Barron's GRE, 18th Edition (2009)

Part 2. VERBAL ABILITY: TACTICS, REVIEW, AND PRACTICE

Chapter 6. Sentence Completion Questions

These are the sentence completion directions you will find on the GRE: “Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five lettered words or sets of words. Choose the word or set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.”

GRE sentence completion questions test your ability to use your vocabulary and recognize logical consistency among the elements in a sentence. You need to know more than the dictionary definitions of the words involved. You need to know how the words fit together to make logical and stylistic sense.

Sentence completion questions actually measure one part of reading comprehension. If you can recognize how the different parts of a sentence affect one another, you should do well at choosing the answer that best completes the meaning of the sentence or provides a clear, logical statement of fact. The ability to recognize irony and humor will also stand you in good stead, as will the ability to recognize figurative language and to distinguish between formal and informal levels of speech.

GRE sentence completion questions may come from any of a number of different fields — art, literature, history, philosophy, botany, astronomy, geology, and others. You cannot predict what subject matter the sentences on your test will have. However, even if you are unfamiliar with the subject matter of a particular sentence, you should still be able to analyze that sentence and choose the word that best completes its meaning. It is not the sentence’s subject matter that makes hard GRE sentence completion questions hard.

What makes hard sentence completion questions hard?

1.    Vocabulary Level. Sentences contain words like intransigencenonplussedharbingers. Answer choices include words like penchantabeyanceeclectic. Questions employ unfamiliar secondary meanings of words — brookas a verb, economy with the meaning of restraint.

2.    Grammatical Complexity. Sentences combine the entire range of grammatical possibilities — subordinate clauses, relative clauses, prepositional phrases, gerunds, infinitives — in convoluted ways. The more complex the sentence, the more difficult it is for you to spot the key words that can unlock its meaning.

3.    Tone. Sentences reflect the writer’s attitude toward his subject matter. It is simple enough to comprehend material that is presented neutrally. It is far more difficult to comprehend material that is ironic, condescending, playful, somber, or similarly complex in tone.

4.    Style. Ideas may be expressed in different manners — ornately or sparely, poetically or prosaically, formally or informally, journalistically or academically, originally or imitatively. An author’s style depends on such details as word choice, imagery, repetition, rhythm, sentence structure, and length. Many of the most difficult GRE questions hinge on questions of style.

Work through the following tactics and learn the techniques that will help you with vocabulary, grammatical complexity, tone, and style.

Testing Tactics

 Before You Look at the Choices, Read the Sentence and Think of a Word That Makes Sense

Your problem is to find the word that best completes the sentence in both thought and style. Before you look at the answer choices, see if you can come up with a word that makes logical sense in the context. Then look at all five choices. If the word you thought of is one of your five choices, select that as your answer. If the word you thought of is not one of your five choices, look for a synonym of that word. Select the synonym as your answer.

This tactic is helpful because it enables you to get a sense of the sentence as a whole without being distracted by any misleading answers among the answer choices. You are free to concentrate on spotting key words or phrases in the body of the sentence and to call on your own “writer’s intuition” in arriving at a stylistically apt choice of word.

See how the process works in a typical model question.

EXAMPLE

Because experience had convinced her that he was both self-seeking and avaricious, she rejected the likelihood that his donation had been __________.
(A) redundant
(B) frivolous
(C) inexpensive
(D) ephemeral
(E) altruistic

This sentence presents a simple case of cause and effect. The key phrase here is self-seeking and avaricious. The woman has found the man to be selfish and greedy. Therefore, she refuses to believe he can do something __________. What words immediately come to mind? Selflessgenerouscharitable? The missing word is, of course, altruistic. The woman expects selfishness (self-seeking) and greediness (avaricious), not altruism (magnanimity). The correct answer is Choice E.

Practice Tactic 1 extensively to develop your intuitive sense of the mot juste — the exactly right word. However, do not rely on Tactic 1 alone. On the test, always follow up Tactic 1 with Tactic 2.

 Look at All the Possible Answers Before You Make Your Final Choice

Never decide on an answer before you have read all the choices. You are looking for the word that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole. In order to be sure you have not been hasty in making your decision, substitute all the answer choices for the missing word. Do not spend a lot of time doing so, but do try them all. That way you can satisfy yourself that you have come up with the best answer.

See how this tactic helps you deal with another question patterned on examples from the GRE.

EXAMPLE

The evil of class and race hatred must be eliminated while it is still in an ________ state; otherwise it may grow to dangerous proportions.
(A) amorphous
(B) overt
(C) uncultivated
(D) embryonic
(E) independent

On the basis of a loose sense of this sentence’s meaning, you might be tempted to select Choice A. After all, this sentence basically tells you that you should wipe out hatred before it gets too dangerous. Clearly, if hatred is vague or amorphous, it is less formidable than if it is well-defined. However, this reading of the sentence is inadequate: it fails to take into account the sentence’s key phrase.

The key phrase here is grow to dangerous proportions. The writer fears that class and race hatred may grow large enough to endanger society. He wants us to wipe out this hatred before it is fully grown. Examine each answer choice, eliminating those answers that carry no suggestion that something lacks its full growth. Does overt suggest that something isn’t fully grown? No, it suggests that something is obvious or evident. Does uncultivated suggest that something isn’t fully grown? No, it suggests that something is unrefined or growing without proper care or training. Does independent suggest that something isn’t fully grown? No, it suggests that something is free and unconstrained. Only one word suggests a lack of full growth: embryonic (at a rudimentary, early stage of development). The correct answer is Choice D.

