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Words in Context

Reading & Writing · Craft and Structure · 130 questions · every one comes with a full explanation.

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  1. 1Artist Marilyn Dingle's intricate, coiled baskets are ______ sweetgrass and palmetto palm. Following a Gullah technique that originated in West Africa, Dingle skillfully winds a thEasy · Craft and Structure
  2. 2The following text is from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The narrator is being driven in a carriage through a remote region at night. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer aEasy · Craft and Structure
  3. 3Dance choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar aims to give people the opportunity to be ______ her creative process. For example, live performances of her dance HairStories, which debEasy · Craft and Structure
  4. 4Former astronaut Ellen Ochoa says that although she doesn't have a definite idea of when it might happen, she ______ that humans will someday need to be able to live in other envirEasy · Craft and Structure
  5. 5A musician and member of the Quechua of Peru, Renata Flores Rivera was eager to promote the Quechua language in her music, but she was ______ speaking it. She met this challenge byEasy · Craft and Structure
  6. 6The following text is from Yann Martel's 2001 novel Life of Pi. The narrator's family owned a zoo when he was a child. It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enoughEasy · Craft and Structure
  7. 7According to botanists, a viburnum plant experiencing insect damage may develop erineum—a discolored, felty growth—on its leaf blades. A ______ viburnum plant, on the other hand, wEasy · Craft and Structure
  8. 8Research conducted by planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic suggests that the Moon's surface may not accurately ______ early impact events. When the Moon was still forming, its suEasy · Craft and Structure
  9. 9Charles "Teenie" Harris was a photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier from 1936 to 1975. During his career he took over 70,000 photographs documenting everyday life in Pittsburgh'sEasy · Craft and Structure
  10. 10In the 1970s, video cameras became increasingly affordable for ordinary consumers and gave Ulysses Jenkins and other artists capabilities that were previously unavailable except toEasy · Craft and Structure
  11. 11A brief book review cannot fully convey the ______ of Olga Tokarczuk's novel The Books of Jacob, with its enormous cast of characters, its complicated, wandering plot, and its pageEasy · Craft and Structure
  12. 12The following text is from Nella Larsen's 1928 novel Quicksand. The trees in their spring beauty sent through her restive mind a sharp thrill of pleasure. Seductive, charming, andEasy · Craft and Structure
  13. 13Biologist Jane Edgeloe and colleagues have located what is believed to be the largest individual plant in the world in the Shark Bay area of Australia. The plant is a type of seagrEasy · Craft and Structure
  14. 14In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing system, for an Indigenous language in the United States. Because it represented the sounds ofEasy · Craft and Structure
  15. 15In 1929 the Atlantic Monthly published several articles based on newly discovered letters allegedly exchanged between President Abraham Lincoln and a woman named Ann Rutledge. HistEasy · Craft and Structure
  16. 16Following the principles of community-based participatory research, tribal nations and research institutions are equal partners in health studies conducted on reservations. A collaEasy · Craft and Structure
  17. 17The process of mechanically recycling plastics is often considered ______ because of the environmental impact and the loss of material quality that often occurs. But chemist TakundEasy · Craft and Structure
  18. 18Bioluminescent beetles called fireflies may seem to create flashes of light randomly, but each species of firefly actually has its own special series of repeated flashes and pausesEasy · Craft and Structure
  19. 19According to Potawatomi ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, the Indigenous method of harvesting Hierochloe odorata, or sweetgrass, by snapping the plant off at the root actually ______ Easy · Craft and Structure
  20. 20Visual artist Gabriela Alemán states that the bold colors of comics, pop art, and Latinx culture have always fascinated her. This passion for the rich history and colors of her LatEasy · Craft and Structure
  21. 21Beginning in the 1950s, Navajo Nation legislator Annie Dodge Wauneka continuously worked to promote public health; this ______ effort involved traveling throughout the vast Navajo Easy · Craft and Structure
  22. 22Particle physicists like Ayana Holloway Arce and Aida El-Khadra spend much of their time ______ what is invisible to the naked eye: using sophisticated technology, they closely exaEasy · Craft and Structure
  23. 23In recommending Bao Phi's collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the spoken-word poet don't lose their ______ nature when printed: the language has the same pleasEasy · Craft and Structure
  24. 24The recent discovery of a carved wooden figure dating to around 2,000 years ago in a ditch in England was truly surprising. Wooden objects ______ survive for so long due to their hEasy · Craft and Structure
  25. 25Due to their often strange images, highly experimental syntax, and opaque subject matter, many of John Ashbery's poems can be quite difficult to ______ and thus are the object of hEasy · Craft and Structure
  26. 26The Appalachian Trail is a hiking path in the eastern United States. Much of the 2,000 mile trail passes through wilderness areas. In order to ______ those areas, the United StatesEasy · Craft and Structure
  27. 27The following text is adapted from Sui Sin Far's 1912 short story "Mrs. Spring Fragrance." Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance immigrated to the United States from China. Mrs. Spring FrEasy · Craft and Structure
  28. 28While we can infer information about climate activity in Earth's distant past from physical evidence, we of course cannot observe past climates directly. To study early Earth's cliEasy · Craft and Structure
  29. 29In 1877, 85% of California's railways were already controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The company further solidified its ______ in rail access to the state's Pacific coasEasy · Craft and Structure
