Sentence Completion and Fill-in-the-Blank Expression

Synonyms of cowardice and timidity

Words for cowardice and timidity share a core meaning, the lack of courage, but they differ in tone, formality and the kind of weakness they stress. To choose the right one, first decide whether the question asks for a single word that combines two ideas, such as having no backbone and having no courage. The standard word for this combination is pusillanimous. It means lacking courage or resolve, timid and spineless, and it is built from the Latin pusillus (very small) and animus (mind, spirit). It is formal and often literary.

• pusillanimous — lacking courage or resolve; timid and cowardly. e.g. The pusillanimous official avoided every decision that carried any risk.
• timid — easily frightened or shy; a neutral to mildly negative word. e.g. A timid child hid behind her mother at the door.
• unctuous — excessively smooth, flattering and insincere in manner. It describes a style of speech, not fear. e.g. The unctuous salesman praised every customer's taste.
• obsequious — servile and excessively eager to please, obey or flatter. It names servility, not cowardice. e.g. The obsequious clerk bowed to every visitor.
• reticent — reserved and unwilling to speak openly. It describes speech habits, not courage. e.g. She was reticent about her salary.

Two pairs must be kept apart. Obsequious describes eager submission, while pusillanimous describes a lack of resolve, so a person may show both traits but only pusillanimous names the fear and weakness itself. Reticent describes reluctance to speak, which may come from shyness but does not by itself mean cowardice.

Film industry vocabulary in passages

Passages on the film business use a set of commercial and critical terms, and many of the words that fill blanks in such passages come from this field. Learn each word in its market sense.

• redeeming — making up for or offsetting a fault; used of a positive feature that softens an otherwise bad situation. e.g. The only redeeming feature of the long journey was the scenery.
• outperformance — doing better than a benchmark, rival or expectation. e.g. The fund's outperformance over three years attracted new investors. Its opposite, underperformance, describes doing worse.
• geographies — in business writing, the regions or territories in which a product sells or a market operates. e.g. The brand expanded into new geographies across the north.
• eclipse — to surpass someone or something so that it seems less important. e.g. Her second novel eclipsed everything she had written before. Match means equal, whereas eclipse means exceed, and the two must not be confused.

Other terms that appear with these words include heartland, meaning the core region where a product is most popular; dubbed, meaning a version with a new soundtrack in another language; and bombing, meaning a film that fails badly at the box office. Cinemas and theatres both name the places where films are shown, while channels names television or distribution outlets.

Footwear vocabulary

Questions on clothing test ordinary nouns for garments and the adjectives that describe materials and fit. Read the whole sentence to find which garment or body part the blank refers to, because the wrong item often fits a single word while failing the context.

• patent-leather shoes — shoes made of patent leather, a leather with a glossy, lacquered finish, often worn for formal occasions. e.g. He polished his patent-leather shoes before the wedding.
• shoes — footwear for the foot; the plural form refers to a pair and is used when a noun describes the people or wearers of footwear. e.g. Her new shoes were too small for the dance.
• tight — too small or too narrow; tight footwear presses painfully on the foot. e.g. These boots are tight across the toes.
• belt, jacket, band, wrist — garments or body parts that do not fit a passage about footwear. A belt encircles the waist and a jacket covers the upper body, so neither can press on the feet.

When a sentence describes pain caused by a garment, the body part that suffers is the part that the garment covers, so the blank must name the feet rather than the waist or wrist.

Future-past contrast vocabulary

Motivational and contrast passages rely on a fixed set of phrases. Learn each word together with the preposition or noun that normally follows it.

• be determined by — be controlled or fixed by something. e.g. A student's score should not be determined by one examination alone.
• beginning — a start; a new beginning is a fresh start after an earlier phase. e.g. Each season offers a new beginning for the team.
• refrain from — to deliberately avoid doing something, a collocation that takes a gerund. e.g. Doctors advise patients to refrain from heavy lifting after surgery.
• anticipation — a hopeful or eager expectation of something to come; positive anticipation is an optimistic outlook toward the future. e.g. The students waited with keen anticipation for the results.
• hinder — to obstruct or get in the way; the pattern is hinder someone from doing something. e.g. Fear can hinder people from taking useful risks.

Marred means spoiled or damaged and does not express control or a fresh start. Physiology and psychiatry name fields of study, labyrinth means a maze, and fascinated and explored describe interest or investigation. None of these fits the sense of control, a new start or a positive expectation.

Near-synonym grouping of body-shape adjectives

Near-synonyms share a core meaning but differ in connotation, formality and the kind of person they usually describe. In a question that asks for the same relationship as a given set, every word in the chosen group must share the same core sense, so each option must be checked group by group.

• thin — having little body fat; neutral, but it can sound negative if it suggests ill health.
• slim — thin in a trim, attractive way; a positive word. e.g. She has kept slim through regular exercise.
• slender — long, graceful and elegant in build. e.g. The dancer had a slender waist and long arms.
• fat, plump, voluptuous — the three words share the core sense of a full body. Fat is the plain word and can be offensive; plump means pleasantly round; voluptuous describes a curvy, sensual figure.
• short, small, petite — the three words share the core sense of limited size. Short refers to height, small refers to overall size, and petite means small and neat, often used of women.

Some words look related but are not synonyms. Tall, taller and tallest are the positive, comparative and superlative forms of one adjective. Fair and dark are opposites, and wheatish is an intermediate complexion, so a set built from them does not share one meaning.

Tense and aspect agreement in clauses

Tense and aspect must match the time reference of the clause, and the verb must agree in number with its subject. In a question that asks for a combination of verb forms, check the subject of each clause separately, since the subject of the main clause and the antecedent of a relative pronoun may differ.

• simple past (had) — a completed event or state at a definite time in the past. Had is the past form for all persons and numbers. e.g. The reform had a lasting effect on local schools.
• present perfect (has/have + past participle) — a past event whose result or influence continues into the present. e.g. The policy has shaped local planning for decades.
• subject-verb agreement — the verb agrees with the head noun, not with a nearby noun. In a relative clause introduced by 'that', the verb agrees with the antecedent, so 'an effect that has influenced' is correct and 'an effect that have influenced' is not. e.g. The treaty, along with its annexes, has been ratified.
• have versus has — have goes with plural nouns and with I or you; has goes with singular third-person subjects. The choice depends on the noun that the verb agrees with.