Words in Context: Practice Questions | Reading and Writing for Digital SAT PDF Download

Q.1. In recommending Bao Phi's collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the spoken-word poet don't lose their ______ nature when printed: the language has the same pleasant musical quality on the page as it does when performed by Phi.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
(a) jarring
(b) scholarly
(c) melodic
(d) personal

Correct Answer is Option (c)
We've never read Bao Phi's poetry, so how are we supposed to know what the poems are like? Well, luckily we don't have to.
If we look at the second part of the prompt text (the part after the colon), it tells us what Bao Phi's poems are like: they have a "pleasant musical quality". The most precise word in this context will emphasize the same positive association with music.
"Melodic" also means pleasant and musical, so it best emphasizes the point being made in context. The answer is (C).

Q.2. The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.
[Jay Gatsby] was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American—that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness.
As used in the text, what does the word "quality" most nearly mean?
(a) Characteristic
(b) Standard
(c) Prestige
(d) Accomplishment

Correct Answer is Option (a)
Like many words, "quality" can mean different things in different contexts. It can be a noun that means something like "attribute", but it can also describe how good something is (e.g, "high quality" vs "low quality"). How is it being used here?
"This quality" is phrased in a way that refers back to something in the previous sentence. In particular, it seems to link to "that resourcefulness of movement...), which the previous sentence works hard to describe. That whole phrase, in turn, is being use to characterize the way is behaving.
So, "quality" is being used to describe an "attribute" of how Gatsby is behaving. (A), "characteristic", matches this use.

Q.3. Some foraging models predict that the distance bees travel when foraging will decline as floral density increases, but biologists Shalene Jha and Claire Kremen showed that bees' behavior is inconsistent with this prediction if flowers in dense patches are ______: bees will forage beyond patches of low species richness to acquire multiple resource types.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
(a) depleted
(c) homogeneous
(c) immature
(d) dispersed

Correct Answer is Option (b)
Choice A. This doesn't fit the logic of the text. "Depleted" means "used up" or "consumed", and the text never suggests that the flowers in dense patches are sometimes used up or consumed.
Choice B. This is the best choice. The text after the colon tells us that bees will travel beyond dense flower patches that have "low species richness" to find different kinds of flowers. "Homogenous" means "of the same kind" or "alike", which fits this context perfectly.
Choice C. This doesn't fit the logic of the text. The text never suggests that bees are less attracted to immature plants than full grown plants.
Choice D. This contradicts the text. "Dispersed" means "spread out", which is the opposite of "dense". Flowers in dense patches can't also be spread out!

Q.4. Osage Nation citizen Randy Tinker-Smith produced and directed the ballet Wahzhazhe, which vividly chronicles Osage history and culture. Telling Osage stories through ballet is ______ choice because two of the foremost ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage: sisters Maria and Marjorie Tallchief.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
(a) an unpredictable
(b) an arbitrary
(c) a determined
(d) a suitable

Correct Answer is Option (d)
Choice A. The text never suggests that Tinker-Smith's choice was "unpredictable". Rather, the fact that two of the best ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage makes ballet especially appropriate for telling Osage stories.
Choice B. The text implies the opposite of this. "Arbitrary" means "based on random choice or whim rather than reason". But the text does give us a good reason behind the choice to tell Osage stories through ballet: two of the best ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage.
Choice C. The text never suggests that Tinker-Smith's choice was "determined". That would imply that Tinker-Smith initially faced some kind of obstacle or opposition, and nothing like that is mentioned in the passage.
Choice D. This is the best choice. "Suitable" means "appropriate for a particular purpose". Since the text indicates that two of the best ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage, we can infer that the author believes that ballet is a very suitable artform for telling Osage stories.

Q.5. The following text is from Booth Tarkington's 1921 novel Alice Adams.
Mrs. Adams had always been fond of vases, she said, and every year her husband's Christmas present to her was a vase of one sort or another—whatever the clerk showed him, marked at about twelve or fourteen dollars.
As used in the text, what does the word "marked" most nearly mean?
(a) Stained
(b) Staged
(c) Watched
(d) Priced

Correct Answer is Option (d)
Choice A. This isn't the meaning of "marked" as used here. It wouldn't make sense to say that a vase was "stained at twelve or fourteen dollars".
Choice B. This isn't the meaning of "marked" as used here. It wouldn't make sense to say that a vase was "staged at twelve or fourteen dollars".
Choice C. This isn't the meaning of "marked" as used here. It wouldn't make sense to say that a vase was "watched at twelve or fourteen dollars".
Choice D. This is the best choice. The text suggests that Mrs. Adam's typical Christmas present from her husband was a vase that cost, or was "priced at", about twelve or fourteen dollars.

Q.6. The following text is adapted from Zora Neale Hurston's 1921 short story "John Redding Goes to Sea." John wants to travel far beyond the village where he lives near his mother, Matty.
[John] had on several occasions attempted to reconcile his mother to the notion, but found it a difficult task. Matty always took refuge in self-pity and tears. Her son's desires were incomprehensible to her, that was all.
As used in the text, what does the phrase "reconcile his mother to" most nearly mean?
(a) Get his mother to accept
(b) Get his mother to apologize for
(c) Get his mother to match
(d) Get his mother to reunite with

Correct Answer is Option (a)
Choice A. This is the best choice. The expression "reconcile to" means "to cause (a person) to accept something difficult or disagreeable". The text suggests that John wants his mother to accept his desire to travel, even though she doesn't like that idea.
Choice B. This doesn't make sense. John doesn't want his mother to apologize for his own desire to travel—he wants her to accept his desire to travel.
Choice C. The text doesn't suggest that John wants his mother to match his desire to travel. Rather, he wants her to accept his desire to travel even though she doesn't like it.
Choice D. This is tempting, because it seems to pick up on the idea of people "reconciling" after a fight, but it actually doesn't make sense. The text never suggests that John's mother was "united with" the idea of him traveling in the past—if anything, it seems like she's always been against it. Besides, it would be strange to say that a person "reunites with" a notion.

Q.7. Mineralogical differences are detectable in samples collected from two locations on the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, but such differences may not indicate substantial compositional variations in the asteroid. Cosmochemist Kazuhide Nagashima and colleagues note that at the small scale of the samples, the distribution of minerals is unlikely to be ______.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
(a) redundant
(b) neglected
(c) uniform
(d) ongoing

Correct Answer is Option c)
Choice A. Redundant means "not or no longer useful or needed", which is too strong. The text doesn't suggest that the variation between the samples isn't a useful finding at all—just that we can't assume that the large-scale composition of the asteroid will show the same variation. But the composition of the samples might be useful for something else!
Choice B. Neglected means "suffering a lack of proper care" or "abandoned", which doesn't work here. The text never suggests that the distribution of minerals in the samples would be neglected, so this statement doesn't logically follow.
Choice C. This is the best choice. The text tells us that the samples are too "small scale" to reflect the composition of the asteroid, which probably doesn't show the same variation on a large scale. This suggests that the mineral composition of the samples are unlikely to be exactly the same from sample to sample.
Choice D. Ongoing means "still in progress", which doesn't make sense: the distribution of minerals in a sample can't be "ongoing".