Verbal questions – 10 questions with 2 blanks and 15 questions with 3 blanks

 

 

1.   The citizenry had become so ______(i)_________ by the presidents ______(ii)_________  that the latest financial scandal did not even make the front page of the newspaper.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
fascinated	impropriety
disgusted	indiscretions
jaded	magnanimity

 

 

2.  Suicide is the outcome of man’s difficulty to ______(i)_________  himself in society, so he does not feel isolated.  Some are born with a ______(ii)_________     to commit suicide, whereas some commit suicide because they are unable to bear  ______(iii)________    changes in their lives.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
secure	predisposition	abrupt
integrate	resolution	cataclysmic
homogenize	sentiment	adverse

 

 

3.  Today, plastic has proved to be a ______(i)_________ to the environment:; the world over, steps are being taken to ban the ______(ii)_________   and non-recyclable material, which has silently taken over our lives.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
boon	ominous
menace	deleterious
threat	non-ecofriendly

 

 

4. One theory of ancient human migration patterns holds that  ______(i)_________ originated in Africa more than 100,000 years ago and from thence ______(ii)_________ the remainder of the world.  A new genetic study confirms that some of the earliest migrants travelled into Asia by a southern  ______(iii)_________ , possibly along the coasts of what are now Pakistan and India.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
Homo sapiens	enchanted	route
music	covered	expedition
culture	colonised	highway

 

5. Behind their strange appearance and ______(i)_________  for carrion, which has long singled them out for fear and loathing, hyenas present a ______(ii)_________ society in which females dominate.  The females use their dominant status to spurn males in their ______(iii)________, thereby avoiding the risk of inbreeding.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
appetite	virtual	clan
yearning	democratic	territory
proclivity	matriarchal	neighbourhood

 

 

6.   Voltaire espoused the philosophy that an enlightened monarch would rule with benevolence; such a ruler, he believed, would promote ______(i)_________  in order to ______(ii)_________  the rights of the populace.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
nutrition	purify
reforms	enhance
communication	clarify

 

 

7. Metacognition is the term for what, why, and how we know what we know; in other words, it is ______(i)_________ about ______(ii)_________.  Knowledge is considered to be metacognitive if it is actively used in a strategic manner to ______(iii)_________ that a goal is met.

 

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
presumably	explanation	imagine
thinking	nothing	ensure
much ado	thinking	think

 

 

8. Examining the means by which traditional societies living in large groups keep all members supplied with food provides illuminating contrast between the objective material conditions of life and the culture bearers’  ______(i)_________  of those ______(ii)_________ .  

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
scrutiny	conditions
contemplation	societies
perceptions	groups

 

 

9. Studies of the psychology of mobs have shown that they take courage in ______(i)_________, and if unchecked, can cause immense harm. But these studies also show that their courage is only ______(ii)_________, and that a small show of authority is enough to call their bluff. That's because ______(iii)_________ of a mob aren't driven by a higher cause like patriotism.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
numbers	exhibition	enemies
exhibitionism	bravado	members
rebelling	fortitude	participants

 

10. Cellphone cameras and text messages, as well as social networking Web sites, e-mail and instant messaging, all give teenagers a wider range of ways to play tricks on one another, to tease and to intimidate their peers.  Unlike ______(i)_________ bullying, which usually is an ______(ii)_________, if highly unpleasant, experience, high-tech bullying can happen anywhere, anytime, among lots of different children who may never actually meet in person.  It is inescapable and often ______(iii)________, say sociologists and educators who have studied cyberbullying.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
aggressive	intimate	nameless
traditional	unusual	anonymous
peer	expected	empowering

 

 

11. Although the AIDS epidemic is in the limelight, there is a silent killer ______(i)_________  through India, killing more people than AIDS itself.  The ______(ii)_________  is that , unlike AIDS, this disease is easily cured.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
raging	parody
rampaging	sarcasm
traducing	irony

 

 

12.  Maintaining and improving the feed supply for livestock is the underlying ______(i)_________  of pasture weed management. Weeds are not only a cause of pasture ______(ii)_________,  but may also be a ______(iii)_________,  of pasture decline.  Any weed control plan must be based on the maintenance of a dense and vigorous perennial pasture.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
cause	degradation	symbolic
potential	improvement	an element
objective	plants	a symptom

 

13.  Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; in fact, we have frequently to exhaust the part of ______(i)_________, and even of      ______(ii)________  before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
error	others
ourselves	complacency
opulence	folly

 

 