 In Double-Blank Sentences, Go Through the Answers, Testing One Blank at a Time, Not Two.

In a sentence completion question with two blanks, read through the entire sentence to get a sense of it as a whole. Pay special attention to the parts of the passage (subordinate clauses, participial phrases, etc.) without any blanks.

Quickly decide which blank you want to work on. Then insert the appropriate word from each answer pair in the blank you have chosen. Ask yourself whether this particular word makes sense in this blank. If a word makes nosense in the sentence, you can eliminate that answer pair.

EXAMPLE

The author portrays research psychologists not as disruptive ________ in the field of psychotherapy, but as effective ________ working ultimately toward the same ends as the psychotherapists.
(A) proponents…opponents
(B) antagonists…pundits
(C) interlocutors…surrogates
(D) meddlers…usurpers
(E) intruders…collaborators

Turn to the second part of the sentence. The research psychologists are portrayed as effective blanks working ultimately toward the same ends as the psychotherapists. The key phrase here is “working ultimately toward the same ends.” Thus, the research psychologists are in effect collaborating with the psychotherapists to achieve a common goal. This immediately suggests that the correct answer is Choice E. Test the first word of that answer pair in the first blank. The adjective “disruptive” suggests that the first missing word is negative in tone. Intruders (people who rudely or inappropriately barge in) is definitely a negative term. Choice E continues to look good.

Reread the sentence with both words in place, making sure both words make sense. “The author portrays research psychologists not as disruptive intruders in the field of psychotherapy, but as effective collaborators working ultimately toward the same ends as the psychotherapists.” Both words make perfect sense. The correct answer is Choice E.

Here is a second question that you can solve using the same tactic. This time, try starting with the first word.

EXAMPLE

Critics of the movie version of The Color Purple ________ its saccharine, overoptimistic mood as out of keeping with the novel’s more ________ tone.
(A) applauded…somber
(B) condemned…hopeful
(C) acclaimed…positive
(D) denounced…sanguine
(E) decried…acerbic

For a quick, general sense of the opening clause, break it down. What does it say? Critics ________ the movie’s sugary sweet mood.

How would critics react to something sugary sweet and over-hopeful? They would disapprove. Your first missing word must be a synonym for disapprove.

Now eliminate the misfits. Choices A and C fail to meet the test: applauded and acclaimed signify approval, not disapproval. Choice B, condemned, Choice D, denounced, and Choice E, decried, however, all express disapprobation; they require a second look.

To decide among Choices B, D, and E, consider the second blank. The movie’s sugary, overly hopeful mood is out of keeping with the novel’s tone: the two moods disagree. Therefore, the novel’s tone is not hopeful or sickly sweet. It is instead on the bitter or sour side; in a word, acerbic. The correct answer is clearly Choice E.

Remember, in double-blank sentences, the right answer must correctly fill both blanks. A wrong answer choice often includes one correct and one incorrect answer. ALWAYS test both words.

 Watch for Signal Words That Link One Part of the Sentence to Another

Writers use transitions to link their ideas logically. These transitions or signal words are clues that can help you figure out what the sentence actually means.

GRE sentences often contain several signal words, combining them in complex ways.

Cause and Effect Signals

Look for words or phrases explicitly indicating that one thing causes another or logically determines another.

Cause and Effect Signal Words

accordingly

in order to

because

so…that

consequently

therefore

given

thus

hence

when…then

if…then

 

Support Signals

Look for words or phrases explicitly indicating that the omitted portion of the sentence supports or continues a thought developed elsewhere in the sentence. In such cases, a synonym or near-synonym for another word in the sentence may provide the correct answer.

Support Signal Words

additionally

furthermore

also

indeed

and

likewise

as well

moreover

besides                  

too

Contrast Signals (Explicit)

Look for function words or phrases (conjunctions, sentence adverbs, etc.) that explicitly indicate a contrast between one idea and another, setting up a reversal of a thought. In such cases, an antonym or near-antonym for another word in the sentence may provide the correct answer.

Explicit Contrast Signal Words

albeit

nevertheless

although

nonetheless

but

notwithstanding

despite

on the contrary

even though

on the other hand

however

rather than

in contrast

still

in spite of

while

instead of                  

yet

Contrast Signals (Implicit)

Look for content words whose meaning inherently indicates a contrast. These words can turn a situation on its head. They indicate that something unexpected, possibly even unwanted, has occurred.

Implicit Contrast Signal Words

anomaly

anomalous

anomalously

illogic

illogical

illogically

incongruity

incongruous

incongruously

irony

ironic

ironically

paradox

paradoxical

paradoxically

surprise            

surprising

surprisingly

 

unexpected            

unexpectedly

Note the function of such a contrast signal word in the following question.

EXAMPLE

Paradoxically, the more ________ the details this artist chooses, the better able she is to depict her fantastic, other-worldly landscapes.
(A) ethereal
(B) realistic
(C) fanciful
(D) extravagant
(E) sublime

The artist creates imaginary landscapes that do not seem to belong to this world. We normally would expect the details comprising these landscapes to be as fantastic and supernatural as the landscapes themselves. But the truth of the matter, however, is paradoxical: it contradicts what we expect. The details she chooses are realistic, and the more realistic they are, the more fantastic the paintings become. The correct answer is Choice B.

 Use Your Knowledge of Word Parts and Parts of Speech to Get at the Meanings of Unfamiliar Words

If a word used by the author is unfamiliar, or if an answer choice is unknown to you, two approaches are helpful.

