WK Practice Test 5: Prefixes and Word Roots

Answer: A

Correct answer: irregular. Sporadic means happening at scattered, unpredictable times. Irregular fits; periodic and scheduled both describe regular timing, and constant means no interruption at all.

• A (correct): Sporadic means happening at scattered, unpredictable times, which irregular captures.
• B: Scheduled describes planning and set times, while sporadic events come unpredictably.
• C: Constant means continuing without interruption, the opposite of the scattered pattern sporadic describes.
• D: Periodic means happening at regular intervals, but sporadic events are irregular.

Answer: D

Correct answer: very small. FINE modifies "particles," and the warning about breathing them in tells you the sentence is about size. Particles small enough to reach the lungs are very small.

• A: Fine can describe high quality, but the sentence is warning about harm, not praising the dust.
• B: Fine can mean acceptable, yet particles that irritate the lungs are being measured by size, not judged as okay.
• C: This confuses the adjective with the noun fine, a money penalty, which has no role in sanding.
• D (correct): Particles that float into the lungs are described by their tiny size.

Answer: A

Correct answer: likely to spoil. The examples (milk, fresh fish, berries) and the closing phrase "spoil within days" point to foods that go bad quickly, so perishable means likely to spoil.

• A (correct): The examples and the phrase "spoil within days" show the foods go bad quickly.
• B: Freezing keeps food from spoiling, so it does not fit foods described as spoiling within days.
• C: Where the food comes from is never stated; this adds an unsupported detail.
• D: Canned foods last a long time, which contradicts the statement that these items spoil within days.

Answer: D

Correct answer: worsen. Deteriorate means become worse in condition or quality. Rust and loose joints show decline, not just age, so worsen is the closest meaning.

• A: Staying the same contradicts the visible rust and loosening that developed.
• B: Improve means get better, the opposite of developing rust and loose joints.
• C: Simply growing older is not the meaning; deteriorate requires a decline in condition, not just the passing of time.
• D (correct): Deteriorate means grow worse in condition, as shown by the rust and loose joints.

Answer: C

Correct answer: bandage. Dress has several senses. Substituting each candidate shows that only bandage keeps the sentence's meaning: the medic stopped to bandage the soldier's wound.

• A: Decorate matches another sense of dress, as in dressing a window, but not this sentence.
• B: Clothe is the common sense of dress, but it does not fit a wound.
• C (correct): With a wound, dress means to clean and cover it, which is what bandage means.
• D: A medic may examine a wound first, but examining is a different action from dressing it.

Answer: C

Correct answer: determined. Persistent denotes keeping on despite obstacles. Determined and stubborn both share that core, but the sentence praises the volunteer, so the neutral-to-positive determined fits the tone better than the critical stubborn.

• A: Careless means not paying attention, which has nothing to do with continuing an effort.
• B: Stubborn shares the idea of not giving up but adds a negative sense of refusing to change, which does not fit this praising sentence.
• C (correct): Persistent means continuing firmly despite difficulty, and determined matches that meaning with a fitting positive tone.
• D: Impatient describes being unwilling to wait, which is a different idea from steady effort.

Answer: D

Correct answer: firm and unwavering. Steadfast means firmly fixed in purpose or loyalty. The sentence's even when clue shows the sergeant did not change position under pressure, and the word part fast here means fixed, not speedy.

• A: This is the opposite of remaining firm under questioning.
• B: This misreads the fast in steadfast as speed; here it means firmly fixed.
• C: Being questioned might upset someone, but steadfast describes firmness, not temper.
• D (correct): Steadfast describes holding a position or loyalty without wavering, which this phrase restates.

Answer: C

Correct answer: unfeeling. Callous means emotionally hardened and indifferent to others' suffering. The timing (the week after a funeral) and the joking show a lack of sympathy, so unfeeling fits; thick-skinned borrows the literal root but changes the meaning.

