Drill 27 · Reading & Writing · Hard Words in Context
SAT Reading & Writing: Hard Words in Context (Drill 27) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Hard Words in Context. It contains 5 original questions developed by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
Hard SAT Words in Context questions ask you to choose the word or phrase that most precisely completes the sentence. The answer is rarely an obscure word; difficulty comes from three plausible distractors that all nearly fit, with one signal in the sentence pinning the correct choice.
Question 1. The following text is adapted from Charles Dickens's 1853 novel Bleak House.
"Pray say no more about it," returned my guardian. "I am very sensible, as I am sure we all are, of your consideration. Indeed the mistake was mine, and I ought to apologize for it."
As used in the text, what does the word "sensible" most nearly mean?
Explanation: (D) Mr Jarndyce says he is 'very sensible... of your consideration,' meaning he keenly recognizes the courtesy shown to him; in this older usage sensible of something means fully aware of it. (A) unaware is the direct inversion. (B) practical draws on the common modern sense of 'sensible' as down-to-earth, but that reading does not fit the construction 'sensible of your consideration,' which is about perception, not good judgment. (C) weary has no footing in the passage at all.
Question 2. National figures concealed a sharp regional imbalance: rather than being spread evenly across the country, population growth was ______, concentrated in three coastal provinces while the interior barely changed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (C) The sentence contrasts 'spread evenly' with growth 'concentrated in three coastal provinces while the interior barely changed,' so growth was confined to particular places, which is what localized means. (D) even is directly contradicted by 'rather than being spread evenly.' (B) plentiful speaks to how much growth there was, not where it occurred, which is the point. (A) obscure means hard to perceive, which does not fit a pattern the data made plain.
Question 3. Field observers were surprised by how ______ the older males were: where the younger animals approached and investigated the camera freely, the mature ones hung back at the tree line and revealed almost nothing of their behavior.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (B) The contrast with the young animals that 'approached and investigated freely' shows the older males held back and 'revealed almost nothing,' which is what reserved means. (A) hostile would imply aggression, but hanging back at the tree line is withdrawal, not attack. (D) anxious names a possible inner state, yet the sentence reports only their distance and reticence, not signs of fear. (C) frank is the inversion, describing openness, the opposite of revealing almost nothing.
Question 4. To a collector, a coin's history is written on its surface: this denarius is plainly ______, its lettering rubbed nearly smooth and its portrait flattened by centuries of handling.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (A) The colon explains it: 'lettering rubbed nearly smooth' and a 'portrait flattened by centuries of handling' describe a coin worn down by use, so worn fits. (B) pristine is the inversion, since a pristine coin would show no such wear. (C) counterfeit may seem plausible because a smoothed surface might suggest a fake, but the sentence attributes the smoothing specifically to 'centuries of handling,' which makes it genuine and aged, not forged. (D) decorative concerns ornament and has nothing to do with the loss of detail described.
Question 5. In the trial data, antibody levels did not rise gradually; the increase was ______, with levels staying low for two weeks and then climbing steeply once the immune response was triggered.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (D) 'Staying low for two weeks and then climbing steeply' describes a sharp, late jump rather than a slow rise, so the increase is sudden. (A) gradual is the inversion, ruled out by 'did not rise gradually.' (B) partial concerns how complete the rise is, not how quickly it arrives. (C) reversible speaks to whether the levels can fall again, which the sentence does not raise.