Nora Ephron’s 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally, was more than a hit movie—for a generation, it was a cultural ________ regarding the often fraught relations between men and women.
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Solution
Touchstone.
You need a clue that matches more than a hit movie (and goes with the idea of having meaning for a whole generation of people). Touchstone matches perfectly. Cornerstone doesn’t work — a cultural touchstone is a single important event, place, work of art, etc. A cultural cornerstone would be something the whole society is built upon (like individualism, Islam, or the monarchy, depending on the society). A rudder is literally part of a ship related to steering; if you are lost in life, you are “like a ship without a rudder.” Note that a bolster is pretty similar to a stanchion, at least when used metaphorically to mean a support (literally, a bolster is a pillow and a stanchion is an upright bar or post), so neither could be the answer.
Faced with ________ job market, many young people are returning to graduate school rather than attempting to compete for the few available jobs.
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Solution
An anemic.
While anemia is a medical condition, anemic as a metaphor means “weak or lacking vitality.” Myopia, or “nearsightedness,” also makes a good metaphor, but describes people and their decisions. The job market hasn’t been botched (who botched it?), and the other choices are nonsensical.
Free speech is often taken by the general population to be a sacred guarantee of the right to dissent, but this high valuation may be only (i) _________ in a society where any divergence from the general opinion leaves one labeled (ii) _________ or even an outcast.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
a nostrum | an assassin |
a catalyst | a nuisance |
an adjuvant | a miser |
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Solution
A nostrum, a nuisance.
When you have a society in which dissenting opinions are socially stigmatized, valuing the right to dissent seems useless. A nostrum is “an ineffective remedy,” and is appropriately used metaphorically here. A catalyst helps a reaction or change to occur, and an adjuvant is “something that assists or aids,” both of which would be the opposite of what you need. In the second blank, you are looking for something that is negative but weaker than “outcast.” Nuisance works perfectly here. Assassin is too strong, while miser is unrelated in meaning.
There is little agreement among specialists about whether the Second Amendment provides _________ guarantee of a right to bear arms for private citizens, or whether it was instead meant to allow the populace to protect itself in lieu of a military.
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Solution
An ironclad.
Since the final part of the sentence is meant to go against the idea that the Second Amendment provides a “guarantee” of a private right, you need to fill the blank in the first part with something that reinforces the guarantee. Ironclad means “rigid or fixed,” and does what you need here. Defeasible and questionable would undermine the guarantee. Nothing in the passage has any bearing on whether the guarantee is earnest.
If anthropologists reveal too much of their culture to the subjects of their (i) _________, they risk the corruption of the sometimes fragile societies they seek to understand, as well as other (ii) _________ that may appear incongruous with their task.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
objectivity | sequelae |
society | inconsistencies |
scrutiny | paradoxes |
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Solution
Scrutiny, sequelae.
Anthropologists are attempting to understand, examine, or scrutinize other societies. (Also, both objectivity and society are traps: they may be objective scientists, but their objectivity doesn’t have “subjects”; and the societies they are studying are not theirs.) In the second blank, you are looking for something that means unintended or secondary consequences, or sequelae. The other answer choices are close in meaning to “incongruous,” and would be redundant in the sentence.
One liberal activist asserts that politicians’ tendency to (i) _________ talk of class warfare stems largely from a communal state of denial, a refusal to accept that we already occupy a highly (ii) _________ society.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
denigrate | socialized |
besmirch | balkanized |
declare | politicized |
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Solution
Denigrate, balkanized.
Beginning with the second blank, the clue is “class warfare.” A society with class warfare is divided into hostile groups, or balkanized, but it need not be either socialized or politicized. This means that politicians try to dismiss or belittle talk of class warfare, or denigrate it. Besmirch means to “attack the honor of something” — although the word is negative, it isn’t quite appropriate here.
If impact on one’s contemporaries is the test of (i) _________, Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman cannot be said to be among the most significant postmodern novels, as it went unpublished and unread for twenty-seven years. The literary theorist Keith Hopper, though, appeals to standards other than (ii) _________ when he argues persuasively that The Third Policeman is among the most important of early postmodern works, not least because of its deep subversion of both enlightenment and modern traditions in literature.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
eminence | currency |
modishness | influence |
conversance | dissolution |
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Solution
Eminence, influence.
Borrowing another word from the sentence, your first word should be something like “significance.” The closest option is eminence, which suggests great importance. If Hopper argues that the book was among the most important in spite of the fact that it cannot have had an impact on O’Brien’s contemporaries, then he must appeal to some standard other than “impact.” Influence is the word most nearly synonymous with “impact.” Because “currency” echoes the concern about how widely read the book was, it might appeal, but it isn’t the meaning we’d anticipate here.
The American system of government is wonderfully responsive to crisis, but seemingly (i) _________ to perennial troubles, limping along with (ii) _________ solutions to (iii) _________ problems.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
empathetic | faddish | coarse |
obliging | tendentious | chronic |
indifferent | makeshift | acute |
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Solution
Indifferent, makeshift, chronic.
But suggests that your first word should be the opposite of “wonderfully responsive,” perhaps “badly unresponsive.” Indif erent, which means “without concern or interest,” is the nearest match. Your second word should take from the phrase “limping along,” so you might expect something like “makedo,” or “expedient.” The closest synonym to those is makeshift. Finally, the last word describes the sort of problems that don’t receive adequate responses, the very problems described earlier as “perennial,” so anticipate that same meaning. Chronic is the best choice.
In order to return to the castle, the single surviving knight had to somehow get past redoubtable warriors who threatened to ______ him limb from limb.
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Solution
Rend.
Rend means “to tear apart.” This question relies entirely on vocabulary. Garner is to gather. Garnish is to decorate (or to subtract from a person’s wages to pay a debt). Garland, as a verb, is to crown. Render is to make, do, or provide. None matches the meaning of the text.
Desktop publishing allows (i) _________ to do for themselves the work once reserved for professionals whose (ii) _________ or other training developed design skills along with narrow technical mastery.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) |
dilettantes | sensibility |
artisans | acumen |
idealogues | apprenticeship |
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Solution
Dilettantes, apprenticeship.
Your first word should indicate an opposite of the “professionals” with “training.” The word that suggests itself is amateurs, and the closest answer to that is dilettantes, which is roughly synonymous with “dabblers.” The second word should suggest a type of “training,” and among your options only apprenticeship does so. Acumen might be the result of training, but it is not itself training.
Even thrill-seeking visitors to amusement parks will avoid those attractions with a reputation for real (i) _________, like those at the now-shuttered Action Park. These patrons want not danger but its (ii) _________, a ride that (iii) _________ but is in fact perfectly safe.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
peril | complement | satisfies |
titillation | simulacrum | mollifies |
lavishness | abettor | terrifies |
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Solution
Peril, simulacrum, terrifies.
Even suggests that first word describes the sort of thing you might otherwise expect a thrill seeker to find attractive. You want something bad — a meaning like, “too thrilling, in a bad way.” You are also told that these patrons want not danger, so you might anticipate a word as simple as “danger.” Peril is the best choice. Although “titillation” does describe a sort of thrill, it is neither negative, nor does it suggest danger. The third word is probably easier to anticipate than the second, so let’s skip ahead. “In fact” suggests that you want a word that means “seems to be unsafe,” and the earlier “thrill-seeking visitors” suggests that you want something, well, thrilling. So anticipate “seems unsafe, thrills,” and take terrifies as your closest synonym. Satisfies yields a perfectly fine sentence, but there is no reason to anticipate quite that meaning. To return to your second word, you now know you want a word that means something like “imitation,” and simulacrum is the closest synonym among your answers.