Major Test

GRE Sentence Equivalence Practice Test 01
1. The prize competition was ____ as a showcase for new technology, but instead the
competition was marred by disqualifications and disputes.
A. disappointing
B. conceived
C. touted
D. heralded
E. promising
F. required
2. The new institute provides intensive postgraduate teaching to a wide range of students, in
the hope that these students will use their knowledge to boost the country's ____ economy.
A. languishing
B. emerging
C. booming
D. domestic
E. bankrupt
F. flagging
3. Like other metaphors, the "book of Nature" has two facets: it is ____ but if taken literally,
it may mislead.
A. heuristic
B. perceptive
C. poetic
D. insightful
E. prosaic
F. iconoclastic
4. The increasing interactivity emerging in the latest computer systems means that the
traditional view of the computer as a ____ of information now unduly limiting.
A. gleaner
B. transformer
C. processor
D. producer
E. repository
F. cache
5. Turings life exerts a powerful and ____ effect on writers the combination of the highly
intellectual and the personally dramatic is hard to resist.
A. abiding
B. pervasive
C. perennial
D. irresistible
E. unmitigated
F. multifaceted
6. As a result of his regimented upbringing, that left him unable to see the nuances of
complex situations, he was often accused of being ____ .
A. indecisive
B. tyrannical
C. obtuse
D. boorish
E. xenophobic
F. imperceptive
7. It is paradoxical that String Theory inspires such widespread respect when it is so ____
that few could ever hope to master its claims.
A. intractable
B. confusing
C. elevated
D. arcane
E. obscure
F. rigorous

8. Those with a reputation for ____ behavior seldom inspire respect: unwavering adherence
to a viewpoint is more admired than flexibility.
A. capricious
B. bombastic
C. dogmatic
D. fickle
E. honorable
F. stalwart
9. The courtiers of the time had to be ____ in order to survive in an atmosphere where the
least sign of rebellion could lead to banishment or worse.
A. taciturn
B. fawning
C. docile
D. self-serving
E. upright
F. servile
10. Forgiveness was fine in theory, but she had trouble in accepting a religion that would
allow ____ evil-doers access to heaven.
A. repentant
B. contrite
C. blatant
D. venial
E. pardoned
F. recalcitrant

Question Correct Answer Question Correct Answer
1. CD 6. CF
2. AF 7. DE
3. BD 8. AD
4. EF 9. BF
5. AC 10. AB

1. The Countess dressed with a (an) ____ elegance which seemed to proclaim to the world
just how distinguished she was.
A. studied
B. pronounced
C. ingenuous
D. understated
E. mannered
F. rococo
2. It is a waste of time to ____ someone so dimwitted; he is too dull to recognize your barbs.
A. disparage
B. ridicule
C. lampoon
D. laud
E. enlighten
F. train
3. The teacher was so abstracted that she gave a ____ evaluation of what was really an
interesting solution to the problem she had set.
A. philosophical
B. cursory
C. detailed
D. considered
E. perfunctory
F. tangential
4. Punishment for transgressions of the law ceases to have a deterrent effect if the punishment
is frequently ____ .
A. arbitrary
B. changed
C. waived
D. lenient
E. commuted
F. applied
5. Not only love affects the eye of the beholder; other emotions also ____ the interpretation
of the events that we witness.
A. cloud
B. trigger
C. devalue
D. color
E. objectify
F. impact
6. The human mind can often reject the most ____ data in favor of something that, though
valueless, at least sounds familiar.
A. anomalous
B. inconsequential
C. peripheral
D. pertinent
E. germane
F. visible
7. ____ behavior never has the effect its practitioners hope for; the attempt to hide only draws
attention to what is hidden.
A. Misogynistic
B. Puritanical
C. Covert
D. Miserly
E. Prudish
F. Camouflaging

8. He completed the work with unusual ____ ; his need to get out of the office overcame his
habitual torpor.
A. dispatch
B. grace
C. effectiveness
D. slovenliness
E. carelessness
F. celerity
9. When Smithers took over as chairperson, her colleagues were looking forward to a less
confrontational time on the board of governors, since they reasoned that no one else was
likely to be as ____ as her predecessor.
A. mordant
B. aggressive
C. flexible
D. bellicose
E. complaisant
F. jaundiced
10. When faced with an urgent problem for which there is no immediately obvious solution,
we tend to welcome any suggestion, however ____ , that might throw light on the dilemma.
A. unusual
B. hackneyed
C. tentative
D. outrageous
E. illuminating
F. flimsy

1. AE 6. DE
2. BC 7. BE
3. BE 8. AF
4. CE 9. BD
5. DF 10. CF

1. Mannering's personal diary, a record of ____ preoccupations and domestic details, belies
the depth of thought for which he was renowned in the academic world.
A. philosophical
B. mundane
C. petty
D. weighty
E. erudite
F. untoward
2. Animal welfare charities have found that extensive advertising, especially over the
Christmas period, can actually drive down the volume of donations as people who view
images of maltreated pets more than a few times rapidly become ____ .
A. inured
B. miserly
C. disgusted
D. hardened
E. bored
F. overwrought
3. The studys ____ conclusion is that during the first half of the 20th Century improved
standards of personal hygiene reduced the risk of an individuals contracting poliomyelitis,
yet tended to make the disease more lethal to communities.
A. exciting
B. paradoxical
C. unwarranted
D. long-awaited
E. anomalous
F. interim
4. The devotion to the syllabus and testing regime has become so extreme that most school
students close their minds to anything ____ to the needs of the examination.
A. related
B. catering
C. extraneous
D. similar
E. helpful
F. peripheral
5. The ____ tone of the biography is entirely unexpected since both the biographer in her
previous works and her subject in all that he has written have valued levity over solemnity.
A. lugubrious
B. jaunty
C. jocose
D. frivolous
E. ironic
F. melancholy
6. After hours of acrimonious arguments the negotiations reached a(n) _____ ; neither side
was willing to compromise.
A. solution
B. impasse
C. conclusion
D. end
E. deadlock
F. resolution
7. This new staging of King Lear is not a production in which every aspect falls neatly into
place throughout; however, the drama does ____ at certain points to give the audience
memorable and thought-provoking moments.
A. coalesce
B. crystallize
C. triumph
D. flower
E. dissolve
F. transcend
8. The teachers mercurial mood changes and ____ approach to grading made the students
uneasy; they never knew what would please him or what would earn good marks.
A. tardy
B. authoritarian
C. strict
D. ambivalent
E. whimsical
F. hidebound
9. The book is an attempt on the part of the eminent scholar to reconcile the ____ experience
and theoretical underpinnings of certain everyday phenomena.
A. philosophical
B. empirical
C. arcane
D. practical
E. superficial
F. obtuse
10. The last candidate interviewed conducted herself with commendable ____ even when
badgered with questions that had drawn unseemly outbursts from all the other interviewees.
A. pertinacity
B. adroitness
C. alacrity
D. decorum
E. propriety
F. presence of mind

1. BC 6. BE
2. AD 7. AB
3. BE 8. DE
4. CF 9. BD
5. AF 10. DE

1. ____ adherence to outdated political ideas and defunct sects characterized the last years of
a man who had, surprisingly, been one of the most flexible thinkers of the 1920s.
A. Intransigent
B. Vacillating
C. Sectarian
D. Confused
E. Frantic
F. Dogged
2. The ____ effects of constant noise drove Natasha to seek refuge in a more salubrious spot
until she recovered her mental equilibrium.
A. stimulating
B. debilitating
C. deafening
D. enervating
E. soporific
F. precipitating
3. Grandfather liked us children to learn self-discipline, and, unlike many others of his
generation, seldom ____ us even for those actions that we felt deserved censure.
A. rewarded
B. consoled
C. upbraided
D. applauded
E. cherished
F. chided
4. To the layman, a philosopher who attempts to elucidate a complex moral dilemma by
reducing it to a simple yet apparently ridiculous test case seems rather to ____ the issue.
A. ridicule
B. obfuscate
C. over-simplify
D. denigrate
E. becloud
F. attenuate
5. Fraser taught by example: he ____ long-windedness in his own lectures and berated his
students for any tendency toward circumlocution.
A. eschewed
B. epitomized
C. accentuated
D. embraced
E. welcomed
F. shunned
6. If he had not had the ____ to follow his own iconoclastic theories in the face of the
apparently unassailable conclusion of the accepted experts in the field, progress would have
been inestimably slower in this area of knowledge.
A. incentive
B. audacity
C. temerity
D. incapacity
E. unwillingness
F. wisdom
7. With an abiding interest in Medieval poetry, Boris found it difficult to relate to his peers in
school whose ____ ran to nothing even remotely literary.
A. predilections
B. successes
C. inclinations
D. backgrounds
E. achievements
F. amities

8. The novel is admittedly not the finest example of its genre, but I object to the ____ preface
written by a supposed expert on detective fiction from whom we might have expected at least
one or two perceptive comments.
A. egregious
B. inane
C. pretentious
D. subliminal
E. vacuous
F. unexamined
9. It is not only the poor and uneducated that fall prey to ____ ; desperate or unhappy
individuals from any walk of life or social background can be duped.
A. mavericks
B. malcontents
C. quacks
D. charlatans
E. agitators
F. hypochondriacs
10. The director, accustomed to unquestioning loyalty, was chagrined when she discovered
that her directions had been ____ by the chief executive.
A. underscored
B. misinterpreted
C. undermined
D. misplaced
E. substantiated
F. subverted
1. AF 6. BC
2. BD 7. AC
3. CF 8. BE
4. BE 9. CD
5. AF 10. CF

1. Even though Byron is frequently glib, it is still hard to dismiss him as a ____ thinker.
A. superficial
B. profound
C. lightweight
D. lucid
E. verbose
F. uncompromising
2. Far from being an innocent prank, their action is a ____ attempt to spoil my reputation.
A. malicious
B. salubrious
C. naive
D. saturnine
E. innocuous
F. callous
3. Although his findings were initially greeted with ____ , the unlikely hero was finally
vindicated when the French Academy acknowledged his work.
A. derision
B. accolades
C. commendations
D. sympathy
E. jubilation
F. incredulity
4. Their latest theory aims to integrate the seemingly ____ elements of twenty years of
research to form a coherent whole.
A. relevant
B. sporadic
C. incessant
D. disparate
E. discrete
F. extensive
5. Svenssons ____ in his work earned him few friends: his colleagues probably thought that
he would be unwilling to overlook their foibles.
A. xenophobia
B. mendacity
C. meticulousness
D. intuition
E. punctiliousness
F. prevarication
6. Icons would be well-advised to write their own memoirs; there are too many ____ writers
out there who forego accuracy to pander to the preconceptions of the market.
A. creative
B. lackluster
C. hackneyed
D. sycophantic
E. fawning
F. best-selling
7. Both commentators noted the way that Dylan can submerge himself in tradition while
somehow managing to create works of startling ____.
A. gestation
B. singularity
C. provenance
D. conservatism
E. nonchalance
F. originality

