1. B
The stimulus and correct answer are really flip sides of each
other, but the actions they describe share a common purpose — to
get someone to do what you want him to do. In fact, if the
stimulus failed — if you couldn't coax (or persuade)
someone through a series of flattering and cajoling actions and
speeches known as blandishments, you might take the next
step and attempt to compel (B) him by making threats.
Platitudes, A, are trite, dull remarks, usually trotted
out for the purpose of amusing someone. If your aim was to
deter, C, someone from a particular course, there are many
more effective tools than tidings, which are news,
information, or data. You might batter someone, D, with
insults — in a figurative sense, at least — but you would
not use them to batter someone into doing something. And to
exercise, E, often amounts to engaging in antics,
but you don't use antics to exercise someone into doing something
— not even in the alternative meaning of exercise, that
is, to annoy or make uneasy.
2. A
The word filter is used as a verb. When you use a filter,
an impurity is removed, so you filter to remove an
impurity. The word expurgate in A means to censor,
to remover obscenities — you expurgate to remove an
obscenity. To whitewash, B, is to misrepresent a
bad thing to make it look better. An infraction isn't
removed by whitewashing it, it's only covered up, so B
isn't parallel. In C, perjury is the crime of lying under
oath. To testify doesn't mean to remove a false statement.
In D, penance is something you do to atone for a sin, but
you don't perform to remove penance. And in E, you
don't vacuum to remove a carpet. So A is
correct.
3. B
Intransigent means unyielding — the opposite of
flexible. our bridge is "a person who is intransigent is
lacking in flexibility." The only pair that looks good is B,
disinterested and partisanship. One who's
disinterested is unbiased — he doesn't have an interest in either
side of a dispute. Partisan means partial to a particular
party or cause. That's the opposite of disinterested. So
partisanship, the quality of being biased, is lacking in a person
who would be described as disinterested.
In A, transient means transitory, so you wouldn't say
that someone transient lacks mobility. In C,
dissimilar means not similar, along the same lines of
variation. You can't say that something progressive lacks
transition, so D is no good. The word ineluctable in E
means inescapable, while modality is a longer way of
saying mode.
4. C
When you dampen something, you restrain it (such as
when you dampen emotions).
Going through the answer choices, when something
stagnates it stops flowing, so eliminate answer A. You
don't have to liquefy something to purify it, so
there's no bridge here — eliminate the answer. When you
dilate something, you expand it, so keep C. When
you melt something, you don't disband it — there's
no strong bridge here. When you stabilize something, you
make it steadier — instill means "to plant." Answer C is
the best answer.
5. C
An archive is a place designed for storing
records.
Is a box designed for storing shoes? Some are,
but not all boxes. Eliminate. Is a locker designed for
storing a uniform? It's designed for storing clothes, not
necessarily uniforms. is an arsenal designed to store
arms? Yes. Keep this choice. Is a pantry designed
to store bread? It's designed to store food, but not
necessarily bread. Eliminate. Arsenide (a compound of
aresenic) is not designed to store death, since death
can't really be stored. Eliminate. So the answer is C.
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