SAT sentence completion practice test 15

1. The doctor ------ so frequently on disease-prevention techniques that his colleagues accused him of --------.

A. vacillated… inconsistency
B. sermonized… fertility
C. wavered…steadfastness
D. experimented… inflexibility
E. relied… negligence

2. A judicious biography must be ------ representation that depicts both the strengths and weaknesses of the subject, avoiding the two extremes of -------- and indictment.

A. a polarized… vindication
B. an imaginative… discernment
C. a holistic… censure
D. a complimentary… animosity
E. an equitable… eulogy

3. Though Luis eagerly sought her -----, he subsequently chose not to heed that advice.

A. secretiveness
B. cooperation
C. understanding
D. counsel
E. concord

4. As a young physics instructor, Richard Feynman had discovered that he had the gift of sharing his ------ his subject and making the excitement -------.

A. passion for… contagious
B. knowledge for… inaudible
C. contempt for… praiseworthy
D. propensity for… futile
E. commitment to… impersonal

5. As ------- as disintegration of the Roman Empire must have seemed, that disaster nevertheless presented some ------- aspects.

A. momentous… formidable
B. decisive… unavoidable
C. unexpected… ambiguous
D. advantageous… beneficial
E. catastrophic… constructive

6. The beauty of Mount McKinley is usually cloaked: the clouds ------ the summit nine days out of ten.

A. release
B. elevate
C. entangle
D. shroud
E. attain

7. Madame C. J. Walker introduced her first hair-care product just as demand was reaching its peak; this ------ marketing made her a millionaire.

A. opportune
B. instantaneous
C. intermittent
D. dubious
E. extravagant

8. A scientist should not automatically reject folkways that might at first seem silly or superstitious; scientific qualifications are not license for -------, nor do they --------- prejudice or bias.

A. experimentation… eliminate
B. arrogance… pursue
C. humility… advocate
D. smugness… legitimate
E. rigidity… console

9. For a long time, most doctors maintained that taking massive vitamins was relatively harmless; now, however, some are warning that excessive dosages can be -------.

A. healthy
B. expensive
C. wasteful
D. toxic
E. inane

10. In Jamaica Kincaid's novel Lucy, the West Indian heroine ------- her employer's world, critically examining its assumptions and values.

A. idealizes
B. avoids
C. beautifies
D. scrutinizes
E. excludes

11. The frequent name changes that the country has undergone ------ the political turbulence that has attended its recent history.

A. argue against
B. contrast with
C. testify to
D. jeopardize
E. sustain

12. Brachiopods, clamlike bivalves of prehistoric times, were one of the most ------ forms of life on the Earth: more than 30,000 species have been ------- from the fossil records.

A. plentiful… subtracted
B. ornate…retrieved
C. multifarious… catalogued
D. scarce… extracted
E. anachronistic… extrapolated

13. Some interactive computer games are so elaborately contrived and require such -------- strategies and even the most ------- player can master them.

A. byzantine… adroit
B. nefarious… conscientious
C. devious… lackadaisical
D. onerous… slipshod
E. predictable… compulsive

14. Commerce on the remote island was conducted exclusively by -----, exchanging goods

A. credit
B. loan
C. faith
D. patronage
E. barter

15. The existence of the environmental contamination is no longer a point of ------; government, industry and public agree that it is a serious problem.

A. concern
B. cooperation
C. urgency
D. relevance
E. dispute