The subject of this sentence has just lost her grandmother so it makes sense that she would feel extremely sad about this lost. The correct answer is therefore "grief." "Grief" means deep sadness, especially about the loss of a loved one. Additionally, "fortune" can mean luck or wealth; "benign" means harmless; an "inkling" is an idea that something might be true, a hunch, a suspicion; "ecstasy" is extreme happiness.

Based on the context of this sentence, which discusses the fall of a country's government, you know that the noun you are looking for must mean something like rebels. So, the correct answer is "insurgents." An "insurgent" is a rebel, a revolutionary, someone seeking to overthrow the government. Additionally, "pedagogues" are teachers; a "mediator" is someone who acts as a go between when two people are having an argument; a "medic" is a doctor; an "imitator" is someone unoriginal, someone who copies others.

If the subject was able to fire someone then it stands to reason that this person must have been of lower rank, inferior in position. So, the correct answer is "subordinate." A "subordinate" is someone under the authority of someone else. Additionally, a "mentor" is someone with experience who helps and guides someone with less experience; a "jury" is a group of people chosen to decide whether or not someone is guilty; a "peer" is an equal, a person of the same social group; a "garrison" is an armed force kept somewhere to protect something.

The implication that the employee is not very thoughtful or creative. He is not able to imagine new things on his own. This implies that he does not have much imagination. None of the other options quite express this idea.

The idea of this sentence is that the speech was so long that the main points were totally "covered over" by the details. This means that the people needed a brief summary of these main points. A "summary" is a kind of review that gives the general idea without discussing all of the details.

In this sentence a group of people are turned from one feeling towards "dismay" by some bad news. If you know that "dismay" means great sadness and lack of hope, then you could reasonably infer that the previous mood was positive. The correct answer is therefore "glee" which means happiness, joy. Additionally, "despondency" means hopelessness, dismay; "frankness" means honesty; "boredom" means the quality of being bored; "sorrow" means sadness. 

The important thing to notice is that the students are learning the numerous steps involved in the making of the desks. This means that they went to the plant to learn these various steps and how they bring about the finished product. The set of steps used to make something is called the "process" for making that thing.

The general idea of this sentence is that the apple prices were changing a good deal from day to day. Yes, they might increase from one day to the next. They also might decrease in the same manner. The only option that expresses this kind of changing is "fluctuated." When something fluctuates, it goes up and down, somewhat like a wave. The word actually comes from Latin roots meaning "to flow." Something that fluctuates is like a flowing body of water that rises and falls.

This sentence implies that the two siblings were always in some state of fighting. If not explicitly fighting, they were at least angry at each other. This means that there was no peace between them. When two people (or groups) are not in agreement, they are in a state of conflict. We tend to think of conflict as applying to war between two nations. While this is indeed true, conflict can also be a kind of general state of "being enemies."

The general idea in this sentence is to contrast large cities to small ones, particularly as regards their restaurants. Large cities have many choices, whereas there seem to be few choices in small towns. This means that there are not many choices and hence not a wide "variety" of options. When we say that there are "various" options, we mean to say that there are a number of different ones. This state of having a number of different options is called "variety."