1.    Break the word down into its component parts — prefixes, suffixes, roots — to see whether they provide a clue to its meaning. For example, in the preceding list of Implicit Contrast Signal Words, the word incongruouscontains three major word parts. In- here means not; con- means together; gru- means to move or come. Incongruous behavior, therefore, is behavior that does not go together or agree with someone’s usual behavior; it is unexpected.

2.    Change the unfamiliar word from one part of speech to another. If the adjective embryonic is unfamiliar to you, cut off its adjective suffix -nic and recognize the familiar word embryo. If the noun precocity is unfamiliar to you, cut off its noun suffix -ity and visualize it with different endings. You may come up with the adjective precocious (maturing early). If the verb appropriate is unfamiliar to you, by adding a word part or two you may come up with the common noun appropriation or the still more common noun misappropriation (as in the misappropriation of funds).

Note the application of this tactic in the following typical example.

EXAMPLE

This island is a colony; however, in most matters, it is ________ and receives no orders from the mother country.
(A) synoptic
(B) methodical
(C) heretical
(D) autonomous
(E) disinterested

First, eliminate any answer choices that are obviously incorrect. If a colony receives no orders from its mother country, it is essentially self-governing. It is not necessarily methodical or systematic, nor is it by definition heretical(unorthodox) or disinterested (impartial). Thus, you may rule out Choices B, C, and E.

The two answer choices remaining may be unfamiliar to you. Analyze them, using what you know of related words. Choice A, synoptic, is related to the noun synopsis, a summary or abridgment. This has nothing to do with how a colony might govern itself. Choice D, autonomous, comes from the prefix auto- (self) and the root nom- (law). An autonomous nation is independent; it rules itself. Thus, the correct answer is autonomous, Choice D.

 Break Down Complex Sentences into Simpler Components

In analyzing long, complex sentence completion items, you may find it useful to simplify the sentences by breaking them down. Rephrase dependent clauses and long participial phrases, turning them into simple sentences.

See how this tactic helps you to analyze the following sentence.

EXAMPLE

Museum director Hoving ________ refers to the smuggled Greek urn as the “hot pot,” not because there are doubts about its authenticity or even great reservations as to its price, but because its ________ of acquisition is open to question.
(A) informally…costliness
(B) characteristically…date
(C) colloquially…manner
(D) repeatedly…swiftness
(E) cheerfully…mode

What do we know?

1.    The urn has been smuggled.

2.    Hoving calls it a “hot pot.”

3.    It is genuine. (There are no doubts about its authenticity.)

4.    It did not cost too much. (There are no great reservations as to its price.)

In calling the smuggled urn a “hot pot,” Hoving is not necessarily speaking characteristically or repeatedly or cheerfully. He is speaking either informally or colloquially. (Hot here is a slang term meaning stolen or illegally obtained.) The urn’s costliness is not being questioned. However, because the urn has been smuggled into the country, there clearly are unresolved questions about how it got here, in other words, about its manner of acquisition. The correct answer is Choice C.

Note that in sentence completion questions a choice may be complicated by an unusual word order, such as

1.    placing the subject after the verb: To the complaints window strode the angry customer.

2.    placing the subject after an auxiliary of the verb: Only by unending search could some few Havana cigars be found.

3.    inverting the subject and verb to give the sense of “if”: Were defeat to befall him, today’s dear friends would be tomorrow’s acquaintances, and next week’s strangers.

4.    placing a negative word or phrase first, which usually requires at least part of the verb to follow: Never have I encountered so demanding a test!

In all these instances, rephrase the sentence to make it more straightforward. For example:

The angry customer strode to the complaint window.

Some few Havana cigars could be found only by unending search.

If defeat were to befall him, today’s dear friends would be tomorrow’s acquaintances, and next week’s strangers.

I have never encountered so demanding a test!

 If a Sentence Contains a Metaphor, Check to See Whether That Metaphor Controls the Writer’s Choice of Words (and Your Answer Choice)

Writers sometimes indulge in extended metaphors, complex analogies that imaginatively identify one object with another.

In the following example, the mind of a prejudiced person is compared to the pupil of an eye in its response to light or illumination.

EXAMPLE

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you pour upon it, the more it will ________.
(A) blink
(B) veer
(C) stare
(D) reflect
(E) contract

The image of light unifies this sentence. In choosing an answer, it is necessary to complete the sentence in such a way as to develop that metaphor fully and accurately. Exactly what takes place when you shine a light into someone’s eye? The person may stare back or blink; you may see the light reflected in the person’s eye. But what happens to the pupil of the eye? It neither blinks nor reflects. Instead it shrinks in size; it contracts. Likewise, exposed to the light of tolerance, the bigot’s mind resists illumination. Choice E completes the metaphor; it is the correct answer choice.

The New Sentence Completion Question Type

A couple of years ago, ETS tried to do a total makeover on the GRE. The attempt failed, but the test makers still hope to revise the test over time. Right now, they are gradually introducing a new type of sentence completion question, one that presents a variation on the familiar fill-in-the-blanks form. The test makers call this new question type the text completion question.

In a text completion question, you will be presented with a passage that is one to five sentences long. This passage will contain two or three blanks. Instead of seeing a single list of answer choices, you will see two or three independent columns of choices; there will be three answer choices per blank. For each blank in the sentence, you must click on one correct answer choice from the appropriate column, mixing and matching your choices until you come up with a combination that makes sense. As in a Cloze procedure, you have to insert words in the text, monitoring for meaning as you read. Your goal is closure: the completion of a partly finished semantic pattern.

