GRE Verbal Reasoning Test

Verbal Reasoning Section C
20 Questions
30 minutes
For Questions 1 through 6, select one entry for each blank. Fill the blank in the way that best
completes the text.
1. After graduating from high school, Warren was made responsible for running his father's company;
it was unusual for one so young to be _________ with so much responsibility.
A. fascinated
B. refined
C. afflicted
D. entrusted
E. popular
2. Many new home buyers are so fixated on soaring property values that they (i)_________ the
financial burden resulting from the (ii)_________ rise in property taxes and home insurance
premiums.
Blank (i)
A. insufficiently consider
B. eagerly anticipate
C. reluctantly embrace
Blank (ii)
D. imperceptible
E. associated
F. trivial
3. The (i)__________ of early metaphysicians efforts to decipher the workings of the universe led
some later thinkers to doubt the (ii)_________ of mans intellectual capabilities.
Blank (i)
A. intent
B. failings
C. prevarications
Blank (ii)
D. roots
E. realization
F. adeptness
4. The War of 1812, considered by many historians one of the most ineptly-waged wars in American
history, was marked by pervasive (i) _________ on the American side. Indeed, a major lesson of the
conflict was the (ii)_________ of leading a haphazardly-organized army into combat.
Blank (i)
A. fortitude
B. improvidence
C. impunity
Blank (ii)
D. inadvisability
E. immorality
F. felicity
5. Every revised theory must not only (i)_________ the valid predictions of the original theory, but
must also explain why those predictions remain (ii)_________ within the context of the new theory
Blank (i)
A. accommodate
B. refute
C. falsify
Blank (ii)
D. controversial
E. sound
F. untenable
6. For a considerable length of time, Phillips employers had been placing (i)_________ amount of
stress on him, but the events on Friday were so (ii)_________ that Phillip found himself in
(iii)_________ mood all weekend.
Blank (i)
A. an imperative
B. a meager
C. a sound
Blank (ii)
D. voluminous
E. taut
F. trying
Blank (iii)
G. an ornery
H. a stellar
I. a mercurial
For Question 7 refer to the following passage:

Though domestic car sales have been steady, the economy must be further stimulated. One way to do
so is to generate an increase in domestic car sales. To accomplish this goal, higher taxes should be
levied on imported cars. This increase in the price of imported cars will stimulate domestic car sales.
7. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument above?
A. People consider the price of a car to be a minor factor when deciding which car to
buy.
B. If the price of imported cars is increased, some consumers who would have bought
them will buy domestic cars.
C. Manufacturers of foreign cars will no longer export cars since the cars will no
longer make a profit.
D. The increased receipts to the government resulting from the import taxes will be
directed towards energy conservation.
E. Import taxes in other industries have resulted in increased demand for similar
domestic products.
For Questions 8 through 11, refer to the following passage:
Traditional means of reducing traffic congestion promote supply-side solutions: expanding the supply
of roads and highways. However, recent attempts at traffic control have concentrated on the demand
side by encouraging carpooling and mass transit through the use of tolls and parking fees. Even used
together, these strategies are doomed to fail in the long run because of the high cost of supplementing
the existing infrastructure and because of the difficulty of effecting lasting changes on peoples
driving habits. If a high-occupancy-vehicle lane is built, for example, commuters may be temporarily
persuaded to carpool to avoid congestion, but as the amount of traffic in those lanes inevitably grows,
the advantages of carpooling begin to diminish. Furthermore, as highways around our major cities
continue to be expanded to relieve the problem, valuable land is used up, threatening to overrun those
cities with a tangled web of concrete.
Luckily, technology has provided what may be at least a partial solution. In Hong Kong, Paris, and
other cities, congestion pricing has been tried with encouraging results. Instead of charging a flat toll
for road use, congestion pricing, which employs pre-purchased magnetic cards, charges higher permile rates for using crowded roads during peak hours. Since the strategy affects price, it is a demandside policy, but its advantage is that it targets not just one segment of the driving public but all drivers
using a particular road. Other demand-side strategies (such as staggered work hours and employer
transportation rebates) tend mainly to affect commuters. Congestion pricing may also relieve the often
interminable lines at toll booths during rush hours.
8. It can be inferred from the passage that a high-occupancy-vehicle lane
A. will ease traffic congestion for a while, allowing time for a more efficient system to
be developed
B. will only contribute to carpool congestion
C. will be ineffective in changing peoples driving habits in the long run

