The companion set to Workshop 4. Twelve real-style questions on words in context and command of evidence, textual and data. Name the job the answer must do, then prove it fits.
For a word, read the sentence's signals (a contrast, a restatement, a cause, an example) and decide the exact job the blank must do. For a piece of evidence, name precisely what the claim must prove, then keep only the choice that is accurate and relevant. Here is how the near-misses miss:
Opposite Meaning. Points the reverse of what the sentence or claim needs.
Right Topic, Wrong Fit. On-topic and tempting, but it doesn't do the job asked.
Close but Imprecise. Almost right; a more exact choice fits better.
Backs the Other Side. For evidence: it supports the explanation the claim rejects.
Misreads the Data. For tables: a flipped comparison, wrong row, or transposed number.
Question 1 of 12
Words in ContextWarm-up
When the naturalist Maria Merian traveled to Suriname in 1699 to study insects, she did not merely catalog specimens; she painted them alongside the exact plants they fed on. Because so many earlier illustrators had drawn creatures floating on blank pages, her decision to show each insect in its living surroundings was strikingly ______ for its time.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The takeaway: The passage contrasts Merian with earlier illustrators who drew creatures on blank pages, so showing insects in their surroundings breaks from convention. The blank needs a word meaning 'new or unusual,' which 'innovative' precisely names.
Textual EvidenceWarm-up
A team of marine biologists studying a reef-dwelling shrimp claimed that the shrimp's habit of snapping its oversized claw serves mainly to stun small prey rather than to communicate with other shrimp.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the biologists' claim?
The takeaway: The claim is that the claw-snap functions to stun prey rather than to communicate. A finding that small fish and crustaceans near a snapping shrimp are frequently found dazed and then eaten directly links the snap to capturing prey, exactly what the claim asserts.
Words in ContextWarm-up
The desert kangaroo rat can survive without ever drinking water. Its kidneys concentrate urine so effectively, and its body loses so little moisture, that the small amount of water produced when it digests dry seeds is ______ to meet all its needs.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The takeaway: The passage says the rat survives with no drinking water because the water from digesting seeds covers everything it needs. The blank requires a word meaning 'enough,' which 'sufficient' precisely names.
Data EvidenceWarm-up
A team of marine biologists surveyed four coastal reefs off the Yucatán Peninsula and recorded the percentage of live coral cover at each site during a single dry-season census. They summarized their measurements in the following table.
Reef site
Live coral cover
Punta Sur
31%
Bahía Verde
58%
Cayo Norte
44%
Isla Roca
27%
To report the reef with the greatest live coral cover, the team noted that ______
The takeaway: The table lists live coral cover as Punta Sur 31%, Bahía Verde 58%, Cayo Norte 44%, and Isla Roca 27%. The greatest value is Bahía Verde at 58%, so the choice reporting Bahía Verde with 58% is the accurate reading.
Words in ContextMedium
Astronomers once assumed the far side of the Moon would look much like the side we see. When the first probes returned photographs in 1959, the images ______ that expectation: the hidden hemisphere was almost entirely rugged highlands, lacking the broad dark plains that dominate the near side.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The takeaway: The passage says astronomers expected similarity but the far side looked very different, so the photos went against the expectation. The blank needs a word meaning 'proved wrong,' which 'contradicted' precisely names.
Textual EvidenceWarm-up
In a study of desert plants, an ecologist hypothesized that a shrub's unusually pale, silvery leaves help it survive extreme heat by reflecting sunlight and keeping the leaf surface cooler than darker-leaved neighbors.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the ecologist's hypothesis?
The takeaway: The hypothesis is that silvery leaves reflect sunlight and keep the leaf cooler. A finding that the silvery-leaved shrub's leaf surfaces measured several degrees cooler than nearby dark-leaved plants in the same midday sun directly supports the cooling-by-reflection mechanism.
Words in ContextMedium
Economist Elinor Ostrom challenged the belief that shared resources are always ruined by overuse. Studying real communities that managed common pastures and fisheries for centuries, she showed that people often devise their own rules to prevent depletion. Her findings did not overturn the theory outright but ______ it, revealing conditions under which cooperation, not collapse, prevails.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The takeaway: The passage says her findings did not overturn the theory outright but showed conditions under which it fails, adding limits to it. The blank needs a word meaning 'set limits on,' which 'qualified' precisely names.
Data EvidenceWarm-up
In a study of urban tree canopy, researchers measured the average summer surface temperature recorded on four types of city ground cover during midday hours. Their readings are shown in the table.
Ground cover
Avg. surface temperature
Asphalt
51°C
Bare soil
43°C
Grass lawn
34°C
Tree-shaded ground
29°C
The researchers observed that of the four ground covers, ______
The takeaway: The table shows asphalt at 51°C, bare soil at 43°C, grass lawn at 34°C, and tree-shaded ground at 29°C. The lowest recorded temperature is tree-shaded ground at 29°C.
Words in ContextChallenge
Curators of the small museum worried that their new exhibit, dense with technical diagrams, would overwhelm casual visitors. Yet early feedback proved otherwise: rather than confusing the public, the careful labeling seemed to ______ even complicated processes, guiding first-time viewers through ideas they had assumed were beyond them.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The takeaway: The passage says the labeling did not confuse but instead guided viewers through ideas they thought were beyond them, making hard processes understandable. The blank needs a word meaning 'make clear,' which 'clarify' precisely names; 'simplify' is close but the labels guide viewers through complexity rather than removing it.
Textual EvidenceMedium
An art historian claimed that a Renaissance workshop's sudden shift to brighter blue pigments around 1490 was made possible by a new trade route that lowered the cost of imported lapis lazuli, rather than by any change in the workshop's artistic taste.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the art historian's claim?
The takeaway: The claim is that a cheaper supply of lapis lazuli, not a change in taste, enabled the shift to brighter blues. A finding that the workshop's account books show the price it paid for lapis lazuli dropping sharply just before the shift directly supports the cost-driven explanation.
Data EvidenceMedium
Agronomists compared the average grain yield of two wheat varieties, Redcliff and Halden, grown under identical irrigation across three test plots. The table records the yields in bushels per acre.
Test plot
Redcliff (bu/acre)
Halden (bu/acre)
Plot 1
55
62
Plot 2
60
68
Plot 3
64
71
Comparing the two varieties within each plot, the agronomists concluded that ______
The takeaway: In every plot the table shows Halden's yield exceeding Redcliff's: Plot 1 (Halden 62 vs Redcliff 55), Plot 2 (68 vs 60), Plot 3 (71 vs 64). Halden out-yielded Redcliff in all three plots.
Textual EvidenceChallenge
A media scholar hypothesized that a nineteenth-century newspaper's sudden jump in circulation resulted from its decision to lower its price, which made it affordable to working-class readers, and not from the more sensational headlines it adopted in the same year.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the media scholar's hypothesis?
The takeaway: The hypothesis credits the circulation jump to the lower price reaching working-class readers, not to sensational headlines. Because both changes happened the same year, the key must isolate the price effect. A finding that a rival paper adopting equally sensational headlines but keeping its high price saw no circulation jump isolates price as the cause.
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