Two points to remember:

·        There is no partial credit: to get any credit for a text completion question, you must fill in every blank in the sentence correctly.

·        No matter how confident you are that you have filled in an individual blank correctly, you cannot be sure you have successfully completed the text until you have confirmed your word choices by rereading the passage. Remember: You are aiming for closure. Do not omit this stage in the process.

Text completion questions look like this:

EXAMPLE

Her novel published to universal (i) ________, her literary gifts acknowledged by the chief figures of the Harlem Renaissance, her reputation as yet (ii) ________ by envious slights, Hurston clearly was at the (iii) ________ of her career.

Blank (i)

Blank (ii)

Blank (iii)

indifference

belittled

zenith

derision

resented

extremity

acclaim               

untarnished          

ebb

Think about the structure of the sentence. It begins with three parallel absolute phrases, each telling about some aspect of Hurston’s literary position at a particular time in her career. All three phrases are positive in tone. The concluding independent clause (“Hurston clearly was at the ________ of her career”) should be positive as well.

Now examine the first blank. What reaction did people have to Hurston’s novel? Look at the part of the sentence without any blanks: “her literary gifts (were) acknowledged by the chief figures of the Harlem Renaissance.” In acknowledging Hurston’s gifts, these literary luminaries were praising her novel. Her novel clearly had been published to great acclaim (approval).

Next, study the second blank. You know that, at the time this writer is discussing, Hurston’s standing in the literary world was high. Her novel was acclaimed; her gifts were acknowledged (recognized). This third absolute phrase also must state something positive about Hurston. Recast it as a sentence: “[H]er reputation (was) as yet ________ by envious slights.” Envious slights (insults or slurs, prompted by jealousy) would have had a negative effect on Hurston’s reputation. However, as yet, at the time under discussion, no negative comments had besmirched Hurston’s reputation, which was untarnished (spotless; unblemished).

TIP

Do not worry about the new text completion questions.

·        The packaging is different, but the task remains the same.

·        Your test will include at most ONE text completion question.

·        The other five sentence completion questions will all be in the old familiar format.

  One note of caution: In most cases, if you come across a text completion question, it will be in an experimental or research section and will not count. Do not assume this is the case. Treat every text completion question as if it will make a difference in your score.

Finally, consider the third blank. How would you describe Hurston’s career at the time under discussion? It was at its highest point: in years to come envious slights would tarnish her reputation and her novels would be forgotten, but for the moment Hurston was riding high: she was at the zenith (peak) of her career.

Practice Exercises

Directions: Each of the following sentence completion questions contains one or two blanks. These blanks signify that a word or set of words has been left out. Below each sentence are five words or sets of words. For each blank, pick the word or set of words that best reflects the sentence’s overall meaning.

Sentence Completion Exercise A

1. Normally an individual thunderstorm lasts about 45 minutes, but under certain conditions the storm may ________, becoming ever more severe, for as long as four hours.
(A) wane
(B) moderate
(C) persist
(D) vacillate
(E) disperse

2. Perhaps because something in us instinctively distrusts such displays of natural fluency, some readers approach John Updike’s fiction with ________.
(A) indifference
(B) suspicion
(C) veneration
(D) recklessness
(E) bewilderment

3. We lost confidence in him because he never ________ the grandiose promises he had made.
(A) forgot about
(B) reneged on
(C) tired of
(D) delivered on
(E) retreated from

4. Ms. Sutcliffe’s helpful notes on her latest wine discoveries and her no-nonsense warnings to consumers about ________ wines provide ________ guide to the numbing array of wines of Burgundy.
(A) excellent…a useful
(B) overrated…an inadequate
(C) overpriced…a trusty
(D) unsatisfactory…a spotty
(E) vintage…an unreliable

5. We were amazed that a man who had been heretofore the most ________ of public speakers could, in a single speech, electrify an audience and bring them cheering to their feet.
(A) enthralling
(B) accomplished
(C) pedestrian
(D) auspicious
(E) masterful

6. If you are trying to make a strong impression on your audience, you cannot do so by being understated, tentative, or ________.
(A) hyperbolic
(B) restrained
(C) argumentative
(D) authoritative
(E) passionate

7. Despite the mixture’s ________ nature, we found that by lowering its temperature in the laboratory we could dramatically reduce its tendency to vaporize.
(A) resilient
(B) volatile
(C) homogeneous
(D) insipid
(E) acerbic

8. No other artist rewards the viewer with more sheer pleasure than Miró; he is one of those blessed artists who combine profundity and ________.
(A) education
(B) wisdom
(C) faith
(D) fun
(E) depth

9. Some Central Intelligence Agency officers have ________ their previous statements denying any involvement on their part with the Contra aid network and are now revising their earlier testimony.
(A) justified
(B) recanted
(C) repeated
(D) protracted
(E) heeded

10. New concerns about growing religious tension in northern India were ________ this week after at least fifty people were killed and hundreds were injured or arrested in rioting between Hindus and Moslems.
(A) lessened
(B) invalidated
(C) restrained
(D) dispersed
(E) fueled

11. In a happy, somewhat boisterous celebration of the European discovery of America, the major phase of the Columbus Cinquecentennial got off to ________ start on Friday.
(A) a slow
(B) a rousing
(C) a reluctant
(D) an indifferent
(E) a quiet

