Sentence Completions

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Did you know that jellyfish are actually a kind of plankton? Their movements and gelatinous bodies make them seem complex but they are actually very simple creatures. They have no bones, brains, or heart and they are mostly water (98%). You can learn more about jellyfish here.

6/18 Sentence Completions

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted into the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Always start out by reading the sentence carefully and making a prediction for the blank. Four of the five answer choices are wrong, so looking at the answer choices without making a prediction will only hurt you. Read the sentence carefully and look for clues to help you predict a word for the blank. Then, look at the answer choices and choose the word that matches your prediction.

The jellyfish's slow pulsing action propels it in a graceful, seemingly _________ drift, but it's tentacles contain a poison potent enough to stun a swimming human.

Now that you have read the sentence carefully, look for clues that will help you to predict a word for the blank. You know that the "The jellyfish's slow pulsing action propels it in a graceful seemingly _________ drift". Whatever word you predict for the blank, it should be positive like the word "graceful." Now, look at what you see after the blank. "but it's tentacles contain a poison potent enough to . . ." The word "but" is key here because it changes the direction of the sentence. The jellyfish moves with a graceful pulsing action that is seemingly _______, but it's tentacle are very dangerous. You can predict that the jellyfish is "seemingly safe . . . , but . . ."Now that you have a prediction, all that's left is to select the answer choice that matches your prediction.

(A) sinister

(B) rhythmic

(C) murky
(D) harmless
(E) patient

As you can see, only (D) matches your prediction. You can see how easy it would have been to be tempted by (A) if you had not noticed the keyword "but." You also might have been tempted to pick (B) because "rhythmic" sounds like it would fit with "pulsing." That is why it is essential that you alway remember to predict before you look at the answer choices.

The correct answer choice is (B).

Words Tested in This SC:
sinister: inauspicious, ominous, unlucky
rhythmic: of or relating to rhythm
murky: hard to see through, as a fog or mist
harmless: incapable of causing harm or danger
patient: content to wait if necessary, not bothered with having to wait

on sat.collegeboard.org 72% of the responses were correct.

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