Grammar Grand Prix
When a fire burns red or green or blue, the color of its flames ______ the chemical composition of the combustible material.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Choose 1 answer:
A: indicate
B: indicates
C: have indicated
D: are indicating
Researchers wanted to study how consumers’ reactions to an ad may be affected by other ads. The researchers began by showing study participants an ad for a product, with some seeing a less detailed ad and others seeing a more detailed one. Then, all participants viewed the same second ad for a store and shared their opinion of the store based on this second ad. Participants who had first seen an ad less detailed than the second ad had a higher opinion of the store than the participants who had first seen a more detailed ad. The researchers concluded that reactions to an ad may be affected by ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A: the amount of detail viewed in previous ads.
B: the time of day that the ad is viewed.
C: the length of time viewing previous ads.
D: the number of people who viewed the ad.
A is the best choice. The passage tells us that participants who had seen a less detailed ad for a product beforehand had a higher opinion of the store than those who had seen a more detailed ad. This suggests that reactions to an ad may be affected by the amount of detail viewed in previous ads.
Text 1:
Crop rotation is a vital practice for sustainable agriculture. By rotating different crops in and out of a given field, farmers can avoid depleting the soil of essential nutrients. Crop rotation also prevents pests and diseases from becoming established in one area, which minimizes the need for harmful pesticides. While it may take a bit more planning and effort, the long-term benefits of crop rotation are clear.
Text 2:
While the environmental and agricultural benefits of crop rotation are well-documented, increasing the practice is unfortunately not a simple fix. Farmers often face market constraints that make it impractical to rotate crops regularly. For example, they may have contracts to produce a certain amount of a particular crop, or they may find that only one or two crops are profitable enough to sustain their farm. Thus, urging farmers to rotate crops more frequently is often easier said than done.
Based on the texts, the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement?
A: Crop rotation has well-established environmental and agricultural benefits.
B: Market constraints make crop rotation impractical for many farmers.
C: The reduction of pesticide use in agriculture is beneficial for consumers.
D: Farms are more likely to fail commercially if they employ crop rotation.
A is the best choice. Text 1 states that crop rotation is a "vital practice" for sustainability, and Text 2 acknowledges that the "environmental and agricultural benefits of crop rotation are well-documented", even as it points out the challenges to implementing the practice. So both authors agree: crop rotation is beneficial for the environment and for agriculture.
The Appalachian Trail is a hiking path in the eastern United States. Much of the 2,000 mile trail passes through wilderness areas. In order to ______ those areas, the United States Congress passed the National Trails System Act in 1968, ensuring that the trail would not be sold or commercially developed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A: protect
B: borrow
C: postpone
D:decorate
A is the best choice. “Protecting” means “preserving” or “keeping safe from”. By ensuring that the wilderness areas along the Appalachian Trail can’t be sold or developed, the National Trails System Act protects them.
Occupying a significant part of modern-day Nigeria, the Kingdom of Benin was one of the major powers in West Africa between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. It ______ ruled by Oba Ewuare I from 1440 to 1473.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A: will be
B: is
C: was
D: has been
C is the best choice. We are talking about Oba Ewuare I ruling from 1440 to 1473—an action that began and ended in the past. So the simple past tense “was” fits the logic of the text.
Labor unions are formed in order to protect ______ through collective bargaining, which gives employees greater leverage while ensuring they are treated equally by management.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A: workers' rights
B: worker's rights
C: workers rights'
D: workers' rights'
A is the best choice. The plural possessive noun “workers'” is used correctly to indicate that the plural “rights” belong to the workers.
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: As demand for portrait miniatures decreased, portrait artists likely shifted their creative focus to photography.
B: The popularity of the portrait miniature likely persisted for longer than art historians have assumed.
C: Although portrait miniatures became less common than photographs, they were widely regarded as having more artistic merit.
D: Factors other than the rise of photography may be more directly responsible for the portrait miniature’s decline.
D is the best choice. The text says that the impact of photography on the portrait miniature might be “overstated”, as some records show a decrease in the number of portrait miniatures before the invention of photography. From this, we can conclude that factors other than the rise of photography may be more directly responsible for the portrait miniature’s decline.
In the 1850s, William Still was instrumental in helping nearly 1,000 people escape from slavery, earning him the moniker “the Father of the Underground Railroad.” ______ despite the fame of his contributions during his lifetime, Still is discussed far less today than other prominent Black abolitionists from his era, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A: Similarly,
B: Specifically,
C: For Example
D: However
D is the best choice. “However” is used to indicate a contrast between two ideas. The first sentence describes how Still used to be famous. This sentence describes how Still is not very famous today, so the transition “however” fits perfectly.
