Words in Context
The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest.
CECILY: Have we got to part?
ALGERNON: I am afraid so. It’s a very painful parting.
CECILY: It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable.
As used in the text, what does the word “endure” most nearly mean?
a. Regret
b. Persist
c. Tolerate
d. Encourage
C. Tolerate
A study by Dr. Paul Hanel and colleagues concluded that people are more likely to behave politely when listening to ideas they disagree with if they think about values before they engage in a discussion. Study participants were assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group spent a few minutes writing about one of their personal values before they had a group discussion on a controversial topic. And the control group spent a few minutes writing about a drink (tea, milk, etc.) before their group discussion on that topic. Hanel and colleagues found that the experimental group’s discussion was more civil than the control group’s discussion was.
Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?
A. To describe a widely held belief and how a study’s results support that belief
B. To argue that researchers were surprised by the results of a certain study
C. To suggest ways to improve a certain study’s experimental design
D. To explain a study’s conclusion and how a research team arrived at that conclusion
D. To explain a study’s conclusion and how a research team arrived at that conclusion
The practice of logging (cutting down trees for commercial and other uses) is often thought to be at odds with forestconservation (the work of preserving forests). However, a massive study in forest management and preservation spanning 700,000 hectares in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest calls that view into question. So far, results of the study suggest thatforest plots that have undergone limited logging (the careful removal of a controlled number of trees) may be more robustthan plots that haven’t been logged at all. These results, in turn, suggest that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. logging may be useful for maintaining healthy forests, provided it is limited.
B. other forest management strategies are more effective than limited logging.
C. as time passes, it will be difficult to know whether limited logging has any benefits.
D. the best way to support forest health may be to leave large forests entirely untouched.
A. logging may be useful for maintaining healthy forests, provided it is limited.
A common assumption among art historians is that the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth century displaced the painted portrait in the public consciousness. The diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature, which coincided with the rise of photography, seems to support this claim. However, photography’s impact on the portrait miniature may be overstated. Although records from art exhibitions in the Netherlands from 1820 to 1892 show a decrease in the number of both full-sized and miniature portraits submitted, this trend was established before the invention of photography.
Based on the text, what can be concluded about the diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature in the nineteenth century?
A. Factors other than the rise of photography may be more directly responsible for the decline of portrait miniatures.
B. Although portrait miniatures became less common than photographs, they were widely regarded as having more artistic merit.
C. The popularity of the portrait miniature likely persisted for longer than art historians have assumed.
D. As demand for portrait miniatures decreased, portrait artists likely shifted their creative focus to photography
A. Factors other than the rise of photography may be more directly responsible for the decline of portrait miniatures.
On April 5, 1977, Kitty Cone and 150 other disability rights activists entered a San Francisco federal building. After pleading for years—to no effect—for the passage of key antidiscrimination legislation, ______ until their demands were addressed. Finally, on April 28, the legislation was signed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. pressure on lawmakers increased when the activists staged a sit-in protest
B. a sit-in protest staged by the activists increased pressure on lawmakers
C. lawmakers came under increased pressure when the activists staged a sit-in protest
D. the activists increased pressure on lawmakers by staging a sit-in protest
D. the activists increased pressure on lawmakers by staging a sit-in protest
The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young man, is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship.
Day by day, the work assumed greater precision, and settled its irregular and misty outline into distinct grace and beauty. The general design was now obvious to the common eye.
As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?
A. Acquired
B. Acknowledged
C. Imitated
D. Speculated
A. Acquired
Early in the Great Migration of 1910–1970, which involved the mass migration of Black people from the southern to the northern United States, political activist and Chicago Defender writer Fannie Barrier Williams was instrumental in helping other Black women establish themselves in the North. Many women hoped for better employment opportunities in the North because, in the South, they faced much competition for domestic employment and men tended to get agricultural work. To aid with this transition, Barrier Williams helped secure job placement in the North for many women before they even began their journey.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To introduce and illustrate Barrier Williams’s integral role in supporting other Black women as their circumstances changed during part of the Great Migration.
B. To establish that Barrier Williams used her professional connections to arrange employment for other Black women, including jobs with the Chicago Defender
C. To demonstrate that the factors that motivated the start of the Great Migration were different for Black women than they were for Black men
C. To provide an overview of the employment challenges faced by Black women in the agricultural and domestic spheres in the southern United States
A. To introduce and illustrate Barrier Williams’s integral role in supporting other Black women as their circumstances changed during part of the Great Migration.
Some businesses believe that when employees are interrupted while doing their work, they experience a decrease in energy and productivity. However, a team led by Harshad Puranik, who studies management, has found that interruptions by colleagues can have a social component that increases employees’ sense of belonging, resulting in greater job satisfaction that benefits employees and employers. Therefore, businesses should recognize that _________
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. the interpersonal benefits of some interruptions in the workplace may offset the perceived negative effects.