  30. 30Mônica Lopes-Ferreira and others at Brazil's Butantan Institute are studying the freshwater stingray species Potamotrygon rex to determine whether biological characteristics such aEasy · Craft and Structure
  31. 31Cucurbits, a group of plants that includes squash and melons, relied on mastodons to spread their seeds in the Ice Age. When these animals died out, cucurbits faced extinction in tEasy · Craft and Structure
  32. 32According to statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the best way to predict the amount of time a nonperishable entity (such as a building or a technology) will continue to exist is toEasy · Craft and Structure
  33. 33In the mid-nineteenth century, some abolitionist newspapers ______ westward migration in the United States; by printing a letter that described the easy fortunes and high salaries Easy · Craft and Structure
  34. 34Like other tribal nations, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is self-governing; its National Council generates laws regulating aspects of community life such as land use and healthcare, Easy · Craft and Structure
  35. 35Artificially delivering biomolecules to plant cells is an important component of protecting plants from pathogens, but it is difficult to transmit biomolecules through the layers oEasy · Craft and Structure
  36. 36Nigerian American author Teju Cole's ______ his two passions—photography and the written word—culminates in his 2017 book, Blind Spot, which evocatively combines his original photoEasy · Craft and Structure
  37. 37The following text is from Claude McKay's 1922 poem "Morning Joy." The speaker is looking out a window and observing a wold, or large area of land. At night the wide and level Easy · Craft and Structure
  38. 38In habitats with limited nutrients, certain fungus species grow on the roots of trees, engaging in mutually beneficial relationships known as ectomycorrhizae: in this symbiotic excEasy · Craft and Structure
  39. 39Although critics believed that customers would never agree to pay to pick their own produce on farms, such concerns didn't ______ Booker T. Whatley's efforts to promote the practicEasy · Craft and Structure
  40. 40Anthropologist Kristian J. Carlson and colleagues examined the fossilized clavicle and shoulder bones of a 3.6-million-year-old early hominin known as "Little Foot." They found thaEasy · Craft and Structure
  41. 41Although the playwrights hoped that their play would be ______ when performed live, critics generally agreed that the production and performances had the opposite effect, wearying Easy · Craft and Structure
  42. 42Osage Nation citizen Randy Tinker-Smith produced and directed the ballet Wahzhazhe, which vividly chronicles Osage history and culture. Telling Osage stories through ballet is ____Easy · Craft and Structure
  43. 43The printing of Virginia Woolf's novels featured a creative ______ between Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell: a talented painter, Bell worked closely with Woolf to create original Easy · Craft and Structure
  44. 44The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of Easy · Craft and Structure
  45. 45The parasitic dodder plant increases its reproductive success by flowering at the same time as the host plant it has latched onto. In 2020, Jianqiang Wu and his colleagues determinEasy · Craft and Structure
  46. 46Sumerian civilization (which lasted from around 3300 to 2000 BCE) ______ many concepts that persist into present-day civilizations: for example, the first description of the seven-Easy · Craft and Structure
  47. 47Physicist Joseph Weber performed ______ work in gravitational wave research in the 1960s and 1970s, conducting key experiments that scientists later used as the basis for their ownEasy · Craft and Structure
  48. 48As an architect in Los Angeles in the 1950s, Helen Liu Fong became known for avoiding ______ designs in her buildings. Instead of using standard shapes and colors, she typically exEasy · Craft and Structure
  49. 49Sueño de Familia is an exhibition of drawings, paintings, and ceramics that explores the artistic heritage of US-based artist Yolanda González. The exhibition ______ five generatioEasy · Craft and Structure
  50. 50US traffic signals didn't always contain the familiar three lights (red, yellow, and green). Traffic lights only ______ red and green lights until the three-light traffic signal waEasy · Craft and Structure
  51. 51Scientists previously thought that all electric eels belong to a single species, but a team of researchers led by zoologist C. David de Santana proved this idea wrong by ______ thaEasy · Craft and Structure
  52. 52Studying how workload affects productivity, Maryam Kouchaki and colleagues found that people who chose to do relatively easy tasks first were less ______ compared to those who did Easy · Craft and Structure
  53. 53Arturo A. Schomburg was dedicated to preserving books, art, and other materials from peoples of African descent around the world. To get these items, Schomburg ______ friends and cEasy · Craft and Structure
  54. 54For painter Jacob Lawrence, being ______ was an important part of the artistic process. Because he paid close attention to all the details of his Harlem neighborhood, Lawrence's arEasy · Craft and Structure
  55. 55Researchers have struggled to pinpoint specific causes for hiccups, which happen when a person's diaphragm contracts ______. However, neuroscientist Kimberley Whitehead has found tEasy · Craft and Structure
  56. 56The following text is adapted from Mohsin Hamid's 2017 novel Exit West. Saeed lives with his mother and father. On cloudless nights after a daytime rain, Saeed's father would someEasy · Craft and Structure
  57. 57When Mexican-American archaeologist Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall published her 1886 research paper on sculptures found at the ancient Indigenous city of Teotihuacan in present-dayEasy · Craft and Structure
  58. 58Some people have speculated that two helmets with attached horns discovered in Denmark in 1942 belonged to Vikings, but scholars have long been skeptical. Archaeologist Helle VandkEasy · Craft and Structure
  59. 59The following text is adapted from Sadakichi Hartmann's 1894 short story "Magnolia Blossoms." The narrator is standing on the deck of a boat. What a night it was! My soul had leftEasy · Craft and Structure
  60. 60As Mexico's first president from an Indigenous community, Benito Juarez became one of the most ______ figures in his country's history: among the many significant accomplishments oEasy · Craft and Structure