8. When aid is given to an autocracy, the donors are prone to rationalize their decision to
support non-democratic governments, and thus lay themselves open to the charge of ____.
A. negligence
B. hypocrisy
C. equivocation
D. slander
E. autonomy
F. nepotism
9. The insertion of a fiction into a news bulletin cannot be condoned, but inserting
propaganda for a good cause seems less ____.
A. untoward
B. democratic
C. reprehensible
D. credible
E. insupportable
F. utilitarian
10. In showing the shocking images of depravity and degradation, the curators of the art
museum said that the importance of historical accuracy outweighed the danger of
encouraging ____.
A. prurience
B. avarice
C. vandalism
D. voyeurism
E. outrage
F. torture

1. AC 6. DE
2. AF 7. BF
3. AF 8. BC
4. DE 9. CE
5. CE 10. AD

GRE Text Completion Practice Test 01
1. With his sub-four minute mile Bannister broke a psychological barrier, and inspired
thousands of others to attempt to overcome seemingly ____ hurdles.
A. insurmountable
B. inane
C. trivial
D. traumatic
E. ineffable
2. Ricks has written extensively not only on the poetry of such (i)____ figures in English
poetry as Milton and Housman, but also on the less obviously (ii)____ lyrics of Bob Dylan.
Blank (i)
A. obscurantist
B. arcane
C. established
Blank (ii)
D. canonical
E. popular
F. judicious
3. People who seek advice from (i)____ often find that what they are told can seem true,
because these seekers of information attribute significance to some predictions and ignore
others. The mind seeks to make sense of predictions that, in themselves, have no (ii)____
value, and thus it becomes difficult to prove that the forecasts are (iii)____ .
Blank (i)
A. experts
B. philosophers
C. clairvoyants
Blank (ii)
D. special
E. general
F. legal
Blank (iii)
G. genuine
H. specious
I. accurate
4. Stress-induced amnesia is a rare and (i)____ phenomenon; it strikes the patient apparently
without warning and the memory loss can be as (i)____ as that induced by (iii)____ trauma.
Blank (i)
A. devastating
B. venial
C. pervasive
Blank (ii)
D. generic
E. limited
F. complete
Blank (iii)
G. unexpected
H. mental
I. physical

5. The publishers, unwilling to (i)____ the entire risk, insisted that the author pay half the
cost of the initial print run of his (ii)____ new book.
Blank (i)
A. hedge
B. shoulder
C. mitigate
Blank (ii)
D. unexceptionable
E. controversial
F. jaundiced
6. Science advances (i)____ as (ii)____ change abruptly and we are forced to stop and
reorient ourselves to view old information in new ways.
Blank (i)
A. exponentially
B. inexorably
C. jerkily
Blank (ii)
D. paradigms
E. axioms
F. continuities
7. The game of chess is an example of a ___ information system: the pieces sit inertly on the
board until the players move them according to known rules.
A. interactive
B. passive
C. cybernetic
D. disruptive
E. logistic
8. A highly intelligent person often thinks (i)____; a few snippets of information can trigger a
(ii)____ conclusion that might not stand up to closer, and (iii)____, scrutiny.
Blank (i)
A. too deeply
B. too warily
C. too quickly
Blank (ii)
D. firm
E. labored
F. hasty
Blank (iii)
G. slower
H. precipitous
I. overt

9. Major philosophical (i)____ about morality, identity and rationality, for example, can often
be (ii)____ by thought experiments: short and simple expositions that pose an abstract and
complex problem in a concrete manner with all the (iii)____ factors removed.
Blank (i)
A. certitudes
B. dilemmas
C. dogmas
Blank (ii)
D. mimicked
E. illuminated
F. evoked
Blank (iii)
G. extraneous
H. inherent
I. pivotal
10. All good comic writers use humour to ____, not to side-step the problems of human
behaviour.
A. amuse
B. avert
C. juxtapose
D. confront
E. solve

1. A 6. CD
2. CD 7. B
3. CDH 8. CFG
4. AFI 9. BEG
5. BE 10. D

1. When staying in a hotel, Bernard would arrange for his valet to bring him his newspaper in
the dining room so that everyone would realize that he had a manservant; this (i)____
embarrassed his nephew who, though equally rich, preferred a more (ii)____ life-style.
Blank (i)
A. ostentation
B. arrogance
C. dissimulation
Blank (ii)
D. opulent
E. libertine
F. understated

2. Although he was finally (i)____, the years of (ii)____ tore apart his social circle, ruined his
health and (iii)____ his mind.
Blank (i)
A. incriminated
B. vindicated
C. acclaimed
Blank (ii)
D. dedication
E. self-doubt
F. suspicion
Blank (iii)
G. sharpened
H. deranged
I. mellowed

3. As Gerard (i)____ the (ii)____ that greeted his work, he became increasingly smug.
Blank (i)
A. repudiated
B. humbly accepted
C. basked in
Blank (ii)
D. accolades
E. opprobrium
F. lack of interest

4. It is a common complaint that people today have a short attention span. But is it that people
are (i)____ if the television camera (ii)____ a view, or is it that the (iii)____ from one angle
to another has trained the viewer to expect variety?
Blank (i)
A. satisfied
B. fascinated
C. impatient
Blank (ii)
D. lingers over
E. cuts short
F. rapidly changes
Blank (iii)
G. constant shift
H. delay in moving
I. inability to move
5. The (i)____ and virtuosity required of a jazz player make jazz seem to lack (ii)____; this
apparently amorphous flow can make it hard for people with traditional expectations of
musical stability to acquire a taste for this genre.
Blank (i)
A. controlled playing
B. inventiveness
C. emotional distance
Blank (ii)
D. inherent structure
E. underlying rhythm
F. controlled emotions

6. An artists preliminary sketches are often a ____of a subject; on the basis of these sketches
the artist makes a decision on his or her approach to the final painting.
A. reconnaissance
B. caricature
C. vignette
D. pastiche
E. cameo
7. Taking antibiotics for a viral infection may, it is true, be ____ ; however, in certain cases a
course of these drugs can actually ward off opportunistic bacterial infections.
A. justified
B. enough
C. recommended
D. ineffective
E. curative
8. Rock music has often been credited with (or decried for) containing (i)____ messages,
purportedly to influence the minds of (ii)____ listeners.
Blank (i)
A. criminal
B. overt
C. subliminal
Blank (ii)
D. preordained
E. unsuspecting
F. covert

9. It cannot be denied that without creative reasoning it would not have been possible to
(i)____ of classical physics. Yet classical physics has no contribution to make to the
understanding of (ii)_____. This kind of (iii)____ is surprisingly common in logic as well as
in life.
Blank (i)
A. dispute the value
B. lay the foundations
C. understand the basics
Blank (ii)
D. creative reasoning
E. other sciences
F. the arts
Blank (iii)
G. circular reasoning
H. inflexibility
I. symmetry

10. During a decade of (i)____, social scientists sought to (ii)____ the idea of the family as a
healthy and stabilizing force, and replace it with the view that the family was (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A.
moderation
B.
conservatism
C.
iconoclasm
Blank (ii)
D.
promote
E.
debunk
F.
iconize
Blank (iii)
G. moribund
H. progressive
I. paramount

Question
Correct
Answer
Question Correct Answer
1. AF 6. A
2. BFH 7. D
3. CD 8. CE
4. CDG 9. BDI
5. BD 10. CEG

1. Today Wegener's theory is (i)____ ; however, he died an outsider treated with (ii)____ by
the scientific establishment.
Blank (i)
A. unsupported
B. unchallenged
C. undervalued
Blank (ii)
D. reverence
E. disdain
F. impartiality
2. The revolution in art has not lost its steam; it ____ on as fiercely as ever.
A. trudges
B. meanders
C. edges
D. ambles
E. rages
3. Each occupation has its own ____ ; bankers, lawyers and computer professionals, for
example, all use among themselves language which outsiders have difficulty following.
A. merits
B. disadvantages
C. rewards
D. jargon
E. problems
4. ____ by nature, Jones spoke very little even to his own family members.
A. garrulous
B. equivocal
C. taciturn
D. arrogant
E. gregarious

5. Biological clocks are of such (i)____ adaptive value to living organisms, that we would
expect most organisms to (ii)____ them, and, indeed, we find that such clocks are virtually
(iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. meager
B. ambivalent
C. clear
Blank (ii)
D. eschew
E. possess
F. select
Blank (iii)
G. ubiquitous
H. unknown
I. compulsory
6. The revolutionaries working to improve the lives of the peasants faced an (i)____ task; the
peasants were the least (ii)____ of all people, bound by tradition and (iii)____ by
superstitions.
Blank (i)
A. unwarranted
B. uphill
C. unacceptable
Blank (ii)
D. free
E. reactionary
F. enthralled
Blank (iii)
G. rejected
H. obscured
I. fettered
7. Many people at that time believed that spices help preserve food; however, Hall found that
many marketed spices were ____ bacteria, moulds and yeasts.
A. devoid of
B. teeming with
C. improved by
D. destroyed by
E. active against
8. If there is nothing to absorb the energy of sound waves, they travel on (i)____ , but their
intensity (ii)____ as they travel further from their source.
Blank (i)
A. indefinitely
B. erratically
C. slowly
Blank (ii)
D. alleviates
E. diminishes
F. mitigates

9. This recent evaluation of two artists whose works even experts find difficult to (i)____,
reveals a surprising (ii)____ in their temperaments: Palmer was reserved and courteous,
Frazer (iii)____ and boastful.
Blank (i)
A. evaluate
B. distinguish
C. critique
Blank (ii)
D. similarity
E. difference
F. constraint
Blank (iii)
G. choleric
H. tractable
I. phlegmatic
10. The intellectual flexibility inherent in a multicultural nation has been (i)____ in
classrooms where emphasis on British-American literature has not reflected the cultural
(ii)____ of our country.
Blank (i)
A.
inculcated
B.
encouraged
C. stifled
Blank (ii)
D. unanimity
E. diversity
F. aspirations

Question
Correct
Answer
1. BE 6. BDI
2. E 7. B
3. D 8. AE
4. C 9. BEG
5. CEG 10. CE