Dance choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar aims to give people the opportunity to be ______ her creative process. For example, live performances of her dance HairStories, which debuted in 2001, featured videos of people across the United States talking about their hair and audience members sharing pictures of their interesting hairstyles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Choose 1 answer:
A: involved in
B: nervous about
C: delayed by
D: completed by
A is the best choice. “Involved in” means “playing an active role in”. This fits the context clues describing how Zollar includes the audience in her shows by incorporating their stories and pictures.
Some whale species practice lunge feeding, in which they lunge toward prey with their mouths open at wide angles, collect the prey and the surrounding water, and then filter out the water through baleen plates in their mouths. Although the volume of water engulfed increases with whales’ body length, the surface area of whales’ baleen plates, which influences the rate at which water can be filtered, does not increase with body length to the same degree, which helps explain why ______
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?
A: minke whales and humpback whales show similar average filter times.
B: blue whales show the longest average filter time and the highest average number of lunges per dive.
C: humpback whales show an average of 6.28 lunges per dive.
D: fin whales show a longer average filter time than minke whales do.
D is the best choice. To support the claim, we need to show that longer whales take more time to filter all the water they engulf than shorter whales do. This choice accurately reflects that a longer whale (the fin whale) takes more time to filter engulfed water (31.30 seconds on average) compared to a shorter whale (the minke whale, which only took 8.88 seconds on average).
Rabinal Achí is a precolonial Maya dance drama performed annually in Rabinal, a town in the Guatemalan highlands. Based on events that occurred when Rabinal was a city-state ruled by a king, ______ had once been an ally of the king but was later captured while leading an invading force against him.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A: Rabinal Achí tells the story of K’iche’ Achí, a military leader who
B: K’iche’ Achí, the military leader in the story of Rabinal Achí
C: there was a military leader, K’iche’ Achí, who in Rabinal Achí
D: the military leader whose story is told in Rabinal Achí, K’iche’ Achí
A is the best choice. The dance drama Rabinal Achí is what is "based on events". This appropriately places that subject directly after the modifying phrase.
Archaeologists have been debating the origin of a rare form of lead found in Shang dynasty (1766–1046 BCE) bronze artifacts since its presence was discovered in China in the 1990s. Different researchers have proposed theories on which regions of the world would have had the raw materials containing the specific lead in these artifacts, but no conclusive evidence has been presented. What is intriguing is that bronze artifacts from China dated after the Shang dynasty do not contain this form of lead, suggesting that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A: Bronze was used for a short time during the Shang dynasty before different metals were used to make artifacts.
B: Shang dynasty bronze pieces are rare and therefore more valuable than those from other time periods.
C: Methods used to analyze bronze artifacts are not useful on pieces that are dated after the Shang dynasty.
D: The source of some of the raw materials used to make bronze was exploited only until the end of the Shang dynasty.
D is the best choice. The passage tells us that Shang dynasty bronze artifacts contained “a rare form of lead”, but that bronze artifacts after this time did not contain that lead. Although we don’t know where that specific type of bronze came from, we can conclude that that source was not used after the end of the Shang dynasty—otherwise, post-Shang Dynasty pieces would also contain that rare form of lead.
Because an achiral molecule is symmetrical, flipping it yields a structurally identical molecule. A flipped chiral molecule, ______ can be compared to a glove that has been turned inside out: it produces a structurally inverted molecule rather than an identical one.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A: in other words
B: for example
C: by contrast
D: similarly
C is the best choice. This sentence compares a chiral molecule to an achiral one. It discusses how when a chiral molecule is flipped, it results in something very different than when an achiral molecule is flipped. So the transition “by contrast” fits the context perfectly.
In 2008 a complete set of ancient pessoi (glass game pieces) was uncovered from beneath a paving stone in modern-day Israel. Due to their small size, pessoi were easily misplaced, making a whole set a rare find. This has led some experts to suggest that the set may have been buried intentionally; however, without clear evidence, archaeologists are left to ______ what happened.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A: dismiss
B: catalog
C: speculate about
D: expand on
C is the best choice. “Speculate” means “to form a theory or guess without any clear evidence”. This makes sense because, due to the lack of “clear evidence”, the archaeologists can only guess how the pessoi set might have come to be there.
The following text is adapted from Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre. The narrator, Jane, is reflecting on an incident with Mrs. Reed, her aunt and guardian.
