Words In Context
A musician and member of the Quechua of Peru, Renata Flores Rivera was eager to promote the Quechua language in her music, but she was ______ speaking it. She met this challenge by asking her grandmother, a native speaker of Quechua, to help her pronounce words in her song lyrics and also by taking classes in the language.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
prepared for
inexperienced with
skilled in
excited about
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Renata Flores Rivera’s use of Quechua in her music. In this context, “inexperienced with” means not accustomed to. The text indicates that Flores Rivera wanted to promote the Quechua language in her music and overcame a challenge by seeking help with pronunciation from her grandmother and by taking language classes. This context conveys the idea that Flores Rivera was not sufficiently familiar with Quechua to use it in her music without help. Thus, she was inexperienced with speaking the language, which she addressed by seeking help.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a prominent classical music composer from England who toured the US three times in the early 1900s. The child of a West African father and an English mother, Coleridge-Taylor emphasized his mixed-race ancestry. For example, he referred to himself as Anglo-African. ______blank he incorporated the sounds of traditional African music into his classical music compositions.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
In addition,
Actually,
However,
Regardless,
Choice A is the best answer. “In addition” logically signals that the detail in this sentence—that Coleridge-Taylor included traditional African music in his classical compositions—adds to the information in the previous sentence. Specifically, the previous sentence indicates one way in which Coleridge-Taylor emphasized his mixed-race ancestry, and the claim that follows indicates a second, additional way.
“To You” is an 1856 poem by Walt Whitman. In the poem, Whitman suggests that readers, whom he addresses directly, have not fully understood themselves, writing, ______blank
Which quotation from “To You” most effectively illustrates the claim?
“You have not known what you are, you have slumber’d upon yourself / all your life, / Your eyelids have been the same as closed most of the time.”
“These immense meadows, these interminable rivers, you are immense / and interminable as they.”
“I should have made my way straight to you long ago, / I should have blabb’d nothing but you, I should have chanted nothing / but you.”
“I will leave all and come and make the hymns of you, / None has understood you, but I understand you.”
Choice A is the best answer because it presents the quotation that most directly illustrates the claim that Whitman’s poem suggests that its readers haven’t fully understood themselves. This quotation makes that point directly by saying to readers, “You have not known what you are.” The quotation goes on to reinforce this point using a metaphor of sleep, saying that readers have “slumber’d” and that their “eyelids have been the same as closed most of the time.”
Organic farming is a method of growing food that tries to reduce environmental harm by using natural forms of pest control and avoiding fertilizers made with synthetic materials. Organic farms are still a small fraction of the total farms in the United States, but they have been becoming more popular. According to the US Department of Agriculture, in 2016 California had between 2,600 and 2,800 organic farms and ______blank
Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the text?
Washington had between 600 and 800 organic farms.
New York had fewer than 800 organic farms.
Wisconsin and Iowa each had between 1,200 and 1,400 organic farms.
Pennsylvania had more than 1,200 organic farms.
Choice A is the best answer because it uses data from the graph to accurately complete the text. The graph shows the number of organic farms located in each of six US states in 2016: between 2,600 and 2,800 in California; between 1,200 and 1,400 in Wisconsin; between 1,000 and 1,200 in New York; approximately 800 in Pennsylvania; and between 600 and 800 in both Iowa and Washington. The last sentence of the text provides information about the number of organic farms in 2016, first describing the number in California. The best completion of the sentence is the choice that accurately describes the number of organic farms in 2016 in another state, which the assertion that Washington had between 600 and 800 organic farms provides.
The following text is from Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi. The narrator’s family owned a zoo when he was a child.
It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to get smaller as I grew older, train included.
As used in the text, what does the word “spread” most nearly mean?
Hidden
Discussed
Extended
Coated
Choice C is the best answer because as used in the text, “spread” most nearly means extended. The text states that the zoo is “huge,” that it covers “numberless acres,” and that it is large enough that a train is needed to explore it. Thus, the text’s emphasis on the zoo’s size suggests that the zoo extended, or stretched, over a large area of land.
In 1968, US Congressman John Conyers introduced a bill to establish a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The bill didn’t make it to a vote, but Conyers was determined. He teamed up with Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress, and they resubmitted the bill every session for the next fifteen years. ______blank in 1983, the bill passed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Instead,
Likewise,
Finally,
Additionally,
Choice C is the best answer. “Finally” logically signals that the bill passing—following many attempts between 1968 and 1983—is the final, concluding event in the sequence described in the previous sentences.
