SAT Critical Reading : Sentence Completion Questions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Critical Reading

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Example Questions

Example Question #1669 : Sat Critical Reading

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

In the opinion of the whole town, Henry was nothing but a __________, taking money from people without repaying, drinking alcohol all day, refusing to care for his children, and regularly vandalizing others’ property.

Possible Answers:

cadge

mooch

idler

wastrel

freeloader

Correct answer:

wastrel

Explanation:

A “wastrel” is quite literally a total “waste.” Such a person is not merely a “mooch” or an “idler” or anything of that sort. Instead, the person really has no redeeming qualities, quite like Henry in our description.

Example Question #151 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

After the earthquake had ceased, Megan wished she had paid heed to the __________ that she had that morning and had driven far away from town to avoid what she eerily suspected would happen that day.

Possible Answers:

vision

hunch

notion

premonition

intuition

Correct answer:

premonition

Explanation:

A “premonition” is a “pre-warning” or a sense of doom that occurs before something bad actually happens. This is better than even “intuition” or “hunch” because Megan clearly had a sense that something bad would happen. The “-monition” portion of the word comes form the Latin “monere,” meaning to warn, that is used in the word “admonish.”

Example Question #1671 : Sat Critical Reading

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

After much __________, the young computer programmer realized the answer to the algorithm problem that had absorbed his thought for many hours.

Possible Answers:

vexation

mystification

frittering

cogitation

perplexity

Correct answer:

cogitation

Explanation:

Although the programmer might have been perplexed, mystified, or vexed (or have frittered away time), we are not able to go beyond the literal sense of our sentence. All that we can say is that the problem had absorbed his thought many hours; therefore, we can say that he had to “cogitate” which means to think over something insistently. It is related to words like “cognition,” though it also literally could be taken to mean to turn over as in “to turn over and over in one’s mind.”

Example Question #1672 : Sat Critical Reading

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

Since Meredith could not be present at the town meeting, she sent her only son to be her __________ in the debates and votes.

Possible Answers:

inquisitor

reconnaissance

intelligence

source

proxy

Correct answer:

proxy

Explanation:

Someone who is a “proxy” is one who represents someone else at a meeting or an assembly. In the world of computers a “proxy server” is one that sits between computer A and computer B, allowing A to (potentially) spoof B into thinking that the traffic is coming from somewhere else. For example, if computer P is the proxy, instead of communicating A → B and B → A, the communication is A → P, P → B, B → P, and (finally) P → A. Here, P is acting in “proxy” between A and B (like Meredith’s son).

Example Question #1673 : Sat Critical Reading

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

When Charles became involved in an argument with his in-laws, he did not realize the complicated and endless __________ of family feuding that would become a regular part of his life.

Possible Answers:

war

tussle

quarrel

quagmire

bickering

Correct answer:

quagmire

Explanation:

Directly defined, a quagmire is a kind of bog that causes one to sink into its ground because of its softness. It is derived from the parts “quag” and “mire”—both words for bogs and marshes. In its extended sense, a quagmire is complex situation from which it is difficult to remove oneself. Here this meaning is indicated particularly by the adjective “complicated” as well as (to a lesser extend) “endless.”

Example Question #1674 : Sat Critical Reading

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

Some people grasp concepts with an immediate, intuitive flair, while others require much __________ to come to the same conclusions.

Possible Answers:

ratiocination

testing

experimentation

research

questioning

Correct answer:

ratiocination

Explanation:

The contrast communicated in this sentence is between those who understand things immediately while others must think about them quite a bit. Although such things might involve research, experiments, and the like, none of these are necessarily the case. (For instance, one could think over a math problem for some time, and none of the involved actions would fit any of those categories, strictly speaking). “Ratiocination” is a process of exact, reasoned thought, often implying a long train of necessary steps—i.e. proceeding in a non-intuitive (though valid) manner. The word is related to the word “rational” and other such “ratio-” words.

Example Question #161 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

Although some words like “principle,” “cause,” and so forth seem to have one single meaning, in reality they are susceptible to a number of differing __________.

Possible Answers:

lexicons

articulations

expressions

words

modes

Correct answer:

modes

Explanation:

All that is implied is that certain words (“principle,” “cause,” and so forth) can take on various shades. It is fare to say that these would be different “modes” of expressing the same words. The word is often used in the sense of (e.g.) “mode of transportation.” Even in this case, you can see how the word means “manner of transportation,” implying a “given particular ‘shading’ of the general notion of ‘transportation.’”

Example Question #162 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

Although a minor matters like new traffic laws and basic parking fines are handled solely by the representatives, it is necessary to hold a full __________ in order to alter the general charter of the city.

Possible Answers:

election

convention

convocation

plebiscite

assembly

Correct answer:

plebiscite

Explanation:

The word “plebs” in Latin means common people or general citizens. A “plebiscite” is a full body of the people, called together to vote on a matter. This word is the best choice here because the clear contrast is between a representative vote and one that is non-representational or direct. The word “plebian” means one of the lower classes (i.e. of the “general run” of people in a society).

Example Question #163 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

After many years of lonely writing, the author was accustomed to the anonymity in which he had worked. Upon receiving the international __________ for his work, it was difficult for him to return to the peace he knew before being so acclaimed.

Possible Answers:

laureateship

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questions

declamations

remarks

Correct answer:

laureateship

Explanation:

To be the “laureate” is to be one who has been publicly recognized for work (particularly of intellectual or cultural worth). The name comes from the ceremony of placing a wreathe on the head of the one so praised—which is related to the idea of the green leaves on such a wreath that would be made from laurel. The “laureateship” is merely the position of being the one so honored (as “kingship” is the status of being the king, etc).

Example Question #164 : Parts Of Speech In One Blank Sentences

Choose the word or set of words that best completes the following sentence.

It was necessary to subject George and Robert to a comprehensive __________ in order to pry from them the vital facts of the case, which heretofore had been kept carefully guarded.

Possible Answers:

perjury

declamation

interpretation

consideration

inquisition

Correct answer:

inquisition

Explanation:

Since information needed to be pried out of George and Robert, they would have to be questioned at length. Though we associate “inquisition” with events in the late Middle Ages and early Modernity in the Catholic Church, the term first means prolonged questioning. It is related to words like “inquire” or “query.”

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