1. Unwilling to admit that they had been in error, the researchers tried to ____ their case with
more data obtained from dubious sources.
A. ascertain
B. buttress
C. refute
D. absolve
E. dispute
2. Archaeology is a poor profession; modest sums are available for excavating sites and even
more (i)____ amounts for preserving the excavations. As a result many sites that are still to
reveal even a fraction of their potentially vital information have been (ii)____ and left to the
forces of Nature. Re-opening such sites in the future will be all but (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. paltry
B. controversial
C. abundant
Blank (ii)
D. abandoned
E. overworked
F. denuded
Blank (iii)
G. trivial
H. impossible
I. rewarding
3. The student was extremely foolhardy; he had the ____ to question the senior professor's
judgment.
A. wisdom
B. temerity
C. interest
D. trepidation
E. condescension
4. The formerly (i)____ waters of the lake have become (ii)____. So even though the waters
are teeming with life, fish are no longer visible from the surface.
Blank (i)
A. murky
B. stagnant
C. pellucid
Blank (ii)
D. tranquil
E. verdant
F. turbid

5. After the accident, the nerves to her arm were damaged and so the muscles ____ through
disuse.
A. atrophied
B. contracted
C. elongated
D. invigorated
E. dwindled
6. Some critics maintain that Tennyson's poetry is uneven, ranging from the (i)____ to the
(ii)____.
Blank (i)
A. succinct
B. trite
C. sublime
Blank (ii)
D. laconic
E. sonorous
F. inspired
7. The immune system is capable of distinguishing self from other at the cellular level. After
grafting, unless the immune system is effectively (i)____, there is a (ii)____ of lymphocytes
in the lymph glands; the newly produced lymphocytes then move in to (iii)____ the foreign
tissue.
Blank (i)
A. primed
B. suppressed
C. activated
Blank (ii)
D. reduction
E. proliferation
F. stasis
Blank (iii)
G. stimulate
H. regenerate
I. attack
8. One (i)____ of the new scheme is that it might actually (ii)____ just those applicants that it
was intended to encourage.
Blank (i)
A. attraction
B. highlight
C. drawback
Blank (ii)
D. induce
E. daunt
F. attract

9. Corruption is (i)____ our society; the integrity of even senior officials is (ii)____.
Blank (i)
A. rife in
B. endangered throughout
C. alien to
Blank (ii)
D. suspect
E. intact
F. unquestioned
10. In their day to day decision making, many senior managers do not follow the apparently
(i)____ model favored by orthodox management experts, but rather rely on intuitive
processes that often appear (ii)____ and (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A.
conscientious
B. normal
C. rational
Blank (ii)
D.
thoughtful
E.
cerebral
F.
capricious
Blank (iii)
G. logical
H. iconoclastic
I. deliberate

Question
Correct
Answer
1. B 6. BF
2. ADH 7. BEI
3. B 8. CE
4. CF 9. AD
5. A 10. CFH

1. He was treated like a ____ and cast out from his community.
A. ascetic
B. prodigy
C. prodigal
D. pariah
E. tyro
2. The teacher accused me of (i)____ because my essay was so similar to that of another
student. Once I was able to (ii)____ myself, the teacher viewed the other students denials
with more (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. plagiarism
B. procrastination
C. decorum
Blank (ii)
D. vindicate
E. inculpate
F. reprieve
Blank (iii)
G. credulity
H. cognizance
I. skepticism
3. We live in a ____ age; everyone thinks that maximizing pleasure is the point of life.
A. ubiquitous
B. propitious
C. sporadic
D. corrupt
E. hedonistic
4. After having subjected the patient to an aggressive course of treatment that in itself could
be (i)____, the doctor was thankful that the disease had gone into (ii)____ . He was able to
tell the patient that symptoms might (iii)____ for many years.
Blank (i)
A. refulgent
B. life-enhancing
C. life-threatening
Blank (ii)
D. remission
E. quarantine
F. sequestration
Blank (iii)
G. not recur
H. persist
I. malinger

5. People from all over the world are sent by their doctors to breathe the pure, (i)____ air in
this mountain region to counteract the (ii)____ effects of their urban existence.
Blank (i)
A. insalubrious
B. soporific
C. invigorating
Blank (ii)
D. deracinating
E. stimulating
F. debilitating
6. As were many colonial administrators, Gregory was (i)____ in his knowledge of the
grammar of the local language, though his accent was almost (ii)____ .
Blank (i)
A. deficient
B. faultless
C. erratic
Blank (ii)
D. unintelligible
E. germane
F. stentorian
7. Though Adam Bede is presented to us by the author as ____ fiction, there are none of the
life-like meanderings of the story of Amos Barton.
A. realistic
B. romantic
C. imaginative
D. educational
E. entertaining
8. There is a general (i)____ in the United States that our ethics are declining and that out
moral standards are (ii)____ . That is not to say, however, that (iii)____ will translate into
action.
Blank (i)
A. complaint
B. optimism
C. clich
Blank (ii)
D. improving
E. deteriorating
F. resurgent
Blank (iii)
G. morality
H. awareness
I. belligerence

9. Homo sapiens, the proud splitter of the atom, inventor of the electronic computer, (i)____
of the genetic code may be humbled by a lowly (ii)____ of the sewers and soils the
microbe.
Blank (i)
A. designer
B. author
C. decipherer
Blank (ii)
D. creation
E. denizen
F. rodent
10. After centuries of (i)____, this philosopher's thesis is enjoying a surprising (ii)____ .
Blank (i)
A.
limelight
B.
obscurity
C.
longevity
Blank (ii)
D. renaissance
E. decimation
F. neglect

Question
Correct
Answer
1. D 6. BD
2. ADI 7. A
3. E 8. AEH
4. CDG 9. CE
5. CF 10. BD

1. Scrooge, in the famous novel by Dickens, was a ____ ; he hated the rest of mankind.
A. misanthrope
B. hypochondriac
C. philanthropist
D. hedonist
E. sybarite
2. A businessman must (i)____ his horizons; a (ii)____ attitude will get you nowhere in this
age of global communications.
Blank (i)
A. limit
B. foresee
C. widen
Blank (ii)
D. parochial
E. moderate
F. comprehensive
3. Our bookshelves at home display a range of books on wide-ranging subjects and in many
languages, reflecting the ____ tastes of our family members.
A. anomalous
B. limited
C. arcane
D. furtive
E. eclectic
4. We humans are selfish creatures, continuing to (i)____ the use of plastic bags, those
(ii)____ symbols of consumer society. Wherever you travel you see them clogging drains,
polluting beaches and generally threatening the well-being of the biosphere.
Blank (i)
A. condone
B. attenuate
C. abrogate
Blank (ii)
D. ubiquitous
E. fleeting
F. covert

5. The preliminary review concludes that Dr. Stuart needs to (i)____ his argument with more
experimental data. In its current avatar his thesis is so (ii)____ that it must be deemed
(iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. define
B. bolster
C. culminate
Blank (ii)
D. exigent
E. monumental
F. slight
Blank (iii)
G. succinct
H. profound
I. inadequate
6. After an initially warm reception by most reviewers and continued ____ by conservative
thinkers, Bloom's work came under heavy fire.
A. criticism
B. endorsement
C. denigration
D. counterattack
E. refutation
7. Through the 19th Century, the classics of Western Civilization were considered the (i)____
of wisdom and culture, and an (ii)____ person by definition knew them well.
Blank (i)
A. repository
B. obituary
C. frontispiece
Blank (ii)
D. educated
E. ecclesiastical
F. obtuse
8. In this biography we are given a glimpse of the young man (i)____ pursuing the path of the
poet despite (ii)____ and rejection slips.
Blank (i)
A. unsuccessfully
B. sporadically
C. doggedly
Blank (ii)
D. acclaim
E. disappointment
F. encouragement

9. While unwilling to forgo the benefits of standardized testing, many European countries are
seeking to (i)____ individual (ii)____ which state examinations with their (iii)____ growth
have bought in their train.
Blank (i)
A. increase control over
B. diminish the check on
C. increase awareness of
Blank (ii)
D. spontaneity
E. limitations
F. persecution
Blank (iii)
G. randomizing effects
H. tyrannous growth
I. empowering actions
10. In keeping with his own (i)____ in international diplomacy, Churchill proposed a
personal meeting of heads of government, but the effort was (ii)____ , as the temper of the
times was (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A.
peccadilloes
B. aversions
C.
predilections
Blank (ii)
D. doomed to failure
E. instantly accepted
F. considered worthwhile
Blank (iii)
G. amicable
H.
auspicious
I. inimical

1. A 6. B
2. CD 7. AD
3. E 8. CE
4. AD 9. BDH
5. BFI 10. CDI

1. Stephen was always (i)____ ; in fact, his own father described him as having a(n) (ii)____
vacillation.
Blank (i)
A. indecisive
B. earnest
C. volatile
Blank (ii)
D. concern for
E. propensity for
F. aversion to
2. The cricket match seemed ____ to our guests; they were used to watching sports in which
the action is over in a couple of hours at the most.
A. unintelligible
B. inconsequential
C. interminable
D. implausible
E. evanescent
3. Our present accountant is most (i)____ ; unlike the previous (ii)____ incumbent, he has
never made a mistake in all the years that he has worked for the firm.
Blank (i)
A. pusillanimous
B. punctilious
C. asinine
Blank (ii)
D. craven
E. unreliable
F. mercenary
4. The refugee's poor grasp of English is hardly an _____ problem; she can attend classes and
improve within a matter of months.
A. implausible
B. insuperable
C. inconsequential
D. evocative
E. injudicious

5. The (i)____ shades of meaning, and still subtler echoes of association, make language an
instrument which scarcely anything short of genius can wield with (ii)____ and (iii)____ .
Blank (i)
A. eloquent
B. nuanced
C. stygian
Blank (ii)
D. sincerity
E. certainty
F. hope
Blank (iii)
G. alacrity
H. precision
I. disinterest
6. His musical tastes are certainly ____ ; he has recordings ranging from classical piano
performances to rock concerts, jazz and even Chinese opera.
A. antediluvian
B. eclectic
C. harmonious
D. sonorous
E. dazzling
7. All the truly outstanding breakthroughs in this area have come from historians who have
been willing to adopt innovative techniques and pursue (i)____ lines of inquiry. Yet we
should not (ii)____ the more (iii)____ research, which, after all, has given us the solid core of
our knowledge of this important era.
Blank (i)
A. conservative
B. unorthodox
C. hidebound
Blank (ii)
D. decry
E. applaud
F. acknowledge
Blank (iii)
G. moribund
H. convergent
I. mundane
8. Before his marriage the Duke had led an austere existence and now regarded the
affectionate, somewhat (i)____ behavior of his young wife as simply (ii)____ .
Blank (i)
A. restrained
B. frivolous
C. ungainly
Blank (ii)
D. delightful
E. sublime
F. puerile

9. Wilson (i)____ that human beings inherit a tendency to feel an affinity and awe for other
living things, in the same way that we are (ii)____ to be inquisitive or to protect our young at
all costs.
Blank (i)
A. contends
B. fears
C. demurs
Blank (ii)
D. predisposed
E. taught
F. encouraged
10. The pond was a place of reek and corruption, of ____ smells and of oxygen-starved fish
breathing through laboring gills.
A. fragrant
B. evocative
C. dolorous
D. resonant
E. fetid

