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GRE Unit 8A: Contextual Vocabulary and Word Formation — practice questions

Explore 32 free Unit 8A: Contextual Vocabulary and Word Formation questions in GRE English Language. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Unit 8A: Contextual Vocabulary and Word Formation questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 32.

Choose the correct form: 'By the time we arrived, the movie ___.'Read the answer and worked solution →'Cost an arm and a leg' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Let the cat out of the bag' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'When pigs fly' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Kill two birds with one stone' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Throw in the towel' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Cry over spilt milk' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'In hot water' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Pull someone's leg' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Beat around the bush' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Bend over backwards' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Cut to the chase' meansRead the answer and worked solution →'Hit the nail on the head' meansRead the answer and worked solution →Match each word to its synonym (Synonyms)Read the answer and worked solution →Match each word to its synonym (Bank English)Read the answer and worked solution →Flip and match: word to its antonym (Bank English)Read the answer and worked solution →Typing rush: type each banking/grammar term correctlyRead the answer and worked solution →The idiom 'a piece of cake' means:Read the answer and worked solution →The idiom 'spill the beans' means:Read the answer and worked solution →'Once in a blue moon' means:Read the answer and worked solution →He was kind. He was __________ even towards his opponents.Read the answer and worked solution →Choose the best word: She has an __________ talent for music that her teachers immediately noticed.Read the answer and worked solution →Pick the correct meaning of "ephemeral":Read the answer and worked solution →Fill: He could not __________ the temptation to look at the answers.Read the answer and worked solution →Match the synonymRead the answer and worked solution →Sort: correctly or wrongly speltRead the answer and worked solution →Flip cards to pair the synonymsRead the answer and worked solution →Tap every word Fernald lists as a synonym of BRAVERead the answer and worked solution →Tap every word Fernald lists as a synonym of HONESTRead the answer and worked solution →Which headword does this belong under?Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Choose the correct form: 'By the time we arrived, the movie ___.'

  1. started
  2. starts
  3. had started
  4. has started
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Correct answer: C. had started

For an action completed BEFORE another past action, use past perfect ('had started'). 'By the time we arrived' = past event the movie starting was earlier.

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'Cost an arm and a leg' means

  1. Be very expensive
  2. Lose limbs in an accident
  3. Be very cheap
  4. Be free of cost
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Correct answer: A. Be very expensive

1. Hyperbolic idiom for high price. 2. Limbs are figurative. 3. Cheap is the opposite. 4. Hence option A. _Source: jkchrome.com SSC Idioms and Phrases PDF (Mistral OCR), section on common idioms_

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'Let the cat out of the bag' means

  1. Free a captured stray cat
  2. Reveal a secret unknowingly
  3. Buy a pet cat from store
  4. Throw an old bag away
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Correct answer: B. Reveal a secret unknowingly

1. Idiom for revealing a secret. 2. Letting the cat out = spilling info. 3. Synonymous with 'spill the beans'. 4. Hence option A. _Source: jkchrome.com SSC Idioms and Phrases PDF (Mistral OCR), section on common idioms_

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More English Language topics

Unit 1B: Evidence and Argument Structure in NonfictionUnit 1A: Rhetorical Reading & Claims AnalysisAntonymsUnit 6: Syntax and Sentence StructureUnit 8B: Synonyms, Antonyms and Lexical NuanceUnit 7A: Sentence Boundaries and Structural ImprovementUnit 1C: Purpose, Audience and Context in Rhetoric