GRE Text Completion Sample Questions

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1. Fears can also drive (1) _____________ behaviour. Gambling is one instance of this. Addictions to gambling can arise out of (2) __________ over debt. Gambling is not the way out of debt, and is a form of (3) _________. If you decide to enjoy yourself in gambling pursuits, be prepared to lose the money you’ve brought, as well as double it.

Blank 1: unsocial, obsessive, addictive

Blank 2: tension, responsibility, anxiety

Blank 3: therapy, distraction, entertainment

Correct Answer: addictive, anxiety, entertainment

Explanation: It is clear from the third sentence that the correct answer for the first blank is ‘addictive’. The paragraph begins by explaining how fears can lead us to addictive behavior. Gambling is an addiction and its example is given by the author to explain his point. For the second blank, the option ‘responsibility’ is incorrect. It does not lend logic to the sentence. An addiction cannot arise from a sense of responsibility. Moreover, a person is trivially responsible for repayment of a debt and hence there is no need to mention this as the reason for the addiction. Out of the other two options, we select ‘anxiety’. The author explains how fears can lead to addictions. Where ‘tragedy’ means mental or emotional strain, ‘anxiety’ means distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune. Clearly, the option ‘anxiety’ brings out the element of fear in the mind of a person under debt. Hence, the correct option is ‘anxiety’. For the last blank, the answer is clear from the last sentence. The author moves his concentration from how fears can lead to addictions like gambling to what gambling actually is. He says that it is a form of ‘entertainment’ and if you decide to enjoy gambling pursuits then you should be prepared for losing and winning alike. The other answer options are clearly incorrect.

2. Of course, the first sign is the rapid losing of weight to an unnatural extend. Shedding numerous pounds over a short amount of time, no longer fitting in any of their clothes, and becoming drastically thinner are going to be major (1) ________ that you need to look for other symptoms and determine if the person has the (2) _________. Another sign to look for is Russell’s sign, which is scarring of the knuckles or scratches there which will be caused when people shove fingers down their throat to (3) ____________ vomiting. Another sign is lanugo, which are soft, thin hairs that appear on the body. These are some of the physical signs, in addition to drastic weight loss, that should alert you that this person might need some help.

Blank 1: clues, indicators, signs

Blank 2: disorder, disease, deficiency

Blank 3: induce, fabricate, cause

Correct Answer: indicators, disorder, induce

Explanation: The writer of the paragraph mentions some signs that we need to look out for to determine whether the person is suffering from the problem or not. He says that the first sign is rapid loss of weight to an unnatural extent. This is a sign that points towards the existence of the problem. The two answer options ‘clues’ and ‘signs’ mean evidence. Unnatural loss of weight, becoming drastically thinner and no longer fitting in their own clothes are evidence that point towards the problem. In other words, these are ‘clues’ or ‘signs’ that are going to be major ‘pointers’ of the problem. The correct answer option is thus ‘indicators’. We are clueless about the problem that is being discussed. We know for sure that it is a ‘disorder’ but we cannot say whether it is a ‘disease’ or a ‘deficiency’. The correct answer for the second blank is ‘disorder’. For the last blank, we reject the option ‘fabricate’ as the other options are more suitable. The person shoves his fingers down his throat to bring about vomiting. While both the options ’cause’ and ‘induce’ are correct, we select the latter over the former. The vomiting in this case is brought about by the person himself and hence he ‘induces’ it. This word brings out the actual gravity of the issue and hence it is more appropriate in the given context.

GRE Text Completion Sample Questions

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