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Verbal Reasoning
25 Questions

Question 1 is based on the following reading passage.

Centuries ago, the Maya of Central America produced elaborate,

deeply cut carvings in stone. The carvings would have required
a cutting tool of hard stone or metal. Iron-ore deposits exist
throughout Central America, but apparently the Maya never
developed the technology to use them and the metals the Maya are
known to have used, copper and gold, would not have been hard
enough. Therefore, the Maya must have used stone tools to make
these carvings.

1. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the
argument?
A In various parts of the world, civilizations that could not
make iron from ore fashioned tools out of fragments of
iron from meteorites.
B All the metallic Mayan artifacts that have been found by
archaeologists are made of metals that are too soft for
carving stone.
C The stone out of which these carvings were made is harder
than the stone used by other Central American peoples.
D The technique that the Maya used to smelt gold and some
other metals could not have been easily applied to the task
of extracting iron from iron ore.
E Archaeologists disagree about how certain stone tools that
have been found among Mayan ruins were used.
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Questions 2 and 3 are based on the following reading passage.

(A word is boldfaced and underlined for reference in answering
question 3.)

In early-twentieth-century England, it was fashionable to claim

that only a completely new style of writing could address a world
undergoing unprecedented transformation—just as one literary
Line critic recently claimed that only the new “aesthetic of exploratory
5 excess” can address a world undergoing . . . well, you know. Yet in
early-twentieth-century England, T. S. Eliot, a man fascinated by
the “presence” of the past, wrote the most innovative poetry of his
time. The lesson for today’s literary community seems obvious:
a reorientation toward tradition would benefit writers no less than
10 readers. But if our writers and critics indeed respect the novel’s
rich tradition (as they claim to), then why do they disdain the urge
to tell an exciting story?

2. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The author of the passage suggests that present-day readers would
particularly benefit from which of the following changes on the
part of present-day writers and critics?
A An increased focus on the importance of engaging the
audience in a narrative
B Modernization of the traditional novelistic elements already
familiar to readers
C Embracing aspects of fiction that are generally peripheral to
the interest of readers
D A greater recognition of how the tradition of the novel has
changed over time
E A better understanding of how certain poets such as Eliot
have influenced fiction of the present time
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3. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The word “address” appears underlined and in boldface twice in
the first sentence of the passage (lines 2-5). In the context of the
passage as a whole, “address” is closest in meaning to
A reveal
B belie
C speak to
D direct attention toward
E attempt to remediate

Question 4 is based on the following reading passage.

Electric washing machines, first introduced in the United States

in 1925, significantly reduced the amount of time spent washing a
given amount of clothes, yet the average amount of time households
Line spent washing clothes increased after 1925. This increase is partially
5 accounted for by the fact that many urban households had
previously sent their clothes to professional laundries. But the
average amount of time spent washing clothes also increased for
rural households with no access to professional laundries.

4. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the
time spent washing clothes increased in rural areas?
A People with access to an electric washing machine typically
wore their clothes many fewer times before washing them
than did people without access to electric washing
machines.
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B Households that had sent their clothes to professional

laundries before 1925 were more likely than other
households to purchase an electric washing machine
when they became available.
C People living in urban households that had previously sent
their clothes to professional laundries typically owned
more clothes than did people living in rural households.
D The earliest electric washing machines required the user to
spend much more time beside the machine than do
modern electric washing machines.
E In the 1920s and 1930s the proportion of rural households
with electricity was smaller than the proportion of urban
households with electricity.

Directions for questions 5 through 7:

Each of the following questions includes a short text with a blank,

indicating that something has been omitted. Select the entry that best
completes the text.

5. In the 1950s, the country’s inhabitants were _______: most of

them knew very little about foreign countries.
A partisan
B erudite
C insular
D cosmopolitan
E imperturbable

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6. Since she believed him to be both candid and trustworthy,

she refused to consider the possibility that his statement
had been __________.
A irrelevant
B facetious
C mistaken
D critical
E insincere
7. It is his dubious distinction to have proved what nobody would
think of denying, that Romero at the age of sixty-four writes with
all the characteristics of __________.
A maturity
B fiction
C inventiveness
D art
E brilliance
Questions 8 through 11 are based on the following reading passage.

