SAT sentence completion practice test 08

1. The success of the business venture ____ his expectations; he never thought that the firm would prosper.

A. confirmed
B. belied
C. nullified
D. fulfilled
E. ratified

2. For centuries there was no ___ between their descendents; in fact ____ strife continued until modern times.

A. peace - internecine
B. hostility - intermittent
C. malevolence - intense
D. amity - contrived
E. difference - feudal

3. The journalist ____ the efforts of the drug squad to control drug peddling, claiming that they had actually ____ the problem.

A. commended - increased
B. lauded - intensified
C. decried - solved
D. deprecated - exacerbated
E. noted - caused

4. Since the Romans failed to ____ the tribes in Northern Britain, they built a wall to ____ the tribes.

A. conquer - alienate
B. impress - intimidate
C. subjugate - exclude
D. pacify - enrage
E. neutralize - barricade

5. The professor became increasingly ____ in later years, flying into a rage whenever he was opposed.

A. taciturn
B. voluble
C. subdued
D. contrite
E. irascible

6. Although the deep sea has a typically ____ fauna, near vents in the sea bed where warm water emerges live remarkable densities of invertebrates and fish.

A. verdant
B. unique
C. lush
D. pallid
E. sparse

7. Their bantering talk seemed ____, but in fact it masked an underlying ____ .

A. hostile - antipathy
B. amicable - antagonism
C. jovial - assumptions
D. exasperating - frustrations
E. friendly - geniality

8. The new nomenclature was so ____ that many chemists preferred to revert to the older trivial names that were at least shorter.

A. succinct
B. cumbersome
C. irrational
D. facile
E. systematic

9. Even though the auditors ____ the accountant, his reputation was ____ by the allegations of fraud.

A. vindicated - enhanced
B. indicted - blemished
C. betrayed - ruined
D. exonerated - tarnished
E. cleared - condoned

10. Many so-called social playwrights are distinctly ____ ; rather than allowing the members of the audience to form their own opinions, these writers force a viewpoint on the viewer.

A. conciliatory
B. prolific
C. iconoclastic
D. didactic
E. contumacious

11. The archaeologist, viewing the fragmentary remains of the ancient city, reflected on the ____ of human ____ .

A. impermanence - endeavour
B. transience - thought
C. dearth - aspirations
D. futility - humility
E. durability - constructs

12. He was normally entirely ____ , but in the embarrassing situation in which he found himself he felt compelled to ____.

A. equable - evade
B. considerate - concede
C. forthright - prevaricate
D. mendacious - equivocate
E. amenable - capitulate