All Things Verbal

GRE Text Completion Quiz 3

1. The (i) ______ child approached the diving board; (ii) ______ water in the first place, he found the prospect of jumping into it from some height even more frightening.

tremulous
coltish
cumbersome
beguiled by
chary of
repulsed by

2. Soldier ants are wingless, sterile females that guard the colony and supply it with food, thus acting as both (i) ______ and laborers as the (ii) ______ queen produces enough (iii) ______ to continually populate the colony.

sentries
sages
sycophants
fecund
efficacious
imperious
forebears
progeny
harbingers

3. The Paris Commune was a government that ruled France for about two months in 1871; despite its (i) ______ reign, it was at the time (ii) ______ as a sign of the emergence of a powerful working class.

equivocal
ephemeral
omnipotent
discounted
recanted
heralded

4. The property, hidden by overgrown plants, had not only fallen into (i) ______, but appeared positively (ii) ______ by vermin.

misanthropy
desuetude
debauchment
overrun
outdone
hampered

5. That the CEO’s son was pleasant enough was not in doubt, but the (i) ______ young man was hardly (ii) ______ enough to bargain on the company’s behalf.

puissant
restive
complaisant
egoistic
blithe
artful

6. He has such a pleasingly (i) ______ personality that it’s hard to be bothered by the (ii) ______ in his past.

sanguine
high-handed
salubrious
peccadilloes
incendiaries
achievements

7. The substitute French teacher accidentally walked into the wrong classroom, creating ______ situation when she began speaking French to 15 mystified physics students.

an odious
a potable
a risible
a cursory
an arch

8. The (i) ______ young employee was soon (ii) ______ for making a serious mistake that cost the company thousands of dollars.

banal
ginger
verdant
enamored
castigated
deposed

9. The beauty pageant contestant told the judges she wanted world peace, but her suggestion to bring about world peace was ______ apparently, she naively thinks everyone could just be told to “love one another” and all the world’s disagreements would fade away.

convoluted
facile
impeccable
amicable
dulcet

10. Introverts prefer a quiet, reflective lifestyle, whereas extroverts are more ______.

doctrinaire
convivial
sanguinary
jejune
modish

11. While the author’s first collection of short stories presented a (i) ______ hodgepodge of voices, the second collection presents a remarkably (ii) ______ set of tales presented by a (iii) ______ narrator.

motley
variegated
homogeneous
insightful
even
facetious
lonely
disingenuous
sole

12. The transformation of the NFL from a running-oriented game to a passing-oriented game demonstrates that, in any profession, when the ______ proves more successful than the time-honored, industry leaders will embrace the new with alacrity.

aerial
exciting
novel
conventional
controversial

13. After struggling to maintain her composure for hours upon hearing of her late husband’s infidelities, the recently bereaved widow finally burst into ______.

hysterics
laughter
song
mirth
flames

14. The virtual (i) ______ of John F. Kennedy focuses on his presidential achievements, legend, and assassination; similarly, as a candidate, verbal and written (ii) ______ were laid at the altar of his wartime exploits.

deification
excoriation
adoration
calumnies
garlands
obloquies