CHAPTER 5 / SENTENCE COMPLETION SKILLS 229
SAT Practice 5: Using Context Intelligently
- Most art critics regard her early style as pedes-
trian and conventional, utterly devoid of techni-
cal or artistic ------.
(A) lucidity
(B) analysis
(C) articulation
(D) mediocrity
(E) innovation - Historical buildings in many developing towns,
rather than being razed, are now being ------.
(A) constructed
(B) renovated
(C) described
(D) condemned
(E) designed - Some linguists claim that French is characterized
by brevity of expression and therefore may be the
most ------ of all languages.
(A) beautiful
(B) vivid
(C) concise
(D) accessible
(E) concrete - The melée that punctuated the meeting between
the rival factions was not entirely ------; the
groups have long ------ each other on many im-
portant issues.
(A) surprising.. supported
(B) unusual.. copied
(C) explicit.. evaluated
(D) unanticipated.. opposed
(E) expected.. encountered - Having been devastated by the earthquake, the
freeway was virtually ------ to all but the most
rugged of vehicles.
(A) destroyed
(B) impassable
(C) improper
(D) winding
(E) unnecessary - Those who assume that they can easily be ------
chefs in the classic tradition are almost as ------ as
those who think they can write a novel if they
simply sit down and type.
(A) amateur.. candid
(B) renowned.. skeptical
(C) superb.. timid
(D) clumsy.. pessimistic
(E) competent.. naive - Many opponents of psychoanalysis contend that
since its assumptions cannot be tested with sci-
entific rigor, it is properly characterized as
merely ------ system rather than a reliable thera-
peutic method.
(A) a concise
(B) a courageous
(C) a necessary
(D) an intuitive
(E) an ornamental - Paranoia, extreme competitiveness, and many
other ------ of the modern rat race, despite what
many cutthroat executives are saying, are hardly
------ to long-term success in the business world.
(A) by-products.. conducive
(B) responsibilities.. detrimental
(C) ornaments.. helpful
(D) establishments.. reliable
(E) inequities.. charitable - Under certain conditions, the virus can mutate
into ------ strain, transforming what was once
simply ------ into a menacing poison.
(A) a new.. an epidemic
(B) a deficient.. a derivative
(C) an erratic.. a rudiment
(D) a virulent.. a nuisance
(E) an advanced.. a disease