[Vocabulary] blockade/restriction

[Silverobama]

Hi,

Here is a question from the TEM4:

They've lifted a two-year-long economic __________ on the country.

b)restriction
c)blockade

I chose "b" but the answer turned out to be "c", may I know why?

Thanks a lot

 

[emsr2d2]

Grammatically, both b) and c) work, although we would normally use "economic restrictions" rather than the singular. Was this a standalone question, or based on a reading comprehension piece?

 

[Silverobama]

Grammatically, both b) and c) work, although we would normally use "economic restrictions" rather than the singular. Was this a standalone question, or based on a reading comprehension piece?

Thanks a lot for your help. This is a standalone sentence.

 

[Tdol]

The fact that it's singular makes b) very unlikely, while c) is a natural sentence. Normally, sanctions come as packages rather than a single thing, so b) would be very unusual.

 

[BobK]

:up: Also, a restriction applies to [trade in] a product. As emsr3d2 said, they usually come in the plural. So in this case I'd favour 'blockade'.

Even that would sound a bit odd to me - unless it referred to physical restrictions. 'Blockade' and 'harbour' collocate strongly.

b