1. AE 6. B
2. C 7. BDI
3. BE 8. BF
4. B 9. AD
5. BEH 10. E

1. The crew of the air balloon ____ the sand bags to help the balloon rise over the hill.
A. capsized
B. jettisoned
C. salvaged
D. augmented
E. enumerated

2. We were not fooled by his (i)____ arguments; his plan was (ii)____ . That even he was
(iii)____ by his own reasoning was apparent from his unenthusiastic demeanor.
Blank (i)
A. specious
B. cogent
C. labyrinthine
Blank (ii)
D. obviously untenable
E. clearly brilliant
F. cunningly contrived
Blank (iii)
G. duped
H. persuaded
I. unconvinced

3. Hawkins is ____ in his field; no other contemporary scientist commands the same respect.
A. disparaged
B. ignominious
C. obsolete
D. anachronistic
E. preeminent

4. The model paraded in front of the celebrities with (i)____ ; it was impossible to tell that
this was her (ii)____.
Blank (i)
A. trepidation
B. consternation
C. panache
Blank (ii)
D. first assignment
E. normal gait
F. real persona

5. English words and expressions have come into being (i)____, and some common
expressions are decidedly illogical. The term lead pencil, for example, is a (ii)____ ; pencils
are filled with graphite not lead.
Blank (i)
A. haphazardly
B. rationally
C. ab initio
Blank (ii)
D. misdemeanor
E. misnomer
F. euphemism

6. When the (i)____ weather forced us to stay indoors, we resorted to (ii)____ board games to
pass the time. Anything, however (iii)____, was better in our present troubled state of mind
than sitting in silence.
Blank (i)
A. congenial
B. restorative
C. inclement
Blank (ii)
D. inane
E. exhilarating
F. challenging
Blank (iii)
G. time-consuming
H. vacuous
I. versatile

7. It will be hard to (i)____ Leonid now that you have so (ii)____ him.
Blank (i)
A. indict
B. mollify
C. lampoon
Blank (ii)
D. subjugated
E. incensed
F. bemused

8. Edward was understandably upset that he had lost the position, but he was (i)____ by the
conviction that he had done nothing to (ii)____ the dismissal.
Blank (i)
A. saddened
B. miffed
C. consoled
Blank (ii)
D. merit
E. mar
F. delay

9. She was roundly condemned for her ____ ; she betrayed the woman to whom she owed her
success.
A. truculence
B. perfidy
C. serendipity
D. pragmatism
E. discernment

10. Our grandfather was an entertaining (i)____; he used to (ii)____ us with marvelous
anecdotes that we, in our childlike simplicity, (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A.
raconteur
B. rascal
C.
curmudgeon
Blank (ii)
D. intimidate
E. regale
F. bore
Blank (iii)
G. accepted unquestioningly
H. debated ferociously
I. debunked readily

Question
Correct
Answer
1. B 6. CDH
2. ADI 7. BE
3. E 8. CD
4. CD 9. B
5. AE 10. AEG

1. The parliamentary session degenerated into (i)____ with politicians (ii)____ each other and
refusing to (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. mayhem
B. obsolescence
C. authoritarianism
Blank (ii)
D. trading banter with
E. hurling invectives at
F. staring pointedly at
Blank (iii)
G. escalate the situation
H. challenge the opposition
I. come to order
2. Contrary to his reputation, the admiral was not a (i)_____. He (ii)____ his order to attack
when he saw the white flag raised by the enemy sailors, and was actually relieved that he
could bring an end to the (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. bloodthirsty man
B. pacifist
C. pedant
Blank (ii)
D. countermanded
E. reiterated
F. commandeered
Blank (iii)
G. truce
H. hiatus
I. hostilities
3. In a fit of ____ she threw out the valuable statue simply because it had belonged to her ex-
husband.
A. pique
B. goodwill
C. contrition
D. pedantry
E. prudence
4. Many 17th century buildings that are still in existence have been so (i)____ by successive
owners that the original layout is no longer (ii)____ beneath the sometimes much-needed, but
usually (iii)____ attempts to personalize or improve.
Blank (i)
A. preserved
B. transmogrified
C. decimated
Blank (ii)
D. discernible
E. extant
F. enshrouded
Blank (iii)
G. adept
H. grotesque
I. tasteful

5. Since ancient times sculpture has been considered the prerogative of men; women
sculptors have, until recently, consistently met with (i)____, or even (ii)____.
Blank (i)
A. discouragement
B. vilification
C. concern
Blank (ii)
D. ridicule
E. approbation
F. tolerance

6. (i)____ at this time would be inadvisable; we have not yet accumulated sufficient expertise
to warrant anything other than a (ii)____ approach.
Blank (i)
A. Circuitous proceedings
B. Vacillation
C. Precipitate action
Blank (ii)
D. decisive
E. direct
F. cautious

7. I cannot conclude this preface without ____ that an early and untimely death should have
prevented Persius from giving a more finished appearance to his works.
A. rejoicing
B. lamenting
C. affirming
D. commenting
E. mentioning

8. Harding was unable to (i)____ the results of the survey; although entirely unexpected, the
figures were obtained by a market research firm with an (ii)____ reputation.
Blank (i)
A. believe
B. accept
C. discount
Blank (ii)
D. mediocre
E. unenviable
F. impeccable

9. The quantum theory was initially regarded as absurd, unnatural and ____ with common
sense.
A. consanguineous
B. discernible
C. incompatible
D. decipherable
E. consistent
10. Do not be fooled by her (i)____ manner; her superficial (ii)____ belies her worldliness.
Blank (i)
A. unsophisticated
B. gregarious
C. off-hand
Blank (ii)
D.
proficiency
E. naivet
F.
seriousness

Question
Correct
Answer
1. AEI 6. CF
2. ADI 7. B
3. A 8. CF
4. BDH 9. C
5. AD 10. AE

1. The success of the business venture ____ his expectations; he never thought that the firm
would prosper.
A. confirmed
B. belied
C. nullified
D. fulfilled
E. ratified
2. The journalist (i)____ the efforts of the drug squad to control drug peddling, claiming that
they had actually (ii)____ the problem.
Blank (i)
A. commended
B. deprecated
C. noted
Blank (ii)
D. delineated
E. mollified
F. exacerbated

3. Since the Romans failed to subjugate the tribes in Northern Britain, they built a wall in a
(i)____ attempt to (ii)____ the natives. After all, what wall can (iii)____ the determined?
Blank (i)
A. seemingly overoptimistic
B. thoroughgoing
C. successful
Blank (ii)
D. intimidate
E. exclude
F. barricade
Blank (iii)
G. deter
H. conquer
I. circumscribe

4. The professor became increasingly ____ in later years, flying into a rage whenever he was
opposed.
A. taciturn
B. voluble
C. subdued
D. contrite
E. irascible
5. To Simon, not usually so (i)____, their bantering talk seemed (ii)____. Actually their
exchanges masked underlying (iii)____.
Blank (i)
A. inscrutable
B. unperceptive
C. perspicacious
Blank (ii)
D. amicable
E. exasperating
F. hostile
Blank (iii)
G. antagonism
H. assumptions
I. geniality

6. The new systematic nomenclature was so (i)____ that many chemists preferred to (ii)____
the older trivial names that were at least shorter. At least, that is the ostensible reason.
Actually, tradition seems to carry more weight than (iii)____ with some scientists.
Blank (i)
A. succinct
B. cumbersome
C. irrational
Blank (ii)
D. revert to
E. adopt
F. suspend
Blank (iii)
G. chronology
H. longevity
I. system

7. Even though the auditors (i)____ the accountant, his reputation, hitherto unblemished, was
(ii)____ by the allegations of fraud.
Blank (i)
A. indicted
B. betrayed
C. vindicated
Blank (ii)
D. enhanced
E. tarnished
F. condoned
8. Many so-called social playwrights are distinctly ____ ; rather than allowing the members
of the audience to form their own opinions, these writers force a viewpoint on the viewer.
A. conciliatory
B. prolific
C. iconoclastic
D. didactic
E. contumacious

9. The archaeologist, viewing the fragmentary remains of the ancient city, reflected on the
(i)____ of human (ii)____ .
Blank (i)
A. impermanence
B. dearth
C. durability
Blank (ii)
D. endeavor
E. thought
F. humility
10. He was normally entirely (i)____ , but in the embarrassing situation in which he found
himself he felt compelled to (ii)____.
Blank (i)
A.
equable
B.
considerate
C.
forthright
Blank (ii)
D. concede
E. prevaricate
F. capitulate

Question
Correct
Answer
1. B 6. BDI
2. BF 7. CE
3. AEG 8. D
4. E 9. AD
5. BDG 10. CE

Sentence Completions
1. Federer gave a ____ performance in the final; the spectators were treated to a display of his
____ abilities on the court.
A. stupendous - inconsolable
B. consummate - peerless
C. disappointing - incomparable
D. competent - waning
E. stellar - limited
2. The critics ____ remarks helped us to understand the implications of this ____ film, a film
that was really ground-breaking in its approach.
A. instructive - pedestrian
B. polemical - provocative
C. pertinent - avant-garde
D. unwarranted - conservative
E. helpful - innocuous
3. The Chaplin films that she watched when young left a(n) ____ impression on Suzie, and
she now has a ____ appetite for reading anything remotely related to Chaplins life and
works.
A. overwhelming - blunted
B. forcible - terrible
C. negative - sharpened
D. indelible - voracious
E. evanescent - reduced
4. The lawyer was ____ for conduct that was in complete violation of legal procedures: he
was found to have ____ a member of the jury.
A. reprimanded - observed
B. disbarred - suborned
C. expelled - questioned
D. commended - mislead
E. disqualified - rejected
5. The management had to admit to clandestine activities when the union leader was able to
supply ____ evidence that an agitator had been planted among the members in order to ____
trouble and discredit the union.
A. egregious - avert
B. undeniable - mollify
C. circumstantial - prevent
D. unsubstantiated - instigate
E. incontrovertible - foment
6. The scientists enthusiasm was ____ ; she had already published enough papers on the
topic to fill a ____, and yet there were no definitive conclusions to be drawn, and the work
seemed interminable.
A. waning - paragraph
B. flagging - tome
C. unqualified - journal
D. at a peak - book
E. increasing - library
7. There was no need to read the ____ : we knew only one journalist who dared to use such
____ expressions in a publication known for its formal language.
A. work - conservative
B. title - cryptic
C. publication - grotesque
D. byline - colloquial
E. article - strong
8. It is true that ageing is an ____ process, yet there no need to ____ despair: there is much
that we can do to delay the worst effects of old age.
A. upsetting - refuse to
B. interminable - agree to
C. inexorable - wallow in
D. inevitable - gloss over
E. uplifting - succumb to

