Solved Examples Set 1 (Sentence Completion)

1. 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.

2. The ________ problem of piracy has the music industry worried, because the pirates overseas are ________ by the crackdown in the United States.

   1. burgeoning . . . unabashed
   2. widespread . . . intimidated
   3. immaterial . . . incriminated
   4. minor . . . untroubled
   5. evanescent . . . undeterred

   (A. burgeoning . . . unabashed) If the problem worries the industry, it cannot be immaterial, minor, or evanescent. And if the industry is worried, the pirates still must be unabashed (unafraid) rather than intimidated by crackdowns.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. One cannot ________ to be impressed by the structural and ________ differences between the United States as a federal union in 1789 and the United States as a federal union today.

   1. refuse . . . legal
   2. stop . . . attitudinal
   3. begin . . . economic
   4. fail . . . operational
   5. start . . . classical

   (D. fail . . . operational) The best choice is fail . . . operational. The signal here is cannot ________ to be impressed, which should be a negative word, but the second choice should be a complement to structural, which is operational.

6. The ________ songs of Irving Berlin captured the uninhibited joy and ________ verve of New York in the twenties.

   1. jaunty . . . insouciant
   2. tuneful . . . timorous
   3. cacophonous . . . careless
   4. catchy . . . lurid
   5. popular . . . flagrant

   (A. jaunty . . . insouciant) Both of these adjectives should go well with joy and verve. Though tuneful, catchy, or popular might work, only the combination of jaunty and insouciant, which means carefree, fits both needs.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

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. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Walters and Torres ________ seven other candidates in the special election, but because neither ________ more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will have to be held for the two of them.

    1. trailed . . . captured
    2. defeated . . . recaptured
    3. out-polled . . . garnered
    4. eliminated . . . reclaimed
    5. evaded . . . achieved

    (C. out-polled . . . garnered) The sentence makes it clear that the first missing verb should indicate a success in the election, and the second should mean received. Choices A and E do not indicate a win, but recaptured in B and reclaimed in D are faulty because of the prefix re.

17. 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.

18. 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.

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 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.

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