Sample Question: Matching or Opposite?
Today’s SAT Question of the Day is a double-blank sentence completion:
Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
The play, which features —— mix of comedy, pathos, and music, was correctly described by one honest critic as a ——.
A) a seamless . . debacle
B) an ungainly . . hodgepodge
C) an unfortunate . . masterpiece
D) an inappropriate . . success
E) a harmonious . . failure
It’s a question that, in some ways, hinges on one word: honest. A theater critic would have no reason not to be honest if they were reviewing a good play. So it’s likely that it was a bad play, so we should look for answer choices that reflect that.
However, even if you missed that clue word, you could still figure out the right answer from the other clue words (play, mix, correctly, and critic). If it was a good play, it was a good mix and a good review, so the two words should both be positive. Otherwise, the two words should both be negative. Even if you can’t tell whether the words should be positive or negative, you can tell that they should both have the same tone. That’s an important step toward eliminating wrong answers.
Let’s take a look at the “charge” of the words (taken in context) in the answer choices:
A) a seamless . . debacle . . . . . . . . . . + / -
B) an ungainly . . hodgepodge . . . . . . . . . . – / -
C) an unfortunate . . masterpiece . . . . . . . . . . – / +
D) an inappropriate . . success . . . . . . . . . . – / +
E) a harmonious . . failure . . . . . . . . . . + / -
The only answer choice that has two words with the same tone is B.
The play, which features an ungainly mix of comedy, pathos, and music, was correctly described by one honest critic as a hodgepodge.