9. The exorbitantly expensive dcor of the mansion was widely criticized: the celebritys
____ display of wealth ____ all the norms of good taste.
A. ostentatious - transcended
B. avaricious - upheld
C. grandiose - underpinned
D. restrained - subverted
E. excessive - confirmed
10. The bully had to retreat ____ from the playground when his victim remained ____ in the
face of his taunts; the firmness of the former victim rallied the support of the other children
who turned on the former bully with contempt.
A. rapidly - passive
B. ignominiously - implacable
C. repeatedly - cowed
D. infrequently - intimidated
E. immediately - silent
11. It was difficult to interpret the expression on the professors face when confronted with
the suspicion that you copied your assignment, but his ____ demeanor does not justify your
assumption that he ____ plagiarism.
A. glacial - misunderstands
B. inscrutable - condones
C. open - abhors
D. pleasant - confronts
E. puzzling - practices
12. Knowing that Moriarty was a ____ adversary, the cautious detective never
underestimated his enemys powers, and so, to ensure that he was not observed, took a ____
route to his secret rendezvous.
A. redoubtable - circuitous
B. cunning - elevated
C. famous - well-known
D. defeated - direct
E. unsavory - quick
13. The action committee collected enough funds to renovate the ____ station and refurbish
the steam train so that local residents could get a flavor of the ____ days of rail travel.
A. razed - decrepit
B. ancient - impoverished
C. derelict - halcyon
D. pristine - bygone
E. unspoiled - glorious
14. The fact that tourists are being offered an excursion to see the biggest slum in Asia and
experience for themselves the ____ the lives of the rich and the poor makes a ____ all our
claims to be an advanced democratic nation.
A. inequality of - display of
B. disparity between - travesty of
C. similarity in - mockery of
D. proximity of - comment on
E. futility of - statement about
15. The participants at the conference were, by and large, a ____ collection of self-
proclaimed revolutionaries and mavericks, but surprisingly included several ____ supporters
of the establishment.
A. moth-eaten - temporary
B. miserable - jovial
C. curious - vacillating
D. dull - boorish
E. motley - staunch
16. The new ballet has a (an)____ setting: the shepherds and shepherdesses glide across the
stage against a backdrop of ____ fields.
A. nondescript - rural
B. pastoral - verdant
C. summery - desolate
D. lamentable - ploughed
E. imaginative - realistic
17. The hotel claims that the water in its mock-Roman bath has ____ properties, but some
cynics say that the shock of seeing the bill will ____ any improvements to the health of the
guests.
A. therapeutic - undo
B. medicinal - underscore
C. salutary - sanction
D. rejuvenating - bolster
E. chemical - defeat
18. My mother gave the then unfashionable watercolors that she had painted when she was
young to a local ____ because she wanted someone to appreciate them, but now regrets her
action as there has been a (an) ____ interest in the medium and a national museum recently
approached her to see if she had any to sell.
A. critic - waning of
B. collector - continuation of
C. historian - intensification of
D. resident - decline in
E. connoisseur - resurgence of
19. The fruits ____ exterior belied the contents: the flesh was more ____ than a ripe mango,
and had an intense flavor.
A. intriguing - interesting
B. gaudy - juicy
C. colorful - drab
D. nondescript - succulent
E. exotic - tender
20. Against my better judgment I went up into the decrepit attic to search for a mah jong set
that had been ____ there for more than forty years, but as I stepped ____ on the beams I
couldnt help feeling that the ceiling was going to give way under me.
A. lying - firmly
B. languishing - gingerly
C. rotting - athletically
D. flourishing - tentatively
E. stored - jauntily
21. We appreciated his ____ summary of the situation; he wasted no words yet put his point
most persuasively.
A. trite
B. succinct
C. timorous
D. ponderous
E. fractious
22. Waste management is a ____ problem for the modern city, a problem that is never likely
to be addressed unless we change our ____ attitude to recycling.
A. growing - flexible
B. minor - positive
C. trivial - ambivalent
D. perennial - lax
E. recurring - stringent
23. Our accountant is most ____; he has never made a mistake in all the years he has worked
for us.
A. curmudgeonly
B. cantankerous
C. morose
D. meticulous
E. lethargic
24. When he was described on stage as a ____, Johnson threatened to sue the comedian for
____, claiming that he was as dexterous as the next man.
A. lummox - slander
B. conjuror - libel
C. wizard - misrepresentation
D. failure - compensation
E. criminal - embezzlement

25. The journalist ____ the efforts of the drug squad to control drug pedaling, claiming that
the police team had actually made the problem worse.
A. disparaged
B. described
C. desecrated
D. commended
E. misconstrued
26. Susie had been offended when the director ____ her ideas on set design, but she walked
into the meeting with a ____ air that belied the damage to her self-esteem.
A. repudiated - nonchalant
B. challenged - disappointed
C. mocked - morose
D. lauded - carefree
E. amended - aggressive
27. A naturally ____ person, my grandmother refused to succumb to our ____ mood and soon
had us laughing and joking again.
A. vivacious - obstreperous
B. warm - jovial
C. diffident - circumspect
D. effervescent - somber
E. dour - dejected
28. With a natural ____ languages, Brunt ____ German much more rapidly than did his less
linguistically gifted brother.
A. apathy towards - spoke
B. bent for - assimilated
C. dislike of - learned
D. inclination towards - tired of
E. aversion to - gave up on

29. Some ____ vegetarians ____ meat-eating not for health reasons, but on moral grounds:
they passionately believe that it is immoral to contribute to the suffering of animals.
A. life-long - tolerate
B. committed - accept
C. fervent - eschew
D. fanatic - condone
E. lapsed - recommend
30. The King, surprised that someone normally so ____ had suddenly found the courage to
question state policy, responded to the courtiers ____ by having him imprisoned.
A. querulous - prevarication
B. pusillanimous - audacity
C. condescending - insolence
D. lethargic - vacillation
E. slavish - treason
31. In 1980 Shooter took the ____ decision to challenge the Dean, whose ____ opinions
Shooter believed were hampering educational progress.
A. impetuous - forthright
B. callous - avant-garde
C. momentous - hidebound
D. difficult - innocuous
E. controversial - sagacious
32. A two-year old child is without ____ or ____; she reacts simply and instinctively to the
people around her.
A. guile - artifice
B. insight - intuition
C. caprice - illusion
D. candor - learning
E. fear - tremulousness

33. In Hard Times Dickens ____ utilitarian philosophy, and with his marvelous caricatures
____ those who espouse such thinking.
A. depicts - eulogizes
B. extols - lauds
C. explicates - explains
D. ridicules - ennobles
E. satirizes - derides
34. Marlene was sufficiently ____ to be able to recognize that her husbands ____ behavior
masked an underlying insecurity.
A. disingenuous - forthright
B. perspicacious - puerile
C. abstruse - inscrutable
D. talented - sophomoric
E. alert - docile
35. Too many candid revelations can, ____ , make the listener feel that something is amiss,
and may lead to accusations of ____ .
A. paradoxically - duplicity
B. seemingly - whimsy
C. unsurprisingly - irrelevance
D. occasionally - fidelity
E. frequently - carelessness
36. With such a ____ of options, it is difficult for a high school student to choose which
colleges to apply to, and choosing a course from a similar excess of options can place the
student in a dilemma.
A. plethora
B. variety
C. range
D. number
E. list

37. Those who would ____ a child for telling a white lie should first ask themselves whether
the child has learned from his or her elders that ____ frequently requires the truth to be
hidden.
A. punish - mendacity
B. reward - life
C. upbraid - etiquette
D. reprimand - education
E. laud - conformity
38. An ill-considered decision once cost him a valuable friendship; this ____ experience
taught him to ____ over his choices before announcing his position.
A. serendipitous - mull
B. inconsequential - anguish
C. enlightening - meditate
D. traumatic - vacillate
E. salutary - deliberate
39. The negotiations, which at first seemed to be moving towards a settlement, reached a/an
____ when it came to light that one of the parties had been spreading ____ rumors about the
other.
A. conclusion - exaggerated
B. impasse - pernicious
C. landmark - idle
D. watershed - unprintable
E. junction - slanderous
40. When Mathilda visited her cousin, a soldier dying of gangrene, a sense of ____ prevented
her giving any sign of noticing the ____ smell that pervaded the room.
A. decorum - fetid
B. finality - nauseating
C. propinquity - rancid
D. reason - mysterious
E. sanctity - heavenly

41. You might as well try to ____ an angry cobra, as to ____ the sergeant when he is in one
of his moods.
A. divert - question
B. condone - soothe
C. capture - arouse
D. placate - pacify
E. taunt - enrage
42. In the days of the last owner, the stately home was run on a ____ scale; no guest left
without remarking on the quality and profusion of food and drink.
A. lavish
B. military
C. reduced
D. ornate
E. modest
43. At that time, it was easy for unscrupulous politicians to ____ poor laborers to attack other
workers who came from other states; however, these outbreaks of ____ declined as the
economy improved.
A. persuade - expansiveness
B. incite - xenophobia
C. assist - rebellion
D. pay - philanthropy
E. suborn - inequity
44. Scientists have not been entirely successful in ____ fears that genetically modified crops
pose a threat to consumers, although the issue does not seem as ____ as it once was.
A. mitigating - simple
B. arousing - polemical
C. allaying - contentious
D. generating - frightening
E. subsuming - relevant

45. The philosopher, divorced from reality, spent his time pondering the infinite, and left the
____ matters of food and clothing to his more ____ wife.
A. quotidian - erudite
B. urgent - energetic
C. numinous - worldly
D. pressing - alert
E. mundane - prosaic
46. Bancroft, who had inadvertently ____ his friend, wrote an ____ letter with the intention
of pouring oil over troubled waters.
A. alienated - amicable
B. humored - argumentative
C. harmed - asinine
D. offended - affected
E. mollified - extensive
47. It was with considerable ____ that my mother revealed the results of her ____ studies to
my grandfather as she had learned that my great- grandfather had been notorious criminal, a
fact that grandfather had been at pains to hide.
A. pride - hereditary
B. anxiety - anthropological
C. trepidation - genealogical
D. excitement - philosophical
E. annoyance - investigative
48. The old shepherd had a reputation for being ____ , and it came as no surprise to us that he
had a ____ attitude to us strangers, shouting and waving his fists to warn us off his land.
A. incognito - pugnacious
B. xenophobic - equivocal
C. philosophic - bellicose
D. philanthropic - benign
E. misanthropic - belligerent