A child cannot quarrel with its elders, as I had done; cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine, without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction. Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned. Willingly would I now have gone and asked Mrs. Reed’s pardon; but I knew that was the way to make her repulse me with double scorn, thereby re-exciting every turbulent impulse of my nature.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A: To show Jane's regret after her outburst against Mrs. Reed
B: To portray Jane as a rebellious and angry child who deserves punishment
C: To explore Jane's complex feelings of love and hate towards Mrs. Reed
D: To reveal the source of Jane's resentment toward Mrs. Reed
A is the best answer. The text conveys Jane’s remorse about her outburst, stating in the aftermath of the outburst, she felt “the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction”. She also wishes she could ask Mrs. Reed’s “pardon” (meaning forgiveness), but she knows that will only make her angrier.
The artistic talents of Barbara Chase-Riboud, most known for her 1979 historical novel Sally Hemings and the conversation it inspired, ______ limited to the realm of prose: she first excelled in sculpture, where her affinity for bronze—a material she described as “timeless” due to its use across eras and cultures—became part of her artistic identity.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A: hasn't been
B: isn't
C: wasn't
D: aren't
D is the best choice. The subject “talents” is plural, and so is the verb “aren’t”: “the artistic talents… aren’t limited”.
Laura Mulvey has theorized that in narrative film, shots issuing from a protagonist’s point of view compel viewers to identify with the character. Such identification is heightened by “invisible editing,” or editing so inconspicuous that it renders cuts between shots almost unnoticeable. Conversely, Mulvey proposes that conspicuous editing or an absence of point-of-view shots would induce a more critical stance toward a protagonist. Consider, for example, the attic scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, a conspicuously edited sequence of tens of shots, few of which correspond to the protagonist’s point of view. According to Mulvey’s logic, this scene should affect viewers by ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A: obscuring their awareness of the high degree of artifice involved in constructing the montage.
B: compelling them to identify with the film’s director, whose proxy is the camera, and not with the protagonist.
C: diverting their attention away from the film’s content and toward its stylistic attributes.
D: lessening their identification with the protagonist, if not alienating them from the character altogether.
D is the best choice. We’re told that point-of-view shots and “invisible editing” make audiences identify with a character. We’re also told that obvious editing and a lack of point-of-view shots have the opposite effect. Since the sequence in The Birds falls into this second category, it should have the effect of reducing the audience’s connection with the protagonist.
Text 1
Stage lighting theorist Adolphe Appia was perhaps the first to argue that light must be considered alongside all the various elements of a stage to create a single, unified performance. Researcher Kelly Bremner, however, has noted that Appia lacked technical expertise in the use of light in the theater. As a result of Appia’s inexperience, Bremner argues, Appia’s theory of light called for lighting practices that weren’t possible until after the advent of electricity around 1881.
Text 2
Adolphe Appia was not an amateur in the practice of lighting. Instead, it is precisely his exposure to lighting techniques at the time that contributed to his theory on the importance of light. When working as an apprentice for a lighting specialist in his youth, Appia observed the use of portable lighting devices that could be operated by hand. This experience developed his understanding of what was possible in the coordination of elements on the stage.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim about Appia’s level of technical expertise made by Bremner in Text 1?
A: Appia was unfamiliar with the use of music and sound in theater.
B: Theater practitioners who worked with Appia greatly admired his work.
C: Many lighting technicians dismissed Appia’s ideas about light on the stage.
D: Appia likely gained a level of technical expertise during his time as an apprentice.
D is the best choice. The author of Text 2 directly contradicts Bremner's claim that Appia lacked technical expertise by stating that Appia was "not an amateur in the practice of lighting." His experience as a lighting specialist's apprentice would have, the author of Text 2 argues, allowed Appia to "[develop] his understanding of what was possible" with the elements of theatrical design.
Rejecting the premise that the literary magazine Ebony and Topaz (1927) should present a unified vision of Black American identity, editor Charles S. Johnson fostered his contributors’ diverse perspectives by promoting their authorial autonomy. Johnson’s self-effacement diverged from the editorial stances of W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, whose decisions for their publications were more ______.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A: ambiguous
B: dogmatic
C: proficient
D: unambiguous
B is the best choice. A person who is “dogmatic” believes strongly that their principles and opinions are true. Because Du Bois and Locke are implied to have one “unified vision” of Black American identity that they prioritize over the “diverse perspectives” of different writers, they can be described as dogmatic.
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 through the 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 hinges on 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 production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.
B: 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 choice of a New York City venue likely enabled the play’s creators to experiment with the use of theatrical space in a way that venues from earlier productions could not.
D: Audience members likely find the experience of the play disappointing because they generally cannot make their way through the entire venue.
Researcher Lin Zhi developed a process for increasing the tensile strength—measured in gigapascals, or GPa—of silkworm ______ dissolving and reweaving the silk in a solution of iron metal ions, zinc, and sugar, Zhi increased the amount of force required to stretch it from approximately 0.5 GPa to 2 GPa.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Choose 1 answer:
A: silk and by
B: silk by
C: silk, by
D: silk. By
D is the best answer. The independent clauses "Researcher Lin Zhi… silk" and "by dissolving… 2GPa" can be grammatically separated by a period. They can stand alone as sentences, and this is the only choice that lets them do that.
