The team’s manager, Sachin has ____________ Rahul in his squad for next month's qualifying match against Liechtenstein despite doubts ____________ the player’s fitness.
Ans:The best answer is A. Doubts by, on or over are not idiomatic expressions. The team’s manager has done something despite doubts about the player’s fitness so it is logical that he included the player in his squad
The Aztec, a civilization that arose as early as 500 BC, occupied the region now __________ as the Four Corners, where Utah Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet, for centuries.
Ans:The best answer is B. Choices A, C, D and E cannot precede the preposition as.
Over the ___________, different New Jersey neighborhoods have played ___________ to the cutting edge: Greenwich Village in the 1950s, SoHo in the 1970s, the Lower East Side in the 1990s.
Ans:The best answer is A. Host, games, along and coy can logically follow played, but not guest. It is idiomatic to say over time, not over the time. Moments does not fit with the broad time span indicated in the rest of the sentence. Way is illogical.
A groundbreaking exhibition is showcasing Iran's rich roots in Mesopotamia, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that gave __________to the world's first urban civilization some 4,000 years ago.
Ans:The best answer is D. Gave birth is idiomatic. It ties in with the mention of roots and the world’s first urban civilization
Originally, the project was planned to take at least 25 years, but effective resource and technological advances have ________ the team’s progress.
Ans:The best answer is C. The word but indicates that the project will not take as long planned, therefore, it is logical that it was accelerated.
When mortals died, whether noble or __________, they joined Re on his nocturnal journey through the underworld; __________ at dawn immortal, if all went well.
Ans:The best answer is B. Common presents a contrast to noble. Emerging is in line with a journey through the underworld.
Toward the end of the 14th century, some __________ event forced the Aztec to __________ their houses and homeland and to move south and east toward the Rio Grand and the Great Colorado River.
Ans:The best answer is B. Unfortunate is too weak a word to describe such an event. Cataclysmic is apt. In choices D and E, move and revisit do not fit with the last clause of the sentence. A house and homeland cannot shift.
Those __________ ancestors doubtless found sticks and stones helpful for pointing out a direction, tracing a diagram in the dirt or __________ up a slab of useful flintstone.
Ans:The best answer is C. Choices A and E make the ancestors sound as though they were still alive. There is no reason for the ancestors to be considered faulty. The second blank must be filled with a gerund (-ing form).
Tony Bentick and his sister, Margarita Bentick, face 15-month jail terms in Britain on ________ of court charges after they __________ to appear in court to testify about the family's gold.
Ans:The best answer is A. The expression contempt of court is idiomatic. It is logical that they would be in contempt if they failed to appear.
Despite __________ printed in newspapers and broadcast over the internet and on television, Americans __________ to lose millions to internet con artists.
Ans:The best answer is B. The word despite signals that there is a contradiction in the two parts of the sentence which rules out C. Continue to… is idiomatic, whereas persevere, persist and incur cannot be followed by to.
Federal data show that the number of citizens receiving welfare __________ again last year even though an economic slowdown pushed more people into __________.
Ans:The best answer is E. Even though signals that there is a contrast from one part of the sentence to another. Choice E provides for the appropriate contrast. An economic slowdown cannot push people into affluence or subservience.
Georgia's teachers received the third largest salary hike in the country last year but still did not move up in national __________.
Ans:The best answer is E. There is no national competition for salaries. Choice B and C are irrelevant. Ratings are usually applied to a subjective quality, not a fact.
Despite signs of a truce, the country’s dilemma remains, should they let the north country remain __________ or should they __________ it.
Ans:The best answer is A. The word or in the sentence signals that what is on either side of the word must be different options. Only A presents two different options.
As the last __________ slice of Arctic coastal plain bordering the continent's vast equatorial rain forests, the region, known as the Gamba Complex, is a biologically __________ mosaic of forests, savannas, lagoons, lakes and beaches that, until recently, was virtually unknown to science
Ans:The best answer is D. Choices C and E are unidiomatic following last. Broken mosaic is illogical as a description of forests etc.
Mr. Miller has expressed his hope that the project can __________ support for conserving the Silverson Wildlife Complex.
Ans:The best answer is B. To rally support is an idiomatic expression.
The term conservationist had been defined by some as a person who believes that the natural world is endlessly __________ and beautiful, and therefore as much of it as possible should be __________.
