You need to answer a given question containing a blank (_). Your answer must be one of the two objects mentioned in the question, for example "trophy" and "suitcase". Your answer must not contain a word that is not present in the question. Please don't use articles (e.g., the, a) before the answer.

I couldn't rake all of the leaves with my rakes, because the _ were too plentiful.
leaves

The water got murky after the stone was dropped into it but the _ was before dirty.
stone

The man with cancer chooses surgery over chemo based on his doctor's advice. _ must succeed more in cases like his.

surgery