sentence completion material

Sentence Completion

Institute of Engineering Studies (IES,Bangalore)

www.onlineies.com

Introduction

• The sentence completion section is a hybrid—it’s part reading comprehension, part vocabulary.

• With sentence completion, the most important thing to do is to quickly identify key phrases that express the concise meaning of the sentence.

Institute of Engineering Studies

Introduction

• Sentence completion questions will have a sentence with either one or two blanks.

• As of changes made in 2007, there is a possibility that you will have to answer ONE three blank question. (But only ONE.)

• As with antonyms and analogies, you will be given five answer choices.


A Plan

Psychologists agree that human beings have a strong need to ______ their time; having too much idle time can be as stressful as having none at all.

Step 1: Read the sentence through for

meaning.

Step 2: Try to simplify the sentence if

possible. Do this by identifying the key words in the sentence.

Step 2: human beings have a strong need to -------- their time; too much idle time

can be stressful


A Plan


Step 3: Make a guess at filling in the blank:

human beings have a strong need to -------- their time; too much idle time

can be stressful


A Plan


Step 3: Make a guess at filling in the blank:

human beings have a strong need to ORGANIZE their time; too much idle

time can be stressful


A Plan


a.threaten

b.annihilate

c.structure

d.punctuate

e.remand

Step 4: Now find a synonym in the answer

choices: human beings have a strong need to ORGANIZE their time; too much idle

time can be stressful


Another example

Even though he is a leading authority on the French Revolution, the chairperson of the department is a --------- speaker whose lectures on even the most exciting aspect of the historical period cause students to yawn and fidget. a.sublime b.confident c.lackluster d.honest e.meritorious

After reading the sentence through, it’s important to quickly identify the key

phrases.


Another example


the chairperson is a ----------- speaker whose lectures cause students to yawn and

fidget


Another example


the chairperson is a BORING speaker whose lectures cause students to yawn and

fidget


Two blank sentences

The chairperson, who is a specialist in French history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on the French Revolution completely ----------- students.

a. lackluster . . . entertain

b. moving . . . alienate

c. dull . . . absorb

d. forceful . . . require

e. scintillating . . . enthrall

Some sentences may have two blanks. Sometimes you can not guess the words in the

blanks without looking at the answer choices.


Two blank sentences







In these cases, you will need to test the answer choices to

find one that works.


Two blank sentences









lackluster

entertain


Two blank sentences









moving

alienate


Two blank sentences









dull

absorb


Two blank sentences









forceful

require


Two blank sentences









scintillating

enthrall


Two blank sentences










Clue Words

• If you are able to guess the correct answer, click on it and move on.

• However, if you can’t there are a few “tricks”.

• One is clue words.

• Many sentences follow a certain pattern and clue words help you identify the pattern.


Clue Words

• Sometimes sentences in the sentence completion section will consist of two phrases.

• The phrases will expresses similar ideas or opposite ideas—you need to determine which one.

• The phrases are usually separated by a comma (,) or semicolon (;) and/or a coordinating conjunction (and, yet, so, but, etc.).


Clue Words

• Just as congestion plagues every important highway, so it _______ the streets of every city.

• Some microbiologists believe that the attempt to kill the microbes that live on or in our bodies is a mistake and that the use of antiseptics cannot always be _______.

• Eastlake is a colorful and _______ commentator, equally at home in high art, folk rock, theology, and economics.


Continuing or amplifying a thought

• Some blanks must be filled in by a word that continues or amplifies the main thought in the sentence.

• The one part of the sentence will parallel the other. • Clue words that signal continuing thoughts are:

– and – also – consequently – as a result – thus – hence – so, so that – for example



The conductor’s choice of tempo seemed entirely --------, so that each successful movement of the piece seemed to have no necessary connection to what had come before.

a. musical

b. believable

c. arbitrary

d. subtle

e. cautious

If you can’t immediately identify the correct answer, separate the sentence

into two parts [if you can].



