GRE Verbal Reasoning Sample Questions Set D
Categories: GRE (The Graduate Records Examination)
Questions 20 and 21 are based on the following reading passage.
(A two-word phrase is shown underlined and in boldface for reference in answering question 21.)
Objectively, of course, the various ecosystems that sustain life on the planet proceed independently of human agency, just as they operated before the hectic ascendancy of Homo sapiens. But it is
Line: also true that it is difficult to think of a single such system that has
5: not, for better or worse, been substantially modified by human culture. Nor is this simply the work of the industrial centuries. It has been happening since the days of ancient Mesopotamia. It is coeval with the origins of writing, and has occurred throughout our social existence. And it is this irreversibly modified world, from the polar
10: caps to the equatorial forests, that is all the nature we have.
Question.20. Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which of the following statements?
A. Over time, the impact of human culture on the natural world has been largely benign.
B. It is a mistake to think that the natural world contains many areas of pristine wilderness.
C. The only substantial effects that human agency has had on ecosystems have been inadvertent.
Answer: (b)
Question.21. Select and indicate the best answer from among the five answer choices:
The phrase “coeval with” appears underlined and in boldface in lines 7-8 of the passage. In the context in which it appears, “coeval with” most nearly means
A. influenced by
B. older than
C. coincident with
D. unimpeded by
E. similar to
Answer: (c)
Directions for questions 22 through 25:
Each of the following questions includes a sentence with a blank indicating that something has been omitted. Following the sentence will be a list of six words or phrases, each of which could be used to complete the sentence. Select the two answer choices that, when substituted for the blank, fit the context and produce the two sentences most nearly alike in meaning.
Question.22. Dreams are _______ in and of themselves, but, when combined with other data, they can tell us much about the dreamer.
A. astonishing
B. disordered
C. harmless
D. inscrutable
E. revealing
F. uninformative
Answer: (d & f)
Question.23. Linguistic science confirms what experienced users of ASL—American Sign Language—have always implicitly known: ASL is a grammatically _______ language, as capable of expressing a full range of syntactic relations as any natural spoken language.
A. complete
B. economical
C. redundant
D. spare
E. unique
F. unlimited
Answer: (a & f)
Question.24. The macromolecule RNA is common to all living beings, and DNA, which is found in all organisms except some bacteria, is almost as __________.
A. comprehensive
B. fundamental
C. inclusive
D. universal
E. significant
F. ubiquitous
Answer: (d & f)
Question.25. Early critics of Emily Dickinson’s poetry mistook for simple mindedness the surface of artlessness that in fact she constructed with such __________.
A. astonishment
B. craft
C. cunning
D. innocence
E. naïveté
F. vexation
Answer: (b & c)