SAT Writing and Language Practice Tests Questions- Set 8

Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five words or sets of words labeled A through E. Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

1. Efforts are finally being made to _____ the traffic congestion that plagues the downtown area.

1. engage
2. alleviate
3. transport
4. regenerate
5. trivialize

2. Though outwardly _____ , the speaker was actually quite disturbed by the tumultuous crowd.

1. apprehensive
2. agitated
3. furious
4. serene
5. considerate

3. K’ang-hsi, emperor of China from 1661 to 1722, expressed his private thoughts with a _____ rarely found in the usually _____ rulers of great empires.

1. peacefulness .. placid
2. forthrightness .. reserved
3. fairness .. dilatory
4. meticulousness .. accessible
5. peevishness .. irritable

4. Farming had been profitable on the Great Plains for many decades, but by 1938 _____ agricultural practices and years of inadequate precipitation had _____ the land.

1. conscientious .. despoiled
2. incompetent .. sustained
3. shrewd .. debilitated
4. innovative .. fertilized
5. imprudent .. denuded

5. Cathedrals usually take decades, even centuries, to complete; thus, no one expected the National Cathedral to be built with_____ .

1. dispatch
2. presumption
3. durability
4. deliberation
5. reverence

6. New York designer Anna Sui creates eclectic clothes that represent an _____ of playful, 1970’s funky styles fused with an edgy, urban sensibility.

1. induction
2. amalgam
3. immersion
4. occlusion
5. estrangement