B. in order to maximize productivity, employers should be willing to interrupt employees frequently throughout the day.
C. most employees avoid interrupting colleagues because they don’t appreciate being interrupted themselves.
D. in order to cultivate an ideal workplace environment, interruptions of work should be discouraged.
A. the interpersonal benefits of some interruptions in the workplace may offset the perceived negative effects.
Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve health, conceptual artists MadelineGins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A. Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.
B. Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.
C. As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins and Arakawa.
D. Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
D. Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
French philosopher René Descartes doubted whether he could prove his own existence. Eventually, he found proof in his famous phrase “I think, therefore I am.” The ______ complexity: only those who exist would be able to ponder their existence.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. phrases’ simplicity masks its
B. phrases simplicity masks their
C. phrase’s simplicity masks their
D. phrase’s simplicity masks its
D. phrase’s simplicity masks its
Some economic historians ______
that late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century households in the United States experienced an economy of scale when it came to food purchases—they assumed that large households spent less on food per person than did small households. Economist Trevon Logan showed, however, that a close look at the available data disproves this supposition.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. surmised
B. contrived
C. questioned
D. regretted
A. surmised
The field of study called affective neuroscience seeks instinctive, physiological causes for feelings such as pleasure or displeasure. Because these sensations are linked to a chemical component (for example, the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain when one receives or expects a reward), they can be said to have a partly physiological basis. These processes have been described in mammals, but Jingnan Huang and his colleagues have recently observed that some behaviors of honeybees (such as foraging) are also motivated by a dopamine-based signaling process.
What choice best describes the main purpose of the text?
A. It describes an experimental method of measuring the strength of physiological responses in humans.
B. It illustrates processes by which certain insects can express how they are feeling.
C. It summarizes a finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in mammalian brains.
D. It presents research showing that certain insects and mammals behave similarly when there is a possibility of a reward for their actions.
C. It summarizes a finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in mammalian brains.
Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus _______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. find the disruptions more irritating as time went on.
B. rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted.
C. rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted.
D. perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time.
B. rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted.
The most recent iteration of the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which premiered in New York City in 2011,transforms its performance space—a five-story warehouse—into a 1930s-era hotel. Audience members, who wander throughthe labyrinthine venue at their own pace and follow the actors as they play out simultaneous, interweaving narrative loops,confront the impossibility of experiencing the production in its entirety. The play’s refusal of narrative coherence thus hingeson the sense of spatial fragmentation that the venue’s immense and intricate layout generates.
What does the text most strongly suggest about Sleep No More’s use of its performance space?
A. The choice of a New York City venue likely enabled the play’s creators to experiment with the use of theatrical space in away that venues from earlier productions could not.
B. Audience members likely find the experience of the play disappointing because they generally cannot make their waythrough the entire venue.
C. The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.
D. Audience members who navigate the space according to a recommended itinerary will likely have a better grasp of the play’s narrative than audience members who depart from that itinerary.
C. The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.
American abstract artist Richard ______ his installations to make passersby keenly aware of how one’s movements are affected by the physical features of one’s environment, assembles large-scale steel plates into sculptures that dominate the outdoor spaces they occupy.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. Serra is intending
B. Serra, intends
C. Serra, intending
D. Serra intends
C. Serra, intending
During a 2014 archaeological dig in Spain, Vicente Lull and his team uncovered the skeleton of a woman from El Algar, an early Bronze Age society, buried with valuable objects signalling a high position of power. This finding may persuade researchers who have argued that Bronze Age societies were ruled by men to ______ that women may have also held leadership roles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. waive
B. concede
C. refute
D. require
B. Concede
“How lifelike are they?” Many computer animators prioritize this question as they strive to create ever more realistic environments and lighting. Generally, while characters in computer-animated films appear highly exaggerated, environments and lighting are carefully engineered to mimic reality. But some animators, such as Pixar’s Sanjay Patel, are focused on a different question. Rather than asking first whether the environments and lighting they’re creating are convincingly lifelike, Patel and others are asking whether these elements reflect their films’ unique stories.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a whole?
A. It reflects a primary goal that many computer animators have for certain components of the animations they produce.
B. It represents a concern of computer animators who are more interested in creating unique backgrounds and lighting effects than realistic ones.
C. It conveys the uncertainty among many computer animators about how to create realistic animations using current technology.
D. It illustrates a reaction that audiences typically have to the appearance of characters created by computer animators.
A. It reflects a primary goal that many computer animators have for certain components of the animations they produce.
Many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies address broad themes that still appeal to today’s audiences. For instance, Romeo and Juliet, which is set in the Italy of Shakespeare’s time, tackles the themes of parents versus children and love versus hate, and the play continues to be read and produced widely around the world. But understanding Shakespeare’s so-called history plays can require a knowledge of several centuries of English history. Consequently, ________
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. many theatergoers and readers today are likely to find Shakespeare’s history plays less engaging than the tragedies.
