The sentence acknowledges Boswell as the first great modern biographer, but suggests a similar claim could be made for Johnson. The blank must refer to the same distinction — being first in time or importance.

• Partisanship — means bias or strong support for one side; irrelevant here.
• Omniscience — means all-knowing; not the subject of the sentence.
• Precedence — means the state of coming before others. If Johnson also wrote a biography earlier, a claim of precedence (being first) could be made for him too. This fits perfectly.
• Opportunism — means taking selfish advantage of situations; unrelated.

Correct Answer: C — Precedence. The sentence questions who truly came first as a great modern biographer.