GRE Test Preparation

GRE Verbal Sentence Completion Test III

In the following questions sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with an appropriate word. Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the best alternative.

1. They are tired of --------------- to their children’s demands.

a) satisfying
b) pandering
c) falling
d) none of these

2. We try to ----------------- to all tastes in our bookstore.

a) cater
b) master
c) please
d) assimilate

3. They tried to reassure me but I was still not able to --------------- my fears.

a) annul
b) prevent
c) reduce
d) curtail

4. I always preferred the ----------------- of the big city.

a) anonymity
b) obscurity
c) distinctiveness
d) none of these

5. The General ------------------ the defeat to a series of tactical errors.

a) Ascribed
b) Blamed
c) Pointed
d) accredited

6. They cast ----------------------- on his integrity.

a) aspersions
b) slanders
c) remarks
d) skepticism

7. The opposition ----------------- the Minister by furious criticism.

a) Assailed
b) Hailed
c) Treated
d) Ascribed

8. She will never --------------------- to their marriage.

a) Assent
b) Accept
c) Approve
d) Admit

9. My constant reassurance could not -------------- their fears.

a) Assuage
b) avoid
c) Soothe
d) Prevent

10. Our plans have gone ------------------

a) Awry
b) Wreck
c) Crooked
d) Shattered

11. Life-style diseases are the -------------------- of urban life.

a) Bane
b) Symptoms
c) Boons
d) Symbols

12. Despite being highly talented his football career was --------------- by injury.

a) Blighted
b) Prompted
c) Boosted
d) reduced

13. If I were you, I --------------- be careful with my words.

a) will
b) would
c) should
d) shall

14. John and Tom are clever boys, but I think John is the -------------- of the two.

a) cleverer
b) cleverest
c) more clever
d) most clever

15. ------------------ a long time, this city has been prosperous.

a) since
b) for
c) from
d) till

16. She is so fastidious that she liked ---------------- of the three apartments shown to her.

a) either
b) neither
c) none
d) no one

17. The mother of the deceased child was overwhelmed ----------------- grief.

a) by
b) with
c) from
d) for

18. William Shakespeare was --------------- greatest playwright of his time.

a) a
b) the
c) only
d) none of these

19. I congratulate you ------------------ your great achievement.

a) on
b) in
c) for
d) about

20. To his great -------------------- he discovered that he had been cheated.

a) chagrin
b) misery
c) distress
d) surprise

21. The ------------------ scent of flowers filled the air.

a) Cloying
b) Sickening
c) Overwhelming
d) Overly

22. An individual’s freedom is ------------------- by his responsibility to others.

a) circumscribed
b) destroyed
c) eroded
d) entangled

23. I was ------------------- by his presence in the same cubicle.

a) discomfited
b) disenchanted
c) entangled
d) none of these

24. Are dreams ---------------- of things to come?

a) portents
b) significance
c) indicators
d) warning

25. She is ---------------- older than her husband.

a) very
b) so
c) much
d) many

Answers

1. pandering
2. cater
3. annul
4. anonymity
5. Ascribed
6. aspersions
7. Assailed
8. Assent
9. Assuage
10. Awry
11. Bane
12. Blighted
13. would
14. cleverer
15. since
16. none
17. with
18. the
19. on
20. chagrin
21. Cloying
22. circumscribed
23. discomfited
24. portents
25. Much (‘Very’ cannot be used before a comparative adjective. You may say ‘very much older’, but not ‘very older’.)