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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. Although her _____ smile and gentle bearing made Miss Marple seem to be a sweet little old lady - in reality she was a tough-minded - shrewd observer of human nature.
divergent
benign
taciturn
meticulous
2. To win his audience - the speaker used every _____ trick in the book.
credulity
rhetorical
debunk
soporific
3. Thirty years after the war - she could not let go of the past but was still consumed with _____ against the foe.
credulity
levity
hyperbole
rancor
4. Because solar energy has the power to reduce greenhouse gases and increase energy efficiency - conversion to the use of solar energy may help _____ the threat of global warming.
proximity
redundant
quandary
mitigate
5. Dirt poor and out of work - she did not give up but continued to fight against _____.
metaphor
disdain
scrupulous
adversity
6. After a decade of popularity - Hurston's works had fallen into _____; no one bothered to read her novels and short stories any more.
furtive
whimsical
guile
oblivion
7. Since both interpretations seemed possible - the judge could not decide which way to interpret a particularly _____ passage in the law.
ambiguous
insipid
peripheral
belie
8. 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.
incite
presumptuous
meticulous
rhetorical
9. It is _____ that his success came when he least wanted it.
ironic
astute
volatile
surpass
10. Flat prose and flat ginger are equally _____; both lack sparkle.
redundant
inadvertently
soporific
insipid
11. Although Nancy enjoyed Bill's _____ - lighthearted companionship - she sometimes wondered whether he could ever be serious.
frivolous
ostentatious
exuberance
substantiate
12. To be low man on the totem pole is to have a decidedly inferior place in the _____.
whimsical
cursory
hierarchy
placate
13. Some of the newer - less formal passages on the SAT have a _____ tone that is intended to make them more appealing to students.
colloquial
superfluous
induce
insipid
14. Tina was still angry despite Tony's soft and _____ words.
conciliatory
immutable
decorum
coercion
15. Disappointed in love - Miss Emily became a _____; she shut herself away in her empty mansion and refused to see another living soul.
innocuous
corroborate
debunk
recluse
16. Whenever Sue was angry - she tried to avoid raising her voice because she had no wish to sound _____.
credulity
expedient
strident
peripheral
17. Everyone waited to see which one of the rival candidates for city council the mayor would _____.
mollify
specious
endorse
fastidious
18. Despite airing her clothes for several hours - she could not rid them of the _____ odor of mothballs that clung to them.
pervasive
benign
recluse
constraint
19. Towering over the nearby houses - the MacMansion looked wholly _____ in the historic neighborhood of small Craftsman bungalows.
corroborate
rectify
incongruous
capricious
20. Is an old-fashioned hairstyle an apt _____ for being out of step with the times and in need of change?
volatile
opulence
coercion
metaphor
21. The rich new student tried to attract friends by making an _____ display of his wealth.
ostentatious
cursory
transient
expedient
22. The president _____ the astronauts - whom he called 'the pioneers of the Space Age.'
extol
levity
repudiate
innocuous
23. My editors must assume I'm a _____ writer; they expect me to revise six books this year.
eclectic
prolific
debilitate
ambivalence
24. Her wealthy suitors wooed her with _____ gifts.
gregarious
sporadic
lavish
arbitrary
25. Unlike Widow Douglas - who _____ Huck's minor offenses - Miss Watson did nothing but scold.
hyperbole
discrepancy
condone
levity
26. All things change over time; nothing is _____.
erudite
immutable
redundant
retract
27. After Ralph dropped his second try of drinks that week - the manager swiftly _____ him to a minor post behind the bar.
refute
capricious
relegate
lavish
28. The bottle of wine I brought to Sharon's party was certainly _____: how was I to know that Sharon owned a winery?
volatile
elucidate
opportunist
redundant
29. The reviewers heaped _____ on the novice playwright - ridiculing his pretentious dialogue - flat characters - and simple-minded plot.
rectify
derision
corroborate
reserve
30. Suppose you are accepted by Harvard - Stanford - and Yale. Which one would you attend? Remember - this is only a _____ situation.
criterion
autonomous
compliance
hypothetical
31. When Johnny came down with a bad case of poison oak - the doctor recommended calamine lotion to _____ the itching.
alleviate
renounce
reprimand
criterion
32. Although Georgia O'Keeffe painted many subjects over the years - she had a definite _____ for painting flowers.
autonomous
predilection
credulity
mitigate
33. Rumors of police corruption led the mayor to _____ an investigation into the department's activities.
turbulent
exacerbate
instigate
anarchy
34. The defense lawyer confidently listened to the prosecutor sum up his case - sure that she could answer his arguments in her _____.
resolution
reprimand
malicious
rebuttal
35. Tourists are urged not to _____ the sanctity of holy places by wearing immodest garb.
guile
impeccable
profane
impair
36. In the film Funny Face - the bookish heroine _____ fashion models for their lack of intellectual interests.
disdain
acclaim
decorum
proliferation
37. Because a _____ examination of the ruins indicates the possibility of arson - we believe the insurance agency should undertake a more thorough investigation of the fire's cause.
haughtiness
cursory
alleviate
brevity
38. Shrewdly purchasing valuable plots of land for small sums - John Jacob Astor gained a reputation as an _____ investor.
astute
zealot
reticent
extol
39. Seeking the end of slavery - the abolitionists _____ freedom for the slaves.
document
advocate
cryptic
reprimand
40. There is a fine line between speech that is _____ and to the point and speech so abrupt that it verges on rudeness.
terse
reticent
proximity
extricate
41. Blind people sometimes develop a compensatory ability to sense the _____ of objects around them.
resolution
censure
impair
proximity
42. Without additional funding - it may not be _____ to build a new stadium for the team on the city's highly developed West Side.
flagrant
mitigate
banal
feasible
43. Rather than live in the crowded city center - we chose to buy a house in one of the _____ suburbs ringing the metropolis.
predilection
rhetorical
peripheral
conciliatory
44. The mayor was unwilling to _____ the plan until she was sure it had the governor's backing.
rebuttal
adversity
buttress
implement
45. The wealthy - self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict - _____ lifestyle practiced by members of some monastic orders.
turbulent
instigate
rectify
ascetic
46. In a fiery speech - Mario _____ his fellow students to go out on strike to protest the university's anti-affirmative action stand.
alleviate
mollify
extol
incite
47. Paradoxically - _____ reasoning does not always produce incorrect results; even though your logic may be flawed - the conclusion you reach may still be correct.
strident
fallacious
divergent
levity
48. She kept all the receipts form her business trip in order to _____ her expenses for the Internal Revenue Service.
compliance
impeccable
quandary
document
49. The winter storm was ______; it changed course constantly.
discrepancy
capricious
nonchalance
instigate
50. The classic cowboy hero is a _____ figure - someone generally described as the strong - silent type.
disseminate
volatile
laconic
derivative