D. will unintentionally punish those drivers who do not contribute to traffic congestion
E. will persuade people to alter permanently their carpooling habits
9. According to the passage, which of the following would NOT be representative of a demand-side
transportation policy? Select all that apply.
A. A toll road through a congested city

B. An increased parking fee in urban areas
C. Expanded roadways for high-occupancy vehicles
10. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the authors assertion that congestion pricing
may offer a solution to the problems of traffic congestion?
A. Traffic in Hong Kong and Paris is much worse than in any other part of the world.
B. All of the cities where congestion pricing was implemented have similar traffic
conditions.
C. In all the cities that attempted congestion pricing, there has also been a massive
increase in the availability of convenient public transportation.
D. The use of the pre-purchased magnetic cards needed for congestion pricing may not
be embraced by drivers in many European cities.
E. Drivers in congestion-pricing areas who are frequent road users have altered their
driving times whenever possible, due in part to recently implemented staggered
work hours.
11. With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?
A. Political obstacles to congestion pricing could be overcome if public anger at traffic
congestion becomes strong enough and effective demand-side policies are
implemented in a coherent manner.
B. A government campaign to encourage carpooling may extend the amount of time
commuters are willing to carpool, but it would eventually become an unproductive
policy if it conflicted with plans for mass-transit systems.
C. Supply-side approaches to the problem of traffic congestion are not as likely to
succeed as demand-side approaches that employ technology in order to affect the
behavior of drivers more effectively.
D. The success of congestion pricing in Hong Kong and Paris ensures its success in the
United States, as long as the systems implemented in the United States accurately
duplicate the successful systems found in foreign countries.
E. Traffic congestion in highly populated urban areas is not a completely solvable
problem, but supply-side strategies can go far in mitigating its worst effects.
For questions 12 through 15, select the two answer choices that, when used to complete the sentence,
fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in meaning.
12. The gallery owner has a(n) ______ eye and an amazing ability to select the next hot artist from all
the new artists who show him their portfolios.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
discerning
discriminating
detecting
investigative
observant
understanding
13. ______ data from the traffic safety survey shows a 17 percent increase in nonfatal pedestrian
accidents due to texting drivers. The final report will be available next year.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Improvised
Acting
Interim
Permanent
Terminal
Provisional
14. Scrooge has come to be considered the _______ miser from whom all similar characters are
drawn.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
pattern
eccentric
archetypal
unusual
alternate
classic
15. While economics may be exciting to some, the yawning student in the back of the room thought it
______.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
tedious
sundry
repetitive
soporific
disingenuous
monotonous

The Romansfor centuries the masters of war and politics across Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia
Minorhave often been criticized for producing few original thinkers outside the realm of politics.
This criticism, while in many ways true, is not without its problems. It was, after all, the conquest of
Greece that provided Rome with its greatest influx of educated subjects. Admittedly, two of the great
disasters in intellectual historythe murder of Archimedes and the burning of Alexandrias library
both occurred under Romes watch. Nevertheless, a city that was able to conquer so much of the
known world could not have been devoid of the creativity that characterizes so many other ancient
empires.
Engineering is one endeavor in which the Romans showed themselves capable. Their aqueducts
carried water hundreds of miles along the tops of vast arcades. Roman roads, built for the rapid
deployment of troops, crisscross Europe and still form the basis of numerous modern highways that
provide quick access between many major European and African cities. Indeed, a large number of
these cities owe their prominence to Romes economic and political influence.
Many of those major cities lie far beyond Romes original province, and Latin-derived languages are
spoken in most Southern European nations. Again a result of military influence, the popularity of
Latin and its offspring is difficult to underestimate. During the centuries of ignorance and violence
that followed Romes decline, the Latin language was the glue that held together the identity of an
entire continent. While seldom spoken today, it is still studied widely, if only so that such masters of
rhetoric as Cicero can be read in the original.
It is Cicero and his like who are perhaps the most overlooked legacy of Rome. While far from being a
democracy, Rome did leave behind useful political tools that serve the American republic today.
Republic itself is Latin for the peoples business, a notion cherished in democracies worldwide.
Senators owe their name to Romes class of elders; Representatives owe theirs to the Tribunes who
seized popular prerogatives from the Senatorial class. The veto was a Roman notion adopted by the
historically aware framers of the Constitution, who often assumed pen names from the lexicon of
Latin life. These accomplishments, as monumental as any highway or coliseum, remain prominent
features of the Western landscape.
16. According to the passage, ancient Roman roads
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
connected places of military importance in ancient Europe

