Craft and Structure · Reading & Writing
Words in Context
A short passage with one word removed. Your job is to pick the word the passage's own logic demands — not the one that sounds most impressive. The sentence around the blank always contains the evidence: a contrast, a restatement, an example, or a cause.
54 questions in the bank · 12 easier · 28 medium · 14 harder · this domain is ≈28% of the section
What to watch for
Read for the relationship before you read the choices. If the sentence sets up a contrast, the answer opposes what came before; if it explains, the answer restates it. Choices that are merely difficult words are not more likely to be right.
How the question is worded
These are the actual stems used in the bank — the SAT reuses a small set of wordings, and recognising them saves time on test day.
- Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- As used in the text, what does the word "elaborate" most nearly mean?
- As used in the text, what does the word "capture" most nearly mean?
- As used in the text, what does the word "settle" most nearly mean?
Worked examples
easyWhen Carlos Taboada and Jesse Delia reported that sleeping glass frogs pack al…
When Carlos Taboada and Jesse Delia reported that sleeping glass frogs pack almost all of their red blood cells into the liver, the claim was startling enough that it needed unusually strong support. Their imaging and optical measurements agreed, and it was that ______ that made the result difficult to dismiss.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A. speculation
- B. repetition
- C. convergence
- D. simplification
Answer: C. convergence
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's discussion of why the finding was hard to dismiss. In this context, "convergence" means separate lines of evidence arriving at the same result. The text says the claim was "startling enough that it needed unusually strong support," then reports that two different approaches — imaging and optical measurement — "agreed." The blank names the quality of that agreement, and it is precisely because independent methods pointed the same way that the result resisted doubt.
mediumRather than announcing its themes outright, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocen…
Rather than announcing its themes outright, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence works by ______: a glance held slightly too long, a visit paid at the wrong hour. Wharton trusts her readers to assemble the meaning those small signals leave unstated.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A. implication
- B. declaration
- C. coincidence
- D. repetition
Answer: A. implication
Explanation
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's description of how the novel conveys its themes. In this context, "implication" means meaning conveyed indirectly rather than stated. The text contrasts announcing themes "outright" with what the novel actually does, then gives examples that are deliberately small and unexplained — a glance, a mistimed visit. The final sentence confirms the mechanism: readers must assemble meaning the signals "leave unstated."
hardMarie Tharp's manuscript maps of the Atlantic seafloor were deliberately _____…
Marie Tharp's manuscript maps of the Atlantic seafloor were deliberately ______: she plotted only the soundings she could verify and refused to smooth the rift valley into a tidier shape, even when colleagues found the jagged result implausible.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A. convoluted
- B. austere
- C. exhaustive
- D. impromptu
Answer: B. austere
Explanation
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's description of Tharp's mapmaking. In this context, "austere" means stripped to essentials, without embellishment. The text says she plotted "only the soundings she could verify" and "refused to smooth" the result — two forms of restraint. The blank must name a style defined by what she left out, and austerity is exactly that discipline.