GRE Verbal : Parts of Speech in One-Blank Texts
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Verbal
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Example Questions
Example Question #1203 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
The speaker's __________ lecture caused a large amount of controversy among the students.
irreproachable
tortuous
tendentious
extemporized
incomprehensible
tendentious
The sentence notes that the speaker's lecture "caused a large amount of controversy." The correct answer will reflect this ability to cause a strong reaction. "Tendentious," meaning biased or dogmatic, is the best choice among the answers.
Example Question #1204 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
The __________ reading assigment was difficult for many students to even finish, let alone comprehend.
tortuous
heralded
deferential
affable
complacent
tortuous
The book is mentioned to be "difficult" to "comprehend" by most students. This means the correct answer will reflect this difficulty. "Tortuous," meaning indirect and painfully long-winded, is the best choice among the answers.
Example Question #1205 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
The __________ movement was finding difficulty gaining traction and growing.
nascent
fortified
populist
heralded
luminous
nascent
The movement had "difficulty gaining traction and growing." This indicates the correct answer will show the movement was not very strong. "Nascent," meaning new or emerging, is the best choice among the answers.
Example Question #1206 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
The __________ illness showed itself as the patient lost fifty pounds in just a few months.
immoderate
tendentious
debilitating
uplifting
contentious
debilitating
The illness has caused the patient to lose "fifty pounds in a few months." This means the illness is severely harming the patient. "Debilitating," meaning weakening or draining, is the best answer choice.
Example Question #1207 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
Angry villagers swung torches and pitchforks, and the __________ mob that they constituted threatened looked like it might become violent at any moment.
contrite
volatile
aberrant
ostensible
onerous
volatile
We're looking for an adjective that means something like unstable and conveys how a situation might grow worse. Since "volatile" means liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse, "volatile" is the correct answer.
Example Question #1208 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
Many players viewed the old coach's speeches as being __________, and impossible to challenge in any way.
incoherent
inexplicable
inchoate
inerrant
incognito
inerrant
The players are "unable to challenge" the coach's speeches. This means the correct answer will indicate this inability to question the coach's words. "Inerrant," meaning completely correct and without errors, is the best choice among the answers.
Example Question #1209 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
"The __________ duke didn't really care which of the warring factions claimed the throne, so long as it bribed him to support its cause."
timorous
insipid
invidious
venal
guileful
venal
We're looking for an adjective that conveys how easily the duke is bribed. Since "venal" means "susceptible to bribery," it is the correct answer.
Example Question #1210 : Gre Verbal Reasoning
Because the supplies only arrived __________, the explorers never knew when they were going to run out of food, so they took to learning how to forage and hunt.
benignly
fortuitously
salubriously
facetiously
sporadically
sporadically
We're looking for an adverb that describes how the explorers didn't receive supplies on a regular schedule, but rather, received them at random. Because "sporadic" means "occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered or isolated," "sporadically" is the best answer choice.
Example Question #899 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Texts
The __________ conversation in classes made the professor seek a more open and unstructured approach to discussions.
boisterous
amorphous
sweeping
freewheeling
pedantic
pedantic
The professor's solution to the problematic conversations is to encourage "a more open and unstructured approach." This means the correct answer will stand in opposition to "open and unstructured." "Pedantic," meaning overly focused on minor details of book learning, is the best choice among the answers.
Example Question #900 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Texts
His family history meant heart attacks were something to which he was always __________, despite his seeming great health.
equivocal
prone
ignorant
cant
reclusive
prone
The subject is in "seeming great health," but still has to be worried about heart attacks. The missing word should mean vulnerable to or likely to have, the definition of "prone."
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