Ans:The best answer is C. Because the blank appears before and beautiful, one can expect it to be filled with something positive. The and therefore indicates that the second blank should also be positive. Only C, D and E have two positive choices, and of them only C contains two words that are appropriate to describe the natural world.
__________ temporary power lines and data cables, huddled around laptops and editing equipment, journalists and technicians were __________ out news to many outposts.
Ans:The best answer is E. Although and despite must precede clauses, not noun phrases. Amid and among are both reasonable choices. Churning out, however, is idiomatic while burning out, is not.
Q. A highly ___________ gas, methyl bromide is injected into the soil before planting, ___________ out nearly everything alive.
Ans: The best answer is A. A gas cannot be redundant or recombinant. Killing out is not idiomatic, while moving out cannot be used in a transitive sense.
Q. Most easily measured ___________ gains come from increasing the capital stock and improving the efficiency with which the capital stock is used.
Ans:The best answer is C. Lucrative and gainful gains are redundant. Lachrymose and correctional are illogical.
Q. No other people of the world are quite so ___________ with installing and ___________ expanses of short grass — mostly around houses but also at schools, parks, golf courses, graveyards, freeway embankments and corporate headquarters.
Ans: The best answer is E. Choices C and D are illogical. B is incorrect because one cannot be misguided with something. Choice A is incorrect because the second blank must be filled with a gerund form (-ing).
Q. Ranchers have long despised prairie dogs, believing (___________, according to some new research) that they deprive cattle of ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Erroneously is the best choice because it qualifies the word believing.
Q. ___________ in the University's Research Park, the Patton Center is the catalyst that brings together the people and ideas necessary for ___________ successful enterprises.
Ans:The best answer is E. Stationed is used for army personnel. Facing cannot be followed by in. Lying is unidiomatic. Launching an enterprise is an idiomatic expression.
Q. Timber rattlesnakes used to be common in a range ___________ from Oklahoma and Nebraska up the Appalachians to southern New England, and ___________ the Mississippi river to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Ans:The best answer is B. Extending from x to y is an appropriate expression to discuss a range of land. Along is the best choice to describe something extending the length of a river.
Q. The castle is now a tourist ___________, bringing visitors and restoration volunteers from ___________ countries.
Ans: The best answer is C. Tourist attraction is idiomatic. Numerous is a adjective that can appropriately be applied to countries.
Q. The grandson of a Haitian slave, Dumas became the most famous author in France; now, his rousing romantic novels are enjoying renewed ___________.
Ans:The best answer is D. Since Dumas was the most famous author, it is logical that what is renewed is his popularity.
Q. Today, as in the ___________, whether for chefs ___________ their restaurants with fresh produce, or customers interested in homemade cakes and preserves, farmers' markets promise not only freshness but sociability.
Ans: The best answer is B. The word past makes a logical contrast to today. History cannot be proceeded by the.
Q. With tools such as lasers, climate-controlled research chambers and, of course, computers, Hatfield and his ___________ are bringing soil science into the next ___________.
Ans: The best answer is C. Colleagues is an appropriate term to refer to members of a research team. To bring something into the next century is idiomatic.
Q. Though the general died young, leaving his son without an inheritance, the young man overcame ___________, the lack of ___________ education to become one of the world's most popular writers.
Ans:The best answer is B. Since he was left without an inheritance, overcoming poverty is logical. The expression formal education is idiomatic.
Q. Every healthy body at rest ___________ a certain amount of energy just keeping the organs functioning and blood ___________.
Ans:The best answer is A. Grammatically, the present simple tense is called for to fill the first blank. Expends is a suitable verb to describe the use of energy. For the second blank a gerund (-ing) form is required to maintain parallelism
Q. Euthanasia, the act of humanely ___________ animals that are hopelessly sick or ___________, is a controversial topic.
Ans: The best answer is D. Assassinating can only be applied to people. Maiming, executing and slaughtering have more negative connotations than killing and therefore could not be used with the adjective humanely.
Q. Change is particularly difficult for some animals, especially ___________ who have been used to the same daily ___________ for a long time.
Ans:The best answer is B. Those is the best pronoun to refer back to animals. For the second blank, daily grind is appropriate in meaning, but is a slang expression. A habit cannot be describe as daily in the sense of general behavior.
