Solved Examples Set 3 (Sentence Completion)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. America at Sea is a one-volume ________ history that covers the nation’s military and commercial activities.

   1. aquatic
   2. ancient
   3. meretricious
   4. theological
   5. maritime

   (E. maritime) The title tells us the book is about the American sea history; the logical choice is maritime, which means “of the sea.”

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

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 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

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