Raymond Antrobus, an accomplished poet and writer of prose, recently released his debut spoken word poetry album, The First Time I Wore Hearing Aids, in collaboration with producer Ian Brennan. The album contains both autobiographical and reflective pieces combining Antrobus’s spoken words with Brennan’s fragmented audio elements and pieces of music to convey how people who are deaf may experience sound, both its presence and absence. Some critics suggest that the album questions the function of sound in the world, highlighting that the experience of sound is multifaceted.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A: It mentions a collection of spoken word poems, distinguishes one poem as being an exemplar on the album, and then offers a summary of the subject matter of the whole collection.
B: It introduces a collaborative spoken word poetry project, details the approach taken to produce the work, and then provides an example of critique the album received upon release.
C: It connects two artists to the same spoken word poetry project, explains the extent of their collaboration on each poem, and then provides an overview of the technique used to produce the work.
D: It summarizes the efforts to produce a collection of spoken word poems, presents biographies of two people who worked on the album, and speculates about the meaning behind the poetry.
B is the best choice. The text first introduces the album as being a collaboration between Antrobus and Brennan, then describes the approach taken to produce it, then mentions how critics have said that it calls into question the function of sound.
Text 1
Africa’s Sahara region—once a lush ecosystem—began to dry out about 8,000 years ago. A change in Earth’s orbit that affected climate has been posited as a cause of desertification, but archaeologist David Wright also attributes the shift to Neolithic peoples. He cites their adoption of pastoralism as a factor in the region drying out: the pastoralists’ livestock depleted vegetation, prompting the events that created the Sahara Desert.
Text 2
Research by Chris Brierley et al. challenges the idea that Neolithic peoples contributed to the Sahara’s desertification. Using a climate-vegetation model, the team concluded that the end of the region’s humid period occurred 500 years earlier than previously assumed. The timing suggests that Neolithic peoples didn’t exacerbate aridity in the region but, in fact, may have helped delay environmental changes with practices (e.g., selective grazing) that preserved vegetation.
Based on the texts, how would Chris Brierley (Text 2) most likely respond to the discussion in Text 1?
A: By claiming that pastoralism was only one of many behaviors the Neolithic peoples took part in that may have contributed to the Sahara’s changing climate
B: By insisting that pastoralism can have both beneficial and deleterious effects on a region’s vegetation and climate
C: By asserting that more research needs to be conducted into factors that likely contributed to the desertification of the Sahara region
D: By pointing out that given the revised timeline for the end of the Sahara’s humid period, the Neolithic peoples’ mode of subsistence likely didn’t cause the region’s desertification
D is the best choice. Brierley et al.'s research directly challenges Wright's claim that pastoralism turned the Sahara into a desert, suggesting that, in a Sahara that turned arid 500 years earlier than previously thought, pastoral practices may have actually "preserved vegetation" rather than depleting it.
As a poet, essayist, and novelist, Ocean Vuong often explores ______ themes in his work, including memory and trauma. His debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, is presented as a series of deeply personal letters written by a son to his mother and was described by The New Yorker as "[brimming] with longing and tenderness."
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A: frivolous
B: intimate
C: pretentious
D: conformist
B is the best choice. “Intimate” means “deeply personal”, which matches the description of his work as featuring themes like memory and trauma and as "[brimming] with longing and tenderness".
The Analects is the most influential collection of sayings and teachings attributed to Confucius, the founder of Confucianism. Compiled by his disciples over the centuries following his death in 479 BCE, the Analects shows remarkable internal consistency and coherence in its themes and principles, such as filial piety, ritual, humaneness, and loyalty. Moreover, many of the anecdotes in the Analects match those found in other historical texts that record the words and deeds of Confucius. However, some passages refer to events and ideas that emerged much later in Chinese history, such as the unification of the empire by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE, and reveal the influence of other philosophical schools, such as Legalism and Daoism, which arose after Confucius's time. Therefore, scholars have concluded that while its core reflects the original teachings of Confucius, the Analects ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A: also reflects the changing historical and intellectual circumstances of its compilers.
B: was probably not compiled by Confucius's disciples, but rather by scholars of Legalism and Daoism.
C: was likely completed before the unification of the empire by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE.
D: was not consistent with other historical texts that recorded Confucius's sayings and deeds.
A is the best choice.The text explains that the Analects are similar to other collections of Confucian thought. But the Analects also reference events and intellectual movements that took place after Confucius died. So, we can take this to mean that the Analects reflects the changing circumstances of its compilers.