O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by Willa Cather. In the novel, Cather portrays Alexandra Bergson as having a deep emotional connection to her natural surroundings: ______blank
Which quotation from O Pioneers! most effectively illustrates the claim?
“She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.”
“Alexandra talked to the men about their crops and to the women about their poultry. She spent a whole day with one young farmer who had been away at school, and who was experimenting with a new kind of clover hay. She learned a great deal.”
“Alexandra drove off alone. The rattle of her wagon was lost in the howling of the wind, but her lantern, held firmly between her feet, made a moving point of light along the highway, going deeper and deeper into the dark country.”
“It was Alexandra who read the papers and followed the markets, and who learned by the mistakes of their neighbors. It was Alexandra who could always tell about what it had cost to fatten each steer, and who could guess the weight of a hog before it went on the scales closer than John Bergson [her father] himself.”
Choice A is the best answer because it presents the quotation that most directly illustrates the claim that Cather portrays Alexandra as having a deep emotional connection to her natural surroundings. This quotation states that the country meant a great deal to Alexandra and then goes on to detail several ways in which her natural surroundings affect her emotionally: the insects sound like “the sweetest music,” she feels as though “her heart were hiding” in the grass “with the quail and the plover,” and near the ridges she feels “the future stirring.”
Digital paywalls restrict access to online content to those with a paid subscription. In an investigation of the effect of paywalls on newspaper company revenues for print and digital subscriptions and advertising, Doug J. Chung and colleagues compared actual outcomes (with a paywall) to control estimates (without a paywall). The researchers concluded that introducing a paywall is generally more beneficial for larger newspapers, which have high circulation and tend to offer a substantial amount of unique online content.
Which choice best describes data from the table that support Chung and colleagues’ conclusion?
The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times had similar total revenue changes, but the Los Angeles Times had a smaller percentage change.
The Los Angeles Times had a 12.5% revenue change, while the Chicago Tribune had a 19% revenue change.
The New York Times had a 20% revenue change, while the Denver Post had a −1%negative 1% revenue change.
The Denver Post had only a −1%negative 1% revenue change, which was the smallest percentage change of the selected companies.
Choice C is the best answer. The conclusion is that paywalls are more beneficial for large newspapers. This data supports that conclusion by comparing the revenue increase of a large newspaper to the revenue decrease of a small newspaper.
Although science fiction was dominated mostly by white male authors when Octavia Butler, a Black woman, began writing, she did not view the genre as ______blank: Butler broke into the field with the publication of several short stories and her 1976 novel Patternmaster, and she later became the first science fiction writer to win a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
legitimate
impenetrable
compelling
indecipherable
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the discussion of Octavia Butler’s career. In this context, “impenetrable” means impossible to enter. The text indicates that the field of science fiction was dominated by white males when Butler, a Black woman, started writing, but she published several science fiction short stories and a novel and later won a prestigious award; that is, Butler pursued science fiction writing and had success. This context suggests that Butler didn’t view the genre as impossible to enter.
In 1873, Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal observed that brain fibers have distinct boundaries with clear end points, a finding that went against earlier assumptions about the brain. ______blank scientists had assumed that the brain was a continuous web of fused fibers, not a vast network of distinct, individual cells.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
However,
Previously,
As a result,
Likewise,
Choice B is the best answer. “Previously” logically signals that the fused fiber theory came before Ramón y Cajal’s discovery.
Accomplished printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) used her art to explore the Black experience in the United States. In a paper for an art history class, a student claims that Catlett had a particular talent for unifying various artistic traditions and styles in her work.
Which quotation from a scholar describing Catlett’s work would best support the student’s claim?
“In Mother and Child, a sculpture of two Black figures, Catlett used an ancient Indigenous sculpting technique and combined the visual aesthetic of modern Mexican muralists with that of German artist Kathe Kollwitz.”
“In her collage New Generation, Catlett overlaid fabric onto the canvas to represent the clothing of a father and his toddler, positioned to evoke classic images of a mother and child.”
“Created in 1968, Catlett’s sculpture Black Unity, a stylized fist sculpted from mahogany and measuring two feet across, remains an important piece and has received renewed and well-deserved attention in recent years.”
“One series of Catlett’s prints, made by the artist using the linoleum cut method, depicts several notable African American women, including Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.”
Choice A is the best answer because it presents a quotation about Elizabeth Catlett that supports the student’s claim that this artist had a talent for unifying various traditions and styles in her work. The quotation explains that to create the work, Catlett combined Indigenous sculpture with the visual aesthetic of modern muralists from Mexico as well as that of German artist Kathe Kollwitz. In other words, Catlett was able to unify several artistic traditions and styles within a single sculpture.
