ISEE Upper Level Verbal : Verbs in One-Blank Sentences

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for ISEE Upper Level Verbal

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Example Questions

Example Question #41 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

Every morning it took Jerome’s parents fifteen minutes to __________ him from his deep slumber.

Possible Answers:

coax

force

jostle

berate

rouse

Correct answer:

rouse

Explanation:

The best option here is “rouse,” for it has the direct meaning of “waking from sleep.” While the other options might apply to a degree (except perhaps berate, which is too strong), none of them apply quite as directly as does “rouse.”

Example Question #42 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

Many quasi-rituals like tea parties and graduation ceremonies have elaborate __________ actions that are as intricately planned as those found in any complex dance.

Possible Answers:

pouring

serving

prancing

manual

choreographed

Correct answer:

choreographed

Explanation:

Since tea parties and graduation ceremonies are said to have planned actions, one could say that they are “choreographed.” When something is choreographed, it is given a planned set of steps that are to be performed or executed. The word comes from the combination of the Greek words for “dance” and “to write,” thus having the sense of “writing down (the steps) of a dance.”

Example Question #43 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

Although Luca was not naturally __________ to be patient, with time he was able to train himself to be less easily agitated by a number of potential irritants.

Possible Answers:

nurtured

born

reflective

permitted

disposed

Correct answer:

disposed

Explanation:

Since Luca is said to train himself in the virtue of patience, it can be inferred that he was not born with such a disposition; therefore, the best option would be “disposed,” which means “inclined toward something.” When we say that someone has a “cheerful disposition,” he or she is thus said to show an inclination to a cheerful attitude.

Example Question #44 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

The steel beam broke loose and bore down on the neck of the man standing by, __________ the man as though he were struck by the blade of a guillotine.

Possible Answers:

decapitating

crushing

destroying

decimating

killing

Correct answer:

decapitating

Explanation:

The key descriptive clue is found in the expression “as though he were struck by the blade of a guillotine.” A guillotine is the device (often associated in the popular imagination with post-Revolution France) used to cut off the heads of criminals. Therefore, the best answer is “decapitating,” which means “taking off the head.” The “de-” prefix means “down from” or “away from.” The “-capit-” portion comes from the Latin (and Greek) for “head,” which is found in words like “capital” (head city of a nation) and “per capita” (literally meaning “per head” or “as applies, perhaps on average, to each person in a group”).

Example Question #45 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

In the symphony, a single theme was __________ numerous times, emerging as the recognizable primary melody of the overall piece.

Possible Answers:

recapitulated

undertaken

recited

altered

resumed

Correct answer:

recapitulated

Explanation:

The sentence implies that the theme was repeated multiple times. Although one might think that “resume” is acceptable, one cannot say that the theme “stopped” and then was “started again.” Likewise, “recited” really has more to do with repeating memorized words than anything with music. The word “recapitulation” can be used in music to refer to a section in which various themes are repeated. Here, the sentence expresses that the theme was repeated or “recapitulated.” The word literally means bringing the heading (i.e. theme) back. The “heading” portion comes from the Latin for head, which is found in words like “capital” (head city of a nation) and “per capita” (literally meaning “per head” or “as applies, perhaps on average, to each person in a group”).

Example Question #46 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

Although the ship had been sailed several times, the public still wished to hold an official ceremony in order to __________ it for official service.

Possible Answers:

christen

promulgate

advertise

announce

acknowledge

Correct answer:

christen

Explanation:

Since the sentence is concerned with a ceremony on behalf of the ship, the verb that is needed will best describe the action of a ceremony that makes something usable for official service. Although we might often think of “christen” in a religious sense, it more generally means to dedicate something (for some end or set of ends) in an official, public, and ceremonial manner.

Example Question #31 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

In order to make amends for her recent remarks, the teacher was forced to stand before her peers and __________ the statement that she had made and furthermore to promise never to make such a remark in the future.

Possible Answers:

clarify

explicate

overlook

recant

commentate

Correct answer:

recant

Explanation:

The sense of this sentence is a bit difficult, for you must choose the least bad answer. Since the teacher had to promise never to make such a remark again, it is more likely that she was asked to “take back” the remark than merely to “commentate” or “clarify.” The word “recant” means “to take back” or “to declare that one does not believe what one has held or proclaimed in the past.” The word comes from the combination of “re-”, here used as meaning “going back” (as in “return”), and “-cant,” which comes from the Latin for “to sing” (as found in English words like “chant” and “cantor”). The English word reflects the Latin development of these two parts taken together, for in latter language, the word “recantare” meant “to revoke”—a meaning quite close to ours.

Example Question #31 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

When Edward discovered that his daughter had cheated on her exam, he was __________ by the news and immediately called her into his den in order to reprimand her sternly.

Possible Answers:

saddened

incensed

surprised

dispirited

disappointed

Correct answer:

incensed

Explanation:

Since the sentence states that Edward reprimanded his daughter sternly, it can be implied that he was angered by the news of her cheating. The best option is “incensed,” which means “having been made very angry.” It is derived from Latin words concerned with fire and is related to English words like “incense” and “incendiary.”

Example Question #33 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

The construction company __________ the old building before beginning construction on the new one, and in the interim left a completely empty lot where the older building had once stood.

Possible Answers:

left

restored

razed

opened

grounded

Correct answer:

razed

Explanation:

We can infer that because the construction company "left a completely empty lot where the older building had once stood," they completely tore down the old building before putting up the new one. So, we need to pick out an answer choice that means something like "completely tear down." "Restored" cannot be the correct answer choice because it means the opposite of the word we are looking for, and while "grounded" may look like a potentially correct answer choice because the construction company left only bare ground after they were done tearing down the old building, "razed" is the best answer because it is a verb that means "completely destroy a building, town, or other site."

Example Question #49 : Verbs In One Blank Sentences

Since his study was being crowded with books that he had bought, Vincent decided to simplify the room by __________ all of those texts that he deemed to be unnecessary for his research.

Possible Answers:

rejecting

eliminating

spurning

reducing

contemn

Correct answer:

eliminating

Explanation:

The only thing that the sentence says about Vincent’s action is that he decided to simplify the room. Therefore, do not imply anything else in your answer, such as “spurning” or the like. The best option, though very simple, is “eliminating.” Interestingly, the word “eliminate” literally means “to place outside of the threshold (of some area, whether physical or figurative).” The “threshold” portion of the meaning is signified by the “-liminate” portion of the word, and it is related to words like “limitation” and “delimit.”

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