In the 1970s, two debates engaged many scholars of early

United States history. One focused on the status of women,
primarily White women. Turning on the so-called golden age
Line theory, which posited that during the eighteenth-century colonial
5 era, American women enjoyed a brief period of high status relative
to their English contemporaries and to nineteenth-century American
women, this debate pitted scholars who believed women’s lives
deteriorated after 1800 against those who thought women’s lives
had been no better before 1800. At issue were the causes Download
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10 women’s subordination: were these causes already in place when

the English first settled North America or did they emerge with the
rise of nineteenth-century industrial capitalism? The second debate,
the so-called origins debate, concerned the emergence of racial
slavery in the southern colonies: was slavery the inevitable result
15 of the deep-rooted racial prejudice of early British colonists or did
racial prejudice arise only after these planters instituted slave labor?
Although these debates are parallel in some respects, key
differences distinguished them. Whereas the debate over women’s
status revolved around implicit comparisons of colonial women to
20 their counterparts in the antebellum period (1800-1860), thus
inviting comment from scholars of both historical periods, the
origins debate was primarily confined to a discussion about slavery
in colonial America. Second, in contrast to the newness of the
debate over women’s status and its continued currency throughout
25 the early 1980s, the debate over race and slavery, begun in the
1950s, had lost some of its urgency with the publication of
Morgan’s American Slavery, American Freedom (1975), widely
regarded as the last word on the subject.
Each debate also assumed a different relationship to the groups
30 whose histories it concerned. In its heyday, the origins debate
focused mainly on White attitudes toward Africans rather than on
Africans themselves. With few exceptions, such as Wood’s Black
Majority (1974) and Mullin’s Flight and Rebellion (1972), which
were centrally concerned with enslaved African men, most works
35 pertaining to the origins debate focused on the White architects,
mostly male, of racial slavery. In contrast, although women’s
historians were interested in the institutions and ideologies
contributing to women’s subordination, they were equally
concerned with documenting women’s experiences. As in the
40 origins debate, however, early scholarship on colonial women
defined its historical constituency narrowly, women’s historians
focusing mainly on affluent White women.
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Over time, however, some initial differences between the

approaches taken by scholars in the two fields faded. In the 1980s,
45 historians of race and slavery in colonial America shifted their
attention to enslaved people; interest in African American culture
grew, thereby bringing enslaved women more prominently into
view. Historians of early American women moved in similar
directions during the decade and began to consider the effect of
50 racial difference on women’s experience.

8. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The passage is primarily concerned with
A showing how historians who were engaged in a particular
debate influenced historians engaged in another debate
B explaining why two initially parallel scholarly debates
diverged in the 1980s
C comparing two scholarly debates and discussing their
histories
D contrasting the narrow focus of one scholarly debate with
the somewhat broader focus of another
E evaluating the relative merits of the approaches used by
historians engaged in two overlapping scholarly debates

9. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
It can be inferred that the author of the passage mentions
American Slavery, American Freedom in the second paragraph
(line 27) primarily in order to

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A substantiate a point about the methodology that came to be

prevalent among scholars engaged in the origins debate
B cite a major influence on those scholars who claimed that
racial prejudice preceded the institution of slavery in
colonial America
C show that some scholars who were engaged in the origins
debate prior to the 1980s were interested in the
experiences of enslaved people
D identify a reason for a certain difference in the late 1970s
between the origins debate and the debate over American
women’s status
E contrast the kind of work produced by scholars engaged in
the origins debate with the kind produced by scholars
engaged in the debate over American women’s status

10. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The passage suggests which of the following about the women’s
historians mentioned in the third paragraph?
A They disputed certain claims regarding the status of
eighteenth-century American women relative to
women in England during the same period.
B Their approach to the study of women’s subordination had
been partly influenced by earlier studies published by
some scholars engaged in the origins debate.
C Their work focused on the experiences of both White and
African American women.
D Their approach resembled the approach taken in studies
by Wood and by Mullin in that they were interested in
the experiences of people subjected to a system of
subordination.
E To some extent, they concurred with Wood and with Mullin
about the origins of racism in colonial America.
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11. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
According to the passage, historical studies of race and slavery
in early America that were produced during the 1980s differed
from studies of that subject produced prior to the 1980s in that
the studies produced during the 1980s
A gave more attention to the experiences of enslaved women
B gave less attention to the cultures of enslaved people
C were read by more scholars in other fields
D were more concerned with the institutions and ideologies
that perpetuated racial prejudice in postcolonial America
E made direct comparisons between the subordination of
White women and the subordination of African American
people

Directions for questions 12 through 17:

Each of the following questions includes a short text with two or

three blanks, each blank indicating that something has been
omitted. Select one entry for each blank from the corresponding
column of choices. Fill all blanks in the way that best completes the
text.
12. The narratives that vanquished peoples have created of their
defeat have, according to Schivelbusch, fallen into several
identifiable types. In one of these, the vanquished manage
to (i) __________ the victor’s triumph as the result of some
spurious advantage, the victors being truly inferior where it
counts. Often the winners (ii) __________ this interpretation,
worrying about the cultural or moral costs of their triumph
and so giving some credence to the losers’ story.
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Blank (i) Blank (ii)

A construe D take issue with
B anoint E disregard
C acknowledge F collude in

13. I’ve long anticipated this retrospective of the artist’s work,

hoping that it would make (i) __________ judgments about him
possible, but greater familiarity with his paintings highlights their
inherent (ii) __________ and actually makes one’s assessment
(iii) __________.

