From Oscar Wilde's essay *The Decay of Lying* (1891). Select the word that fits the blank. "Mrs. Oliphant ______ pleasantly about curates, lawn-tennis parties, domesticity, and other wearisome things."

Wilde is dismissing Mrs. Oliphant's writing as *pleasant* but trivial — the subjects (*curates, lawn-tennis parties, domesticity*) are explicitly named *wearisome*. The blank must describe the manner of her writing as **chatty and inconsequential**. "Prattles" — chatters in a foolish, light, childlike way — captures Wilde's condescension exactly. A prattler talks easily about small things. - "Lectures" implies authoritative instruction; that would dignify her too much. - "Fulminates" means *thunders* / *denounces vehemently* — incompatible with the *pleasantly* in the sentence. - "Mourns" introduces grief that Wilde does not impute. The verb *to prattle* is GRE-canonical for *light, often empty chatter*; the related noun *prattle* (idle talk) survives unchanged.