Phrase- and Clause-Based Sentence Completions - ISEE Lower Level Verbal Reasoning

Given that the puppy was crying all through the night when separated from his owner, the best answer choice would be one that reflects how distressed the puppy was. The best answer choice for capturing this sentiment is "extremely anxious."

This sentence completion contains the key word "but," so you know that the second part of the sentence should show a contrast (different meaning) to the first part. The correct answer should also be about the same topic as the first part of the sentence. The topic is the direction that orchestra conductors face, so the correct answer is "conductors of the seventeenth century faced their audience." This answer shows a contrast to modern conductors, who face the musicians.

Incorrect answers:

The answer choice "seventeenth century conductors did so as well" does not show a contrast, so it is logically incorrect.

The answer choice "conductors of the seventeenth century used larger batons" is incorrect because it does not relate to the topic of the first part of the sentence.

The answer choice "seventeenth century orchestras did not have conductors" shows a contrast between 17th century conductors and modern conductors, but it relates to a slightly different topic than the first half of the sentence.

The correct answer is "and cheered at the end of the last day of school." It is logical that students would cheer when they are excited and the conjunction "and" is the appropriate one to use to join these two ideas.

Incorrect answers:

In the answer choice "but they went to the beach anyway," the conjunction "but" means there is a contrast (difference) between the first and second parts of the sentence. Being excited about summer and going to the beach are similar ideas and do not contradict each other, so this answer is not correct.

In the answer choice "so they appeared very disappointed," the conjunction "so" indicates that the first part of the sentence caused the second part. Feeling excited would not cause students to appear disappointed, so this answer choice is logically incorrect.

In the answer choice "so they wished that summer would end soon," the conjunction "so" indicates that the first part of the sentence caused the second part. Students who are excited about summer vacation would want it to last a long time and would not want summer to end soon, so this answer choice is logically incorrect.

The key word in this sentence is "profit." "Profit" means money made from doing or selling something after costs have been accounted for. If it cost you one dollar to make a glass of lemonade and you sold that glass of lemonade for three dollars, you would make a profit of two dollars. In order to make money, the artist had to sell his work. Painting art that his clients enjoyed would be the best way to make sales and make a profit.

If the artist painted pictures that were fulfilling, it doesn't mean his clients would want to buy them.

If the artist painted pictures that his family liked, it wouldn't necessarily please his clients, the people who buy his paintings.

If the artist copied art that he saw in museums, it wouldn't guarantee that his clients would like the art that was in museums.

If the artist tried a new style, it doesn't that he necessarily would be good at it and create art clients would buy.

Because his calculation was "inaccurate" (not accurate or incorrect), the subject would have written down the wrong answer for the question.

We don't know if he or she would have aced the test based on that one question, but if they wrote down a wrong answer, he or she cannot have aced the test.

The student wouldn't have received full credit for his or her answer if the calculation was inaccurate.

We don't know if the student would have passed the class or not based on one test question.

Having the wrong calculation wouldn't cause the student to review the section. He would be reviewing the section to check for errors.

The key word in this sentence is "humble," which means modest or not making a big deal out of your abilities or work. In this case, it makes sense that the humble owner wouldn't take credit for his work.

Humble doesn't have anything to do with being friendly or hiring your friends.

Being humble wouldn't be the reason you discovered a way to save the company.

Being generous by giving surprises doesn't mean that you are also humble.

Humbleness doesn't make you creative or encourage you to start a new business.

"Shallow" means not deep. The correct answer is that he wasn't able to submerge all the way under the water.

He wouldn't drown because the water was shallow.

He would not be able to float with his feet not touching the bottom in shallow water.

Huge fish wouldn't be able to swim in shallow water, so he wouldn't find one there.

He wouldn't try scuba diving in shallow water.

This is a long sentence, so let's try to put the information in order. "The usual strict format" tells us that previous journal assignments had rules that students had to follow. Maybe the teacher asked specific questions, or had a minimum number of sentences for the students to write. This time, though, the assignment is "open-ended," so the students can respond in whatever way they choose. If this makes John excited, he must like flexibility better than the rules from before. This would make sense if he had felt "constrained," or unpleasantly held back, by the "limitations," or rules.

We know that most NBA players go to college before becoming professionals, but the word "but" tells us that this was not true for the player in question. This implies that unlike the other athletes, this player did not attend college. The statement that he "became a professional directly out of high school" is the only one that makes sense here—the other statements state that he did go to college.