Q. The reopening marks the end of a massive, inside-and-out ___________ project that shrouded the society's terra-cotta headquarters in scaffolding for nearly four years.
Ans: The best answer is D. It is logical that a reopening would follow a renovation.
Q. Diego silenced the ___________ and turned her passion for scrapbooks into a successful retail and ___________ business.
Ans:The best answer is E. One silences opposing voices, therefore, choices D and E can logically fill the first blank. Retail and wholesale logically go together.
Q. Stenton, who was ___________ in New York City in 1915, spent most of his life sharing his love of music by teaching others to ___________ the piano.
Ans:The best answer is B. The first blank requires a verb to refer to an action that happened in 1915. Other than choice B, all the choices refer to things that happen over a period of years.
Q. Today Calder is the youngest by nearly two generations at the veteran’s hospital, where he ___________ therapy and ___________.
Ans:The best answer is A. Choices A and B can logically and idiomatically fill the first blank. Restoration is incorrect because it is not a word one applies to humans.
Q. More and more people are considering mortgages that require the ___________ to pay only the monthly ___________ on the loan.
Ans:The best answer is D. Choices C and D are illogical for the first blank. Choice A is not idiomatic. Revenues is not a word used to describe payments made by an individual.
Q. Some economists are predicting that demand will catch up with productivity shortly, ___________ an enormous boom in job growth.
Ans: The best answer is C. Spurring, a verb whose origins come from the spurs of a horseback rider’s boots, is appropriate to describe something that causes an enormous boom.
Q. The city is ___________ to annex land for new, suburban-style homes, but zoning abuses blight existing neighborhoods with ___________ construction.
Ans:The best answer is D. Only choices A and D are both logical and grammatical for the first blank. For the second blank, however, exquisite is not a logical adjective to describe a blight.
Q. In ___________ of resolving the profound economic and social problems that continue to ___________ the nation, the president's removal last July accomplished nothing
Ans: The best answer is E. In terms of is idiomatic. Plague is the best choice to refer to profound economic and social problems.
Q. Some agencies offer financing ___________ for developers to encourage the building of ___________ housing.
Ans: The best answer is A. Perks, encouragement and raises are usually given to employees, not developers. Housing cannot be viable.
Q. Marks, ___________ forecaster, estimates that, compared to the administration's dividend tax cuts, extending unemployment benefits would produce a 20 times ___________ positive effect on the gross domestic product.
Ans: The best answer is B. Choices A, B and C are reasonable to fill the first blank. D and E are possible, but would be unusual. After a 20 times greater___, a comparative form of adjective is needed, such as greater.
Q. As a politician's wife, Carole Samuels became active in her own ___________, attending chamber of commerce breakfasts and historical society meetings, and ___________ in the Gardener’s Club.
Ans:The best answer is D. In her own right is idiomatic. A gerund is needed to fill the second blank to maintain parallelism.
Q. Seth Walters has ___________ more than four decades in commercial banking, ___________ from a bank messenger to president and CEO of the Merchant’s Bank.
Ans: The best answer is D. Grammatically, choices A, B and C cannot fit in the first blank because they would have to be followed by a preposition. Choice E is unlikely – if the time had been squandered, Walters would not have risen to the position of president.
Q. As healthcare costs grow, the problem of the underinsured will only get ___________, as corporations seek to control costs by continuing to raise ___________ for employees.
Ans: The best answer is A. The phrase the problem will only get ___, is generally followed by something negative, such as worse. Deductibles is logical since the sentence refers to insurance (the problem of the underinsured).
Q. At the school, she wrote and directed several ___________ productions about the Everglades and its ___________ as well as tributes to historic Floridians, such as Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Ans:The best answer is B. Theatrical productions and musical productions are idiomatic. Animals is a better choice than locations for something that belongs to the Everglades.
Q. Some residents claim that the timing of the strike was inappropriate, considering the ___________ economy.
Ans:The best answer is D. Choices B, C and E cannot be applied to an economy. A strike is generally considered inappropriate when the economy is poor, hence D is a better choice than A.
Q. A wildfire roaring through the ___________ of the San Bernardino Mountains burned as ___________ as 20 homes and forced thousands to flee.
