English Language

Fill in the Blanks

13,781 Questions
All Contextual Vocabulary 2563 Prepositional Usage 2021 Tense and Aspect 1751 Determiners 1005 Phrasal Verbs 949 Confusable Vocabulary 908 Pronoun Antecedent 867 Subject-Verb Agreement 735 Collocations 654 Idiomatic Expressions 627 Conjunctions and Connectors 557 Modals 390

Fill in the Blanks Questions

Multiple choice
Directions: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly. The American public has become so ________ by dull history textbooks in school and college that it won't read history unless ________ as something else under a title such as 'The Flowering of Florida'.

  1. overwhelmed, ordained

  2. vexed, named

  3. sated, disguised

  4. unfulfilled, designated

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Clue for first blank comes from the phrase 'it won't read history', which implies that Americans are satisfied to the full by reading history textbooks. (1) and (3) both fits our prediction for first blank. 'Disguised' seems to replace the second blank instead of 'ordained' (commanded or established by law) as American public would read history textbooks only if they have a general title, i.e. disguised under different title. Hence, (3) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blank most correctly.

Reading the greatest literary artists among historians will help, but do not forget that what was acceptable style in 1850 might seem ________ today.

  1. experienced

  2. turgid

  3. immature

  4. developed

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

'Don't forget' in the sentence emphasizes on the negative aspect of the blank. This implies that the literary style that was acceptable in 1850 might be not so important today. Thus, 'experienced' in (1) and 'developed' in (4) are ruled out. 'Turgid' means using or characterized by high-sounding but unimportant or meaningless language, which fits our prediction. Hence, (2) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Direction: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.

In villages, they still exercise their minds on ________ questions, debating points of Christian doctrine with no small ________.

  1. complex, distinction

  2. theological, acuteness

  3. scientific, imagination

  4. influential, judgement

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

'Debating points of Christian doctrine' gives clue for first blank, which in turn is an explanation to the blank. Thus, 'theological' (the study of religious doctrines and matters of divinity) in (2) fits our blank. Moreover, 'acuteness' (intensity, severity) replaces the second blank as it gives sense to the sentence. Hence, (2) is the answer. 

Multiple choice

Directions: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.

Let us remember that _________ is a very dangerous thing, permitting us to do by degrees that which we would _________ doing all at once.

  1. imperceptible, balk at

  2. gradualism, shrink from

  3. identification, profit from

  4. fanaticism, prefer
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The first missing word has been elaborated in the second part of the sentence as 'permitting us to do by degree'. Among the choices imperceptible, gradualism, identification, and fanaticism for this word, it is 'imperceptible' and 'gradualism', which has a nexus to do something by degrees. 'Balk at' refers to irritate or to frustate, which gives no sense to the sentence whereas 'gradualism' with 'shrink from' (meaning avoid completely) completes a meaningful sentence, confirming the correctness of this choice. Hence, (2) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.

Millions of years ago, a volcano ________ a mountain on the floor of the Atlantic, in eruption after eruption, it pushed up a great pile of volcanic rock, until it had accumulated a mass a hundred mile across at its base, reaching ________ towards the surface of the sea.

  1. collapsed, laterally

  2. ruptured, transitionally

  3. brazured, downward

  4. built, upward

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The clue for first blank is found in latter part of the sentence as this is an explanation to the first part. 'Pushed up' and 'accumulated a mass' signifies that a volcano built a mountain and not collapsed it as we would have thought. As 'built' is one of our options, hence (4) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.

The judge, after ruling that the article had unjustly _____ the reputation of the architect, ordered the magazine to _____ its libelous statements in print.

  1. confronted, communicate

  2. injured, retract

  3. extolled, produce

  4. damaged, instill
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

There are several ways of analyzing this item. First, the overall structure is that of a thought-extender. The second blank must explain the results or consequence of the first blank. Additionally, we can rely on key words such as 'unjustly' and 'libelous' to learn that the action of the magazine was wrong. On this basis, we can eliminate (3), since there is nothing wrong with extolling. We can also rule out 'confront' (to face ) as it is not coherent with the sentence. Then, we should eliminate (4) because they do not explain the natural consequences of the judge's ruling. (2), however, does the job. The judge ruled that the article had wrongly damaged the architect's reputation, so, he ordered the magazine to make amends by retracting what it had printed. Hence, (2) is the answer.

Multiple choice
Direction: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.
Like many eighteenth-century scholars who lived by cultivating those in power, Walton neglected to neutralize, by some _________ gesture of comradeship, the resentment his peers were bound to feel because of his _________ the high and mighty.

  1. quixotic, intrigue with

  2. enigmatic, familiarity with

  3. propitiatory, involvement with

  4. salutary, questioning of

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The use of the phrase 'like many eighteenth-century scholars who lived by cultivating those in power' in beginning of the sentence means that Walton also cultivated (meaning made friends with) those in power. His relationship with the high and the mighty must therefore have been one of involvement or familiarity. So, from the point of view of the second missing word, only (2) and (3) are the possible choices. His peers (meaning colleagues) would have naturally resented his closeness to the powerful persons. So, if he had wanted to neutralize (meaning nullify) their resentment, he must have made some propitiatory (meaning conciliating), and not enigmatic (meaning puzzling) gestures towards them. So, from the point of the view of the appropriateness of the first missing word, it is (3) and not (2), that is the answer. Salutary means promoting health. Quixotic means an impractical or an idealistic person.