1. Commentators and comedians had a field day with the widespread corruption in politics, so much so that one ______ defined a “gaffe” as a politician accidentally telling the truth.
2. The seemingly pious minister, known for his (i) ______ pontifications, actually frequently indulged an unseemly (ii) ______.
3. Americans who were the first to fight fascism in Spain during the Spanish Civil War were not allowed to join the US Army later, as their initiative led to the American government labeling them “______ anti-fascists,” and thus undesirable.
4. Paleontologists are always shown extracting dinosaur bones from pits in dusty deserts, but most of their research occurs in libraries, and most of their discoveries are ______ from tomes every bit as dusty as the aforementioned deserts.
5. Ms. Llewellyn is known to gently ______ students who don’t do their homework, but because of her generally amiable demeanor, she refuses to punish anyone, and seldom even raises her voice.
6. With so many of America’s malls shutting down due to the financial crisis, there might soon be a significant dearth of locations in which teenagers can ______; if we’re not careful, they might soon have to start actually doing useful things with their time.
7. Debates over free will have always focused on the extent to which humans may be said to be fully (i) ______ their actions. Dr. Wegner in his article deliberately and artfully (ii) ______ the traditional talking points of the controversy, instead asking a tangential, though possibly more (iii) ______, question: What effect does a person’s belief in free will have on his or her well-being?
8. Once the candidate established herself as the clear frontrunner, it took but a brief interlude in the clamor for all her erstwhile (i) ______ to gather around her and to begin loudly proclaiming their (ii) ______. It seemed, in other words, to cause these newcomers not an iota of discomfort to behave in a manner that a casual observer might have characterized as (iii) ______ outright hypocrisy.
9. Some substances toxic to humans induce lassitude and torpor, whereas others incite (i) ______ or (ii) ______.
10. The relationship between the two leaders has gone from positively (i) ______ to chilly at best, not least because the recent arms scandal threatens to (ii) ______ the mutual trust that has been held on both sides for years.
11. One needn’t resort to arrant (i) ______ in order to demonstrate that one possesses the requisite degree of deference and respect for one’s elders; indeed, oftentimes such blandishments can make one appear (ii) ______ and ignorant—qualities presumably (iii) ______ with the original intent.
12. Debates over free will have always focused on the extent to which humans may be said to be fully (i) ______ their actions. Dr. Wegner in his article deliberately and artfully (ii) ______ the traditional talking points of the controversy, instead asking a tangential, though possibly more (iii) ______, question: What effect does a person’s belief in free will have on his or her well-being?
13. Once the candidate established herself as the clear frontrunner, it took but a brief interlude in the clamor for all her erstwhile (i) ______ to gather around her and to begin loudly proclaiming their (ii) ______. It seemed, in other words, to cause these newcomers not an iota of discomfort to behave in a manner that a casual observer might have characterized as (iii) ______ outright hypocrisy.
14. Some substances toxic to humans induce lassitude and torpor, whereas others incite (i) ______ or (ii) ______.
15. Unable to raise sufficient funds for his quirky independent feature, the producer was heard to curse the “philistines” and ______ the lack of support for experimental art in this country.
16. His grandmother’s house was always a bedlam of porcelain figurines, collector’s spoons, and other (i) ______ doodads. But it hardly would have been (ii) ______ to tell her that he thought her choice of décor was vulgar; in fact, he had to think (iii) ______, because the avaricious youth was gunning for a big birthday present from her.