Drill 5 · Reading & Writing · Hard Words in Context
Review your answers above to learn from any mistakes.
SAT Reading & Writing: Hard Words in Context (Drill 5) 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. Critics had expected the author's memoir to settle old scores, so its ______ portrait of even her sharpest rivals came as a surprise.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (B) The setup, expecting her to 'settle old scores,' makes the surprise a portrait that is generous rather than vengeful. Magnanimous means noble and forgiving toward rivals, which is the unexpected turn. (A) acrimonious means bitter, which is exactly what readers expected, so it produces no surprise. (C) cursory means hasty and superficial, unrelated to whether she treats rivals kindly. (D) impartial is the near-miss: a fair portrait would be neutral, but the sentence emphasizes warmth toward 'even her sharpest rivals,' which goes past mere fairness to active generosity.
Question 2. The following text is adapted from Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth.
About this time she was farther cheered by an invitation to spend the Thanksgiving week at a camp in the Adirondacks. The invitation was one which, a year earlier, would have provoked a less ready response.
As used in the text, what does the word "provoked" most nearly mean?
Explanation: (D) The invitation 'would have provoked a less ready response,' meaning it would have brought about or called forth a less eager reaction. Elicited best captures that sense. (A) angered is the familiar trap meaning of provoked, but the object here is a response, not a person made angry. (B) defied means openly resisted, which the syntax does not allow. (C) insulted likewise needs a person or group as its target, not a response.
Question 3. Far from being the breakthrough its backers claimed, the device offered only ______ improvements over existing models: marginally faster, slightly lighter, otherwise unchanged.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (C) The colon lists the improvements as 'marginally faster, slightly lighter, otherwise unchanged,' small steps rather than a leap. Incremental means advancing by minor degrees, which fits those modest gains. (A) ostensible means apparent but not real, yet the gains are genuine, only small. (B) spurious means fake, and the sentence concedes the device truly is faster and lighter. (D) transformative is the trap of the opening clause, but 'Far from being the breakthrough' rules out any sweeping change.
Question 4. The treaty's language was so ______ that both governments could sign it while announcing, to their own citizens, directly opposing accounts of what it required.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (A) The signal is that 'both governments could sign it while announcing... directly opposing accounts,' which is possible only if the wording supports more than one reading. Ambiguous means open to multiple interpretations. (B) concise means brief, which has no bearing on whether two readings are possible. (C) inflammatory means likely to provoke anger, but the sentence is about language that permits conflicting interpretations, not language that stirs outrage. (D) binding describes legal force, not the interpretive looseness that lets each side claim a different meaning.
Question 5. The young pianist's technique was flawless but ______: every note was correct, yet the performance left audiences cold, as if the music had been calculated rather than felt.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word?
Explanation: (D) The contrast is 'every note was correct, yet... left audiences cold... calculated rather than felt,' which points to a playing that is technically right but lifeless. Mechanical means done by rote, without feeling. (A) tentative means hesitant, which clashes with a 'flawless' technique. (B) erratic means inconsistent, but 'every note was correct' rules out unevenness. (C) virtuosic means brilliantly skilled, which praises rather than names the coldness the sentence faults.