49. As a child my grandfather used to refer to me as his little ____ because I suffered from
____ , and if my parents shut my bedroom door at night I would have nightmares and wander
round the house.
A. anachronism - terrors
B. progenitor - trepidation
C. wanderer - arachnophobia
D. somnambulist - claustrophobia
E. angel - acrophobia
50. The new teacher refused to take charge of the almost defunct Poetry Club, saying that it
would be too much trouble to ____ this ____ society.
A. circumscribe - vast
B. control - wayward
C. direct - defeated
D. resurrect - moribund
E. resuscitate - immortal
51. The speaker at the Marketing Convention resorted to frequent ____, yet these touches of
local color added a charm to his speech, and the audience went away with the impression that
they had heard one of the most ____ businessmen of the age.
A. evocations - fanciful
B. colloquialisms - eloquent
C. aberrations - vociferous
D. epigrams - omniscient
E. soliloquies - monotonous
52. The philosopher argues that far from being dead, ____ is a feature of human behavior in
modern times: his ____ lists articles containing many instances of people sacrificing
themselves for the good of others.
A. cognition - cosmology
B. altruism - bibliography
C. pugilism - appendix
D. parricide - epigram
E. philanthropy - epigraph
53. The device of the ____ narrator allows the author to write as though he is god: he sees all
and understands all.
A. omniscient
B. first person
C. imaginative
D. implacable
E. immortal
54. Even though he is now ____, my uncle continues to give the doctors cause for concern:
they say the ____ is not good and, in all probability, uncle will be confined to bed once again
before the week is out.
A. improving - chronology
B. optimistic - therapy
C. morbid - outlook
D. ambidextrous - result
E. ambulant - prognosis
55. For all their talk of ____ the land despoiled by mining, the local government has failed to
offer a ____ plan.
A. amortizing - feasible
B. clearing - credulous
C. regenerating - credible
D. reclaiming - quotidian
E. optimizing - monolithic
56. For several days she had a feeling of tiredness and general ____ and feared that these
vague symptoms might ____ the onset of something more serious.
A. pain - indicate
B. malaise - portend
C. weakness - tender
D. senility - reflect
E. impotence - prevent

57. When interviewed for a magazine article the ____ claimed that he had joined the cult of
his own volition, but his parents said that he had been ____ and had heard of the organization
so recently that he could not have made a rational decision.
A. affiliate - indicted
B. polygamist - consecrated
C. neophyte - seduced
D. inductee - perverted
E. novice - absolved
58. The client took ____ the lawyers ____ tone and threatened to change to another law firm
if he wasnt treated with more respect and consideration.
A. issue with - seductive
B. comfort in - sanguinary
C. fright at - disputatious
D. offence at - benevolent
E. umbrage at - arrogant
59. The accident investigation team concluded that the failure to follow safety procedure was
not a minor ____ ; it was a(n) ____ error and deserved the strongest punishment.
A. transgression - egregious
B. escapade - accidental
C. subterfuge - tenuous
D. matter - potent
E. infraction - specious
60. Husains ____ was damaged by water leakage and not, as was initially reported, by a(n)
____ attack by someone who disapproved of the paintings theme.
A. pastiche - sanctimonious
B. portrait - retaliatory
C. edict - tendentious
D. mural - malicious
E. library - unwarranted

61. The therapist was ____ in her adherence to Freudianism and ____ that anyone who
wanted to work with her would have to tow the same line.
A. fractious - pontificated
B. orthodox - verified
C. didactic - denied
D. dogmatic - averred
E. hesitant - announced
62. When we were at Stanford together, we knew Patrick as an ____ with a(n) ____ outlook
on life, and so we were shocked to learn that in later life he suffered from depression and
avoided contact with all his former friends.
A. introvert - subversive
B. extrovert - sanguine
C. malcontent - regressive
D. demagogue - arrogant
E. atheist - benevolent
63. After the unsuccessful ____ , some of the rebels fled to a neighboring country, thinking,
mistakenly, that they would be given asylum, but they were ____ and ultimately executed.
A. insurrection - extradited
B. rebellion - harbored
C. coup - suborned
D. abdication - charged
E. resurgence - segregated
64. People who have a(n) ____ hypnosis sometimes refuse to be hypnotized because they are
afraid that the hypnotist will plant ____ messages in their minds that will cause them to act in
uncharacteristic ways once they come out of the trance.
A. awareness of - dubious
B. predilection for - coded
C. aversion to - subliminal
D. affinity for - tentative
E. fear of - disparate

65. In striving for ____ , the author incorporates so many details of her own childhood that
many readers will ____ that this account is an autobiography masquerading as fiction.
A. popularity - complain
B. perfection - anticipate
C. effect - concur
D. realism - admit
E. verisimilitude - speculate

1. B 11 B 21. B 31 C 41 D 51 B 61 D
2. C 12 A 22. D 32 A 42 A 52 B 62 B
3. D 13 C 23. D 33 E 43 B 53 A 63 A
4. B 14 B 24. A 34 B 44 C 54 E 64 C
5. E 15 E 25. A 35 A 45 E 55 C 65 E
6 B 16 B 26 A 36 A 46 A 56 B
7 D 17 A 27 D 37 C 47 C 57 C
8 C 18 E 28 B 38 E 48 E 58 E
9 A 19 D 29 C 39 B 49 D 59 A
10 B 20 B 30 B 40 A 50 D 60 D

SAT sentence completion practice test 01
1. Today Wegener's theory is ____ ; however, he died an outsider treated with ____ by the
scientific establishment.
A. unsupported - approval
B. dismissed - contempt
C. accepted - approbation
D. unchallenged - disdain
E. unrivalled - reverence
2. The revolution in art has not lost its steam; it ____ on as fiercely as ever.
A. trudges
B. meanders
C. edges
D. ambles
E. rages
3. Each occupation has its own ____ ; bankers, lawyers and computer professionals, for
example, all use among themselves language which outsiders have difficulty following.
A. merits
B. disadvantages
C. rewards
D. jargon
E. problems
4. ____ by nature, Jones spoke very little even to his own family members.
A. garrulous
B. equivocal
C. taciturn
D. arrogant
E. gregarious

5. Biological clocks are of such ____ adaptive value to living organisms, that we would
expect most organisms to ____ them.
A. clear - avoid
B. meager - evolve
C. significant - eschew
D. obvious - possess
E. ambivalent - develop
6. The peasants were the least ____ of all people, bound by tradition and ____ by
superstitions.
A. free - fettered
B. enfranchised - rejected
C. enthralled - tied
D. pinioned - limited
E. conventional - encumbered
7. Many people at that time believed that spices help preserve food; however, Hall found that
many marketed spices were ____ bacteria, moulds and yeasts.
A. devoid of
B. teeming with
C. improved by
D. destroyed by
E. active against
8. If there is nothing to absorb the energy of sound waves, they travel on ____ , but their
intensity ____ as they travel further from their source.
A. erratically - mitigates
B. eternally - alleviates
C. forever - increases
D. steadily - stabilizes
E. indefinitely - diminishes

9. The two artists differed markedly in their temperaments; Palmer was reserved and
courteous, Frazer ____ and boastful.
A. phlegmatic
B. choleric
C. constrained
D. tractable
E. stoic
10. The intellectual flexibility inherent in a multicultural nation has been ____ in classrooms
where emphasis on British-American literature has not reflected the cultural ____ of our
country.
A. eradicated - unanimity
B. encouraged - aspirations
C. stifled - diversity
D. thwarted - uniformity
E. inculcated - divide
11. The conclusion of his argument, while ____ , is far from ____ .
A. stimulating - interesting
B. worthwhile - valueless
C. esoteric - obscure
D. germane - relevant
E. abstruse - incomprehensible
12. In the Middle Ages, the ____ of the great cathedrals did not enter into the architects'
plans; almost invariably a cathedral was positioned haphazardly in ____ surroundings.
A. situation - incongruous
B. location - apt
C. ambience - salubrious
D. durability - convenient
E. majesty - grandiose

1. Unwilling to admit that they had been in error, the researchers tried to ____ their case with
more data obtained from dubious sources.
A. ascertain
B. buttress
C. refute
D. absolve
E. dispute
2. Archaeology is a poor profession; only ____ sums are available for excavating sites and
even more ____ amounts for preserving the excavations.
A. paltry - meager
B. miniscule - substantial
C. average - augmented
D. judicious - penurious
E. modest - generous
3. The student was extremely foolhardy; he had the ____ to question the senior professor's
judgment.
A. wisdom
B. temerity
C. interest
D. trepidation
E. condescension
4. The formerly ____ waters of the lake have been polluted so that the fish are no longer
visible from the surface.
A. muddy
B. tranquil
C. stagnant
D. pellucid
E. rancid
5. After the accident, the nerves to her arm were damaged and so the muscles ____ through
disuse.
A. atrophied
B. contracted
C. elongated
D. invigorated
E. dwindled
6. Some critics maintain that Tennyson's poetry is uneven, ranging from the ____ to the ____.
A. sublime - elevated
B. trite - inspired
C. vacuous - inane
D. succinct - laconic
E. sonorous - voluble
7. After grafting there is a ____ of lymphocytes in the lymph glands; the newly produced
lymphocytes then move in to attack the foreign tissue.
A. diminution
B. proliferation
C. obliteration
D. paucity
E. attraction
8. One ____ the new scheme is that it might actually ____ just those applicants that it was
intended to encourage.
A. highlight of - stimulate
B. feature of - attract
C. problem with - induce
D. attraction of - intimidate
E. drawback of - daunt
9. Corruption is ____ in our society; the integrity of even senior officials is ____ .
A. growing - unquestioned
B. endangered - disputed
C. pervasive - intact
D. rare - corrupted
E. rife - suspect
10. In their day to day decision making, many senior managers do not follow the rational
model favored by orthodox management experts, but rather rely on intuitive processes that
often appear ____ and ____.
A. cerebral - considered
B. heretical - judgmental
C. conscientious - logical
D. irrational - iconoclastic
E. capricious - deliberate
11. His characteristically ____ views on examination methods at university level have
aroused ____ in those who want to introduce innovative and flexible patterns of assessment.
A. hidebound - antagonism
B. moderate - anger
C. reactionary - admiration
D. rigid - support
E. accommodating - annoyance
12. Our grandfather was an entertaining ____; he used to ____ us with marvelous anecdotes
that we, in our childlike simplicity, accepted unquestioningly.
A. rascal - bore
B. orator - intimidate
C. raconteur - regale
D. curmudgeon - surprise
E. tyrant - stupefy

1. He was treated like a ____ and cast out from his community.
A. ascetic
B. prodigy
C. prodigal
D. pariah
E. tyro
2. The teacher accused me of ____ because my essay was so similar to that of another
student.
A. procrastination
B. plagiarism
C. celerity
D. confusion
E. decorum
3. We live in a ____ age; everyone thinks that maximizing pleasure is the point of life.
A. ubiquitous
B. propitious
C. sporadic
D. corrupt
E. hedonistic
4. Thankfully the disease has gone into ____ ; it may not recur for many years.
A. treatment
B. sequestration
C. quarantine
D. remission
E. oblivion

