Be careful not to assume too much with regard to the means by which the country apparently made changes regarding animal rights. Since there are two options that are very close in meaning, "legislation" and "regulation," you should immediately be suspicious that such answers are not correct. Indeed, they are not, for we have no information that can justify choosing one over the other. The most we can say is that the country went from stagnation with regard to animal rights—that is, from doing nothing with regard to it—to protecting some animals. Such a change is some sort of "progress", even if we do not know the exact means of that progress.

The sentence tells you that the United States was a “young nation” which suggests that the nation was in its “infancy.” “Infancy” means the quality of being an infant and an “infant” is a baby. To provide further help, “truancy” is absence; “latency” is hidden potential; “supremacy” means dominance; “adequacy” means being sufficient, being good enough. 

We know that Katie's coat can be worn in a variety of different ways, so we should pick out a noun that reflects its range of uses. "Honesty" has nothing to do with the sentence, and neither does "geniality" ("friendliness") or "cooperation." We can tell from the sentence's context that the coat is not simple because it can be worn in so many different ways, so that leaves us with "versatility." Since "versatility" means "the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities," it fits the sentence's context perfectly and is the correct answer.

"Candor" means frankness, or the quality of being honest in expression. After the disappointment of dishonest candidates, someone with "candor," or honesty, would be refreshing.

Because the juggler was able to "[keep] six sharp knives twirling in the air without injuring himself," we can infer that he was very nimble. So, we need to pick out a noun that means something like "nimbleness." "Strength" and "speed" might each look like a potentially correct answer, but the best answer choice is "dexterity," a noun which means "skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands," or in other words, "readiness and grace in physical activity; especially : skill and ease in using the hands." So, because "dexterity" best describes the juggler's skill, "dexterity" is the correct answer.

The sentence tells us that Alan dropped his pack down some kind of hole or other type of chasm that prevented him from retrieving it. The answer choice must be close in meaning to "gap" or "hole," and is therefore a “crevice,” which means a gap or hole in the ground. To help you, "edification" means education that improves a person, a "commuter" is someone who travels from where they live to another town or city or into a nearby city to work, "jetsam" is material that has been thrown from a ship into the sea and washed up on shore, and an "armada" is a massive fleet of ships belonging to a military.

Do not assume anything more than what the sentence states. The room is said to be "dim." By placing light bulbs in the room, John would help make the room brighter. This would improve the lack of brightness, i.e. the lack of "illumination." The word "illumination" comes from the Latin for light—"lumen." When something is "luminous," it is bright and shining. (Also, lightbulbs are measured in "lumens" in addition to watts. Lumens indicate how much light they produce, whereas watts indicate their power consumption. Go ahead, look at a lightbulb box!)

The word "both" is a hint that the word we are looking for is an opposite of "praise," and the answer choice that is the best opposite of "praise" is "criticism," which means disapproval or censure.

Based on the opening phrase, Dennis does not enjoy or partake in holiday cheer. So to call him an angel does not make sense, as he sounds unpleasant to be around. Aficionado and generalist both have to do with how much knowledge someone has of a specific or broad amount of information, and this sentence is not concerned with how much Dennis knows about the holidays, so those are not correct. Finally, pushover does not make sense, since nobody is asking him to do anything in the sentence, so he can't give in. That leaves the answer as scrooge, which describes someone who gets grouchy and closed off around happy festivities.

We can infer from the sentence that we need to pick out a noun that means something like "food," because the sentence tells us that many Americans shop for the missing word "in grocery stores, local markets, or specialty food stores." While many Americans might shop for tools, one doesn't usually buy tools at "grocery stores, local markets, or specialty food stores," so "tools" cannot be the correct answer. "Perishables," however, is an noun that means "things, especially foodstuffs, likely to decay or go bad quickly," and because "perishables" is the answer choice that best fits the sentence's context, it is the correct answer.