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

A modish D gloom G similarly equivocal
B settled E ambiguity H less sanguine
C detached F delicacy I more cynical

14. Stories are a haunted genre; hardly (i) __________ kind

of story, the ghost story is almost the paradigm of the form,
and (ii) __________ was undoubtedly one effect that Poe
had in mind when he wrote about how stories work.

Blank (i) Blank (ii)

A a debased D pessimism
B a normative E goosebumps
C a meticulous F curiosity

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15. Given how (i)__________ the shortcomings of the standard

economic model are in its portrayal of human behavior, the
failure of many economists to respond to them is astonishing.
They continue to fill the journals with yet more proofs of yet
more (ii)__________ theorems. Others, by contrast, accept
the criticisms as a challenge, seeking to expand the basic
model to embrace a wider range of things people do.
Blank (i) Blank (ii)
A overlooked D comprehensive
B occasional E improbable
C patent F pervasive

16. The playwright’s approach is (i)__________ in that her works

(ii)__________ the theatrical devices normally used to create
drama on the stage.
Blank (i) Blank (ii)
A pedestrian D jettison
B startling E experiment with
C celebrated F distill

17. Scientists are not the only persons who examine the world about
them by the use of rational processes, although they sometimes
(i) __________ this impression by extending the definition of
“scientist” to include anyone who is (ii) __________ in his or
her investigational practices.

Blank (i) Blank (ii)

A conceal D intuitive
B create E haphazard
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Questions 18 and 19 are based on the following reading passage.

(A part of one sentence is shown underlined and in boldface for
reference in answering question 18, and a word is shown underlined
and in boldface for reference in answering question 19.)
The most plausible justification for higher taxes on automobile
fuel is that fuel consumption harms the environment and thus adds
to the costs of traffic congestion. But the fact that burning fuel
Line creates these “negative externalities” does not imply that no tax on
5 fuel could ever be too high. Economics is precise about the tax that
should, in principle, be levied to deal with negative externalities:
the tax on a liter of fuel should be equal to the harm caused by
using a liter of fuel. If the tax is more than that, its costs (including
the inconvenience to those who would rather have used their cars)
10 will exceed its benefits (including any reduction in congestion and
pollution).

18. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
Which of the following best characterizes the function of
the underlined and boldfaced partial sentence in lines 7-8
of the passage?

A It restates a point made earlier in the passage.

B It provides the evidence on which a theory is based.
C It presents a specific application of a general principle.
D It summarizes a justification with which the author
disagrees.
E It suggests that the benefits of a particular strategy have
been overestimated.

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19. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The word “exceed” appears underlined and boldfaced in line 10
of the passage. In the context in which it appears, “exceed” most
nearly means
A outstrip
B magnify
C delimit
D offset
E supplant

Questions 20 and 21 are based on the following reading

passage. (A two-word phrase is shown underlined and in
boldface for reference in answering question 21.)
Objectively, of course, the various ecosystems that sustain life
on the planet proceed independently of human agency, just as they
operated before the hectic ascendancy of Homo sapiens. But it is
Line also true that it is difficult to think of a single such system that has
5 not, for better or worse, been substantially modified by human
culture. Nor is this simply the work of the industrial centuries. It has
been happening since the days of ancient Mesopotamia. It is coeval
with the origins of writing, and has occurred throughout our social
existence. And it is this irreversibly modified world, from the polar
10 caps to the equatorial forests, that is all the nature we have.

20. Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that
apply.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree
with which of the following statements?
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A Over time, the impact of human culture on the natural world

has been largely benign.
B It is a mistake to think that the natural world contains many
areas of pristine wilderness.
C The only substantial effects that human agency has had on
ecosystems have been inadvertent.

21. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer
choices:
The phrase “coeval with” appears underlined and in boldface
in lines 7-8 of the passage. In the context in which it appears,
“coeval with” most nearly means

A influenced by
B older than
C coincident with
D unimpeded by
E similar to

Directions for questions 22 through 25:

Each of the following questions includes a sentence with a blank

indicating that something has been omitted. Following the sentence
will be a list of six words or phrases, each of which could be used to
complete the sentence. Select the two answer choices that, when
substituted for the blank, fit the context and produce the two
sentences most nearly alike in meaning.

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22. Dreams are __________ in and of themselves, but, when

combined with other data, they can tell us much about the
dreamer.
A astonishing
B disordered
C harmless
D inscrutable
E revealing
F uninformative

23. Linguistic science confirms what experienced users of ASL—

American Sign Language—have always implicitly known:
ASL is a grammatically __________ language, as capable of
expressing a full range of syntactic relations as any natural
spoken language.

