An explanation is not always an excuse
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
A design contest discovered that one entrant had submitted another person's work under her own name. The panel considered her culpable because she had knowingly claimed authorship. A separate entrant had missed the deadline during a documented failure of the submission system. Those extenuating circumstances deserved a different review. Fairness required distinguishing the cases rather than letting deliberate misconduct pass with impunity.
The panel explained why the first entrant was culpable and disqualified the copied submission. It allowed the delayed entrant to provide a timestamped draft for review because the system failure was an extenuating circumstance. The chair rejected the suggestion that either decision permitted dishonesty with impunity. Each finding depended on what the entrant had done and the evidence available about it.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.