All ISEE Upper Level Verbal Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #530 : One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
The __________ movement of the early twentieth century was primarily concerned with ensuring women had the right to vote.
sycophant
deferential
extenuating
exemplary
suffrage
suffrage
To solve this sentence completion problem you have to determine which of these answer choices describes a movement related to "the right to vote." The correct answer is "suffrage." "Suffrage" as a noun means the right to vote. To provide further help, "deferential" means respectful, allowing someone else to be in control; a "sycophant" is a flatterer; "exemplary" means very well done, done so well as to be used as a model for others; "extenuating" means excusing circumstances.
Example Question #361 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
After her son died in a car crash the mother made it her personal __________ to fight back against drinking and driving.
obstacle
artifice
crucible
crusade
shard
crusade
A "crusade" is a prolonged and passionate struggle for something. To provide further help, an "obstacle" is something that gets in the way; an "artifice" is a ruse, a piece of trickery; "shard" means fragment of something; a "crucible" is a trial.
Example Question #362 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
Frank is a __________; he can speak German, Spanish, English, French, and Mandarin.
carcinogen
carrion
pugilist
polyglot
polytheist
polyglot
A "polyglot" is someone who can speak multiple languages. The prefix poly- means many. So, to provide another example, a "polytheist" is someone who believes in more than one God. Additionally, "carrion" is decaying flesh; a "carcinogen" is something known to cause cancer; a "pugilist" is a boxer, a fighter.
Example Question #363 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
The performer had a certain __________ that he injected into his routine in order to garner a pitying reaction from the audience.
innuendo
pathos
adage
sinecure
panegyric
pathos
To solve this problem you need to determine which of these words means a quality that evokes pity in another. The correct answer is therefore "pathos." "Pathos" means a quality that evokes pity or sadness in another person. To provide further help, an "adage" is an old saying; a "sinecure" is an easy job; "innuendo" is any kind of crude or vulgar remark or pun; a "panegyric" is a public speech of praise.
Example Question #364 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
The buzzards and vultures flocked to consume the __________.
tenet
ingress
carrion
commode
sojourn
carrion
Buzzards and vultures are two birds that are famous for consuming the flesh of dead animals. The correct answer is therefore "carrion." "Carrion" is the flesh or body of a dead animal. To provide further help, "ingress" means entrance; "tenet" means fundamental belief within a belief system; a "commode" is a room, often a bathroom; "sojourn" means temporary respite.
Example Question #365 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
His conservative political __________ were widely disparaged in the largely liberal community he lived in.
insurrections
affiliations
nuclei
digressions
scruples
affiliations
In a liberal community it is logical that someone with an association with conservatism would be widely mocked. So, to solve this problem you are looking for the answer choice that is similar in meaning to "association." The correct answer is therefore "affiliations." To provide further help, "scruples" are small concerns with something; a "digression" is a deviation, a temporary distraction from the primary purpose of an argument; "nuclei" is the plural form of "nucleus" which means center; "insurrections" are rebellions.
Example Question #366 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
Animals that can thrive on land or in water are usually called __________.
vertebrates
amphibians
mammals
reptiles
mollusks
amphibians
The prefix ambi- means both and this is very similar to the beginning of the word "amphibian." An "amphibian" is an animal that can live on land or in water, such as a frog. To provide further help, a "mollusk" is an animal without a backbone, with a soft body, and generally an outer-shell. Examples of "mollusks" include snails and octopi. A "vertebrate" is an animal with a backbone.
Example Question #367 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Fill in the blank:
It is often said that modernity led to a ___________ of the world, removing much of the wonder that was once experienced by the masses and replacing it with the bleak atmosphere of mathematical physics.
disenchanting
convolution
depression
divinizing
destruction
disenchanting
The key to this question is the participial phrase "removing much of the wonder." The implication is that modernity made the world appear "bleak" like equations of physics. By stripping it of its wonder, it made it quite plain and without poetic meaning—at least the sentence claims this. This is not necessarily to destroy the world, and it does not make much sense to say that it depressed the world. (Perhaps it depressed the people.) The word "disenchanted" (or "disenchantment") can be used merely to describe a person who has become disillusioned or has lost interests. It can also describe, in an extended sense, the thing that was disenchanted—the world, which had lost its appearance of being wonderful.
Example Question #368 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
The manager warned that every error must be fixed immediately, for once an irregularity entered the system, it would __________ a number of additional ones within minutes.
undertake
overwhelm
inquire
vex
generate
generate
The sentence implies that once an irregularity enters the system, more would be created very quickly thereafter. The only synonym that we have for the notion of "create" is "generate." This word—which is related to "generations" and "genus"—means to produce or cause. It is related to earlier Latin usages that were particularly used by philosophers to discuss how things come to be and are destroyed—which they called "generation and corruption." We speak of "generations" in a family because we number them according to how they were "created." The grandparents were one generation; they generated the next generation (parents), and so forth.
Example Question #369 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences
Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.
Extremely difficult topics require teachers to __________ concepts with creative examples in order to make the topics more concrete.
delineate
unravel
confound
exculpate
illustrate
illustrate
The key phrases for this sentence is “with creative examples” and “to make the topics more concrete.” Although one could “unravel” complex topics into simpler ones, such “unraveling” does not necessarily involve creative examples (though it may accidentally contain them). Likewise, clear delineation of topics may provide some clarity, but that does not necessarily indicate the use of creative examples. However, “to illustrate” a topic means to explain it with examples. The word comes from the Latin for to illuminate. Something with “luster” has a glow—it shines (like a good example).
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