Solved Examples Set 2 (Sentence Completion)

1. 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.

2. Unless the prevailing ________ attitude toward genetically altered food is changed, the biotech industry will have little ________ to pursue research and development.

   1. rampant . . . motive
   2. auspicious . . . occasion
   3. censorious . . . disinclination
   4. negative . . . incentive
   5. unassailed . . . reason

   (D. negative . . . incentive) The missing noun must mean something like motive or reason, so you can eliminate C. To make sense, the adjective in the right choice should be derogatory, so only D (negative) is possible.

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. Unfortunately, too many American actors in a Shakespeare play chop the verse into gobbets that are ________ to the audience and ________ to their own vocal chords.

   1. inscrutable . . . an expedience
   2. congenial . . . a danger
   3. galling . . . a panacea
   4. anodyne . . . an emollient
   5. incomprehensible . . . a threat

   (E. incomprehensible . . . a threat) The Unfortunately at the beginning tells us to look for words with negative denotations. Of the five choices, only E has both an adjective and a noun with meanings that are unfavorable.

5. 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.

6. My wealthy aunt is more than economical; she is so ________ that she washes paper plates to be used again.

   1. affluent
   2. parsimonious
   3. indigent
   4. impoverished
   5. selfish

   (B. parsimonious) The correct answer is parsimonious. The context provides a definition for the correct choice in is more than economical. The context also suggests the trait of being excessively frugal by the word so. Choices C and D would not apply because they mean poor, and the aunt is wealthy. Choice A is not excessive. E does not fit with the example of washing paper plates.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Slovenia’s declared intention to ________ and Croatia’s decision to ________ the conference, aimed at preventing the breakup of the federation, are twin blows to Yugoslavian unity.

    1. secede . . . boycott
    2. withdraw . . . foster
    3. divide . . . consolidate
    4. recede . . . avoid
    5. patronize . . . exclude

    (A. secede . . . boycott) The two verbs must both (twin blows) indicate a divisive action. The words foster, consolidate, and patronize do not fit, but choice D is marred by the use of recede, which means to move back, not to withdraw from.

13. The writing is awkward, even ________, but the novel has nonetheless attracted a large ________.

    1. felicitous . . . following
    2. grotesque . . . vacuity
    3. elegant . . . repertoire
    4. graceful . . . audience
    5. ungainly . . . readership

    (E. ungainly . . . readership) The first word here must have a meaning like awkward, but more intense. The only choices are grotesque, B, or ungainly, E, but only E has a noun (readership) that fits the second blank.

14. 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.

15. The eruption of the volcano in January was only ________ of the much larger event in March.

    1. an advent
    2. a ukase
    3. an elision
    4. a precursor
    5. a subtext

    (D. a precursor) The context calls for a noun that means predecessor, something that comes first. The best choice is precursor.

16. Heavy snows in the passes of the Pyrenees have seriously ________ rescuers trying to reach travelers surprised by the spring blizzards.

    1. excluded
    2. expedited
    3. rappelled
    4. assisted
    5. hampered

    (E. hampered) The context indicates the missing verb should mean impeded, kept from moving freely. B, C, and D are clearly unsuitable. The use of the adjective seriously eliminates excluded as the answer.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. Pretending in his works to be gauche, uneducated, and ________, the real Chaucer was a sophisticated, widely read, and ________ man.

    1. provincial . . . cosmopolitan
    2. exiguous . . . vigorous
    3. avuncular . . . shrewd
    4. inept . . . dauntless
    5. incompetent . . . flaccid

    (A. provincial . . . cosmopolitan) The pattern the sentence sets up is a specific contrast between the terms in the two series. In the first series, provincial, inept, and incompetent would fit, but only A gives an opposite for the second blank: provincial versus cosmopolitan.

20. A highly ________ player, the champion will snarl at himself and rage at the umpire with no ________ whatsoever.

    1. reticent . . . reason
    2. demonstrative . . . provocation
    3. recusant . . . excuse
    4. obstreperous . . . corroboration
    5. emotional . . . antagonism

    (B. demonstrative . . . provocation) Both B and D will fit the first blank (snarl, rage), but the word provocation (that which incites) is clearly better than corroboration (that which makes certain).

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