Lofty means proud. It is out of scope in this context.

regards

“My novels are too sophisticated for the American public.” reeks of being lofty. Shouldn't that really be the answer?

No because OTHERWISE, the author was gracious

B is the answer

"otherwise gracious" is the clue. We're looking for the opposite of gracious. I think the answer should be lofty, because the 2nd statement says "My novels are too sophisticated for the American public"

option e?

and this what makes the interviewer startle ,
I thinks lofty is good answer

Agreed. The opposite of gracious is lofty, not enigmatic.

In the question, it says that the interviewer was "Shocked" at the reply given by the author, who is normally very kind or gracious, gave a _______ remark. if we follow the connotations, it would mean that he said something ungracious or rude which was,"My novels are too sophisticated for the American public." so shouldn't it be Lofty, as it is the closest meaning whereas enigmatic just means something which is mysterious or can't be explained.

I do not believe that this is a question you usually will see on the real GRE but it is damn good to stretch you reasoning skills.

To reply to all the previous students' statements: how and WHY lofty should be implied, the perfect counter fit , synonym word to gracious is still unclear to me ? it stroke me as a lightning

Even though I do not know the meaning of lofty and assuming could be the best answer then my mind tries to wrap up this word kinds: lofty reminds me of a loft apartment which, turns out, is a living open space without walls but a separate bathroom. It is the kind of giant room where you park your motorcycle side by side with your bed.

That said: how are we able to relate a loft (lofty) with gracious and kind and gentle ? In a word: NO relationship.

All this to say what? even if you overlook the word lofty and take a look to the entire sentence, I see that the author simply stated a sybilline or ambiguous statement: My novels are too sophisticated for the American public.

This is a statement that is NOT totally clear as a message: why he said that? what does that mean? The general public is illiterate? not so smart to grasp the meaning of his novels? we do not know

And because we do not know, and the statement is blurry, then B must be the answer

"The interviewer was startled to hear the otherwise gracious author make the ___________remark: “My novels are too sophisticated for the American public.”

There is nothing wrong with picking lofty here. One of the meaning of lofty is arrogant. And to say that one work is too sophisticated for everyone else is arrogant.

Enigmatic is completely irrelevant. The question doesn't impose anything being hard to comprehend here. However if we have surprising or startling as another answer choice, this would be a more difficult one, since the author is usually gracious but they make a lofty remarks on that occasion.

In this case you are not so sure about the definition of lofty yet you are completely sure the answer should be enigmatic? Hmm.. how convinving.

I am always puzzled by your answer, sir.

We are here to discuss, of course. Nothing wrong with expressing your ideas. That does not mean a person should always be on the verge: you carcass are wrong, and I am correct.

Ok. Lofty is the logical answer, B is the official OA. We solved the dilemma.

Regards

Do you even hear yourself? You said B must be the answer despite not knowing exactly what lofty means. Your first statement saying lofty means proud and is out of scope got me scratch my head, not gonna lie. Lofty does mean grandiose, yet this word is not univocal, it does mean haughty too.
Is it just me or your way of explaining your answer is a little bit condescending? In other questions you also bluntly scorned questions that you deem bad questions.
I get it, you are the expert here. However, even the smartest person will be wrong once or twice. It is their attitude to their mistakes that let them grow as a person.

Lofty means proud, even according to google. Now, even if I picked it wrong, we are dealing with a question testing a term used mainly in the 19th century. No one official question - at least I do not remember - ever used this specific term.

Moreover, the label expert is just a label put there based on the amount of your reply. It is independent of my will. Nonetheless, what I care about the most are not labels or targets or stems or logos or anything else.

What I do care about are the tons of private messages I receive from students from several corners of the world, such as Kenya - asking for help. And they turn back after their admission, saying a genuine THANKS. All this for FREE in the midst of a crazy schedule.

Yet, I care about the over 30k kudos on GMAT club, almost 30k here, and over 160k community members.

Also, I ask you KINDLY to avoid comments such as the following https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/the-mo ... ml#p111654



It looks like the forum is in the lower range of quality, which is not the case considering all the efforts by the entire team, third-party experts, and students themselves. For example, Brent explained beautifully over 4500 quant questions. They are still the reference for many, many students.


Students are FREE to express their ideas without any kind of censorship here. As long As their ideas or opinions are educated, pertinent, and do not contain false claims. This is as general rule.

We are happy to have you Sir as part of this community. However, if you feel this vast forum is detrimental to you and your preparation, feel free to be part of other communities such as the GRE on reddit or else. We live in a free world.

Best Regards