B. some of Shakespeare’s tragedies are more relevant to today’s audiences than twentieth-century plays.
C. Romeo and Juliet is the most thematically accessible of all Shakespeare’s tragedies.
D. experts in English history tend to prefer Shakespeare’s history plays to his other works.
A. many theatergoers and readers today are likely to find Shakespeare’s history plays less engaging than the tragedies.
To understand how temperature change affects microorganism-mediated cycling of soil nutrients in alpine ecosystems, EvaKaštovská et al. collected plant-soil cores in the Tatra Mountains at elevations around 2,100 meters and transplanted them to elevations of 1,700–1,800 meters, where the mean air temperature was warmer by 2°C. Microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling was accelerated in the transplanted cores; crucially, microorganism community composition was unchanged, allowing Kaštovská et al. to attribute the acceleration to temperature-induced increases in microorganism activity.
It can most reasonably be inferred from the text that the finding about the microorganism community composition was important for which reason?
A. It provided preliminary evidence that microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling was accelerated in the transplanted cores.
B. It suggested that temperature-induced changes in microorganism activity may be occurring at increasingly high elevations.
C. It ruled out a potential alternative explanation for the acceleration in microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling.
D. It clarified that microorganism activity levels in the plant-soil cores varied depending on which microorganisms comprised the community.
C. It ruled out a potential alternative explanation for the acceleration in microorganism-mediated nutrient cycling.
Entomologists Yash Sondhi and Samuel Fabian have tried to explain why moths fly erratically around light sources at night. Knowing that flying insects keep their backs pointed toward sunlight during the day, _______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. the researchers theorize that moths, mistaking nighttime lights for the Sun, continually try to reorient their bodies while flying near such lights.
B. the researchers’ theory is that moths mistake nighttime lights for the Sun, continually trying to reorient their bodies while flying near such lights.
C. moths mistake nighttime lights for the Sun and continually try to reorient their bodies while flying near such lights, the researchers theorize.
D. moths continually try to reorient their bodies while flying near nighttime lights, the researchers theorize, mistaking such lights for the Sun.
A. the researchers theorize that moths, mistaking nighttime lights for the Sun, continually try to reorient their bodies while flying near such lights.
Seminole/Muscogee director Sterlin Harjo ______television’s tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past: this rejection is evident in his series Reservation Dogs, which revolves around teenagers who dress in contemporary styles and whose dialogue is laced with current slang.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. repudiates
B. proclaims
C. foretells
D. recants
A. repudiates
Studying late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artifacts from an agricultural and domestic site in Texas, archaeologist Ayana O. Flewellen found that Black women employed as farm workers utilized hook-and-eye closures to fasten their clothes at the waist, giving themselves a silhouette similar to the one that was popular in contemporary fashion and typically achieved through more restrictive garments such as corsets. Flewellen argues that this sartorial practice shows that these women balanced hegemonic ideals of femininity with the requirements of their physically demanding occupation.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To describe an unexpected discovery that altered a researcher’s view of how rapidly fashions among Black workers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas changed during the period
B. To discuss research that investigated the ways in which Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas used fashion practices to resist traditional gender ideals
C. To evaluate a scholarly work that offers explanations for the impact of urban fashion ideals on Black female workers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
D. To summarize the findings of a study that explored factors influencing a fashion practice among Black workers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
D. To summarize the findings of a study that explored factors influencing a fashion practice among Black workers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ___________
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census.
B. some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morribut treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.
C. Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were.
D. the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species.
B. some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morribut treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.
Having written the impassioned call to arms “Letter to the Spanish Americans” in 1791, Peruvian intellectual Juan PabloViscardo y Guzmán is often considered a forerunner for the independence movements in Latin America. But Viscardo’s role in history would have remained insignificant were it not for Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, who was handed the unpublished letter after Viscardo’s death. Miranda not only helped circulate the letter, but his edits and footnotes to the text position Miranda as a central figure in the text’s creation.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A. The original authorship of “Letter to the Spanish Americans” is disputed by contemporary historians.
B. The majority of the most eloquently stated arguments in “Letter to the Spanish Americans” were written by Miranda.
C. Miranda played a crucial role in influencing the content and distribution of “Letter to the Spanish Americans.”
D. “Letter to the Spanish Americans” persuaded many people in Latin America to pursue national independence.
C. Miranda played a crucial role in influencing the content and distribution of “Letter to the Spanish Americans.”
During the American Civil War, Thomas Morris Chester braved the front lines as a war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press. Amplifying the voices and experiences of Black soldiers ______ of particular importance to Chester, who later became an activist and lawyer during the postwar Reconstruction period.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. were
B. have been
C. are
D. was
D. was