When someone “niggles” over the details of something, he or she criticizes minor details. In our sentence, this best captures the sense hinted at by the sister’s “streams of critical remarks over the minor details . . .” The verb “to niggle” can also be applied to one who is “niggling” over the details of a given work, even his or her own. Someone who never is satisfied with the small details of his or her (e.g.) writing will often “niggle” over these details incessantly.

The key thing to note here is that Richard's motives were prejudged in a way that appears to be negative. When someone is vindicated, he or she is cleared of suspicion. The word comes from Latin roots for “avenger.” One who is vindicated can often be said to be “avenged,” though without necessarily carrying the somewhat violent connotations accompanying that word.

For this sentence, it is necessary to avoid implying anything more than is warranted. Most of the options given have a negative connotation (i.e. “meander,” “stumble,” “tumbled,” and “veered”). In distinction from such negative words, one can be said to “range” over topics without it being implied that such ranging is mere rambling in an undirected manner; therefore, this is the best option.

Do not be tricked by the many options that appear to be similar in meaning. To “masticate” is to chew, and to “manducate” is to eat. The best term is “mascerate,” which means “to soften something by soaking it.”

Since the sentence indicates that the prince had been in a meeting, we can safely assume that the “after . . . “ describes an event preceding his act of deciding. This event is referred to in the subordinate clause, “thus ignoring . . .” as being a meeting. Since he is said “nevertheless” to have ignored the advisors, it is safe to say that the meeting was held in order to “consult” with them.

In this sentence, both meaning and structure help to indicate the answer. The preposition “to” is not used much with a number of the options, and while an awkward construction does not eliminate an answer, it does make it a much less worthwhile option. The word “resigned” functions both in the structure and by meaning. Since Sarah accepted the root canal, though apparently not desiring it, she can be said to have “resigned” herself to it. The word has a first meaning of “leaving a position by ones own choice” (as in “resigning from the board of directors”). Here, one can take the meaning as “resigning” from one’s desire to avoid the painful procedure.

We can infer from the sentence's context that we need to pick out a verb that means something like "recover," because we know that the football player was able to recover after having surgery and help his team win the championship. So, "sicken" cannot be the correct answer because it is an antonym of "recover." "Convalesce," however, is a verb that means "recover one's health and strength over a period of time after an illness or operation," and because it best fits the context of the sentence, it is the correct answer.

Do not be fooled by the word “cryptic” in the subordinate clause, for this will likely lead you to choose either “encode” or “reorder.” The actual implication is that his handwriting is cryptic because it is shorthand. The best choice is therefore “abbreviate,” which is clearly related to the familiar word “abbreviation.” To abbreviate is to render something in a shorter form. It comes from the Latin for “short” and is related to English words like “brevity,” “brief,” and “breviloquence.”

"Secret plots" and "conspiracies" are key words here, because colluding means to conspiring or acting together in secret. Another hint is that collude is related to collaborate, which has a similar meaning without the shady connotation.

The sense of the sentence is that Jonathan’s anger decreased over time. The only word that indicates that is “waned.” The word is often used to speak of the moon, which is said to “wax” when it grows larger and to “wane” when it shines with less surface area. The word is often used to describe the diminution of an emotion or quality.