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.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
| sentries | fecund | forebears |
| sages | efficacious | progeny |
| sycophants | imperious | harbingers |
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Solution
Sentries, fecund, progeny.
You are told that solider ants guard the colony and supply it with food, thus acting as both _________ and laborers. In this sentence pattern, the first blank (sentries, or “guards”) matches up with “guard the colony” and “laborers” matches up with “supply it with food.” You know that the queen can continually populate the colony, so fecund (fertile) goes in the second blank and progeny (offspring) goes in the third.
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.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
| tremulous | beguiled by |
| coltish | chary of |
| cumbersome | repulsed by |
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Solution
Tremulous, chary of.
All of the clues in the sentence are about being scared, so tremulous matches best in the first blank. You know that the child finds diving “even more frightening” than water in general, so chary of (suspicious or slightly scared of), a less extreme version of frightening, fits in the second blank.
The peanut is often (i) _________ referred to as a nut; (ii) _________ to such people, it is actually a legume.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
| archaically | unbeknownst |
| erroneously | abhorrent |
| deftly | consanguineous |
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Solution
Erroneously, unbeknownst.
Since the peanut is not really a nut (it is a legume), erroneously (incorrectly) matches in the first blank. Unbeknownst to means “unknown by.”
Just as reminiscences of a childhood spent in rural Mexico color the poet’s work, so too does the experience of war _________ her poetry.
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Solution
Inform.
The poet’s childhood memories color, or influence, her work. You need a similar word for how war influences her poetry. Inform — to give substance, character, or distinction to — can be used in this way.
According to supporters of progressive taxation, the payment of higher tax rates by those with higher incomes, those who (i) _________ such taxation systems tend to fall into two camps: the (ii) _________, who feel it unjust that the “most industrious” among us are “penalized” for their success, and the (iii) _________, who argue that higher taxes on the rich will harm us all by dampening the entrepreneurial spirit that drives the economy.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
| rail against | vote for | depredate |
| autodidacts | moralists | recidivists |
| libertines | utilitarians | myrmidons |
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Solution
Rail against, moralists, utilitarians. You know from the definition provided of progressive taxation that those who “feel it unjust” that the “most industrious” are “penalized” would definitely be against progressive taxation, so rail against matches in the first blank. The word unjust is a good clue that moralists matches in the second blank (the other two words make no sense — autodidacts are people who teach themselves and recidivists are people who return to committing crimes). In the third blank, you need another group of people who are against progressive taxation but who are different from the moralists — in this case, because they are making a practical argument, not a moral one. Only utilitarians matches.
The ancient tablet presents a true _________: none have been able to decode it.
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Solution
Enigma.
Since no one has been able to decode the tablet, you need a word that means “mystery.”
The director inserted deliberate _________ into the play—for example, Hamlet typed his letters to Ophelia on a laptop.
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Solution
Anachronisms.
The director inserted some things in the wrong time period, or anachronisms.
After a brief initial struggle over power, the group elected a leader and _________ into a surprisingly harmonious team.
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Solution
Coalesced.
You need a word that means came together. Coalesced matches perfectly. Agglomerated is a bit of a trap — to agglomerate is to collect or form into a mass or group. Since the p
After many years of war and bloodshed, some became _________ suffering, casting a blind eye to scenes of misery around them.
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Solution
Inured to.
Casting a blind eye to suffering means that these people ignore or pretend not to see the suffering. Thus, they are inured to suffering — they are hardened and desensitized as a result of seeing so much of it. Trap answer exempted would mean that the people described are no longer personally subject to the suffering. You don’t know that, of course. You only have the clue that the people cast a blind eye, or ignore suffering. Because they ignore suffering, they also wouldn’t be maudlin or ef usive, which are about expressing strong feelings.
Although they had never met, the two writers felt they were of one mind, each (i) _________ anticipating the contents of the other’s letters; never had two intellectuals been more (ii) _________.
| Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
| ominously | providential |
| anachronistically | shrewd |
| presciently | simpatico |
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Solution
Presciently, simpatico.
Presciently means “seeing into the future,” or “as though seeing into the future.” Simpatico matches the idea of being “of one mind.”