12. In one shocking instance of ________ research, one of the nation’s most influential researchers in the field of genetics reported on experiments that were never carried out and published deliberately ________ scientific papers on his nonexistent work.
(A) comprehensive…abstract
(B) theoretical…challenging
(C) fraudulent…deceptive
(D) derivative…authoritative
(E) erroneous…impartial

13. Measurement is, like any other human endeavor, a complex activity, subject to error, not always used ________, and frequently misinterpreted and ________.
(A) mistakenly…derided
(B) erratically…analyzed
(C) systematically…organized
(D) innovatively…refined
(E) properly…misunderstood

14. In a revolutionary development in technology, several manufacturers now make biodegradable forms of plastic; some plastic six-pack rings, for example, gradually ________ when exposed to sunlight.
(A) harden
(B) stagnate
(C) inflate
(D) propagate
(E) decompose

15. To alleviate the problem of contaminated chicken, the study panel recommends that the federal government shift its inspection emphasis from cursory bird-by-bird visual checks to a more ________ random sampling for bacterial and chemical contamination.
(A) rigorous
(B) perfunctory
(C) symbolic
(D) discreet
(E) dubious

16. There is some ________ the fact that President Barack Obama is viewed as representative of African American society, for he spent his childhood growing up in Indonesia and Hawaii, and did not live in the black community until he was an adult.
(A) gratification in
(B) irony in
(C) validity to
(D) uncertainty about
(E) apprehension about

17. To the dismay of the student body, the class president was ________ berated by the principal at a school assembly.
(A) ignominiously
(B) privately
(C) magnanimously
(D) fortuitously
(E) inconspicuously

18. Aimed at curbing European attempts to seize territory in the Americas, the Monroe Doctrine was a warning to ________ foreign powers.
(A) pertinacious
(B) credulous
(C) remote
(D) overt
(E) predatory

19. When Frazer’s editors at Macmillan tried to ________ his endless augmentations, he insisted on a type size so small and a page so packed as to approach illegibility; and if that proved ________, thinner paper.
(A) protract…unwarranted
(B) expurgate…satisfactory
(C) reprimand…irrelevant
(D) restrict…insufficient
(E) revise…idiosyncratic

20. The authority of voice in Frazer’s writing strikes many readers today as ________ colonialism; his prose seems as invulnerable and expansive as something on which the sun was presumed never to set.
(A) consonant with
(B) independent of
(C) ambivalent toward
(D) cognizant of
(E) detrimental to

Sentence Completion Exercise B

1. Baldwin’s brilliant The Fire Next Time is both so eloquent in its passion and so searching in its ________ that it is bound to ________ any reader.
(A) bitterness…embarrass
(B) romanticism…appall
(C) candor…unsettle
(D) indifference…disappoint
(E) conception…bore

2. Unlike other examples of ________ verse, Milton’s Lycidas does more than merely mourn the death of Edward King; it also denounces corruption in the Church in which King was ordained.
(A) satiric
(B) elegiac
(C) free
(D) humorous
(E) didactic

3. Few other plants can grow beneath the canopy of the sycamore tree, whose leaves and pods produce a natural herbicide that leaches into the surrounding soil, ________ other plants that might compete for water and nutrients.
(A) inhibiting
(B) distinguishing
(C) nourishing
(D) encouraging
(E) refreshing

4. Although a few years ago the fundamental facts about the Milky Way seemed fairly well ________, now even its mass and its radius have come into ________.
(A) determined…resolution
(B) ignored…danger
(C) problematic…prominence
(D) diminished…disrepute
(E) established…question

5. The officers threatened to take ________ if the lives of their men were ________ by the conquered natives.
(A) liberties…irritated
(B) measures…enhanced
(C) pains…destroyed
(D) reprisals…endangered
(E) affront…enervated

6. Despite an affected ________ that convinced casual observers that he was indifferent about his painting and enjoyed only frivolity, Warhol cared deeply about his art and labored at it ________.
(A) nonchalance…diligently
(B) empathy…methodically
(C) fervor…secretly
(D) gloom…intermittently
(E) hysteria…sporadically

7. Because she had a reputation for ________ we were surprised and pleased when she greeted us so ________.
(A) insolence…irately
(B) insouciance…cordially
(C) graciousness…amiably
(D) arrogance…disdainfully
(E) querulousness…affably

8. The child was so spoiled by her indulgent parents that she pouted and became ________ when she did not receive all of their attention.
(A) discreet
(B) suspicious
(C) elated
(D) sullen
(E) tranquil

9. Just as disloyalty is the mark of the renegade, ________ is the mark of the ________.
(A) timorousness…hero
(B) temerity…coward
(C) avarice…philanthropist
(D) cowardice…craven
(E) vanity…flatterer

10. He became quite overbearing and domineering once he had become accustomed to the ________ shown to soldiers by the natives; he enjoyed his new sense of power and self-importance.
(A) disrespect
(B) apathy
(C) deference
(D) culpability
(E) enmity

11. The ________ of time had left the castle ________; it towered above the village, looking much as it must have done in Richard the Lion-Hearted’s time.
(A) repairs…destroyed
(B) remoteness…alone
(C) lack…defended
(D) status…lonely
(E) ravages…untouched

12. One of the most ________ educators in New York, Dr. Shalala ignited a controversy in 1984 by calling the city public schools a “rotten barrel” in need of ________ reform.
(A) disputatious…little
(B) outspoken…systemic
(C) caustic…partial
(D) indifferent…pretentious
(E) sycophantic…superficial

