Homemade difficult text completions: should I work for ETS?

[twerenowtodie]

I have surmised that ETS likes to take sentences from excellent writers, modify them somewhat, and put blanks in there. They then create traps for the unsuspecting and gullible. Here are some homemade imitations; they are somewhat more lexical than ETS's, but perhaps I have a future working for them. Let me know what you think: perhaps they're not as hard as I wanted to make them. 

 

 

 

Russell happened to head that inner (i) ––––––––– of power within the Senate in which, through the genteel workings of the seniority system, it was as if the South, having lost the battlefield, had then proceeded patiently to reverse that verdict with its senators and congressmen (ii) ———————- through the years, through the folk loyalties of the tribal politics back home, to ultimately (iii) ——————- the Capitol. 

 

 

(i)

 

crutch

conclave

cenacle

 

(ii)

 

fighting

towering

abiding

 

(iii)

 

abrogate

appropriate

give up

 

 

 

A conceptual mess can persist indefinitely, however, if its very muddle allows (i) —————- illusions to be (ii)—————. 

(i)

cherished

acceptable

nuanced

 

(ii)

 

discarded

neglected

retained

 

As one of the four talented, (i) ------------- officers he differed greatly from the other three, who at times were diffident and deferential. Assertive, sometimes even (ii) --------------, he was clearly far more (iii) --------------.

(i)

choice

unregenerate

fashionable

 

(ii)

 

gaudy

bumptious

restrained

 

(iii)

 

gifted

ambitious

parochial

Perhaps the (i) ————— part of Johnson’s campaign of ingratiation began with his debut speech on the floor of the Senate, in which he strenuously (ii)—————— Truman’s civil rights bill to end lynchings and job and voting discrimination, announcing himself one of “We of the South”––though, in truth, Texas and the bare hill country of Johnson’s own origins had always amounted to a(n) (iii) ——————- of the culture of the Old South. 

 

(i)

 

most memorable

tawdriest

most lurid

 

(ii)

 

campaigned for

promulgated

denounced

 

(iii)

 

outskirt

paragon

scion

Now, this lofty view of myself had nothing to do with any work that I had accomplished. It was a fantasy based on the mark I intended to make in the world, and faced with the challenge of real life, the fantasy soon (i) —————  from a powerful (ii) —————- into the merest whispered (iii) ———————.  

(i)

dwindled

waxed

ebbed

 

(ii)

 

boast

spell

conviction

 

(iii)

 

banality

disinclination

velleity

 

He tended not so much to dissemble in a premeditated way as to (i) ——————- himself into one character or another, according to the moment. Aides would even hear him behind the door of his inner office rehearsing for a contentious meeting by (ii) —————- not only his own arguments but the rejoinders of others, actually (iii) —————- the whole expected exchange himself. 

 

(i)

 

fortify

transmute

maintain

 

(ii)

 

regurgitating

remonstrating with

voicing out

 

(iii)

 

extemporizing

conducting

unveiling

 

Both Pennock and Miller demonstrate that evolution is not a designer but a scavenger that makes do with (i) ————- solutions and then improves them as opportunities and emergencies present themselves. Typically, the new mechanism will have discarded “scaffolding” elements that were no longer needed. And (ii) —————, a part that may have been only mildly beneficial in one machine can become (iii) ————— to its successor which may serve a quite different end. 

(i)

jury-rigged

ad libbed

rehashed

 

(ii)

 

on the same lines

conversely

concomitantly 

 

(iii)

 

peripheral

deleterious

essential

 

The proper way to assess any theory is to weigh its explanatory advantages against those of every (i) ————- rival. Neo-Darwinian natural selection is endlessly fruitful, enjoying (ii) ——————— from an imposing array of disciplines. By contrast, intelligent design lacks any naturalistic causal hypotheses and thus enjoys no (iii) —————- with any branch of science. 

 

(i)

 

extant

proven

archaic

 

(ii)

 

relegation

corroboration

provocation

 

(iii)

 

consilience

discordance

pact

 

 

Despite Dr Jones’ position that pandemics are optional, the (i) ________________ view in global health is that pandemics are (ii) ________________. 

