Punctilious Punctuation
Sociologist Alton Okinaka sits on the review board tasked with adding new sites to the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places, which includes Pi‘ilanihale Heiau and the ‘Ōpaeka‘a Road Bridge. Okinaka doesn’t make such decisions _______ all historical designations must be approved by a group of nine other experts from the fields of architecture, archaeology, history, and Hawaiian culture.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) single-handedly, however;
B) single-handedly; however,
C) single-handedly, however,
D) single-handedly however
A) single-handedly, however;
Like other amphibians, the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is unable to generate its own heat, so during periods of subfreezing temperatures, it _______ by producing large amounts of glucose, a sugar that helps prevent damaging ice from forming inside its cells. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) had survived
B) survived
C) would survive
D) survives
C) would survive
Despite facing significant adversity throughout her career, she remained determined and ultimately achieved her dreams.
Which word is closest to adversity based on its use in this context?
A) Success
B) Hardship
C) Fortune
D) Substandard
B) Hardship
The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in boulders, OSIRIS-REx successfully _______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to Earth. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) attached
B) collected
C) followed
D) replaced
B) Collected
What is the largest company in the world by market cap?
Apple
Seneca sculptor Marie Watt’s blanket art comes in a range of shapes and sizes. In 2004, Watt sewed strips of blankets together to craft a 10-by-13-inch _______ in 2014, she arranged folded blankets into two large stacks and then cast them in bronze, creating two curving 18-foot-tall blue-bronze pillars.
A) sampler later,
B) sampler;
C) sampler,
D) sampler, later,
B) sampler;
BONUS 50: why is this the right answer?
Literary agents estimate that more than half of all nonfiction books credited to a celebrity or other public figure are in fact written by ghostwriters, professional authors who are paid to write other _______ but whose names never appear on book covers.
A) people’s stories
B) peoples story’s
C) peoples stories
D) people’s story’s
A) people’s stories
The arid landscape stretched for miles, with dry, cracked earth and few signs of vegetation.
Which word is closest to arid based on its use in this context?
A) Parched
B) Hot
C) Tropical
D) Vast
A) Parched
It is by no means _______ to recognize the influence of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch on Ali Banisadr’s paintings; indeed, Banisadr himself cites Bosch as an inspiration. However, some scholars have suggested that the ancient Mesopotamian poem Epic of Gilgamesh may have had a far greater impact on Banisadr’s work. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) substantial
B) satisfying
C) unimportant
D) appropriate
C) unimportant
Who is commonly referred to as the person who created the first printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg
In 2010, archaeologist Noel Hidalgo Tan was visiting the twelfth-century temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia when he noticed markings of red paint on the temple _______ the help of digital imaging techniques, he discovered the markings to be part of an elaborate mural containing over 200 paintings. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) walls, with
B) walls with
C) walls so with
D) walls. With
D) walls. With
BONUS 50: Why is this the correct answer?
In many of her landscape paintings from the 1970s and 1980s, Lebanese American artist Etel Adnan worked to capture the essence of California’s fog-shrouded Mount Tamalpais region through abstraction, using splotches of color to represent the area’s features. Interestingly, the triangle representing the mountain itself _______ among the few defined figures in her paintings.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) are
B) have been
C) were
D) is
D) is
The film's use of modern slang in a medieval setting felt anachronistic and pulled viewers out of the story.
What word below is closest to anachronistic based on the context?
A) Uncharacteristic
B) Chronologically misplaced
C) Lazily added
D) Out of date
B) Chronologically misplaced
The following text is from the 1923 poem “Black Finger” by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a type of evergreen tree. I have just seen a most beautiful thing, Slim and still, Against a gold, gold sky, A straight black cypress, Sensitive, Exquisite, A black finger Pointing upwards. Why, beautiful still finger, are you black? And why are you pointing upwards? Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) The speaker assesses a natural phenomenon, then questions the accuracy of her assessment.
B) The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning to attribute to that sight.
C) The speaker presents an outdoor scene, then considers a human behavior occurring within that scene.
D) The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on her emotional state.
