sandy wrote:
The most startling aspect of Preston Brooks, the 19th century southern congressman, was his temperament, (i) _________ to the point of violence. While a man of principles, he did not merely piously pray for political converts—more likely, opposition would cause him to become (ii) _________ and fly in to a rage. Famously, he once (iii) _________ a foe into unconsciousness on the floor of the Senate.
Blank (i) | Blank (ii) | Blank (iii) |
(A) quixotic | (D) figuratively unstrung | (G) bored |
(B) volatile | (E) literally insane | (H) caned |
(C) quiescent | (F) practically incomprehensible | (I) lulled |
Volatile, figuratively unstrung, caned.
Practice Questions
Question: 47
Page: 57
The best way to be certain of the answer for text completions is to compare the choices provided to repurposed words from the passage. In this case, we know that the second blank must match the context of "fly into a rage" because it is connected by the same direction conjunction "and".
Compare "fly into a rage" to the choices:
d) figuratively unstrung
this matches because he isn't literally flying into a rage and unstrung largely matches enraged, keep this choicee) literally insane
insanity is not the same as rage, so eliminate as not a match to the sentencef) practically incomprehensible
there is nothing indicating that the senator cannot be understood, so eliminate as not a match to the sentenceSelect Choice D as the only viable phrase in the context of the rest of the sentence.