5. People from all over the world are sent by their doctors to breathe the pure, ____ air in this
mountain region.
A. invigorating
B. soporific
C. debilitating
D. insalubrious
E. aromatic
6. As were many colonial administrators, Gregory was ____ in his knowledge of the grammar
of the local language, though his accent was ____ .
A. deficient - poor
B. competent - adequate
C. faultless - awful
D. well-versed - effective
E. erratic - eccentric
7. Though Adam Bede is presented to us by the author as ____ fiction, there are none of the
life-like meanderings of the story of Amos Barton.
A. realistic
B. romantic
C. imaginative
D. educational
E. entertaining
8. There is a general ____ in the United States that our ethics are declining and that our moral
standards are ____ .
A. feeling - normalizing
B. idea - futile
C. optimism - improving
D. complaint - deteriorating
E. outlook - escalating

9. Homo sapiens, the proud splitter of the atom, inventor of the electronic computer, ____ of
the genetic code may be humbled by a lowly ____ of the sewers and soils - the microbe.
A. designer - inhabitant
B. discoverer - rodent
C. writer - organism
D. decipherer - denizen
E. author - purifier
10. After centuries of obscurity, this philosopher's thesis is enjoying a surprising ____ .
A. dismissal
B. remission
C. decimation
D. longevity
E. renaissance
11. The threat of war, far from ____ , lay heavily in the air, and the villagers, while ____
going about their normal activities, were unable to shake off the feeling of impending
catastrophe.
A. receding - ostensibly
B. diminishing - contentedly
C. increasing - apparently
D. escalating - joyfully
E. subsiding - felicitously
12. Although alarmed by the ____ , Professor Symes had no reason to doubt the ____ of his
student's results, for this student was nothing if not reliable.
A. conclusions - folly
B. deductions - impudence
C. implications - veracity
D. errors - truth
E. inferences - invalidity

1. Scrooge, in the famous novel by Dickens, was a ____ ; he hated the rest of mankind.
A. misanthrope
B. hypochondriac
C. philanthropist
D. hedonist
E. sybarite
2. A businessman must widen his horizons; a ____ attitude will get you nowhere in this age
of global communications.
A. moderate
B. petrified
C. parochial
D. diversified
E. comprehensive
3. Our bookshelves at home display a range of books on wide-ranging subjects and in many
languages, reflecting the ____ tastes of our family members.
A. anomalous
B. limited
C. arcane
D. furtive
E. eclectic
4. Plastic bags are ____ symbols of consumer society; they are found wherever you travel.
A. rare
B. ephemeral
C. ubiquitous
D. fleeting
E. covert

5. Dr. Stuart needs to ____ his argument with more experimental data; as it stands his thesis
is ____ .
A. support - profound
B. bolster - acceptable
C. refine - satisfactory
D. buttress - inadequate
E. define - succinct
6. After an initially warm reception by most reviewers and continued ____ by conservative
thinkers, Bloom's work came under heavy fire.
A. criticism
B. endorsement
C. denigration
D. counterattack
E. refutation
7. Through the 19th Century, the classics of Western Civilization were considered to be the
____ of wisdom and culture, and an ____ person - by definition- knew them well.
A. foundation - average
B. epitome - uneducated
C. cornerstone - obtuse
D. font - ecclesiastical
E. repository - educated
8. In this biography we are given a glimpse of the young man ____ pursuing the path of the
poet despite ____ and rejection slips.
A. doggedly - disappointment
B. tirelessly - encouragement
C. sporadically - awards
D. successfully - acclaim
E. unsuccessfully - failure

9. All European countries are seeking to diminish the check upon individual ____ which state
examinations with their ____ growth have bought in their train.
A. rights - liberating
B. liberties - empowering
C. spontaneity - tyrannous
D. foibles - inevitable
E. creativity - soporific
10. In keeping with his own ____ in international diplomacy, Churchill proposed a personal
meeting of heads of government, but the effort was doomed to failure, as the temper of the
times was ____ .
A. ideas - pluralistic
B. predilections - inimical
C. aversions - hostile
D. impulses - amicable
E. maxims - salacious
11. The wall and floor decorations created by Indian housewives are usually ____ , remaining
hours, days, or at most, weeks before being worn off by human activity or weather and
replaced by new ____ .
A. perennial - drawings
B. ephemeral - designs
C. trivial - purchases
D. impermanent - furnishings
E. innovative - pictures
12. The subtle shades of meaning, and still subtler echoes of association, make language an
instrument which scarcely anything short of genius can wield with ____ and ____ .
A. confidence - aloofness
B. definiteness - certainty
C. sincerity - hope
D. conservatism - alacrity
E. eloquence - ruthlessness
1. To reach Simonville, the traveller needs to drive with extreme caution along the ____
curves of the mountain road that climbs ____ to the summit.
A. serpentine - steeply
B. jagged - steadily
C. gentle - precipitously
D. shady - steadily
E. hair-raising - languidly
2. The cricket match seemed ____ to our guests; they were used to watching sports in which
the action is over in a couple of hours at the most.
A. unintelligible
B. inconsequential
C. interminable
D. implausible
E. evanescent
3. Our present accountant is most ____ ; unlike the previous _____ incumbent, he has never
made a mistake in all the years that he has worked for the firm.
A. unorthodox - heretical
B. dependable - assiduous
C. punctilious - painstaking
D. asinine - diligent
E. meticulous - unreliable
4. The refugee's poor grasp of English is hardly an _____ problem; she can attend classes and
improve within a matter of months.
A. implausible
B. insuperable
C. inconsequential
D. evocative
E. injudicious
5. We appreciated his ____ summary of the situation; he wasted no words yet delineated his
position most ____ .
A. comprehensive : inadequately
B. succinct : direfully
C. cogent : persuasively
D. verbose : concisely
E. grandiloquent : eloquently
6. His musical tastes are certainly ____ ; he has recordings ranging from classical piano
performances to rock concerts, jazz and even Chinese opera.
A. antediluvian
B. eclectic
C. harmonious
D. sonorous
E. dazzling
7. I cannot conclude this preface without ____ that an early and untimely death should have
prevented Persius from giving a more finished appearance to his works.
A. rejoicing
B. lamenting
C. affirming
D. commenting
E. mentioning
8. Before his marriage the Duke had led an austere existence and now regarded the
affectionate, somewhat ____ behavior of his young wife as simply ____ .
A. restrained - despicable
B. childish - elevating
C. playful - sublime
D. frivolous - puerile
E. unpleasant - delightful

9. Wilson ____ that human beings inherit a tendency to feel an affinity and awe for other
living things, in the same way that we are ____ to be inquisitive or to protect our young at all
costs.
A. argues - encouraged
B. maintains - trained
C. contends - predisposed
D. fears - taught
E. demurs - genetically programmed
10. The pond was a place of reek and corruption, of ____ smells and of oxygen-starved fish
breathing through laboring gills.
A. fragrant
B. evocative
C. dolorous
D. resonant
E. fetid
11. There have been great ____ since his time, but few others have felt so strongly the ____
of human existence.
A. pessimists - futility
B. skeptics - exaltation
C. heretics - sagacity
D. optimists - tremulousness
E. cynics - joy
12. While war has never been absent from the ____ of man, there have been periods in
History which appear remarkably ____.
A. archives - ambivalent
B. posterity - serene
C. mind - desultory
D. annals - pacific
E. life - belligerent

1. The crew of the air balloon ____ the sand bags to help the balloon rise over the hill.
A. capsized
B. jettisoned
C. salvaged
D. augmented
E. enumerated
2. We were not fooled by his ____ arguments; his plan was obviously ____ .
A. cogent - brilliant
B. hackneyed - banal
C. convoluted - labyrinthine
D. specious - untenable
E. lucid - intelligible
3. Hawkins is ____ in his field; no other contemporary scientist commands the same respect.
A. disparaged
B. ignominious
C. obsolete
D. anachronistic
E. preeminent
4. The model paraded in front of the celebrities with ____ ; it was impossible to tell that this
was her first assignment.
A. panache
B. opprobrium
C. shame
D. trepidation
E. terror

5. The term lead pencil is a ____ ; pencils are filled with graphite not lead.
A. misnomer
B. misdemeanor
C. peccadillo
D. euphemism
E. metaphor
6. The ____ weather forced us to stay indoors.
A. enticing
B. glorious
C. restorative
D. inclement
E. congenial
7. It will be hard to ____ Leonid now that you have so ____ him.
A. pacify - soothed
B. mollify - incensed
C. antagonize - irritated
D. anger - ruffled
E. subdue - subjugated
8. The lectures on quantum physics were invariably ____ ; the lecturer ____ his ill-prepared
material in a manner guaranteed to send even the most ardent student to sleep.
A. stimulating - delivered
B. pedestrian - enthused about
C. soporific - droned
D. scintillating - intoned
E. arcane - marshaled

9. Edward was understandably upset that he had lost the position, but he was ____ by the
conviction that he had done nothing to ____ the dismissal.
A. consoled - merit
B. warmed - avoid
C. comforted - mar
D. miffed - delay
E. saddened - earn
10. Elinor ____ to counteract her negative feelings, but only succeeded in ____ them.
A. tried - allaying
B. hoped - mitigating
C. desired - ameliorating
D. hesitated - deprecating
E. endeavoured - intensifying
11. She was roundly condemned for her ____ ; she betrayed the woman to whom she owed
her success.
A. truculence
B. perfidy
C. serendipity
D. pragmatism
E. discernment
12. The progress of the disease is ____ ; it spreads stealthily without any symptoms in the
early stages.
A. dramatic
B. acute
C. blatant
D. insidious
E. inexorable

1. The candidate _____ when asked why he had left his last job; he did not want to admit that
he had been ____ .
A. demurred - promoted
B. confided - banned
C. dissembled - dismissed
D. rejoiced - wrong
E. hesitated - lauded
2. Tennyson was a well-loved poet; no other poet since has been so ____ .
A. lionized
B. attacked
C. decried
D. poetical
E. abhorred
3. The parliamentary session degenerated into ____ with politicians hurling ____ at each
other and refusing to come to order.
A. mayhem - banter
B. disarray - pleasantries
C. tranquillity - invectives
D. chaos - aphorisms
E. anarchy - insults
4. The admiral ____ his order to attack when he saw the white flag raised by the enemy
sailors; he was relieved that he could bring an end to the ____ .
A. reiterated - hostilities
B. countermanded - fighting
C. commandeered - truce
D. renounced - hiatus
E. confirmed - aggression

