Modern/Influential Thinkers Passage

The answer is B. This sentence lists the places where “the conflict now raging” shows itself, and some items in that list contain commas of their own: “in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses.” When the items in a series contain commas, separate the items with semicolons, so the reader can see where each item ends. Leo puts a semicolon between all the other items, and this boundary should match. Choice A leaves a comma that blurs into the commas inside the items. Choice C is wrong because a colon announces that what follows explains or lists what came before, but “in the changed relations between masters and workmen” does neither; it is simply the next item in the same list, parallel to “in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits.” Choice D creates a fragment: “In the changed relations between masters and workmen” has no subject or verb of its own (remember the Clause Test).

The answer is A. This is a word choice question, and the four choices sound alike, so meaning has to decide it. The sentence says that the “momentous gravity” of the situation fills every mind with something “painful,” and the rest of the sentence shows people discussing the problem and proposing remedies. We need a word for worry about what is coming. That is “apprehension,” an anxious fear that something bad will happen. “Approbation” means approval, far too positive for a “painful” state of mind. “Appeasement,” calming someone by giving in to his demands, is an action, not a feeling that could fill a mind, and “appropriation,” the act of taking something for one’s own use, makes no sense here either.

The answer is C. This is a tone/style question, so we need to match the wording to the way the author writes. Leo writes formally and with weight, in long, balanced sentences, but his words are plain and clear. Notice, too, that the underlined portion begins a series of parallel clauses: “___; practical men are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations are all busied with it.” The right answer should sound like its neighbors.

Choice B is the overstuffed answer that tone/style questions usually include; “sagacious personages” and “manifold ramifications” are far grander than anything around them. Choices A and D go to the other extreme: “chewing it over” and “everybody with a brain” are much too casual for this writer. Choice C has the same simple, dignified shape as “practical men are proposing schemes.”

The answer is D. Among our choices for this part of speech question, choice A is an adjective, choice B a noun, choice C an adjective formed from a verb, and choice D an adverb. The underlined word tells how the misery is “pressing” on the working classes, and “pressing” is a verb form. A word that modifies a verb is an adverb. The word is also joined by “and” to “heavily,” another adverb, so the two should match: “pressing so heavily and unjustly.”

The answer is C. To solve a verb tense question, look for clues to time in the sentence. Here there are two: the phrase “in the last century” and the verb “were abolished,” which is joined to the underlined verb by “and.” Both place the action in the past, so the verb should be the simple past, “took.” Choices A and D are present tense and choice B is future, so all three break the sequence: the guilds were abolished in the past, so whatever did or did not take their place belongs to the past as well.