13. The newest fiber-optic cables that carry telephone calls cross-country are made of glass so ________ that a piece 100 miles thick is clearer than a standard windowpane.
(A) fragile
(B) immaculate
(C) tangible
(D) transparent
(E) iridescent

14. The reasoning in this editorial is so ________ that we cannot see how anyone can be deceived by it.
(A) coherent
(B) astute
(C) cogent
(D) specious
(E) dispassionate

15. The ________ of evidence was on the side of the plaintiff since all but one witness testified that his story was correct.
(A) paucity
(B) propensity
(C) accuracy
(D) brunt
(E) preponderance

16. Glendon provides a dark underside to Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis that saw rugged individualism as the essence of American society — an individualism that she sees as ________ atomism.
(A) antithetical toward
(B) skeptical of
(C) degenerating into
(D) aspiring to
(E) renewed by

17. Chatwin has devoted his life to a kind of Grail quest, hoping to prove — by study and direct experience with primitive people — that human nature is gentle and defensive rather than ________, and that man is ________, not a predator.
(A) belligerent…an apostate
(B) martial…a crusader
(C) aggressive…a pilgrim
(D) truculent…a gladiator
(E) pugnacious…a pawn

18. The texts as we have them were written down and edited carefully by Christians proud of their ancestors but unable to bear the thought of their indulging in heathen practices; thus, all references to the ancient religion of the Celts were ________, if not ________.
(A) deleted…expunged
(B) muddied…suppressed
(C) labored…denigrated
(D) aggrieved…overawed
(E) obscure…ironic

19. Because Inspector Morse could not contain his scorn for the police commissioner, he was imprudent enough to make ________ remarks about his superior officer.
(A) ambiguous
(B) dispassionate
(C) unfathomable
(D) interminable
(E) scathing

20. In Japanese art, profound emotion is frequently couched in images of nature, observed with ________ conditioned by life in a land of dramatic seasonal change, where perils of earthquake and typhoon make nature’s bounty ________ and its processes awesome and beautiful.
(A) an intimacy…precarious
(B) a fidelity…munificent
(C) a skill…excessive
(D) an indifference…chancy
(E) a sensitivity…distinctive

Sentence Completion Exercise C

1. A ________ statement is an ________ comparison: it does not compare things explicitly, but suggests a likeness between them.
(A) sarcastic…unfair
(B) blatant…overt
(C) sanguine…inherent
(D) metaphorical…implied
(E) bellicose…ardent

2. Modern architecture has discarded the ________ trimming on buildings and has concentrated on an almost Greek simplicity of line.
(A) flamboyant
(B) austere
(C) inconspicuous
(D) aesthetic
(E) derivative

3. If you are seeking ________ that will resolve all our ailments, you are undertaking an impossible task.
(A) a precedent
(B) a panacea
(C) an abstraction
(D) a direction
(E) a contrivance

4. I have no ________ motive in offering this advice; I seek no personal advantage or honor.
(A) nominal
(B) altruistic
(C) incongruous
(D) disinterested
(E) ulterior

5. This park has been preserved in all its ________ wildness so that visitors in future years may see how people lived during the eighteenth century.
(A) hedonistic
(B) prospective
(C) esoteric
(D) untrammeled
(E) pristine

6. Though he was theoretically a friend of labor, his voting record in Congress ________ that impression.
(A) implied
(B) created
(C) confirmed
(D) belied
(E) maintained

7. The orator was so ________ that the audience became ________.
(A) soporific…drowsy
(B) inaudible…elated
(C) pompous…bombastic
(D) dramatic…affable
(E) convincing…moribund

8. If you carry this ________ attitude to the conference, you will ________ any supporters you may have at this moment.
(A) belligerent…delight
(B) truculent…alienate
(C) conciliatory…defer
(D) supercilious…attract
(E) ubiquitous…delight

9. The ________ pittance the widow receives from the government cannot keep her from poverty.
(A) magnanimous
(B) indulgent
(C) meticulous
(D) munificent
(E) meager

10. Harriman, Kennan, and Acheson were part of that inner ________ of the American diplomatic establishment whose distinguished legacy ________ U.S. foreign policy.
(A) circle…grieved
(B) sanctum…absorbed
(C) core…dominated
(D) life…biased
(E) coterie…exacerbated

11. The young man was quickly promoted when his employers saw how ________ he was.
(A) indigent
(B) indifferent
(C) assiduous
(D) lethargic
(E) cursory

12. For Miró, art became a ________ ritual; paper and pencils were holy objects to him and he worked as though he were performing a religious rite.
(A) superficial
(B) sacred
(C) banal
(D) cryptic
(E) futile

13. Because it arrives so early in the season, before many other birds, the robin has been called the ________ of spring.
(A) hostage
(B) autocrat
(C) compass
(D) newcomer
(E) harbinger

14. Shy and hypochondriacal, Madison was uncomfortable at public gatherings; his character made him a most ________ lawmaker and practicing politician.
(A) conscientious
(B) unlikely
(C) fervent
(D) gregarious
(E) effective

15. The tapeworm is an example of ________ organism, one that lives within or on another creature, deriving some or all of its nutrients from its host.
(A) a hospitable
(B) an exemplary
(C) a parasitic
(D) an autonomous
(E) a protozoan

16. In place of the more general debate about abstract principles of government that most delegates probably expected, the Constitutional Convention put ________ proposals on the table.
(A) theoretical
(B) vague
(C) concrete
(D) tentative
(E) redundant

17. Overindulgence ________ character as well as physical stamina.
(A) strengthens
(B) stimulates
(C) debilitates
(D) maintains
(E) provides