In a survey of public perceptions of energy use, researcher Shahzeen Attari and her team asked respondents to name the most effective action ordinary people can take to conserve energy. The team categorized each action as either an efficiency or a curtailment and found that respondents tended to name curtailments more often than they did efficiencies. For example, 19.6% of respondents stated that the most effective way to conserve energy is to turn off the lights, while only ______blank
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the text?
6.3% of respondents said it was most effective to use efficient cars or hybrids.
2.8% of respondents said it was most effective to change the thermostat setting.
12.9% of respondents said it was most effective to use a bike or public transportation.
3.6% of respondents said it was most effective to use efficient light bulbs.
Choice D is the best answer because it most effectively uses data from the table to complete the text’s discussion of Attari and her team’s survey results. The text states that the team asked respondents to identify the most effective action people can take to save energy, with the team classifying each action as either an efficiency or a curtailment. According to the text, respondents named curtailments more often than they did efficiencies. The text then offers an example that begins by citing a curtailment, turning off the lights, that was selected by a relatively high percentage of respondents (19.6%). Given that the example is presented in support of the idea that more respondents selected curtailments than efficiencies, the most effective way to complete the example is by citing an efficiency, using efficient light bulbs, that was selected by a relatively low percentage of respondents (only 3.6%).
The work of molecular biophysicist Enrique M. De La Cruz is known for ______blank traditional boundaries between academic disciplines. The university laboratory that De La Cruz runs includes engineers, biologists, chemists, and physicists, and the research the lab produces makes use of insights and techniques from all those fields.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
epitomizing
transcending
anticipating
reinforcing
Choice B is the best answer. Based on the text, we’re looking for a word that means something similar to "mak[ing] use of insights and techniques from all those fields." "Transcending" means "going beyond," so "transcending traditional boundaries" would mean crossing into all those various fields of research, which is exactly the meaning we want.
Before California’s 1911 election to approve a proposition granting women the right to vote, activists across the state sold tea to promote the cause of suffrage. In San Francisco, the Woman’s Suffrage Party sold Equality Tea at local fairs. ______blank in Los Angeles, activist Nancy Tuttle Craig, who ran one of California’s largest grocery store firms, distributed Votes for Women Tea.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For example,
To conclude,
Similarly,
In other words,
Choice C is the best answer. “Similarly” logically signals that the activity described in this sentence (Nancy Tuttle Craig distributing Votes for Women Tea in her Los Angeles grocery stores) is like the activity described in the previous sentence (the Woman’s Suffrage Party selling Equality Tea at fairs in San Francisco). Together, the two examples support the preceding claim that “activists across the state sold tea to promote the cause of suffrage.”
A student is examining a long, challenging poem that was initially published in a quarterly journal without explanatory notes, then later republished in a stand-alone volume containing only that poem and accompanying explanatory notes written by the poet. The student asserts that the explanatory notes were included in the republication primarily as a marketing device to help sell the stand-alone volume.
Which statement, if true, would most directly support the student’s claim?
The text of the poem as published in the quarterly journal is not identical to the text of the poem published in the stand-alone volume.
Many critics believe that the poet’s explanatory notes remove certain ambiguities of the poem and make it less interesting as a result.
The publishers of the stand-alone volume requested the explanatory notes from the poet in order to make the book attractive to readers who already had a copy of the poem in a journal issue.
Correspondence between the poet and the publisher reveals that the poet’s explanatory notes went through several drafts.
Choice C is the best answer because it would most directly support the student’s claim about the motivation for including explanatory notes with the stand-alone volume of the poem. The text explains that the poem had previously been published without the notes in a quarterly journal. It stands to reason that readers who had purchased the journal issue containing the poem would be unlikely to purchase an unchanged version of the poem in a stand-alone volume. However, the inclusion of notes in that volume would encourage the purchase of a stand-alone volume, since the later text would differ from the original by including the author’s own explanation of the poem. Therefore, if it were true that the publishers of the stand-alone volume had requested the notes to make the book attractive to readers who already had a copy of the journal issue, this fact would support the student’s claim that the notes were included primarily as a marketing device.