Ans: The best answer is B. It would be nearly impossible for a fire to roar through the crests or summits of mountains. Many is the appropriate choice to agree with homes.
Q. Businessmen and investors may be ___________ a little easier now that the initial fears ___________ by the elections of leftist presidents in neighboring countries have been muffled.
Ans:The best answer is C. To breath easier is idiomatic. Used metaphorically, fears can be unleashed.
Q. Arguing that the roots of many of the region's problems are more political and institutional than economic, the lecturer claimed that the government will now stress the need to ___________ corruption and ___________ bureaucracy.
Ans: The best answer is E. Attack and tackle are the only logical choice for the first blank. The word bureaucracy is rarely preceded by a positive adjective.
Q. Compared to economic disaster areas like Venezuela and Argentina, where the ___________ shrank by 12 percent last year, Brazil's outlook is ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Choice A is the most logical for the first blank. Profit could not follow the when referring to an entire country. For the second blank, there is a contrast set up between Venezuela and Argentina on the one hand, and Brazil on the other. Since the former are disaster areas, the second should be positive.
Q. Throughout the downturn of the past few years, economists and analysts have trumpeted our historic increases in productivity as the one ___________ in an otherwise dreary economic ___________.
Ans:The best answer is C. The phrase as the one x in an otherwise dreary… sets the stage for a positive word filling the blank.
Q. The Andes ___________ as the floor of the Pacific Ocean slipped uneasily beneath South America, ruffling the land along the west coast of the ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Created and shaped would have to be put into a passive form (were created, were shaped) to fill the first blank. Disinterred and depredated are illogical.
Q. Researchers have long ___________ about whether this kind of selfless behavior in animals, ___________ as altruism, directly benefits the helper.
Ans: The best answer is A. Only argued and dreamed can go before about. Deemed cannot precede as.
Q. According to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, an animal's success in the gene ___________ is measured by the number of offspring it ___________ raises to pass on its DNA.
Ans:The best answer is C. Gene pool is idiomatic. Successfully is a logical choice; if the offspring are not raised successfully, they cannot make an impact on the gene pool.
Q. ___________ of mythical giant apes lurk in the oral ___________ of most Native American tribes, as well as in Europe and Asia.
Ans:The best answer is E. One can have stories, legends or tales of something. Oral traditions is an idiomatic expression. Furthermore, oral verbiage is both redundant and illogical, while oral writings is a contradiction in terms.
Q. Statistically, the 3,300 responses _________ the opinions (accurate to plus or minus two percent) of the 154 million American adults who have traveled over the ___________ three years.
Ans:The best answer is D. Grammatically, all of the choices are suitable to fill in the first blank, but semantically, represent is the most logical choice. Because the present perfect (have traveled) is used, the second blank must be something that refers to the past.
Q. The academic services division was ___________ to providing quality support to the students and staff through the provision of specialist administrative ___________.
Ans: The best answer is B. Choice D and E cannot be correct for the first blank because they are gerund forms. An academic services division cannot normally be submitted. Destined would have to be follow be an infinitive form.
Q. Prosecutors have ___________ a wealth of circumstantial evidence linking the six ___________ to the deadly bombing.
Ans: The best answer is B. To amass wealth is idiomatic. Here the expression is expanded to refer to a wealth of evidence. Suspects is appropriate to refer to people accused but not yet tried.
Q. First hired in 1972 as ___________ staff writer for The Examiner, Frank Gordon has since fashioned a career in journalism ___________ over three decades.
Ans: The best answer is D. For the first blank, a person cannot be introductory. Eager or novice are the most appropriate adjective to describe a beginning writer. Only spanning can be used to indicate that Gordon’s career lasted three decades.
Q. It was thought that if the corpse did not have ___________ care, the former pharaoh would not be able to ___________ out his new duties as king of the dead.
Ans:The best answer is D. The care that one takes over something cannot be described as careful, secret, deciduous or learned. Duties are said to be carried out.
Q. Many of these prizes are ___________ at the Faculty of Business presentation ceremony ___________ is held in June for the preceding academic year.
Ans: The best answer is C. Prizes are normally awarded or given. Which is the appropriate pronoun to refer to the ceremony.
Q. Earlier this month tax-evasion charges were ___________ against Maryanne Sumner, who is ___________ for the auditing of operations.
