List of top Verbal Reasoning Questions

Scientists are not the only persons who examine the world about them by the use of rational processes, although they sometimes BLANK this impression by extending the definition of "scientist" to include anyone who is BLANK in his or her investigational practices.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) conceal, (B) create, (C) undermine
BLANK 2 Options: (D) intuitive, (E) haphazard, (F) logical

I've long anticipated this retrospective of the artist's work, hoping that it would make BLANK judgments about him possible, but greater familiarity with his paintings highlights their inherent BLANK and actually makes one's assessment BLANK.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) modish, (B) settled, (C) detached
BLANK 2 Options: (D) gloom, (E) ambiguity, (F) delicacy
BLANK 3 Options: (G) similarly equivocal, (H) less sanguine, (I) more cynical

Stories are a haunted genre; hardly BLANK kind of story, the ghost story is almost the paradigm of the form, and BLANK was undoubtedly one effect that Poe had in mind when he wrote about how stories work.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) a debased, (B) a normative, (C) a meticulous
BLANK 2 Options: (D) pessimism, (E) goose bumps, (F) curiosity

Given how BLANK the shortcomings of the standard economic model are in its portrayal of human behavior, the failure of many economists to respond to them is astonishing. They continue to fill the journals with yet more proofs of yet more BLANK theorems.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) overlooked, (B) occasional, (C) patent
BLANK 2 Options: (D) comprehensive, (E) improbable, (F) pervasive

The playwright's approach is BLANK in that her works BLANK the theatrical devices normally used to create drama on the stage.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) pedestrian, (B) startling, (C) celebrated
BLANK 2 Options: (D) jettison, (E) experiment with, (F) distill

A year ago, Dietz Foods launched a yearlong advertising campaign for its canned tuna. Last year Dietz sold 12 million cans of tuna compared to the 10 million sold during the previous year, an increase directly attributable to new customers brought in by the campaign. Profits from the additional sales, however, were substantially less than the cost of the advertising campaign. Clearly, therefore, the campaign did nothing to further Dietz's economic interests.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

During the 1980s and 1990s, the annual number of people who visited the Sordellian Mountains increased continually, and many new ski resorts were built. Over the same period, however, the number of visitors to ski resorts who were caught in avalanches decreased, even though there was no reduction in the annual number of avalanches in the Sordellian Mountains.
Which of the following, if true in the Sordellian Mountains during the 1980s and 1990s, most helps to explain the decrease?

For years the beautiful Renaissance buildings in Palitito have been damaged by exhaust from the many tour buses that come to the city. There has been little parking space, so most buses have idled at the curb during each stop on their tour, and idling produces as much exhaust as driving. The city has now provided parking that accommodates a third of the tour buses, so damage to Palitito's buildings from the buses' exhaust will diminish significantly.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument?

Cheever College offers several online courses via remote computer connection, in addition to traditional classroom-based courses. A study of student performance at Cheever found that, overall, the average student grade for online courses matched that for classroom-based courses. In this calculation of the average grade, course withdrawals were weighted as equivalent to a course failure, and the rate of withdrawal was much lower for students enrolled in classroom-based courses than for students enrolled in online courses.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true of Cheever College?

A physically active lifestyle has been shown to help increase longevity. In the Wistar region of Bellaria, the average age at death is considerably higher than in any other part of the country. Wistar is the only mountainous part of Bellaria. A mountainous terrain makes even such basic activities as walking relatively strenuous; it essentially imposes a physically active lifestyle on people. Clearly, this circumstance explains the long lives of people in Wistar.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The Hazelton coal-processing plant is a major employer in the Hazelton area, but national environmental regulations will force it to close if it continues to use old, polluting processing methods. However, to update the plant to use newer, cleaner methods would be so expensive that the plant will close unless it receives the tax break it has requested. In order to prevent a major increase in local unemployment, the Hazelton government is considering granting the plant's request.
Which of the following would be most important for the Hazelton government to determine before deciding whether to grant the plant's request?

Gortland has long been narrowly self-sufficient in both grain and meat. However, as per capita income in Gortland has risen toward the world average, per capita consumption of meat has also risen toward the world average, and it takes several pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. Therefore, since per capita income continues to rise, whereas domestic grain production will not increase, Gortland will soon have to import either grain or meat or both.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Some batches of polio vaccine used around 1960 were contaminated with SV40, a virus that in monkeys causes various cancers. Some researchers now claim that this contamination caused some cases of a certain cancer in humans, mesothelioma. This claim is not undercut by the fact that a very careful survey made in the 1960s of people who had received the contaminated vaccine found no elevated incidence of any cancer, since \(\underline{\hspace{3cm}}\)

Tiger beetles are such fast runners that they can capture virtually any nonflying insect. However, when running toward an insect, a tiger beetle will intermittently stop and then, a moment later, resume its attack. Perhaps the beetles cannot maintain their pace and must pause for a moment's rest; but an alternative hypothesis is that while running, tiger beetles are unable to adequately process the resulting rapidly changing visual information and so quickly go blind and stop.
Which of the following, if discovered in experiments using artificially moved prey insects, would support one of the two hypotheses and undermine the other?

Guillemots are birds of Arctic regions. They feed on fish that gather beneath thin sheets of floating ice, and they nest on nearby land. Guillemots need 80 consecutive snow-free days in a year to raise their chicks, so until average temperatures in the Arctic began to rise recently, the guillemots' range was limited to the southernmost Arctic coast. Therefore, if the warming continues, the guillemots' range will probably be enlarged by being extended northward along the coast.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The percentage of households with an annual income of more than \$40,000 is higher in Merton County than in any other county. However, the percentage of households with an annual income of \$60,000 or more is higher in Sommer County.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?

Motorists in a certain country frequently complain that traffic congestion is much worse now than it was 20 years ago. No real measure of how much traffic congestion there was 20 years ago exists, but the motorists' complaints are almost certainly unwarranted. The country's highway capacity has tripled in the last twenty years, thanks to a vigorous highway construction program, whereas the number of automobiles registered in the country has increased by only 75 percent.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?