 

(i)

 

scientific

vulgar

prevailing

 

(ii)

 

inevitable

preventable

unwarranted

 

 

(i) ____________ in his oscillations of mood to a lugubrious (ii) _____________, President Johnson while president brooded (iii) _____________ over how he was discounted by the intellectual left as a blustering boor. 

 

 

(i) 

Amenable

Given

Inimical

 

(ii)

 

fly-by-night-hood

happy-go-lucky-ness

woebegoneness

 

(iii)

 

effusively

ponderously

egregiously

 

Over those expanses of prose, one baffilingly encounters profusely detailed but strangely (i) _____________ stretches–––including an opening hundred-page exploration of the evolution of the Senate––in which the subject of the biography (ii) ____________ virtually out of sight. Although there are some arresting scenes in the book, they mostly (iii) ______________ what turn out to be essentially pseudo-happenings.

 

(i)

prosaic

hefty

weightless

 

(ii)

recedes

sublimates

absconds

 

(iii)

recount

rehash

decorate

 

The author is working here in a rare genre––appreciation of an appreciative writer—with temptations known only to those who have tried it: a drift toward (i) ———— insistence, making the author (ii) —————— he scarcely noticed; or, by reaction to the other extreme, superstitious trust in the healing virtue of a(n) (iii) ————— quotation. 

 

(i) 

 

refractory

extreme

suasive

 

(ii) 

 

toe a line

retrace his steps

fall by the wayside

 

(iii)

 

aesthetic

mere

lurid

 

We met in his apartment to discuss his process: how he finds the books he publishes, and what provokes his interest. He has a soft-spoken manner and a reader’s excellent (i) —————— vocabulary, but he clearly enjoys regular (ii) —————— loud laughter, provoked by his (iii) ———————- bone-dry sense of humor. 

 

(i)

 

dispatch of

want of

restraint in

 

(ii)

 

abeyances in

guffaws of

punctuations of

 

(iii)

 

knowing

callous

jejune

Edited May 30, 2016 by twerenowtodie

[blc073]

uwotm8??

[Eigen]

It's been a while for me, but most of the word substations don't seem very difficult from skimming through them- most of them have one clearly correct answer given the context. 

Their placement in the sentences (and the sentences themselves) seems awkward in cases, which increases the difficulty but not in any useful way. 

[twerenowtodie]

want to give me some answers?

 

and way to be nice to me after my work!??! i put thought into this...

 

the sentences are all drawn from esteemed writers and are excerpted from the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and other well-respected journals

Edited May 30, 2016 by twerenowtodie

[blc073]

20 minutes ago, twerenowtodie said:

want to give me some answers?

 

and way to be nice to me after my work!??! i put thought into this...

 

the sentences are all drawn from esteemed writers and are excerpted from the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and other well-respected journals

I don't understand what you want from us. I didn't realize everyone had to tread lightly in order to avoid hurting feelings. 

[twerenowtodie]

I guess jocular encouragement in a jocularly presented exercise is nice

[fuzzylogician]

Yeah, most of these seem to have one obviously correct answer given the context. They don't seem that difficult. I am not sure why you posted these here, especially since you don't seem to want any feedback. 

[twerenowtodie]

I don't see anybody answering!!!

[Eigen]

6 hours ago, twerenowtodie said:

I have surmised that ETS likes to take sentences from excellent writers, modify them somewhat, and put blanks in there. They then create traps for the unsuspecting and gullible. Here are some homemade imitations; they are somewhat more lexical than ETS's, but perhaps I have a future working for them. Let me know what you think: perhaps they're not as hard as I wanted to make them. 

 

I'm really not sure what you're looking for. You asked people to let you know what they thought. Then when we did, you got mad at us. Why post this and ask for feedback if you didn't want feedback?

[twerenowtodie]

I'm just surprised, that's all! :). I don't know what to say. Delete the post? Would if I could!