Sentence Completion

1
Sentence Completion
2
Introduction

• The sentence completion section is a hybridits
  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.

3
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.

4
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
5
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 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
6
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 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
7
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.
• threaten
• annihilate
• structure
• punctuate
• 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
8
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.
• sublime
• confident
• lackluster
• honest
• meritorious

After reading the sentence through, its
important to quickly identify the key phrases.
9
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.
• sublime
• confident
• lackluster
• honest
• meritorious

After reading the sentence through, its
important to quickly identify the key phrases.
10
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.
• sublime
• confident
• lackluster
• honest
• meritorious

the chairperson is a ----------- speaker whose
lectures cause students to yawn and fidget
11
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.
• sublime
• confident
• lackluster
• honest
• meritorious

the chairperson is a BORING speaker whose
lectures cause students to yawn and fidget
12
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

Some sentences may have two blanks. Sometimes
you can not guess the words in the blanks without
looking at the answer choices.
13
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
14
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

lackluster
entertain
In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
15
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

moving
alienate
In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
16
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

dull
absorb
In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
17
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

forceful
require
In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
18
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

scintillating
enthrall
In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
19
Two blank sentences

• The chairperson, who is a specialist in French
  history, is a --------- speaker whose lectures on
  the French Revolution completely -----------
  students.
• lackluster . . . entertain
• moving . . . alienate
• dull . . . absorb
• forceful . . . require
• scintillating . . . enthrall

In these cases, you will need to test the answer
choices to find one that works.
20
Clue Words

• If you are able to guess the correct answer,
  click on it and move on.
• However, if you cant there are a few tricks.
• One is clue words.
• Many sentences follow a certain pattern and clue
  words help you identify the pattern.

21
Clue Words

• Sometimes sentences in the sentence completion
  section will consist of two phrases.
• The phrases will expresses similar ideas or
  opposite ideasyou 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.).

22
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.

23
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.

24
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

25
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• The conductors choice of tempo seemed entirely
  --------, so that each successful movement of
  the piece seemed to have no necessary connection
  to what had come before.
• musical
• believable
• arbitrary
• subtle
• cautious

If you cant immediately identify the correct
answer, separate the sentence into two parts if
you can.
26
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• 1 The conductors 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.
• musical
• believable
• arbitrary
• subtle
• 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
27
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• 1 The conductors 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.
• musical
• believable
• arbitrary
• subtle
• cautious

Try to identify the key idea expressed by the
second phrase
28
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• 1 The conductors 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.
• musical
• believable
• arbitrary
• subtle
• cautious

If you cant 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?
29
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• After a period of protracted disuse, a muscle
  will atrophy, ------- both its strength and the
  ability to perform its former function.
• regaining
• sustaining
• losing
• insuring
• 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.
30
Continuing or amplifying a thought

• 1 After a period of protracted disuse, a muscle
  will atrophy,
• 2 ------- both its strength and the ability to
  perform its former function.
• regaining
• sustaining
• losing
• insuring
• 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).
31
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

32
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
  -------------
• stingy
• thrifty
• frugal
• intolerant
• generous

Split the sentence and find the clue word
33
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
  ------
• stingy
• thrifty
• frugal
• intolerant
• generous

Although suggests a reversing
34
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
  ------
• stingy
• thrifty
• frugal
• intolerant
• generous

Identify the main idea of the defining phrase in
the sentence.
35
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
  ------
• stingy
• thrifty
• frugal
• intolerant
• generous

Find the answer that reverses this idea.
36
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 nations
  ideals to all citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

37
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 nations
  ideals to all citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

Identify clue words
38
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 nations
  ideals to all citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

Identify clue words
39
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 nations ideals to all
  citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

40
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 nations ideals to all
  citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

divide and conquer
41
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 nations ideals to all
  citizens.
• served. . describe
• abandoned . . affirm
• promoted . . criticize
• represented . . belie
• influenced . . discredit

divide and conquer
42
Two blank sentences

• Decades of statistics showing the ______
  respiratory ailments among construction workers
  _____ the causal connection between asbestos
  exposure and lung cancer.
• reason for . . help to establish
• frequent occurrence of . . have influenced
• consequences of . . mainly involve
• high incidence of . . underscore
• seriousness of . . preceded

43
Two blank sentences

• Decades of statistics showing the ______
  respiratory ailments among construction workers
  _____ the causal connection between asbestos
  exposure and lung cancer.
• reason for . . help to establish
• frequent occurrence of . . have influenced
• consequences of . . mainly involve
• high incidence of . . underscore
• seriousness of . . preceded

44
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.

45
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.

46
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.

47
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.

48
Word Usage

• Unless we grant historians some license to
  interpret historical events, we essentially
  _______ the historians role to that of a mere
  archivist or journalists.
• define
• demote
• expand
• alter
• diminish

49
Word Usage

• Unless we grant historians some license to
  interpret historical events, we essentially
  _______ the historians role to that of a mere
  archivist or journalists.
• define
• demote
• expand
• alter
• diminish

demote and diminish both seem to fit Look
carefully on what is being demoted/dimished
50
Word Usage

• Unless we grant historians some license to
  interpret historical events, we essentially
  _______ the historians role to that of a mere
  archivist or journalists.
• define
• demote
• expand
• alter
• diminish

demote and diminish both seem to fit Look
carefully on what is being demoted/dimished
51
Sample Questions

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

52

• 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.
• discovery . . indicated
• development . . prevented
• detection . . complicated
• treatment . . facilitated
• incidence . . corrected

53

• 2. The ______ science of seismology has grown
  just enough so that the first overly bold
  theories have been ______ .
• magnetic . . accepted
• fledgling . . refuted
• tentative . . analyzed
• predictive . . protected
• exploratory . . recalled

54

• 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
  ______.
• acknowledge..ignored
• decrease..verified
• tolerate..accepted
• address..eliminated
• explain..discussed

55

• 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
  ______.
• dismissal..admirers
• adoration..contemporaries
• disapproval..readers
• indifference..followers
• approbation..precursors

56

• 5. There are, as yet, no vegetation types or
  ecosystems whose study has been ______ to the
  extent that they no longer ______ ecologists.
• perfected..hinder
• exhausted..interest
• prolonged..require
• prevented..challenge
• delayed..benefit

57

• 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.
• similar
• most
• dangerous
• uncommon
• alternative

58

• 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.
• foreseen
• attacked
• ascertained
• exacerbated
• analyzed

59

• 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.
• foreseen
• attacked
• ascertained
• exacerbated
• analyzed

60

• 8. Winsor McCay, the cartoonist, could draw with
  incredible ______ his comic strip about Little
  Nemo was characterized by marvelous draftsmanship
  and sequencing.
• sincerity
• efficiency
• virtuosity
• rapidity
• energy

61

• 8. Winsor McCay, the cartoonist, could draw with
  incredible ______ his comic strip about Little
  Nemo was characterized by marvelous draftsmanship
  and sequencing.
• sincerity
• efficiency
• virtuosity
• rapidity
• energy