• A: Nothing suggests the landlord forgot anything; this invents a detail the sentence does not give.
• B: A callus is hardened skin, but callous describes a hardened heart toward others, not a person who shrugs off criticism; the tone and focus differ.
• C (correct): Callous describes someone who shows no sympathy for other people's pain, like a landlord who jokes about evicting a grieving family.
• D: Strict means firm about rules; it lacks the cold disregard for others' suffering that the joking shows.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Crossing a continent. TRANS- means across and continental refers to a continent. Coast-to-coast hauling crosses the continent.

• A: Local service is far smaller than a coast-to-coast route.
• B (correct): TRANS- means across, and the route runs from one coast to the other.
• C: Under the sea would suggest SUB-, and freight trucks do not travel there.
• D: Going around would be CIRCUM-, a different route from crossing.

Answer: B

Correct answer: open and talkative. Expansive can mean broad in scope, but about a person it means open and talkative. The words usually quiet and laughing and sharing stories show the person sense applies here.

• A: Shy and reserved describes how the sergeant usually is, the contrast the sentence draws, not how he acted.
• B (correct): Applied to a person, expansive means open and talkative, which matches laughing and sharing stories.
• C: Physically enlarged takes the literal growth sense of expand, which does not describe a person's mood.
• D: Broad in scope fits plans or projects, but the sentence describes a person's behavior at a gathering.

Answer: C

Correct answer: lacking water. Hydr means water and de- means remove. Dehydrated recruits have lost water their bodies need.

• A: Needing food is hunger, which concerns food, not water.
• B: Sunburn is skin damage from sunlight, which the root hydr- does not describe.
• C (correct): De- means remove and hydr means water, so dehydrated means having lost needed water.
• D: Heat is mentioned in the sentence, but heat would point to therm-, not hydr-.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Impossible to cancel. IR- means not and revocable means able to be revoked, or cancelled. The sentence says no one could withdraw the vote, so impossible to cancel fits; hard to reverse understates it.

• A (correct): IR- is a negative form and revoke means cancel, so irrevocable means unable to be cancelled.
• B: Clarity is unrelated; the sentence is about whether the vote can be cancelled.
• C: A vote that cannot be withdrawn is final, so this reverses the meaning.
• D: Merely hard is too weak; the sentence says no member could cancel it at all.

Answer: B

Correct answer: swimmer. A genuine suffix needs an identifiable base and a normal formation pattern. Swimmer is swim plus -er, a person who swims, while corner, winter and silver only happen to end in the letters -er.

• A: Silver names a metal, and its final letters are part of the word rather than an added suffix.
• B (correct): Swim is a real base verb, and adding -er names a person who swims.
• C: Winter names a season; there is no base verb such as wint for -er to attach to.
• D: Corner ends in -er, but corn is not a meaningful base for it; the whole word names an angle or meeting point.

Answer: B

Correct answer: range covered. Scop relates to looking, but in everyday English scope means the extent of a project. Being limited to one compartment describes the range the inspection covers.

• A: The result of an inspection is not the same as the area it covers.
• B (correct): In ordinary use scope means the range or extent of a task, and limited to the engine compartment fits this.
• C: Scope is part of microscope and periscope, but here it names the extent of the job, not a device.
• D: Timing would be a different concern; the sentence states which area the inspection includes.

Answer: C

Correct answer: hard to pin down. Elusive means hard to find, grasp, or explain. The clues (dozens of tests, no explanation held up) show the cause kept escaping identification. Imaginary is a false friend from the look-alike word illusory.

• A: Engineers ran dozens of tests, which shows the cause mattered a great deal.
• B: Elusive is easily confused with illusory, but the vibration and its cause are real; they were simply hard to identify.
• C (correct): Elusive means difficult to find, catch, or define, like a cause that escapes dozens of tests.
• D: A vibrating bridge may be a hazard, but the word describes the cause escaping detection, not its risk.