18. We must try to understand his momentary ________ for he has ________ more strain and anxiety than any among us.
(A) outcry…described
(B) senility…understood
(C) vision…forgotten
(D) generosity…desired
(E) aberration…undergone

19. He is ________ opponent; you must respect and fear him at all times.
(A) a redoubtable
(B) a disingenuous
(C) a pugnacious
(D) an insignificant
(E) a craven

20. Your ________ tactics may compel me to cancel the contract as the job must be finished on time.
(A) dilatory
(B) offensive
(C) repugnant
(D) infamous
(E) confiscatory

Sentence Completion Exercise D

1. Truculent in defending their individual rights of sovereignty under the Articles of Confederation, the newly formed states ________ constantly.
(A) apologized
(B) digressed
(C) conferred 
(D) acquiesced
(E) squabbled

2. If the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on, its water-tight compartments might have saved it from ________, but it swerved to avoid the iceberg, and in the collision so many compartments were opened to the sea that disaster was ________.
(A) foundering…inevitable
(B) sinking…escaped
(C) damage…limited
(D) buoyancy…unavoidable
(E) collapse…averted

3. Written in an amiable style, the book provides a comprehensive overview of European wines that should prove inviting to both the virtual ________ and the experienced connoisseur.
(A) prodigal
(B) novice
(C) zealot
(D) miser
(E) glutton

4. The members of the religious sect ostracized the ________ who had abandoned their faith.
(A) coward
(B) suppliant
(C) litigant
(D) recreant
(E) proselyte

5. I am not attracted by the ________ life of the ________, always wandering through the countryside, begging for charity.
(A) proud…almsgiver
(B) noble…philanthropist
(C) affluent…mendicant
(D) natural…philosopher
(E) peripatetic…vagabond

6. Her true feelings ________ themselves in her sarcastic asides; only then was her ________ revealed.
(A) concealed…sweetness
(B) manifested…bitterness
(C) hid…sarcasm
(D) developed…anxiety
(E) grieved…charm

7. They fired upon the enemy from behind trees, walls, and any other ________ point they could find.
(A) conspicuous
(B) definitive
(C) vantage
(D) exposed
(E) indefensible

8. Because Pauling stubbornly continued to believe in the power of Vitamin C to cure cancer despite much evidence to the contrary, his colleagues felt he had lost his scientific ________.
(A) tenacity
(B) experimentation
(C) daring
(D) apparatus
(E) objectivity

9. We need more men of culture and enlightenment; we have too many ________ among us.
(A) visionaries
(B) students
(C) philistines
(D) pragmatists
(E) philosophers

10. The sugar dissolved in water ________; finally all that remained was an almost ________ residue on the bottom of the glass.
(A) quickly…lumpy
(B) immediately…fragrant
(C) gradually…imperceptible
(D) subsequently…glassy
(E) spectacularly…opaque

11. Alec Guinness had few equals among English-speaking actors, and in his autobiography he revealed himself to be an uncommonly ________ prose stylist as well.
(A) ambivalent
(B) infamous
(C) supercilious
(D) felicitous
(E) pedestrian

12. Traffic speed limits are set at a level that achieves some balance between the danger of ________ speed and the desire of most people to travel as quickly as possible.
(A) marginal
(B) normal
(C) prudent
(D) inadvertent
(E) excessive

13. Although the economy suffers downturns, it also has strong ________ and self-correcting tendencies.
(A) unstable
(B) recidivist
(C) inauspicious
(D) recuperative
(E) self-destructive

14. It is foolish to vent your spleen on ________ object; still, you make ________ enemies that way.
(A) an inanimate…fewer
(B) an immobile…bitter
(C) an interesting…curious
(D) an insipid…dull
(E) a humane…more

15. Since Cyrano de Bergerac did not wish to be under an obligation to any man, he refused to be a ________ of Cardinal Richelieu.
(A) proselytizer
(B) mentor
(C) protégé
(D) benefactor
(E) predecessor

16. The leader of the group is the passionately committed Crimond, whose ________ politics is inversely proportional to his disciples’ ________ political faith.
(A) retreat from…remote
(B) penchant for…ardent
(C) indifference to…jaundiced
(D) engagement in…lapsed
(E) disinclination for…problematic

17. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese-Americans were ________ of being spies for Japan, although there was no ________ to back up this accusation.
(A) acquitted…buttress
(B) tired…witness
(C) reminded…reason
(D) suspected…evidence
(E) exonerated…money

18. More than one friendly whale has nudged a boat with such ________ that passengers have been knocked overboard.
(A) enthusiasm
(B) lethargy
(C) hostility
(D) serenity
(E) animosity

19. In seeking to rediscover Zora Neale Hurston, it is intriguing to look at the figure she cut in the minds of her contemporaries, the high regard she enjoyed before shifting aesthetic values ________ her to curio status.
(A) emancipated
(B) deviated
(C) exported
(D) absolved
(E) relegated

20. We have become so democratic in our habits of thought that we are convinced that truth is determined through ________ of facts.
(A) a hierarchy
(B) a transcendance
(C) a plebiscite
(D) a repeal
(E) an ignorance

Sentence Completion Exercise E

1. Studded starfish are well protected from most ________ and parasites by ________ surface whose studs are actually modified spines.
(A) dangers…a vulnerable
(B) predators…an armored
(C) threats…a fragile
(D) challenges…an obtuse
(E) exigencies…a brittle