1: The conductor’s choice of tempo seemed entirely --------, 2: so that each successful movement of the piece seemed to have no necessary connection to what had come before. a. musical b. believable c. arbitrary d. subtle e. cautious

The second half of this phrase will continue the idea that is expressed by

the correct answer

Try to identify the key idea expressed by the second phrase




Try to identify the key idea expressed by the second phrase




If you can’t immediately identify the correct answer, look for clue words [they often appear after the comma

separating the two parts of the sentence]

Do any of the answers seem to express this same idea?



After a period of protracted disuse, a muscle will atrophy, ------- both its strength and the ability to perform its former function.

a. regaining

b. sustaining

c. losing

d. insuring

e. aligning

It is possible that there will no clue word.

The logical flow of the sentence must

be used identify whether not the sentence is expressing a continuation.



1: After a period of protracted disuse, a muscle will atrophy,

2: ------- both its strength and the ability to perform its former function.

a. regaining

b. sustaining

c. losing

d. insuring

e. aligning

It is possible that there will no clue word.

The logical flow of the sentence must

be used identify whether not the sentence is expressing a continuation

(though these are usually of the continuation type).


Reversing a thought

• Sometimes the substitution must be the reverse of another thought in the sentence.

• Clue words that signal continuing thoughts are: – but

– yet

– although

– on the other hand

– in contrast

– however

– nevertheless


Reversing a thought

Although the conditions in which she chooses to live suggest that she is miserly, her contributions to charity show that she is -------------

a. stingy

b. thrifty

c. frugal

d. intolerant

e. generous

Split the sentence and find the clue word


Reversing a thought

1: Although the conditions in which she chooses to live suggest that she is miserly,

2: her contributions to charity show that she is ------

a. stingy

b. thrifty

c. frugal

d. intolerant

e. generous

Although suggests a “reversing”


Reversing a thought



a. stingy

b. thrifty

c. frugal

d. intolerant

e. generous

Identify the main idea of the defining phrase in the sentence.


Reversing a thought



a. stingy

b. thrifty

c. frugal

d. intolerant

e. generous

Find the answer that reverses this idea.


Two blank sentences

African-Americans legislators have not only ______ their constituencies but also served as proxies in the democratic process for all African Americans; yet their personal lives sometimes ______ their struggle to extend the nation’s ideals to all citizens. a. served. . describe b. abandoned . . affirm c. promoted . . criticize d. represented . . belie e. influenced . . discredit


Two blank sentences

African-Americans legislators have not only ______ their constituencies but also served as proxies in the democratic process for all African Americans; yet their personal lives sometimes ______ their struggle to extend the nation’s ideals to all citizens. a. served. . describe b. abandoned . . affirm c. promoted . . criticize d. represented . . belie e. influenced . . discredit

Identify clue words


Two blank sentences

African-Americans legislators have not only ______ their constituencies but also served as proxies in the democratic process for all African Americans; yet their personal lives sometimes ______ their struggle to extend the nation’s ideals to all citizens. a.served. . describe b.abandoned . . affirm c.promoted . . criticize d.represented . . belie e.influenced . . discredit


Two blank sentences

African-Americans legislators have not only ______ their constituencies but also served as proxies in the democratic process for all African Americans; yet their personal lives sometimes ______ their struggle to extend the nation’s ideals to all citizens. a.served. . describe b.abandoned . . affirm c.promoted . . criticize d.represented . . belie e.influenced . . discredit

divide and conquer


Two blank sentences

Decades of statistics showing the ______ respiratory ailments among construction workers _____ the causal connection between asbestos exposure and lung cancer.

a. reason for . . help to establish

b. frequent occurrence of . . have influenced

c. consequences of . . mainly involve

d. high incidence of . . underscore

e. seriousness of . . preceded


A three blank sentence

1. That the President manages the economy is an assumption ____ (i)_____ the prevailing wisdom that dominates electoral politics in the United States. As a result, presidential elections have become referenda on the business cycle, whose fortuitous turnings are ____ (ii)_____ the President. Presidents are properly accountable for their executive and legislative performance, and certainly their actions may have profound effects on the economy. But these effects are ____ (iii)____. Unfortunately, modern political campaigns are fought on the untenable premise that Presidents can deliberately produce precise economic results.

Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)

at odds with justifiably personified in usually long-lasting

peripheral to erroneously attributed to regrettably unnoticeable

central to occasionally associated with largely unpredictable


A two blank sentence

1. The medical profession has traditionally scoffed at the claims of alternative medicine. When (i)______ its successes is trotted out, doctors routinely and dismissively put it down to the placebo effect. (ii)______, perhaps one of the reasons that alternative medicine is booming today is precisely because in an era in which medical procedures and antibiotics are prescribed at the drop of a hat while alternative treatments are rarely suggested, people have become less trusting of medical science.

Blank (i) Blank (ii)

a compelling reason for Ironically

anecdotal evidence of As a result

a cogent theory about On the other hand


Word Usage

1. Unless we grant historians some license to interpret historical events, we essentially _______ the historian’s role to that of a mere archivist or journalists.

a) define

b) demote

c) expand

d) alter

e) diminish


Word Usage

1. Unless we grant historians some license to interpret historical events, we essentially _______ the historian’s role to that of a mere archivist or journalists.

a) define

b) demote

c) expand

d) alter

e) diminish

demote and diminish both seem to fit

Look carefully on what is being demoted/dimished


Sample Questions

• Swiped from the ets.org website, sample sentence completion questions (total of 8 questions).


1. Early______ of hearing loss is ______ by the fact that the other senses are able to compensate for moderate amounts of loss, so that people frequently do not know that their hearing is imperfect.

a. discovery . . indicated b. development . . prevented c. detection . . complicated d. treatment . . facilitated e. incidence . . corrected


2. The ______ science of seismology has grown just enough so that the first overly bold theories have been ______ .

a. magnetic . . accepted

b. fledgling . . refuted

c. tentative . . analyzed

d. predictive . . protected

e. exploratory . . recalled


3. Nonviolent demonstrations often create such tensions that a community that has constantly refused to ______ its injustices is forced to correct them: the injustices can no longer be ______.

a. acknowledge..ignored b. decrease..verified c. tolerate..accepted d. address..eliminated e. explain..discussed


4. Since 1813 reaction to Jane Austen's novels has oscillated between ______ and condescension; but in general later writers have esteemed her works more highly than did most of her literary ______.

a. dismissal..admirers b. adoration..contemporaries c. disapproval..readers d. indifference..followers e. approbation..precursors


5. There are, as yet, no vegetation types or ecosystems whose study has been ______ to the extent that they no longer ______ ecologists.

a. perfected..hinder

b. exhausted..interest

c. prolonged..require

d. prevented..challenge

e. delayed..benefit


6. Under ethical guidelines recently adopted by the National Institutes of Health, human genes are to be manipulated only to correct diseases for which ______ treatments are unsatisfactory.

a. similar

b. most

c. dangerous

d. uncommon

e. alternative


7. It was her view that the country's problems had been ______ by foreign technocrats, so that to invite them to come back would be counterproductive.

a. foreseen

b. attacked

c. ascertained

d. exacerbated

e. analyzed


7. It was her view that the country's problems had been ______ by foreign technocrats, so that to invite them to come back would be counterproductive.

a. foreseen b. attacked c. ascertained d. exacerbated e. analyzed


8. Winsor McCay, the cartoonist, could draw with incredible ______: his comic strip about Little Nemo was characterized by marvelous draftsmanship and sequencing.

a. sincerity

b. efficiency

c. virtuosity

d. rapidity

e. energy


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