Ans:The best answer is A. A person can be summoned or subpoenaed, not charges. To file charges is idiomatic.
Q. The Egyptians mummified their dead because they believed that a person needed his body in the afterlife, and the better-looking the better, so it was ___________ on the priests in charge of ___________ to do a good job.
Ans: The best answer is E. The first four choices for the first blank are used passively (the priest was assigned). The blank calls for an active verb. The work of mummification is embalming.
Q. Projects ___________ by management students include a recent communication analysis and team development project conducted by a postgraduate ___________.
Ans:The best answer is B. One cannot service, accomplish or sentence a project. A postgraduate is a type of student.
Q. When deep-sea explorers ___________ the Baltic Sea floor located a Swedish spy plane shot down by the Russians more than 50 years ago this June, they ended one of the more ___________ mysteries of the Cold War.
Ans: The best answer is B. One cannot cruise or skim the sea floor. A mystery can be described as enduring when it has been in existence for a long period of time.
Q. By ___________ the elements in the bones of a person long dead, researchers can ___________ the main constituents of that individual's diet.
Ans: The best answer is D. A body can be exhumed, but not the elements in the bones of a body. These can be tested, examined or revealed. The constituents of a person’s diet can be determined.
Q. Connected by a complex set of ___________ roads, the villages were defined by ditches, curbs, moats, open parklands, and working forests.
Ans:The best answer is C. Since the roads are described as complex, it makes sense that they would be interlinked.
Q. Discovered by two paleontology students in clay pits near Peterborough, the ___________ is the largest known fish ever ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Only fossil is logical in reference to a fish.
Q. The recent arrest has ___________ concern about a government push against powerful business barons before the ___________ elections.
Ans: The best answer is D. While choices C, D and E are all possible, only sparked concern is idiomatic.
Q. The government will also now start the legal process of lifting the monopoly ___________ by Telecon, the state carrier.
Ans: The best answer is C. A monopoly is something that a company enjoys, so C is the most logical choice.
Q. An extensive archaeological excavation has ___________ a lost city that is believed to be one of the ___________ jewels in the ancient civilization of the Maya.
Ans: The best answer is . Excavations remove objects from the earth therefore, unearthed is an appropriate choice. Crowning jewels is idiomatic.
Q. Though the economy ___________ through a recession in 2001, super-low interest rates have ___________ demand for mortgages, which has encouraged a boom in mortgage refinancing.
Ans:The best answer is C. A recession is a negative occurrence so it is appropriate that one would battle or suffer through it. Fuel can be used figuratively to mean promote.
Q. The rationale ___________ the rise of fee-based advice is that it makes for a better relationship with clients by eliminating the potential for conflicts that ___________ when someone profits directly from their recommendations.
Ans:The best answer is A. It is idiomatic to talk about the rationale behind x. Similarly, conflicts are said to arise.
Q. Never before in ___________ history have monetary and fiscal policies been as motivating as today, and yet, the American economy remains weak and vulnerable.
Ans: The best answer is D. Today’s history, yesteryear’s history and yesterday’s history are unidiomatic expressions. Topical history is illogical.
Q. The open nature of the web, its unpredictable and ___________ proliferation of ideas and open source software was ___________ to the world's leading operating systems company.
Ans: The best answer is C. Both copious proliferation and bountiful proliferation are redundant. Uncontrollable is the most logical choice for the first blank. Since uncontrollable has a negative connotation, anathema, also a negative word, is a logical choice.
Q. Front Inc., ___________ by the 1999 merger between Front Bank and Merchant’s Bank, has been at the ___________ of merger rumors for years.
Ans:The best answer is B. A company is created by a merger. Founded is appropriate to use to refer to a completely new company. Fashioned cannot be followed by by to refer to the company’s origins.
Q. As younger workers watch parents and others in ___________ generations go back to work after retiring because their savings were not ___________, they still aren't doing enough to provide for their own financial futures.
Ans: The best answer is D. Since the younger workers are watching parents and other in ____ generations, the others are likely of their parents’ generation, hence older is logical. The second blank must contain a word that explains why older generation would go back to work.
Q. Outspoken ___________ as a teenager, he was dismissed from high school when he refused to compromise his word to a school ___________.