2. Chaotic in conception but not in ________, Kelly’s canvases are as neat as the proverbial pin.
(A) conceit
(B) theory
(C) execution
(D) origin
(E) intent

3. After having worked in the soup kitchen feeding the hungry, the volunteer began to see her own good fortune as ________ and her difference from the ________ as chance rather than destiny.
(A) an omen…homeless
(B) a fluke…impoverished
(C) a threat…destitute
(D) a reward…indigent
(E) a lie…affluent

4. Some students are ________ and want to take only the courses for which they see immediate value.
(A) theoretical
(B) impartial
(C) pragmatic
(D) idealistic
(E) opinionated

5. Unlike the Shakespearean plays that lit up the English stage, the “closet dramas” of the nineteenth century were meant to be ________ rather than ________.
(A) seen…acted
(B) read…staged
(C) quiet…raucous
(D) sophisticated…urbane
(E) produced…performed

6. Japan’s industrial success is ________ in part to its tradition of group effort and ________, as opposed to the emphasis on personal achievement that is a prominent aspect of other industrial nations.
(A) responsive…independence
(B) related…introspection
(C) equivalent…solidarity
(D) subordinate…individuality
(E) attributed…cooperation

7. I was so bored with the verbose and redundant style of Victorian novelists that I welcomed the change to the ________ style of Hemingway.
(A) prolix
(B) consistent
(C) terse
(D) logistical
(E) florid

8. As ________ head of the organization, he attended social functions and civic meetings but had no ________ in the formulation of company policy.
(A) titular…voice
(B) hypothetical…vote
(C) former…pride
(D) nominal…competition
(E) actual…say

9. His listeners enjoyed his ________ wit but his victims often ________ at its satire.
(A) lugubrious…suffered
(B) caustic…laughed
(C) kindly…smarted
(D) subtle…smiled
(E) trenchant…winced

10. The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the ________.
(A) abridgement
(B) bibliography
(C) commentary
(D) epitaph
(E) title

11. The distinctive qualities of African music were not appreciated or even ________ by Westerners until fairly recently.
(A) deplored
(B) revered
(C) ignored
(D) neglected
(E) perceived

12. It is only to the vain that all is vanity; and all is ________ only to those who have never been ________ themselves.
(A) arrogance…proud of
(B) deception…sincere with
(C) cowardice…afraid for
(D) indolence…bored by
(E) solitude…left to

13. No act of ________ was more pronounced than his refusal of any rewards for his discovery.
(A) abeyance
(B) submission
(C) egoism
(D) denunciation
(E) abnegation

14. Tocqueville decided to swear the oath of loyalty to the new Orleanist king in part ________ (he wanted to keep his position as magistrate), and in part pragmatically (he was convinced that the democratization of politics represented by the new regime was ________).
(A) expediently…calamitous
(B) opportunistically…inevitable
(C) imprudently…circumspect
(D) selflessly…idealistic
(E) theoretically…negligible

15. Unlike the gregarious Capote, who was never happier than when he was in the center of a crowd of celebrities, Faulkner, in later years, grew somewhat ________ and shunned company.
(A) congenial
(B) decorous
(C) dispassionate
(D) reclusive
(E) ambivalent

16. She is a pragmatist, as ________ to base her future on impractical dreams as she would be to build a castle on shifting sand.
(A) determined
(B) disinclined
(C) quick
(D) apt
(E) diligent

17. We are ________ the intellects of the past; or, rather, like children we take it for granted that somebody must supply us with our supper and our ________.
(A) ungrateful to…ideas
(B) dependent on…repose
(C) unfaithful to…needs
(D) fortunate in…allowance
(E) generous to…wants

18. During the middle of the eighteenth century, the ________ style in furniture and architecture, marked by scrollwork and excessive decoration, flourished.
(A) austere
(B) functional
(C) medieval
(D) rococo
(E) abstract

19. Although eighteenth-century English society as a whole did not encourage learning for its own sake in women, nonetheless it illogically ________ women’s sad lack of education.
(A) palliated
(B) postulated
(C) decried
(D) brooked
(E) vaunted

20. Faced with these massive changes, the government keeps its own counsel; although generally benevolent, it has always been ________ regime.
(A) an altruistic
(B) an unpredictable
(C) a reticent
(D) a sanguine
(E) an indifferent

Answer Key

Sentence Completion Exercise A

  1. C

  6. B

11. B

16. B

  2. B

  7. B

12. C

17. A

  3. D

  8. D

13. E

18. E

  4. C

  9. B

14. E

19. D

  5. C

10. E

15. A

20. A

Sentence Completion Exercise B

  1. C

  6. A

11. E

16. C

  2. B

  7. E

12. B

17. C

  3. A

  8. D

13. D

18. B

  4. E

  9. D

14. D

19. E

  5. D

10. C

15. E

20. A

Sentence Completion Exercise C

  1. D

  6. D

11. C

16. C

  2. A

  7. A

12. B

17. C

  3. B

  8. B

13. E

18. E

  4. E

  9. E

14. B

19. A

  5. E

10. C

15. C

20. A

Sentence Completion Exercise D

  1. E

  6. B

11. D

16. E

  2. A

  7. C

12. E

17. D

  3. B

  8. E

13. D

18. A

  4. D

  9. C

14. A

19. E

  5. E

10. C

15. C

20. C

Sentence Completion Exercise E

  1. B

  6. E

11. E

16. B

  2. C

  7. C

12. B

17. A

  3. B

  8. A

13. E

18. D

  4. C

  9. E

14. B

19. C

  5. B

10. C

15. D

20. C