Solved Examples Set 2 (Sentence Completion)

1. Comparing him to P.T. Barnum, Mencken called William Jennings Bryan a ________, a mountebank, a fake without shame or dignity.

   1. coward
   2. charlatan
   3. poltroon
   4. craven
   5. demigod

   (B. charlatan) The best choice will mean something like fake and mountebank. A craven, or a poltroon is a coward. A charlatan is a mountebank.

2. The primary ________ of the region’s cuisine, such as beans, legumes, and pasta, provide high levels of complex carbohydrates and often ________ meat as the primary source of protein in the diet.

   1. requirements . . . supplement
   2. components . . . replace
   3. fads . . . subjoin
   4. facet . . . duplicate
   5. ingredients . . . indemnify

   (B. components . . . replace) The noun could be either B or E, but indemnify (“to compensate for a loss”) makes no sense at all, whereas replace is a reasonable choice.

3. Unlike most historians, an anthropologist may not share the conventional ________ that the written word is more ________ than a tale told by a campfire.

   1. belief . . . prolix
   2. assumption . . . authentic
   3. idea . . . incredible
   4. tenet . . . specious
   5. canon . . . interesting

   (B. assumption . . . authentic) You can assume that historians regard the written word as more certain than the fireside tale, so the second blank is probably authentic. That assumption fits well confirms the choice of B.

4. The meager ruins of the castle, which once covered 6 acres of ground, can now be of interest only to ________.

   1. antiques
   2. antiquaries
   3. reliquaries
   4. patricians
   5. histrionics

   (B. antiquaries) The context calls for a word to describe someone who might be interested in ancient ruins. Of the five choices, the only one that fits this definition is antiquaries, which refers to an expert or student of things remaining from ancient times.

5. As the controversial argument continued, the debaters became more _________ and their remarks became more ________.

   1. subdued . . . hostile
   2. vehement . . . acrimonious
   3. reticent . . . cliché
   4. affable . . . adverse
   5. emotional . . . adroit

   (B. vehement . . . acrimonious) The answer is vehement . . . acrimonious. The signal words controversial, more, and more suggest a conflict that increases or intensifies. The only pair that supports these context clues is vehement . . . acrimonious. Even if you are not certain of the definition of acrimonious, the other choices can be eliminated because none of them suggests the intensification of the controversy.

6. Ignoring the increasing cloudiness and the ________ rumblings in the sky, they opened the picnic basket on the shore of the lake.

   1. ominous
   2. blithe
   3. monetary
   4. arduous
   5. auspicious

   (A. ominous) The context suggests an approaching storm, so the missing word must mean something like threatening, a good definition of ominous. Another word for threatening is minatory, not monetary.

7. Students at Pennsylvania State University have ________ the Liberty Bell’s original tone, a ________ of four notes, E flat, F sharp, G sharp, and B flat.

   1. relegated . . . combination
   2. replicated . . . melding
   3. decanted . . . concurrence
   4. reproduced . . . disjunction
   5. intimated . . . knell

   (B. replicated . . . melding) The context suggests a word like reproduced or replicated. Given these two choices, only melding could describe the combining of the four notes.

8. The Oxford research team was afraid that sensationalized television reports of its work on paranormal phenomena would undermine its academic ________.

   1. responsibility
   2. questioning
   3. credibility
   4. freedom
   5. credulousness

   (C. credibility) The correct noun must be something that sensational television coverage would undermine in a university setting. The best choice is credibility, or believability.

9. Churchill was cordial to Beria when they first met, but that was the last show of ________ between them.

   1. charity
   2. enmity
   3. amiability
   4. pathology
   5. austerity

   (C. amiability) The noun here will follow from the adjective cordial. The best word is amiability, closest of the five choices to cordiality.

10. The company’s ________ produce new, daring, and socially relevant plays has made it the most ________, though not the most popular, theater group in the city.

    1. reluctance to . . . esoteric
    2. avidity to . . . congenial
    3. commitment to . . . provocative
    4. inability to . . . liberal
    5. eagerness to . . . regressive

    (C. commitment to . . . provocative) Both A and D are illogical. If the company did not produce new and daring plays, it would not be described as esoteric or liberal. And if it did, it would not be congenial or regressive. Only C makes sense, with provocative fitting well with the phrase though not the most popular.

11. Unless the environmentalists can draft a more ________ proposal, the courts will disallow their proposition as too vague.

