Choosing the Right Word P.152

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. In Jonathan Swift's fictional country of Lilliput, everyone and everything is pint-sized, or (a)   .

• diminutive
• obtrusive

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. When I asked the student why she wasn't going to the senior prom, she answered only with a(n) ​ (a)   smile.

• obtrusive
• bleak

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. After enslaved African-Americans were (a)   , many emigrated to northern states to start new lives.

• mired

• emancipated

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. The sculptor has done a superb job of representing the strong, rough planes of the leader's (a)   features.

• rugged
• bleak

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. Passengers could not exit the bus without tripping over the ​ (a)   package in the aisle.

• obtrusive
• invincible

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. Our basketball team, with its well-planned attack, tight defense, and seven-foot center, proved all but (a)   .

• invincible
• bleak

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. When Emerson said, "Hitch your wagon to a star," he meant that we should (a)   to reach the very highest levels of which we are capable.

• aspire
• mire

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. When we tried to straighten out the mess, we found ourselves (a)   in a mass of inaccurate, incomplete, and mixed-up records.

• mired
• emancipated

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. In the (a)   give-and-take of a televised debate, it is easy for a nervous nominee to make a slip of the tongue.

• extemporaneous
• obtrusive

Select the boldface word that better completes each sentence. It is up to all of us to ​ (a)   ourselves from prejudices and false ideas acquired early in life.

• aspire
• emancipate