GRE Sentence Completion Practice Test 07

1. The candidate _____ when asked why he had left his last job; he did not want to admit that he had been ____ .

A. demurred - promoted
B. confided - banned
C. dissembled - dismissed
D. rejoiced - wrong
E. hesitated - lauded

2. Tennyson was a well-loved poet; no other poet since has been so ____ .

A. lionized
B. attacked
C. decried
D. poetical
E. abhorred

3. The parliamentary session degenerated into ____ with politicians hurling ____ at each other and refusing to come to order.

A. mayhem - banter
B. disarray - pleasantries
C. tranquillity - invectives
D. chaos - aphorisms
E. anarchy - insults

4. The admiral ____ his order to attack when he saw the white flag raised by the enemy sailors; he was relieved that he could bring an end to the ____ .

A. reiterated - hostilities
B. countermanded - fighting
C. commandeered - truce
D. renounced - hiatus
E. confirmed - aggression

5. In a fit of ____ she threw out the valuable statue simply because it had belonged to her ex-husband.

A. pique
B. goodwill
C. contrition
D. pedantry
E. prudence

6. Many 17th century buildings that are still in existence have been so ____ by successive owners that the original layout is no longer ____ .

A. preserved - visible
B. modified - apparent
C. decimated - enshrouded
D. salvaged - required
E. neglected - appropriate

7. Since ancient times sculpture has been considered the ____ of men; women sculptors have, until recently, consistently met with ____.

A. right - acceptance
B. domain - approbation
C. domicile - ridicule
D. realm - condolence
E. prerogative - opposition

8. ____ action at this time would be inadvisable; we have not yet accumulated sufficient expertise to warrant anything other than a ____ approach.

A. precipitate - cautious
B. hesitant - wary
C. vacillating - circuitous
D. decisive - firm
E. ponderous - direct

9. Many biologists have attempted to ____ the conditions on earth before life evolved in order to answer questions about the ____ of biological molecules.

A. mimic - fitness
B. standardize - shapes
C. replicate - reactions
D. simulate - origin
E. ameliorate - evolution

10. Harding was unable to ____ the results of the survey; although entirely unexpected, the figures were obtained by a market research firm with an ____ reputation.

A. accept - peerless
B. discount - impeccable
C. fault - mediocre
D. counter - unenviable
E. believe - fine

11. The quantum theory was initially regarded as absurd, unnatural and ____ with common sense.

A. consanguineous
B. discernible
C. incompatible
D. decipherable
E. consistent

12. Do not be fooled by her ____ manner; her superficial ____ belies her worldliness.

A. ingenuous - proficiency
B. worldly - simplicity
C. unsophisticated - naiveté
D. gregarious - isolation
E. off-hand - serious