B) The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning to attribute to that sight.
From what group of people is the origin of the term "slave" derived?
Slavic people of Eastern Europe
In her two major series “Memory Test” and “Autobiography,” painter Howardena Pindell explored themes _______ healing, self-discovery, and memory by cutting and sewing back together pieces of canvas and inserting personal artifacts, such as postcards, into some of the paintings.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) of
B) of,
C) of—
D) of:
A) of
In his groundbreaking book Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, Vivek Bald uses newspaper articles, census records, ships’ logs, and memoirs to tell the _______ who made New York City their home in the early twentieth century.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) story’s of the South Asian immigrants
B) story’s of the South Asian immigrants’
C) stories of the South Asian immigrants
D) stories’ of the South Asian immigrant’s
C) stories of the South Asian immigrants
His brusque manner made it clear he preferred getting straight to the point rather than engaging in small talk.
What word below is closest to brusque based on the context?
A) Long-winded
B) Blunt
C) Verbose
D) Concise
B) Blunt
King Lear is a circa 1606 play by William Shakespeare. In the play, the character of King Lear attempts to test his three daughters’ devotion to him. He later expresses regret for his actions, as is evident when he _______ Which choice most effectively uses a quotation from King Lear to illustrate the claim?
A) says of himself, “I am a man / more sinned against than sinning.”
B) says during a growing storm, “This tempest will not give me leave to ponder / On things would hurt me more.”
C) says to himself while striking his head, “Beat at this gate that let thy folly in / And thy dear judgement out!”
D) says of himself, “I will do such things— / What they are yet, I know not; but they shall be / The terrors of the earth!”
C) says to himself while striking his head, “Beat at this gate that let thy folly in / And thy dear judgement out!”
What song remained the longest on the Billboard Hot 100 for the longest consecutive streak?
Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (19 weeks)
The Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden in Norway and the Jardim Botânico of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are two of many botanical gardens around the world dedicated to growing diverse plant _______ fostering scientific research; and educating the public about plant conservation.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) species, both native and nonnative,
B) species, both native and nonnative;
C) species; both native and nonnative,
D) species both native and nonnative,
B) species, both native and nonnative;
BONUS 50: Why is this the correct answer?
In 2016, engineer Vanessa Galvez oversaw the installation of 164 bioswales, vegetated channels designed to absorb and divert stormwater, along the streets of Queens, New York. By reducing the runoff flowing into city sewers, _______.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) the mitigation of both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways has been achieved by bioswales.
B) the bioswales have mitigated both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways.
C) the bioswales’ mitigation of both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways has been achieved.
D) both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways have been mitigated by bioswales.
B) the bioswales have mitigated both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways.
The beauty of the sunset was ephemeral, lasting only a few moments before the colors faded into darkness.
What word below is closest to ephemeral based on the context?
A) Fleeting
B) Breathtaking
C) Memorable
D) Splendid
A) Fleeting
“The Young Girl” is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. In the story, the narrator takes an unnamed seventeen-year-old girl and her younger brother out for a meal. In describing the teenager, Mansfield frequently contrasts the character’s pleasant appearance with her unpleasant attitude, as when Mansfield writes of the teenager, _______ Which quotation from “The Young Girl” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A) “I heard her murmur, ‘I can’t bear flowers on a table.’ They had evidently been giving her intense pain, for she positively closed her eyes as I moved them away.”
B) “While we waited she took out a little, gold powder-box with a mirror in the lid, shook the poor little puff as though she loathed it, and dabbed her lovely nose.”
C) “I saw, after that, she couldn’t stand this place a moment longer, and, indeed, she jumped up and turned away while I went through the vulgar act of paying for the tea.”
D) “She didn’t even take her gloves off. She lowered her eyes and drummed on the table. When a faint violin sounded she winced and bit her lip again. Silence.”
B) “While we waited she took out a little, gold powder-box with a mirror in the lid, shook the poor little puff as though she loathed it, and dabbed her lovely nose.”
In what decade was the first electric car created?
1830s (1839). The internal combustion engine wasn't popularized until the late 1800s to early 1900s