    1. legal
    2. restrictive
    3. encompassing
    4. specific
    5. ecological

    (D. specific) The missing adjective is defined as the opposite of too vague by the completed sentence. Though B is possible, the best choice is more specific. Restrictive means limiting or tending to restrict, but the context calls for specific, that is, explicit or definite.

12. Though it lasted only half an hour, the ponderous lecture seemed ________ to most of the students.

    1. interminable
    2. cabalistic
    3. waggish
    4. vendible
    5. expressive

    (A. interminable) The clues of though it lasted only half an hour and ponderous point here only to interminable or endless.

13. ________ must be distinguished from ________, which is the recognition of different categories of people without the inputing of any differences in rank.

    1. Totalitarianism . . . brotherhood
    2. Modification . . . ossification
    3. Classification . . . ramification
    4. Stratification . . . differentiation
    5. Finitude . . . infinitude

    (D. Stratification . . . differentiation) In this case, the second blank is easier to fill because it is followed by a definition. Differentiation is the recognition of different categories of people, and so on. Stratification, which does imply the differences in rank that differentiation does not, is also appropriate.

14. It is difficult to take sides with either party because both of the combatants are so ________ to ________.

    1. indifferent . . . evasion
    2. reluctant . . . compromise
    3. hostile . . . interference
    4. impenetrable . . . rhetoric
    5. averse . . . expectation

    (B. reluctant . . . compromise) The first half of the sentence presents the choice between the two combatants as difficult. Choices A, D, or E would not clarify this description. Both B and C are plausible, but because many disputing parties would object to interference, choice B is preferable.

15. The thought of a nuclear ________ sparked by a misunderstanding poses an awesome ________.

    1. device . . . reverberation
    2. holocaust . . . specter
    3. danger . . . spectacle
    4. liaison . . . probability
    5. explosion . . . calamity

    (B. holocaust . . . specter) Working from the second blank first, notice that you are looking for a word coinciding with thought. Only specter is a type of thought (something that haunts or perturbs the mind), and along with it, holocaust (destruction by fire) makes good sense.

16. Time and time again, the power of the mob in Chicago appears to have been annihilated, but it has always ________ itself.

    1. reappeared
    2. eliminated
    3. returned
    4. regenerated
    5. exhumed

    (D. regenerated) The but indicates the power has not been annihilated, so the verb that is missing must indicate a rebirth and be used with itself. A and C are not used with the pronoun; B has the opposite of the required meaning; and though E is possible, D is clearer.

17. Briefly popular in the ’40s, the ’60s, and the ’80s, Brazilian music is now making one of its periodic ________ into the American ________.

    1. forays . . . consciousness
    2. escapes . . . miasma
    3. appearances . . . discourse
    4. eclipses . . . scene
    5. invasions . . . liturgy

    (A. forays . . . consciousness) Forays (a brief venture), appearances, and maybe even invasions would seem to fit the first blank, but discourse and liturgy make no sense in this context, so the second noun must be consciousness.

18. The show is worth seeing for the ________ of Judy Convoy’s vivacious performance, which ________ the stage whenever she appears.

    1. effervescence . . . enlivens
    2. verve . . . deforms
    3. torpor . . . dominates
    4. bravado . . . enervates
    5. sprightliness . . . muffles

    (A. effervescence . . . enlivens) The phrase vivacious performance suggests that both the missing words should suggest liveliness. Effervescence, verve, and sprightliness are all promising, but only A has a verb that also suggests vitality.

19. Although they are now commercially ________, caper bushes are still found growing wild in many ________ Mediterranean areas.

    1. exported . . . fertile
    2. marketed . . . urban
    3. preempted . . . fluvial
    4. eluded . . . indigenous
    5. cultivated . . . remote

    (E. cultivated . . . remote) The first word here might be A, B, or E, but the grow wild detail seems to contrast with the first clause, suggesting that cultivated is the best of the three. Because remote also makes more sense in the context of the sentence, the best answer is E.

20. The success of the English-Spanish simulcast must be ________ to Margo Quiroz, who interprets 40 different news items in each nightly newscast.

    1. attested
    2. censured
    3. interpreted
    4. transliterated
    5. attributed

    (E. attributed) The context requires a transitive verb used with the preposition to meaning assign or ascribe. Choices B, C, and D do not fit these requirements. Choice A attested is used with to but means to certify or make clear.

Solved Examples Set 1
Solved Examples Set 2
Solved Examples Set 3