Ans: The best answer is E. From his time and early are unidiomatic and still is illogical. Already is awkward in the first blank.
Q. College costs once again have increased far faster than inflation, with ___________ at state schools posting the biggest ___________ in 30 years
Ans:The best answer is D. Tuition is a word that specifically means fees paid to a school and is thus the best answer. The first part of the sentence deals with college costs increases in general, and the second part mentions a more specific increase.
Q. A new survey says most families aren't generally expecting to ___________ more money on holiday vacations than they did ___________ year.
Ans: The best answer is B. Fritter and squander have negative connotations that are not in keeping with the tone of the sentence. One does not invest in a vacation.
Q. __________ in the history of this great country have there been more annoying commercials on the public ___________.
Ans: The best answer is D. Only choices D and E fit the sentence grammatically. Public television cannot follow the definite article.
Q. Since the success of his last book and his Oscar-winning ___________, (a success he likes to remind you of at every ___________), he has become the most prominent liberal agitator in the West.
Ans: The best answer is B. A documentary or a film are choices which could be Oscar-winning. For the second blank, prospect and initiation are illogical. Moment and minute cannot come after at every.
Q. The most successful remodeling projects begin with homeowners ___________ have a imaginative, yet ___________, idea of what they want done.
Ans: The best answer is E. Who is the most suitable pronoun to refer to homeowners. The second blank must be filled with a word which contrasts with imaginative because of the yet before the blank.
Q. To accompany the book, Freeman ___________ has a new ___________ of digital photographs spanning 30 years.
Ans: The best answer is B. None of the choices other than also fit the sentence grammatically. Photographs can logical be displayed in an exhibition.
Q. He went over all his expenditures and ___________ for the preceding year and a half, and was shocked by what he ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Disbursements and expenses mean the same as expenditures and are therefore redundant. An individual usually doesn’t have many salaries and does not collect tolls.
Q. Their income has proven ___________ to maintain what they regard as a comfortable, though not ___________, lifestyle
Ans: The best answer is C. Sufficient and ample are suitable to describe income that can maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
Q. He was rejected by the National Film School and spent 11 years doing odd jobs for a small theatre company before he got the ___________ to make his film noir thriller.
Ans:The best answer is D. Break and opportunity are suitable as far as their meaning, but break cannot be followed by to.
Q. When George Wilson graduated from high school, his parents, both of ___________ were hearing impaired and on disability, could provide ___________ financial help toward college.
Ans: The best answer is C. Who is the best pronoun to refer back to Wilson’s parents. Only no and little are suitable grammatically for the second blank.
Q. Michael grew up under difficult circumstances in the San Fernando Valley, where he battled family ___________ from ___________ age.
Ans:The best answer is E. One battles problems. An early age is idiomatic.
Q. While the couple tries to find bargain-basement prices on all their ___________, they do not ___________ on quality.
Ans: The best answer is A. Purchases and acquisitions are logical choices for the first blank. The second blank must be filled with a word that will contrast with the first part of the sentence.
Q. What was a ruthlessly effective way of enhancing their electoral fortunes has developed into a compulsion never to allow any leader much of a chance to ___________.
Ans: The best answer is C. One cannot allow someone else to persist. Impeach cannot be used as in intransitive verb. Since a leader commands, command is the best response.
Q. Though she had never been there, and did not know ___________, she felt an overwhelming urge to ___________ into this uncharted territory.
Ans: The best answer is B. Did not know a soul is an idiomatic expression used to mean did not know anyone.
Q. The defendants have asked for a jury trial, but Cary, lawyer for Sun Entertainment, is expected to petition the court today for a trial by ___________ without ___________.
Ans: The best answer is E. The word but sets up the expectation of a contrast in the sentence. Trial by judge contrasts with jury trial.
Q. Short, broad grandmothers, speaking only Zapotec, the indigenous ___________ of the region, dutifully grind corn for tortillas and march their pigs to market.
Ans: The best answer is B. Zapotec, written with a capital letter and spoken, is likely to be the name of a language.
Q. In 1980, Smith & Smith decided to ___________ eight of its old models to make room for some of the more modern models that collectors seemed to be ___________ in.
Ans: The best answer is A. Retire, though primarily applied to people, is also used to refer to products. Only interested and fascinated can precede in.
