So we’ll really have to make sure that we pay attention to both blanks. (That’s always important, of course, but it’s extra important here to consider the words we choose not only in relation to the given part of the sentence, but also to one another.)
For (A), we might not know what the first word means, but the prefix “co-“ or “cor-“ probably suggests the idea of going along with something. The second word, though, would be going against the “warning” in the sentence, because “prospering” is the opposite of “declining.” So this one seems not to work as an answer.
For (B), “confirmed” seems like it might be able to go in the first blank, but we might not know what “extant” means. So let’s skip this for now.
For (C), we might not know “belied,” but it could have something to do with the word “lied,” which is related to falsehood. “Dwindling” is a synonym for “declining,” though, so these two words also don’t seem to fit together to complete the sentence.
For (D), it sounds a little odd to say that a “warning” was “diminished.” Still, even if we accept that, the word “debilitated” goes along with the word “declining.” So this choice doesn’t hold together—as we said at the beginning of this discussion, if the first word is something negative, then the second word would have to be something positive.
For (E), we might not recognize the word “tempered” in this context. But “thriving” definitely seems relevant to the idea of a population “declining”—“thriving” is the exact opposite of “declining” in this context.
So we’re left with (B) and (E) as possible choices at this point. Let’s review them. (B) will be right if “extant” means something like “declining.” (E) will be right if “tempered” means something like “called into question.”
As it turns out, (E) is correct, but a lot of test-takers may not feel confident enough in deciding that, and they should skip this question if that’s the case.
Page 960, Question 8
For this sentence, we probably want a word in the first blank that would indicate using something up completely, and a word for the second blank that will mean the opposite of that idea (because the sentence mentions “replac[ing]” one with the other.
Let’s take a look at our options for the first blank. (B), (C), and (D) all have words for the first blank that we can probably recognize as valid options for the first blank. (A) and (E) don’t work for the first blank.
Now let’s take a look at the options for the second blank. Again, we’re looking for a word that would describe a policy that will not “deplete” “natural resources” “forever.”
“Dispersion” doesn’t really work here, because the idea of “dispers[ing]” “natural resources” is nonsensical.
“Gathering” is a synonym of “harvesting.” If “harvesting” might lead to “deplet[ion],” then so might “gathering.”
“Husbandry” seems like an odd word to a lot of test-takers, most of whom are unfamiliar with the term. It clearly has some relationship to the word “husband,” but is that enough to make it right?
Well, let’s think about that, especially in light of the fact that all the other choices definitely seem to be wrong. Could it be that the root idea of the word “husband” might be something along the lines of “protector” or “guardian?” That seems possible—and, if it is possible, then “husbandry” in this case might refer to the idea of protecting resources so they aren’t “deplete[d] . . . forever.” Again, this seems especially coherent when we remember that we’re probably pretty familiar with all the other words we’ve looked at, and we’re sure they don’t work. So “husbandry” is part of the right answer, and (D) must be right.
This is the kind of problem-solving that the Sentence Completion portion of the SAT rewards. We read carefully, we think carefully, and we work stuff out based on our fundamental knowledge of everyday words.
Page 982, Question 5
Here, the word “although” indicates that there’s a contradiction between the ideas of the way Keller was treated as a “hero” and the way he was “in the political arena.” We can also probably tell that the word in the first blank needs to be positive, since the sentence says he “achieved” it, and since a “hero” is a good thing to be. Finally, the word in the second blank needs to be negative, to go with the idea of something being “painful.”