know that this clause is telling you what the philosopher proposed in the place of these values; "venerating" means revering or respecting, making it the best fit to describe how the philosopher felt about the ethic in which she believed.

Understanding that the word overcast as used here means a cloudy sky, you can deduce that you are looking for a word that describes what cloudy weather would do for sunblock and a beach umbrella. You can safely reason that it would render them useless. That's why the best word choice in this case would be "obviated," which means rendered unnecessary.