5. In a fit of ____ she threw out the valuable statue simply because it had belonged to her ex-
husband.
A. pique
B. goodwill
C. contrition
D. pedantry
E. prudence
6. Many 17th century buildings that are still in existence have been so ____ by successive
owners that the original layout is no longer ____ .
A. preserved - visible
B. modified - apparent
C. decimated - enshrouded
D. salvaged - required
E. neglected - appropriate
7. Since ancient times sculpture has been considered the ____ of men; women sculptors have,
until recently, consistently met with ____.
A. right - acceptance
B. domain - approbation
C. domicile - ridicule
D. realm - condolence
E. prerogative - opposition
8. ____ action at this time would be inadvisable; we have not yet accumulated sufficient
expertise to warrant anything other than a ____ approach.
A. precipitate - cautious
B. hesitant - wary
C. vacillating - circuitous
D. decisive - firm
E. ponderous - direct

9. Many biologists have attempted to ____ the conditions on earth before life evolved in
order to answer questions about the ____ of biological molecules.
A. mimic - fitness
B. standardize - shapes
C. replicate - reactions
D. simulate - origin
E. ameliorate - evolution
10. Harding was unable to ____ the results of the survey; although entirely unexpected, the
figures were obtained by a market research firm with an ____ reputation.
A. accept - peerless
B. discount - impeccable
C. fault - mediocre
D. counter - unenviable
E. believe - fine
11. The quantum theory was initially regarded as absurd, unnatural and ____ with common
sense.
A. consanguineous
B. discernible
C. incompatible
D. decipherable
E. consistent
12. Do not be fooled by her ____ manner; her superficial ____ belies her worldliness.
A. ingenuous - proficiency
B. worldly - simplicity
C. unsophisticated - naivet
D. gregarious - isolation
E. off-hand - serious

1. The success of the business venture ____ his expectations; he never thought that the firm
would prosper.
A. confirmed
B. belied
C. nullified
D. fulfilled
E. ratified
2. For centuries there was no ___ between their descendents; in fact ____ strife continued
until modern times.
A. peace - internecine
B. hostility - intermittent
C. malevolence - intense
D. amity - contrived
E. difference - feudal
3. The journalist ____ the efforts of the drug squad to control drug peddling, claiming that
they had actually ____ the problem.
A. commended - increased
B. lauded - intensified
C. decried - solved
D. deprecated - exacerbated
E. noted - caused
4. Since the Romans failed to ____ the tribes in Northern Britain, they built a wall to ____ the
tribes.
A. conquer - alienate
B. impress - intimidate
C. subjugate - exclude
D. pacify - enrage
E. neutralize - barricade
5. The professor became increasingly ____ in later years, flying into a rage whenever he was
opposed.
A. taciturn
B. voluble
C. subdued
D. contrite
E. irascible
6. Although the deep sea has a typically ____ fauna, near vents in the sea bed where warm
water emerges live remarkable densities of invertebrates and fish.
A. verdant
B. unique
C. lush
D. pallid
E. sparse
7. Their bantering talk seemed ____, but in fact it masked an underlying ____ .
A. hostile - antipathy
B. amicable - antagonism
C. jovial - assumptions
D. exasperating - frustrations
E. friendly - geniality
8. The new nomenclature was so ____ that many chemists preferred to revert to the older
trivial names that were at least shorter.
A. succinct
B. cumbersome
C. irrational
D. facile
E. systematic

9. Even though the auditors ____ the accountant, his reputation was ____ by the allegations
of fraud.
A. vindicated - enhanced
B. indicted - blemished
C. betrayed - ruined
D. exonerated - tarnished
E. cleared - condoned
10. Many so-called social playwrights are distinctly ____ ; rather than allowing the members
of the audience to form their own opinions, these writers force a viewpoint on the viewer.
A. conciliatory
B. prolific
C. iconoclastic
D. didactic
E. contumacious
11. The archaeologist, viewing the fragmentary remains of the ancient city, reflected on the
____ of human ____ .
A. impermanence - endeavour
B. transience - thought
C. dearth - aspirations
D. futility - humility
E. durability - constructs
12. He was normally entirely ____ , but in the embarrassing situation in which he found
himself he felt compelled to ____.
A. equable - evade
B. considerate - concede
C. forthright - prevaricate
D. mendacious - equivocate
E. amenable - capitulate

1. His one vice was gluttony and so it is not surprising that as he aged he became increasingly
____ .
A. emaciated
B. despondent
C. corpulent
D. carping
E. lithe
2. Our once thriving High School Nature Club is now ____ ; the progams have had to be
cancelled due to lack of support.
A. defunct
B. extant
C. resurgent
D. burgeoning
E. renovated
3. Having been chief accountant for so many years, Ms. George felt herself to be ____ and
was unwilling to ____ control of the department after the merger.
A. slighted - truncate
B. irreplaceable - assume
C. insubordinate - retain
D. decisive - continue
E. indispensable - relinquish
4. Because Elaine's father was a field entomologist who trekked over the continent studying
insect infestations, and insisted on taking his young family with him, Elaine and her brother
had a(n) ____ childhood.
A. idyllic
B. itinerant
C. sedentary
D. propitious
E. equable
5. Frederica was ____ when her supervisor took only a ___ look at her essay over which she
had taken so much care.
A. exultant - superficial
B. vexed - studious
C. disappointed - cursory
D. pleased - patronizing
E. relieved - perfunctory
6. When he was young he ____ ideas of becoming a doctor; however, he was ____ by his
father who wanted him to join the family business.
A. harbored - backed
B. entertained - dissuaded
C. produced - critical
D. repudiated - deterred
E. eschewed - encouraged
7. Literary criticism has in recent years become increasingly ____ ; it is almost impossible for
the non-literary person to understand its analyses.
A. abstruse
B. accessible
C. colloquial
D. wide-ranging
E. professional
8. The alchemists, though they are often supposed to have been ____ or confidence tricksters,
were actually skilful technologists.
A. empiricists
B. polemicists
C. pragmatists
D. theorists
E. charlatans

9. Bullock carts and hand pumps seem ____ in a village whose skyline is dominated by
telephone cables and satellite dishes.
A. anachronisms
B. exigencies
C. diversions
D. provocations
E. portents
10. A ____ child, she was soon bored in class; she already knew more mathematics than her
junior school teachers.
A. obdurate
B. querulous
C. precocious
D. recalcitrant
E. contemporary
11. Stuart reveled in ____; he would never seek ____ until all possibilities for debate had
been exhausted.
A. altercation - clarification
B. polemics - conciliation
C. ambiguities - consolation
D. asceticism - indulgence
E. digressions - direction
12. Turner claimed to paint what he saw; yet no painter ever departed further from close ____
or took more ____ with subjects.
A. imitation - liberties
B. observation - care
C. definition - vagaries
D. imagination - pains
E. resemblance - trouble

1. The explorer was unable to ____ his thirst at the stream since an enraged Grizzly bear
barred the way.
A. assuage
B. parch
C. savor
D. describe
E. attenuate
2. Iodine deficiency is ____ in these remote mountain regions; however, it is no longer ____
in the lowlands where iodized salt is available.
A. recorded - unusual
B. rare - sporadic
C. eradicated - common
D. endemic - prevalent
E. diagnosed - controlled
3. Unlike the ancient Greeks, we are interested in a person's ____ , the things that make each
person different from the general.
A. qualities
B. idiosyncracies
C. failures
D. stereotypes
E. humanity
4. Johnson was such an outstanding orator, that his contempories were too dazzled by his
____ to question his fundamental philosophy.
A. persona
B. guile
C. enthusiasm
D. thinking
E. rhetoric

5. Moths are nocturnal pollinators, visiting scented flower during the hours of darkness,
whereas the butterflies are ____ , attracted to bright flowers in the daytime.
A. diurnal
B. quotidian
C. colorful
D. ephemeral
E. brilliant
6. The Victorian middle class woman was ____ by restraints, obligations and ____ that
prevented her from achieving economic independence.
A. hampered - aspirations
B. emancipated - strictures
C. fettered - responsibilities
D. ensnared - possibilities
E. surrounded - freedoms
7. Even after a century of ____ investigation, the relation of the solar cycle to terrestrial
weather remains ____ .
A. meticulous - apparent
B. cursory - clear
C. sedulous - pertinent
D. extensive - enigmatic
E. scientific - unobscured
8. There is great unevenness in his later plays; there are moments of the greatest ____ in the
midst of great ____.
A. lucidity - enlightenment
B. frivolity - triteness
C. insight - banality
D. obscurity - ambivalence
E. profundity - wisdom

9. According to Hume, it is not logic that determines what we say and do; if we decide to
help a person in need, we do so because of our ____ not our ____
A. consciousness - emotions
B. duty - rights
C. feelings - reason
D. beliefs - convictions
E. concern - kindness
10. In the earliest moments of the Universe conditions of almost inconceivable ____ raged
through the swelling cosmos; yet this great ____ managed to produce only the simplest of
atoms.
A. tumult - cataclysm
B. tranquillity - upheaval
C. violence - complexity
D. turbulence - conglomeration
E. chaos - inertia
11. The assumption that chlorofluorocarbons would be ____ in the environment because they
were chemically inert, was challenged by the demonstration of a potential threat to the ozone
layer.
A. deleterious
B. innocuous
C. persistent
D. noxious
E. durable
12. The Rio Gila is part of a ____ of rivers and cultures as significant as the ____ of the
Tigris and the Euphrates.
A. disparity - conjunction
B. intermingling - dichotomy
C. juxtaposition - divergence
D. conglomeration - diaspora
E. convergence - confluence

T-1 T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8 T-9 T-10
1. D 1. B 1. B 1. A 1. A 1. B 1. C 1. B 1. C 1. A
2. E 2. A 2. A 2. C 2. C 2. D 2. A 2. A 2. A 2. D
3. D 3. B 3. B 3. E 3. E 3. E 3. E 3. D 3. E 3. B
4. C 4. D 4. D 4. C 4. B 4. A 4. B 4. C 4. B 4. E
5. D 5. A 5. A 5. D 5. C 5. A 5. A 5. E 5. C 5. A
6. A 6. B 6. B 6. B 6. B 6. D 6. B 6. E 6. B 6. C
7. B 7. B 7. B 7. E 7. B 7. B 7. E 7. B 7. A 7. D
8. E 8. E 8. E 8. A 8. D 8. C 8. A 8. B 8. E 8. C
9. B 9. E 9. E 9. C 9. C 9. A 9. D 9. D 9. A 9. C
10. C 10. D 10. D 10. B 10. E 10. E 10. B 10. D 10. C 10. A
11. E 11. A 11. A 11. B 11. A 11. B 11. C 11. A 11. B 11. B
12. A 12. C 12. C 12. B 12. D 12. D 12. C 12. C 12. A 12. E

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