14.  While the works in Project Gutenberg represent a valuable sample of publications that span several centuries, there are some issues of ______(i)_________ for linguistic analysis. Some content may have been modified by the transcriber because of ______(ii)_________ changes or corrections, such as obvious proofsetter or printing errors. The spelling may also have been modified to ______(iii)_________ with current practices. This can mean that the works may be problematic when searching for older grammatical usage.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
copyright	bureaucratic	conform
concern	random	blend
state	editorial	concur

 

 

15. Hitchcock ______(i)_________ the use of suspense over surprise in his films. In surprise, the director assaults the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience which the characters in the film do not know, and then artfully builds ______(ii)_________ around what will happen when the ______(iii)_________ finally learn the truth.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
offered	ambivalence	characters
preferred	tension	audience
characterised	malice	director

 

16. Although World War II ended more than half a century ago, Russia and Japan still have not signed a formal peace treaty; and both countries have been    ______(i)_________ to develop more ______(ii)_________ relations.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
reticent	controversial
averse	amiable
loath	hostile

 

17. Official statistics are collected by government to inform debate, decision-making and research both within government and by the wider community. They provide ______(i)_________ perspective of the changes taking place in national life and allow ______(ii)_________ between periods of time and geographical areas. Reliable social and economic statistics are fundamental to open government and it is the ______(iii)_________ of government to provide them and to maintain public confidence in them.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
an objective	choices	nature
a subjective	comparisons	openness
a visual	migration	responsibility

 

 

18. Artistic expression is highly culture-specific; that is to say, the forms art takes and the function it performs vary radically according to the ______(i)_________       location and ______(ii)_________ of the artist.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
original	ethnicity
possible	desires
geographic	temperament

 

 

19. World War I was a war without ______(i)_________  - all previous wars were ______(ii)_________ by its scale of destruction. It was a struggle between Europe's great powers, which were grouped into two hostile ______(ii)_________.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
end	overwhelmed	alliances
parallel	insignificant	nations
politics	eclipsed	extremes

 

 

20. To the writings of the alchemists were almost certainly added spurious elements, which ______(i)_________the difficulty of deciphering the ______(ii)_________ from the ______(iii)________ in an already disconcerting amalgam of fact and allegory

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (iii)
complicated	genuine	magic
confused	witchcraft	apocryphal
compounded	wheat	chaff

 

 

21. Despite its ______(i)_________ and safety in treating some of the most incapacitating forms of depression and anxiety, it has not been widely ______(ii)_________.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
potency	accepted
ineffectuality	renounced
usefulness	commenced

 

22. quest

 

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

 

 

 

23. In literature, a literal image is one that is unambiguously ______(i)_________     to sensory perception, but a ______(ii)_________ image to subject to wide-ranging interpretation.

 

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)
open	figurative
apparent	amorphous
subject	closer

 

 

 

24. quest

 

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

 

 

25. quest

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Answer Key:

 

Question	Correct Answer
1	Blank (i)    jaded Blank (ii)   indiscretions
2	Blank (i)    integrate Blank (ii)   predisposition Blank (iii)  cataclysmic
3	Blank (i)   menace Blank (ii)  non-ecofriendly
4	Blank (i)   Homo sapiens Blank (ii)  colonised Blank (iii) route
5	Blank (i)   appetite Blank (ii)  matriarchal Blank (iii) clan
6	Blank (i)   reforms Blank (ii)  enhance
7	Blank (i)   thinking Blank (ii)  thinking Blank (iii) ensure
8	Blank (i)   perceptions Blank (ii)  conditions
9	Blank (i)   numbers Blank (ii)  bravado Blank (iii) members
10	Blank (i)   traditional Blank (ii)  intimate Blank (iii) anonymous
11	Blank (i)   rampaging Blank (ii)  irony
12	Blank (i)   objective Blank (ii)  degradation Blank (iii) symptom
13	Blank (i)   error Blank (ii)  folly
14	Blank (i)   concern Blank (ii)  editorial Blank (iii) conform
15	Blank (i)   preferred Blank (ii)  tension Blank (iii) characters
16	Blank (i)   reticent Blank (ii)  amiable
17	Blank (i)   an objective Blank (ii)  comparisons Blank (iii) responsibility
18	Blank (i)   geographic Blank (ii)  ethnicity
19	Blank (i)   parallel Blank (ii)  eclipsed Blank (iii) alliances
20	Blank (i)   compounded Blank (ii)  genuine Blank (iii) apocryphal
21	Blank (i)   usefulness Blank (ii)  accepted
22	Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)
23	Blank (i)   apparent Blank (ii)  figurative
24	Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)
25	Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)