Solved Examples Set 3 (Sentence Completion)

1. So ________ was the sales person's tone about the qualities of the new computer system that Najam nearly missed the ________ in its calculations in his budget.

   1. Persuasive ... flaw
   2. adopted ... accuracy
   3. harsh ... amount
   4. irritating ... greatness

   (A. Persuasive ... flaw) The sales person's tone is always "persuasive" during sales talk for the first blank and something like "flaw" for the second. Choice A is the right answer.

2. Alarmist newspaper stories present the pit bull terrier as ________ killer, but owners insist that the dog is friendly and ________.

   1. an invidious . . . malleable
   2. a malign . . . philanthropic
   3. a ferocious . . . docile
   4. an infamous . . . self-serving
   5. a dissolute . . . venal

   (C. a ferocious . . . docile) The first adjective will be negative (a malign or a ferocious killer), while the second must go well with friendly and describe a dog. The best choice is docile, because people do not normally describe dogs as philanthropic.

3. 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.

4. Despite his illness, Inzamam was ________ in winning his team.

   1. disappointing
   2. useless
   3. vigorous
   4. instrumental

   (D. instrumental) "Despite" is the key word. It leads you to predict the importance of Inzamam. Hence, the right answer choice is D.

5. Truman tried to continue Roosevelt’s ________ approach to the Soviet Union, but by 1946, he had adopted a much tougher policy toward the Russians.

   1. cursory
   2. strict
   3. obligatory
   4. uncompromising
   5. conciliatory

   (E. conciliatory) The correct answer is conciliatory. The sentence sets up a contrast situation with the word but. Truman tried to do something but ended up adopting a tougher policy. Conciliatory is the only choice that suggests a previously weaker approach.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Ozone in the Earth's atmosphere ________ living organisms from damaging ultraviolet radiation.

   1. protects
   2. warms
   3. reflects
   4. absorbs

   (A. protects) Ozone shields harmful ultaviolet radiation. Hence it protects living things on the earth.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Fauzia presents herself as a bold journalist by asking people in politics the kinds of ________ questions that other reporters do not ask.

    1. controversial
    2. circumnutating
    3. abnormal
    4. irrelevant

    (A. controversial) The sentence says that Fauzia earned a reputation for herself as a journalist by asking the questions that other reporters avoided. Its mean she asks probing questions about "controversial" issues.

13. 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.

14. Puzzled passersby occasionally see the ________ message “Nowhere in Particular” on the destination signs of Culver City buses.

    1. minatory
    2. exclamatory
    3. enigmatic
    4. surreptitious
    5. ameliorative

    (C. enigmatic) Because the passersby are puzzled, the missing word should have some connection with this adjective. The best choice is enigmatic, a synonym of perplexing.

15. Virginia has adopted detailed new ________ for what students should know in English, history, mathematics, and science.

    1. maxims
    2. jurisdictions
    3. benchmarks
    4. affirmations
    5. vortices

    (C. benchmarks) A word that means standards is needed here. The best choice is benchmarks, which means “standards or references from which others can be measured.”

16. That so shameless, sentimental, and dishonest a film attracts a large and enthusiastic audience is ________ of how low the popular taste has ________.

    1. an indication . . . soared
    2. a gauge . . . refined
    3. a signatory . . . fallen
    4. a refutation . . . descended
    5. a barometer . . . plummeted

    (E. a barometer . . . plummeted) The word low tells us the second word must be fallen, descended, or plummeted. The words indication, gauge, or barometer fit the first blank, so the right choice must be E.

17. 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.

18. The company has accused its larger rival of trying to ________ the ________ retail market in the north by offering illegal contracts to outlets in the area.

    1. control . . . bankrupt
    2. monopolize . . . lucrative
    3. annul . . . profitable
    4. corner . . . factitious
    5. divest . . . remunerative

    (B. monopolize . . . lucrative) Three of the verbs might work here (control, monopolize, or corner), but only lucrative fits a sought-after market.

19. Salma's home looked as though it had been ________ from a rag bin; her expensive burner was her sole ________ of luxury.

    1. clean ... expensive
    2. computerized ... cost
    3. modernized ... symbol
    4. salvaged ... sign

    (D. salvaged ... sign) 'from a rag bin' gives the idea of "salvaged". Opposite to it is "sign" of luxury. Hence the right choice is D.

20. 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.

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