Select the correct option: The advisory committee issued a set of guidelines so meticulously worded that any deviation would be tantamount ___ defiance.

Correct — B. The trigger is tantamount, an adjective with one fixed preposition: tantamount to, meaning equivalent in effect to.

Any deviation would be tantamount to defiance: straying from guidelines worded that carefully would amount to open disobedience → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  with — With goes with adjectives such as compatible with and consistent with. Tantamount does not take it, so 'tantamount with defiance' is a wrong pairing.
• (c)
  for — For follows adjectives such as responsible for and eligible for. Tantamount does not take it, because its preposition is fixed as to.
• (d)
  at — At follows adjectives of skill or reaction, such as good at and surprised at. It cannot follow tantamount, whose preposition is fixed as to.

Tantamount means equivalent in effect or seriousness to something else: tantamount to theft, tantamount to an admission of guilt.

Its preposition is fixed, so the choice cannot be reasoned out from meaning. It has to be known.

To here is a preposition, not part of an infinitive. A noun (defiance) or an -ing form follows it: tantamount to admitting guilt, never tantamount to admit guilt.

Key facts

• Tantamount to: equivalent in effect or seriousness to, as in tantamount to theft.
• In tantamount to, the to is a preposition: tantamount to admitting, not tantamount to admit.
• Other adjectives fixed with to: equivalent to, akin to, averse to, conducive to.

Common traps

• Choosing with by analogy with consistent with or compatible with, which are different adjectives.
• Writing tantamount to admit instead of tantamount to admitting, treating to as part of an infinitive.

No directly related past PYQ was found.