were less important than the aqueducts of the time
were similar to modern roads in Europe today
were products of democratic political institutions
caused the development of modern European cities
17. According to the passage, which of the following accurately describes the Latin language? Select
all that apply.
A. It spread in part due to Rome's military power.

B. It is reflected in some modern political concepts.
C. It is spoken today in some parts of Europe.
Certain theorists believe that some time after the Big Bang, fluctuations in the flow of matter and
energy constituted seeds for galaxy formation. All models for generating fluctuations on a
cosmological scale require a phase transitiona change in the fabric of space to produce lumps and
ripples in the distribution of matter. When water freezes to form an ice cube, for example, parts often
freeze at slightly different rates to form regions of ice, seen as fractured lines and planes that do not
quite mesh. The question is when the phase transition took place.
The idea of a late phase transition is appealing because such a change would have occurred after
energy, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, or of photons, stabilized. This means a late phase
transition would have had practically no effect on the microwave background radiation, which
pervades the universe and appears uniform in every direction.
Alternative theories in which phase transitions happened earlier have difficulty explaining how
fluctuations can grow to become seeds for galaxy formation without distorting the microwave
background radiation to a greater extent than has been observed. Measurements of distortions in the
microwave background radiation would provide the best tests of the new model. The less distortion
observers detect, the more promising a late phase transition model will look.
18. It can be inferred from the passage that all models for generating fluctuations on a cosmological
scale maintain that the fabric of space
A. need not have undergone a phase transition to have formed the various ripples in the
fabric of space
B. can be explored by studying the way water undergoes phase changes
C. underwent a time of change in which matter altered the way it was dispersed
D. developed after energy, in the form of electromagnetic radiation or photons,
stabilized
E. played no role in galaxy formation
19. According to the late phase transition hypothesis, it is possible that the disturbances in matter and
energy that became galaxies
A.
B.
C.
D.
affected the time of the phase transition more than was previously thought
are consistent with the uniformity of microwave background radiation
were responsible for the origins of fluctuations on a cosmological scale
occurred over a million years after the Big Bang, rather than in the first nanosecond
of the universes life
E. caused more severe distortions in the microwave background radiation than have
been detected to this point
20. According to the passage, which of the following would be regarded as most helpful in assessing
competing hypotheses concerning the formation of galaxies?
A. An accurate measurement of the fractured lines and planes present in the fabric of
space
B. The reliable detection of lumps and ripples in the matter in the distant regions of
space
C. Accurate information regarding the amount of distortion in microwave background
radiation
D. Detailed astronomical maps of visible galaxies with an age estimation of their
distribution
E. An accurate measurement of the rate of the flow of matter and energy necessary to
distort microwave background radiation

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What are some of the strategies discussed for reducing traffic congestion?

According to the passage, what is one appealing aspect of the late phase transition hypothesis?

Verbal Reasoning Section C

For Question 7 refer to the following passage:

C. will be ineffective in changing peoples driving habits in the long run

A. A toll road through a congested city

For Questions 16 through 17, refer to the following passage:

connected places of military importance in ancient Europe

A. It spread in part due to Rome's military power.

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