Gabrielle Adams and colleagues reviewed suggestions for improving a university that had been submitted to the university’s president. They coded each suggestion as additive (the idea suggested adding something new to the university), subtractive (the idea suggested removing something from the university), neither additive nor subtractive, or invalid (the idea was not comprehensible). The data illustrated people’s tendency to overlook the possibility of removing things to achieve improvements: ______blank
Which choice most effectively uses data in the graph to complete the statement?
around 175 suggestions were coded as neither additive nor subtractive, whereas around 575 suggestions were coded as additive.
more than 350 suggestions were coded as invalid, whereas fewer than 100 suggestions were coded as subtractive.
fewer than 100 suggestions were coded as subtractive, whereas more than 550 suggestions were coded as additive.
around 575 suggestions were coded as additive, whereas around 175 suggestions were coded as subtractive.
Choice C is the best answer. This choice shows that people suggested removing things to achieve improvements a lot less often than they suggested adding things, which supports the claim that people tend not to think of removing things as a likely way to improve the university.
In studying the use of external stimuli to reduce the itching sensation caused by an allergic histamine response, Louise Ward and colleagues found that while harmless applications of vibration or warming can provide a temporary distraction, such ______blank stimuli actually offer less relief than a stimulus that seems less benign, like a mild electric shock.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
deceptive
innocuous
novel
impractical
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Ward and colleagues’ findings. As used in this context, “innocuous” means mild or unharmful. The text describes the vibration and warming that Ward and colleagues used to alleviate itching as “harmless applications” and goes on to contrast these applications with another stimulus that actually offers more relief even though it seems to be stronger and “less benign.” This context conveys the idea that vibration and warming were innocuous stimuli.
When one looks at the dark craggy vistas in Hitoshi Fugo’s evocative photo series, one’s mind might wander off to the cratered surfaces of faraway planets. ______blank it’s the series’ title, Flying Frying Pan, that brings one back to Earth, reminding the viewer that each photo is actually a close-up view of a familiar household object: a frying pan.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Consequently,
Alternatively,
Ultimately,
Additionally,
Choice C is the best answer. The first sentence describes an experience that the viewer has when they’re looking at the photos: they imagine other planets. This sentence describes an experience that the viewer has afterward: the title reminds them that the photos are of frying pans, bringing them back to reality. “Ultimately” is a transition that means “eventually” or “in the end,” so it fits the context perfectly.
In 1534 CE, King Henry VIII of England split with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church of England, in part because Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Two years later, Henry VIII introduced a policy titled the Dissolution of the Monasteries that by 1540 had resulted in the closure of all Catholic monasteries in England and the confiscation of their estates. Some historians assert that the enactment of the policy was primarily motivated by perceived financial opportunities.
Which quotation from a scholarly article best supports the assertion of the historians mentioned in the text?
“At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, about 2 percent of the adult male population of England were monks; by 1690, the proportion of the adult male population who were monks was less than 1 percent.”
“A contemporary description of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Michael Sherbrook’s Falle of the Religious Howses, recounts witness testimony that monks were allowed to keep the contents of their cells and that the monastery timber was purchased by local yeomen.”
“In 1535, the year before enacting the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry commissioned a survey of the value of church holdings in England—the work, performed by sheriffs, bishops, and magistrates, began that January and was swiftly completed by the summer.”
“The October 1536 revolt known as the Pilgrimage of Grace had several economic motives: high food prices due to a poor harvest the prior year; the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which closed reliable sources of food and shelter for many; and rents and taxes throughout Northern England that were not merely high but predatory.”
Choice C is the best answer. The fact that Henry VIII commissioned a survey of church holdings just before enacting the Dissolution of the Monasteries suggests that he was interested in the potential profits from claiming their assets. This supports the historians’ assertion.
Ecologist Veronika Bókony and colleagues investigated within-species competition among common toads (Bufo bufo), a species that secretes various unpleasant-tasting toxins called bufadienolides in response to threats. The researchers tested B. bufo tadpoles’ responses to different levels of competition by creating ponds with different tadpole population densities but a fixed amount of food. Based on analysis of the tadpoles after three weeks, the researchers concluded that increased competition drove bufadienolide production at the expense of growth.
Which choice uses data from the table to most effectively support the researchers’ conclusion?
The difference in average tadpole body mass was small between the low and medium population density conditions and substantially larger between the low and high population density conditions.
Tadpoles in the low and medium population density conditions had substantially lower average bufadienolide concentrations but had greater average body masses than those in the high population density condition.
Tadpoles in the high population density condition displayed a relatively modest increase in the average amount of bufadienolide but roughly double the average bufadienolide concentration compared to those in the low population density condition.
Tadpoles produced approximately the same number of different bufadienolide toxins per individual across the population density conditions, but average tadpole body mass decreased as population density increased.
Choice B is the best answer. This data shows that the tadpoles in the high-density pond (meaning those with the most competition) didn’t grow as big as the other two groups but produced more bufadienolide.