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Test your basic knowledge |
Complete Advanced Sentences
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
english
,
grammar
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Stop giggling and wriggling around in the pew; such _____ is improper in church.
dismiss
hypothetical
levity
malicious
2. Compared to Jo - who was perfectly ready to chat with anyone about anything - Beth was _____ about what she considered personal matters.
impede
lavish
proximity
reticent
3. Since both interpretations seemed possible - the judge could not decide which way to interpret a particularly _____ passage in the law.
profane
ambiguous
rebuttal
dismiss
4. The airline customer service agent tried to _____ the angry passenger by offering her a seat in first class.
aesthetic
heresy
equivocal
mollify
5. Covering the Olympic Games - the sportscasters _____ every American victory and grumbled about every American defeat.
exacerbate
acclaim
decorum
mollify
6. Uninterested in philosophical or spiritual discussions - Max talked only of _____ matters - such as the daily weather forecast or the latest basketball results.
discrepancy
mundane
profane
extol
7. Dirt poor and out of work - she did not give up but continued to fight against _____.
adversity
colloquial
reprove
adulation
8. Josh is such a greedy _____ that - as soon as the earthquake struck - he tripled the price of bottled water at his store.
skeptic
opportunist
expedient
belie
9. Though Aunt Bea at times had to _____ Opie for inattention in church - she believed he was at heart a God-fearing lad.
preclude
discerning
resigned
reprove
10. When you place a phone call from an airplane - _____ is essential; you are charged for every minute.
brevity
divergent
extraneous
innocuous
11. This alleged fiscal crisis is no crisis at all. it is based on _____ claims about financial institutions and on scare stories about impending economic ruin.
extraneous
disdain
specious
contentious
12. There's no point to what you're saying. Why are you bothering to make such _____ remarks?
inane
relegate
nonchalance
ambiguous
13. On certain issues of principle - the senator refused to take a _____ stand - but let her conscience be her guide.
extricate
ambiguous
pragmatic
partisan
14. Even though she knew she would be burned at the stake as a witch - Joan of Arc refused to _____ her belief that her voices came from God.
guile
proximity
renounce
astute
15. Judy's great fear was that she might _____ omit a question on the exam and mismark her entire answer sheet.
inadvertently
esoteric
undermine
juxtaposition
16. The defense called several respectable witnesses who were able to _____ the lying testimony of the prosecution's sole witness.
whimsical
laconic
refute
affirmation
17. You had better _____ your accounting errors before the auditors arrive.
embellish
volatile
lavish
rectify
18. Whenever Sue was angry - she tried to avoid raising her voice because she had no wish to sound _____.
astute
verbose
strident
disseminate
19. Tina was still angry despite Tony's soft and _____ words.
surpass
extol
conciliatory
undermine
20. Nothing could shake his _____ that his children would get the best education that money could buy.
renounce
quandary
juxtaposition
resolution
21. The infant Mozart's parents quickly realized that their son had an _____ gift for music.
levity
soporific
innate
constraint
22. Instead of delivering a spoken _____ at Genny's memorial service - Jeff sang a song he had written in her honor.
eulogy
conciliatory
resolution
advocate
23. The boss prefaced his speech by telling a pointless _____ about an encounter he'd had with former President Bush.
anecdote
colloquial
prudent
gravity
24. His coarse - hard-bitten exterior _____ his inner sensitivity.
belie
advocate
presumptuous
retract
25. Because Webster's dictionary had grown so large and unwieldy - the publishers decided to _____ it and bring out a condensed version.
proliferation
abridge
zealot
prolific
26. When Elizabeth realized that Darcy considered himself too good to dance with his inferiors - she took great offense at his _____.
reprove
haughtiness
reticent
lethargic
27. The reviewers heaped _____ on the novice playwright - ridiculing his pretentious dialogue - flat characters - and simple-minded plot.
derision
dismiss
anecdote
delineate
28. The wealthy - self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict - _____ lifestyle practiced by members of some monastic orders.
austere
ascetic
hypothetical
altruistic
29. Through the comments of the characters in his cartoon strip - Doonesbury - Gary Trudeau ridicules political corruption; his humor is _____ in nature.
derivative
fallacious
superficial
satirical
30. The stereotypical cowboy is a _____ soul - answering lengthy questions with a simple 'yep' or 'nope.'
reprimand
taciturn
hypothetical
sporadic
31. Noticing the _____ glance the customer gave the diamond bracelet on the counter - the clerk wondered whether he had a potential shoplifter in the store.
furtive
fallacious
adversary
laconic
32. Using only a few descriptive phrases - Austen manages to _____ the character of Mr. Collins so deftly that we can predict his every move.
extraneous
delineate
contentious
taciturn
33. A doting mother - Emma was more likely to praise her son's childish finger paintings than to _____ them.
disparage
terse
satirical
sporadic
34. Matilda thought it was somewhat _____ of the young man to have addressed her without first having been introduced. Perhaps manners were freer here in the New World.
substantiate
incite
presumptuous
benign
35. The Beatles expressed themselves through capricious - flip humor and _____ displays of carefree abandon.
whimsical
compliance
constraint
laconic
36. Denying that she advocated total _____ - Katya maintained she wished only to change our government - not to destroy it utterly.
abstract
anarchy
predilection
exemplary
37. In the film Funny Face - the bookish heroine _____ fashion models for their lack of intellectual interests.
whimsical
embellish
resigned
disdain
38. After a decade of popularity - Hurston's works had fallen into _____; no one bothered to read her novels and short stories any more.
whimsical
extol
oblivion
compliance
39. When acacias are in bloom - the increase of pollen in the air _____ Richard's hay fever.
nonchalance
exacerbate
partisan
coercion
40. Although you can still hear _____ outbursts of laughter and signing outside - the Halloween parade has passed; the party is over till next year.
sporadic
ambivalence
reprimand
cryptic
41. In class - she tried to stay alert and listen to the professor - but the stuffy room made her _____; she felt as if she were about to nod off.
astute
lethargic
corroborate
rectify
42. Despite Tom's _____ of innocence - Aunt Polly suspected he had eaten the pie.
affirmation
document
rancor
eulogy
43. To win his audience - the speaker used every _____ trick in the book.
decorum
incongruous
rhetorical
malicious
44. 'Judicial activism' is the alleged tendency of some judges to _____ the power of elected legislatures by making the law rather than merely interpreting it.
skeptic
fastidious
incongruous
usurp
45. Shrewdly purchasing valuable plots of land for small sums - John Jacob Astor gained a reputation as an _____ investor.
adulation
proximity
astute
specious
46. Suppose you are accepted by Harvard - Stanford - and Yale. Which one would you attend? Remember - this is only a _____ situation.
cryptic
hypothetical
metaphor
embellish
47. It is _____ that his success came when he least wanted it.
allusion
ironic
predilection
digression
48. Times of economic hardship inevitably encourage the _____ of countless get-rich-quick schemes.
banal
garrulous
innate
proliferation
49. Because Sal once had fallen asleep while reading War and Peace - he thought that all Russian novels were _____.
oblivion
austere
feasible
soporific
50. After separating from Tony - Tina announced that she would _____ all debts incurred by her soon-to-be-ex-husband.
impede
disparage
expedient
repudiate