The first sentence tells us that the third graders have historically been champions, but every student knows that this year is different. Since they are students, the third graders must also know that they are not going to win, or at the very least, that something has happened to make their victory less likely than it used to be. The only statement that supports this idea is the one saying that they "know they can't compete" with the first graders. The statement about the third grade's confidence is the opposite of the correct answer, and the final two choices have nothing to do with the information given.

The second part of this sentence tells us that the football team treats their opponents with respect, even after a tough loss. This immediately eliminates two choices: since the players are being nice, they clearly are not "reacting with anger at their loss," and they are shaking hands, not "ignoring the other players." Additionally, the statement that "they celebrate afterwards with a good meal" is certainly possible, but not confirmed by the rest of the sentence. The answer is that they "display good sportsmanship," which means they acted honorably (they weren't "sore losers") and played fairly.

To complete this sentence, you need to know the meaning of the word "ambiguous." When instructions are ambiguous, they are not straightforward or easy to understand; instead, they have multiple possible meanings. Kaitlyn would likely be confused by instructions like these, and might need to ask her teacher for a better explanation. She would not "easily complete the homework without confusion" or immediately "understand the project," and we have no way of knowing whether these instructions would prevent her from working with a group.

We know that Brentan wishes he had a younger brother, and that he does something on weekends that corresponds with this feeling. This weekend activity is probably related to young children; otherwise, Brentan's wish for a little sibling wouldn't be relevant. Having friends "a few years older" is backwards; we have no reason to think that Brentan wants older peers in his life. Similarly, he would not want to "avoid small children" if he wanted a little brother, and "shopping with his mother" isn't related to the rest of the sentence. The only sensible answer is that he volunteers with a sports team for young children.

We know that Avery is good at science, and we also know that something about the exam's treatment of biology made him happy. Since biology is a category of science (and since he presumably wants to do well), there must be a lot of biology on the test. "Focused heavily on" is therefore our answer. The other three choices all state the same thing—that the test didn't include a lot of biology, which doesn't make sense in this sentence.

Rose and her mother want to take this trip, but the key word "although" tells us that Rose's father has a different opinion. Rose's father, therefore, must have a negative opinion of either this road trip or travel in general. If he "enjoyed exploring new places" or "had loved to travel" for years, he probably would've wanted to go on this vacation as much as the other members of his family. Similarly, having extended family members in other states is a reason that would make the trip more appealing, or a neutral statement at the very least. The only answer that makes sense is that he "disliked traveling by car," which explains why he might not want to go on a road trip.

The only information that we are given about this class is that it "emphasizes," or strongly focuses on, individual study. In other words, the students must be encouraged to learn about the subject matter in their own way. We are looking for an answer that describes a flexible, personalized approach, not a strict cookie-cutter teaching style. Of the choices here, the only one that works here is the one about helping students find their own specific interests.

With this sentence completion, as with most others, the first step you should take is to quickly scan the sentence for key words. Here, the word "although" is immediately obvious. We are told that Martin used to be unable to play basketball, but this word "although," which implies contrast, hints that the situation is now different. So, the answer choice that states that Martin's "knee still hurts him nearly every day" is incorrect because it does not contain this contrast. The same is true with the choice regarding medical bills; if Martin is injured, expensive medical costs would be unsurprising. Finally, the statement about the class trips is irrelevant. Our answer is clearly the choice stating that although Martin couldn't play before, he was now healthy enough to "start as center tonight."

Since we know nothing about Principal Richardson, we must use the second part of the sentence to find our solution. We are told that Mrs. Harris has numerous siblings, which simply means that she has a lot of brothers and sisters. If Principal Richardson has a similar family structure, we can conclude that she also has multiple sisters and brothers, which is only mentioned in one of the choices. The principal cannot be an only child, because then the makeup of her family would be unlike that of Mrs. Harris. Finally, both the choice stating that she is a skilled educator and the choice mentioning moving to another state could very well be true, but since they have nothing to do with the rest of the sentence, they are not good answer choices for this problem.

We're looking for a "consequence" of the power outage, which means that our answer will be an event that occurred as a result of another— in this case, the outage. Of the four choices, three are causes, not results. For example, high winds might blow over the poles holding up power wires, but this is an event that might cause an outage, not one that would occur afterward. Similarly, a power outage clearly cannot cause heavy rainfall or poor station maintenance; the cause-and-effect relationship in these cases is backwards. Our only remaining choice describes the closing of the schools due to a lack of heat and light. Finally, this statement describes a consequence! A citywide power shutdown could certainly lead to the closing of schools, so this is the correct answer.