GRE Text Completion Practice Test 2
- Text Completion (Set 2)
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
Read the whole passage before looking at the choices, and predict each blank in your own words. In two- and three-blank items, start with the blank that has the clearest clue; the other blanks must then fit that choice.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
Your result
- 0 correct
- 0 wrong
- 0 blank
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Question 1
Far from being ________, the committee's final report was so cautious that it recommended further study of every proposal it had been asked to evaluate.
Correct answer: C
"Far from" signals that the blank is the opposite of cautious, and audacious means boldly daring. The other four words all describe caution, so they would agree with the second half instead of contrasting with it.
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Question 2
The critic's review was so ________ that readers could not tell whether she had liked the play or not.
Correct answer: B
A review that leaves its own verdict unclear is equivocal, open to more than one interpretation. A scathing or an effusive review would leave no doubt about her opinion, and trenchant and incisive both mean sharply clear.
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Question 3
Although the theory was initially (i) ________ by most physicists, a decade of confirming experiments eventually made it the (ii) ________ view.
Correct answer: E
"Although" contrasts the theory's start with its end, and confirming experiments push it toward acceptance, so it moved from dismissed to orthodox (generally accepted). "Embraced ... orthodox" removes the contrast, and "discredited" or "marginal" contradicts the confirming experiments.
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Question 4
The memoir's tone is surprisingly (i) ________: the author recounts her years of hardship without (ii) ________, as though she were describing someone else's life.
Correct answer: C
Describing one's own hardship "as though describing someone else's life" is a detached tone, and such a writer avoids self-pity. "Without precision" does not follow from that comparison, and a mournful or bitter tone conflicts with it.
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Question 5
Early reviewers (i) ________ the novel as a minor entertainment, but later scholars, noting the (ii) ________ of its structure, argued that its apparent simplicity was (iii) ________.
Correct answer: B
Calling a novel "a minor entertainment" dismisses it. The scholars disagree ("but"), so they found intricacy in the structure and concluded that the simplicity was only on the surface, that is, deceptive. Choice A breaks the logic: intricacy would not show that the simplicity is genuine.
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Question 6
Because the archive's records were ________, the historian had to piece together the town's early years from letters and diaries scattered across three countries.
Correct answer: D
Having to "piece together" a story from scattered sources implies that the main records were incomplete, which is what fragmentary means. Voluminous, meticulous or accessible records would have made that search unnecessary.
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Question 7
The senator's speech was (i) ________ in style but (ii) ________ in substance: beneath its plain language lay a carefully reasoned argument.
Correct answer: A
The colon explains both blanks: "plain language" means the style was unadorned, and "a carefully reasoned argument" means the substance was rigorous. Florid and ornate contradict "plain," while shallow, vacuous and slipshod contradict "carefully reasoned."
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Question 8
The scientist was known for her ________; she refused to announce any result until it had been replicated by at least two independent laboratories.
Correct answer: C
Waiting for two independent replications shows great care before acting, which is circumspection. Impetuosity is the opposite (acting rashly), and credulity means believing things too easily.
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Question 9
Once (i) ________ as a passing fad, remote work became so (ii) ________ during the following decade that many firms redesigned their offices around it.
Correct answer: E
"Once ... a passing fad" sets up a dismissive past view, so derided fits, and redesigning offices around remote work shows it became entrenched (firmly established). Ephemeral (short-lived) contradicts the redesigned offices.
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Question 10
The council's new policy was meant to (i) ________ tensions between the two neighborhoods, but because it was announced without any public consultation, it (ii) ________ them instead, and residents of both areas came to see the council as (iii) ________.
Correct answer: D
A policy is normally meant to defuse (calm) tensions; "but ... instead" says it did the reverse and exacerbated them. Acting without consultation makes a council look high-handed (arrogantly ignoring others), not conciliatory.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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