Sentence Completions

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Plants are all around us.  Some of them are useful, some of them are beautiful, and some of them go unnoticed.  Take a look at these flowers and decide for yourself whether they deserve more attention.  This issue would make an excellent example for an SAT essay that concerned progress, points of view, beauty, or diversity.  Can you think of other themes that you could relate to this article?

9/16 Sentence Completions

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

Cover up your answer choices so that you are not tempted to talk yourself into a wrong answer.  Then read the sentence carefully, and predict an answer to fill the blank.  Match your prediction to the answer choices, eliminating any answers that do not match.  Look at all 5 answer choices even if you think one of the first choices matches perfectly.

A remarkably ------- plant, the soybean yields not only dairylike products, but also flour, cooking oil, and sprouts.

This sentence is about a plant that yields “not only” one thing, “but also” all these other things.  The emphasis in this sentence is on the number of things that this plant produces.  Most of the time you want to make your prediction for the blank as specific as possible; however, you can often find the correct answer even if your prediction is vague.  You can leave your prediction as a phrase, “making a lot of different things,” rather than spending too much time trying to come up with the perfect word to describe this phrase.   Look down at your answer choice and eliminate any that do not match your prediction.

(A) imperishable

(B) resistant

(C) tedious

(D) incessant

(E) versatile

Notice that some words are similar to your prediction without matching your prediction.  Eliminate these distracting answer choices.  Does “imperishable” mean “making a lot of things?” No.  It has the word "perish" in it.  Does “resistant” mean “making a lot of things?” No, it could be seen as the opposite.  Does “tedious” mean “making a lot of things?” No, though making a lot of things could be tedious.  Does “incessant” mean “making a lot of things?” No, though you can make a lot of things if you work incessantly.  Does “versatile” mean “making a lot of things?”  Yes. 

The correct answer is (E).

Words used in this SC:

Yield: (1) produce or (2) surrender

Imperishable: indestructible

Resistant: attempting to resist, counter or withstand something

Tedious: boring, monotonous

Incessant: unending

Versatile: having or capable of many uses

On sat.collegeboard.org, 80% of the responses were correct.

For more help with vocabulary, visit www.myknowsys.com!