B. "Precursory" comes from the Latin "praecursor," which means "forerunner." The word still means the same thing today; something "precursory" is something that comes before or leads to something else. For instance, like land line telephones were the precursors to cell phones. This word somewhat matches our prediction, though not exactly. We should keep this choice for now and check the second blank later.
D. The word "hackneyed" has a complicated origin. It comes from the Old English "Hacan ieg," or "Hook Island," an area of land that is a part of contemporary London. Horses were once kept on Hook Island, so the term "hackney" came to refer to a horse that could be rented out for hire. "Hackneyed" meant "kept for hire," but it eventually developed a new meaning, "unoriginal or trite." This makes sense, since if something is rented out over and over again, it will become overused.