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Help the science journalist complete their review of Dr. Aris Thorne's latest quirky invention by choosing the best concessive structure for each gap.
_________________________ we admire Dr. Thorne's ambition, we must admit his new "Toaster Time Machine" is a spectacular fire hazard. _________________________ he tried to calibrate the temporal dials, the device only managed to age a slice of sourdough bread by ten years. Ridiculous _________________________ it sounds, the resulting burnt toast did taste strangely futuristic!
Much as we admire Dr. Thorne's ambition...
"Much as" is an advanced concessive phrase meaning "even though" or "although." "Despite" is incorrect because it must be followed by a noun or gerund, not a full clause. "Even as" means "at the exact same time that," which doesn't fit the concessive meaning here.
Hard as he tried...
In advanced English, we can front an adjective or adverb before "as" to create a concessive clause (meaning "Even though he tried hard"). "Hard although" is ungrammatical.
Ridiculous though it sounds...
Similar to the previous gap, we can front an adjective before "though" for emphasis. "Although" cannot be used in this fronted structure.