A complete
B economical
C redundant
D spare
E unique
F unlimited

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24. The macromolecule RNA is common to all living beings, and

DNA, which is found in all organisms except some bacteria,
is almost as __________.
A comprehensive
B fundamental
C inclusive
D universal
E significant
F ubiquitous
25. Early critics of Emily Dickinson’s poetry mistook for
simplemindedness the surface of artlessness that in fact she
constructed with such __________.
A astonishment
B craft
C cunning
D innocence
E naïveté
F vexation

(Answer Key on Next Page)

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Answer Key for Verbal Reasoning 25 Questions

1. A — In various parts of the world, civilizations that could not

make iron from ore fashioned tools out of fragments of iron
from meteorites.

2. A — An increased focus on the importance of engaging

the audience in a narrative

3. C — speak to

4. A — People with access to an electric washing machine typically

wore their clothes many fewer times before washing them than
did people without access to electric washing machines.

5. C — insular
Answer in Context: In the 1950s, the country’s inhabitants
were insular: most of them knew very little about foreign
countries.

6. E — insincere
Answer in Context: Since she believed him to be both candid
and trustworthy, she refused to consider the possibility that
his statement had been insincere.

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7. A — maturity
Answer in Context: It is his dubious distinction to have proved
what nobody would think of denying, that Romero at the age of
sixty-four writes with all the characteristics of maturity.

8. C — comparing two scholarly debates and discussing their

histories

9. D — identify a reason for a certain difference in the late 1970s

between the origins debate and the debate over American
women’s status

10. D — Their approach resembled the approach taken in studies by

Wood and by Mullin in that they were interested in the
experiences of people subjected to a system of subordination.

11. A — gave more attention to the experiences of enslaved women

12. Blank (i) A. construe

Blank (ii) F. collude in
Answer in Context: The narratives that vanquished peoples have
created of their defeat have, according to Schivelbusch, fallen
into several identifiable types. In one of these, the vanquished
manage to construe the victor’s triumph as the result of some
spurious advantage, the victors being truly inferior where it
counts. Often the winners collude in this interpretation, worrying
about the cultural or moral costs of their triumph
and so giving some credence to the losers’ story.

13. Blank (i) B. settled

Blank (ii) E. ambiguity
Blank (iii) G. similarly equivocal
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Answer in Context: I’ve long anticipated this retrospective of the
artist’s work, hoping that it would make settled judgments about
him possible, but greater familiarity with his paintings highlights
their inherent ambiguity and actually makes one’s assessment
similarly equivocal.

14. Blank (i) A. a debased

Blank (ii) E. goosebumps
Answer in Context: Stories are a haunted genre; hardly
a debased kind of story, the ghost story is almost the paradigm of
the form, and goosebumps was undoubtedly one effect that Poe had
in mind when he wrote about how stories work.

15. Blank (i) C. patent

Blank (ii) E. improbable
Answer in Context: Given how patent the shortcomings of the
standard economic model are in its portrayal of human behavior, the
failure of many economists to respond to them is astonishing. They
continue to fill the journals with yet more proofs of yet more
improbable theorems. Others, by contrast, accept the criticisms as a
challenge, seeking to expand the basic model to embrace a wider
range of things people do.

16. Blank (i) B. startling

Blank (ii) D. jettison
Answer in Context: The playwright’s approach is startling in that
her works jettison the theatrical devices normally used to create
drama on the stage.

17. Blank (i) B. create

Blank (ii) F. logical

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Answer in Context: Scientists are not the only persons who

examine the world about them by the use of rational processes,
although they sometimes create this impression by extending the
definition of “scientist” to include anyone who is logical in his or
her investigational practices.

18. C — It presents a specific application of a general principle.

19. A — outstrip

20. B — It is a mistake to think that the natural world contains

many areas of pristine wilderness.

21. C — coincident with

22. Sentence to be completed: Dreams are __________ in and

of themselves, but, when combined with other data, they can tell
us much about the dreamer.
Answer: D — inscrutable, F — uninformative

23. Sentence to be completed: Linguistic science confirms what

experienced users of ASL—American Sign Language—have
always implicitly known: ASL is a grammatically ___________
language, as capable of expressing a full range of syntactic
relations as any natural spoken language.
Answer: A — complete, F — unlimited

24. Sentence to be completed: The macromolecule RNA is common

to all living beings, and DNA, which is found in all organisms
except some bacteria, is almost as __________.
Answer: D — universal, F — ubiquitous Download facility provided by
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25. Sentence to be completed: Early critics of Emily Dickinson’s
poetry mistook for simplemindedness the surface of artlessness
that in fact she constructed with such __________.
Answer: B — craft, C — cunning

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