Q. The Calverts were a young New England couple looking for an inexpensive way to ___________ a small vacation cottage in Massachusetts when they first began purchasing country ___________ and folk art in the 1920s.
Ans: The best answer is D. There is no expensive or inexpensive way the endow or bequeath a cottage. Country sample is vague (samples of what?).
Q. Professional searchers will travel the ___________ over, using any ___________ possible — from satellites to simple theft — to acquire meteorites
Ans: The best answer is D. While the first four choices for the first blank all mean the same thing, only world can come before over.
Q. Traffic safety experts said that national driver education standards should be ___________ so teenagers everywhere receive ___________ training before hitting the road on their own.
Ans:The best answer is C. If the standards were adopted, then the training would be uniform.
Q. Many of the draft document's points ___________ ideas espoused for years by anti-globalization ___________.
Ans: The best answer is B. Points may be echoed or reiterated. One cannot be a mentor for a cause.
Q. Researchers say it will be several years before computer programs will accurately ___________ fire behavior the way television weathermen tell viewers where a hurricane or a ___________ is heading.
Ans: The best answer is D. What the researchers do is being compared to what weathermen do, therefore, predict or forecast are logical choices. While any of the choices for the second blank are feasible, a blizzard is more similar to hurricane than some of the other choices, and therefore is better.
Q. Low short-term borrowing costs may give consumers and businesses an ___________ to spend and invest more and ___________ boost economic growth.
Ans: The best answer is C. The first four choices for the first blank mean roughly the same thing, but the first two are not appropriate for a business situation. Thus shows the causal effect of the short-term borrowing on economic growth.
Q. All but the smallest new televisions will have to be able to receive digital television ___________ by July 2007 under a government rule upheld by a federal ___________ court on Tuesday.
Ans: The best answer is D. Digital television sends signals. A regular court rules, but an appeals court upholds or overturns decisions.
Q. Supporters of helmet laws say the government should punish states that do not require helmets, since the public often ___________ up paying medical costs for those ___________ in motorcycle accidents.
Ans: The best answer is E. Ends up provides a justification for governments to punish states that do not require helmets. Wounded or injured are logical choices for the second blank, but injured is more often used to refer to people in accidents.
Q. The company's plan is to ___________ costs while trying to exploit its traditional strengths in entertainment and video games - particularly with new networked and wireless consumer ___________.
Ans: The best answer is A. Trim can be applied figuratively to costs. Devices is the more common choice to refer to electronic goods. Gadgets, contraptions and widgets would more likely refer to an elaborate homemade devise.
Q. Despite Bettleman’s pleadings and progress at the bargaining ___________, key issues remained ___________.
Ans: The best answer is D. The bargaining table is idiomatic. Before completing a negotiation, there are issues that are unresolved, so remained unresolved is logical.
Q. Under the emerging plan, the cuts would not take ___________ if hospitals agreed to provide the data that the administration has requested.
Ans: The best answer is C. Take place is appropriate because it is an idiomatic expression meaning to occur.
Q. Swift Airlines pilots have approved a measure allowing their union, the Air Line Pilots Association, to call a ___________ at one of the nation's largest regional carriers in a ___________ over a new contract.
Ans: The best answer is C. While call a truce, call a ceasefire and call a strike are all idiomatic, only strike is logical in reference to airline pilots. Strikes are generally called because of disputes over new contracts.
Q. One study suggests that children who live in homes where the television is on most of the time ___________ have more trouble learning to read than other kids.
Ans: The best answer is B. Since the study suggests that its finding are true, may, which expresses possibility, is best.
Q. Left-leaning politicians from around the world worked on a ___________ against the spread of ___________ capitalism.
Ans: The best answer is D. Choice A and C are illogical for the first blank. A denigration on not something one usually works on.
Q. The agency is working on faster ways to ___________ rapidly moving ___________ like the SARS virus, which began in China and spread worldwide early last year.
Ans: The best answer is A. Both detect and relieve are logical in reference to something like a virus. Bugs is a slang term.
Q. Despite the hours many children spend watching television, the report found that reading ___________ to be a regular part of many children's lives.
Ans: The best answer is C. Because of the word despite in the sentence, the blank must be filled with something that creates a contrast in the sentence. Continue is the only word that does this.