acquaintance - knowledge

I had a ...............(shaking- nodding - slight) acquaintance with such matters and had ...................(scant- slender- limited) knowledge of the subjects under review.

1) Can a native or an English teacher tell me if there are any differences among the following adjectives in this case?

2) What's the difference between "knowledge" and "acquaintance"? I cannot see any important differences between them in this sentence.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dilodi83

I had a ...............(shaking- nodding - slight) acquaintance with such matters and had ...................(scant- slender- limited) knowledge of the subjects under review.

1) Can a native or an English teacher tell me if there are any differences among between the following adjectives in this case?
Practically none in this sentence, though we don't normally use 'shaking' with 'acquaintance'.

2) What's the difference between "knowledge" and "acquaintance"? I cannot see any important differences between them in this sentence.
There isn't much difference here, though 'acquaintance' suggests less knowledge than 'knowledge'.

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5

:up: Perhaps the word is 'shaky' (although I suspect there's a stronger collocation with 'knowledge' or 'understanding' than with 'acquaintance' - I must check). 'Shaky' means more than just partial; it means partial and therefore unreliable.

b