Solved Examples Set 2 (Sentence Completion)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. He ________ into the room as if he had just been ________ from a deep sleep.

   1. strode . . . ejected
   2. proceeded . . . summoned
   3. minced . . . fomented
   4. shambled . . . roused
   5. swaggered . . . awakened

   (D. shambled . . . roused) Both roused and awakened are good choices for the second blank, but the verb shamble (to shuffle) describes the gait of someone just awakened better than swaggered.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

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. 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.

9. 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.

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. 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.

12. 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.

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. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Rather than ________ the commuter delays, the new toll road has ________ the problems, and the traffic jams are worse than ever.

    1. minimize . . . extenuated
    2. extol . . . compounded
    3. abate . . . decimated
    4. alleviate . . . aggravated
    5. emend . . . increased

    (D. alleviate . . . aggravated) Because the traffic jams are worse, the second word must mean something like increased, so options B, D, or E are possibilities. The first word must mean something like reduce, leaving only alleviate as a right answer.

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