Big book..

[shah khan]

'The self important cant ' indicates that it is not understood by everyone.Later on in the sentence it is confirmed that it is, 'closed to the uninitiated listener ', appreciated by people already familiar with it. Choice 'B' seems to be most appropriate for the blank.

[DUALUM]

For GRE BB, search esnsips..

[ume farwa]

Please ,answer these:

The painting was larger than it appeared to be,for,hanging in a darkened recess if the chapel,it was --------------by the perspective.


(A) improved
(B) aggrandized
(C) embellished
(D) jeopardized
(E) diminished

Politeness is not a -----attribute of human behavior ,but rather a central virtue ,one whose very existence is increasingly being ------by the faddish requirement to “speak one’s mind”.

(A) superficial..threatened
(B)pervasive..undercut
(C)worthless…forestalled
(D)precious..repudiated
(E)trivial..affected

[mystic87]

1. B
2. A

[peachy_snare]

mystic-Y did u go for option b in the 1st question?I would have opted for e...
The "for" in there indicates, that the next part of the sentence should support the 1st part of the sentence and the 1st part says that the painting looks smaller although it is big... so shudnt the answer be e?? plz explain you point of view..what is the correct ans?

[mystic87]

The painting was larger than it appeared to be,for,hanging in a darkened recess in the chapel,it was --------------by the perspective.

the cue here are the words highlighted in red. the "for...chapel" only gives you extra information about where the painting is located. So if you took out that clause the sentence will still make sense.

"The painting was larger than it appeared to be, it was --------------by the perspective."

So if something is larger than it actually is you would say that it's actual size has been augmented, or aggrandized right? Don't get mislead by the "for" clause.

[samarfadl]

hi mystic!

i too get confused when i saw this SC in the big book
i too chose (b), but the BB answered it as (e) which is suggested by peachy_snare

but when i analyzed the answer (e) i found it plausible

The painting was larger than it appeared to be,for,hanging in a darkened recess if the chapel,it was --------------by the perspective.

we have two parts, one is fact and the other is illusion due to the position of the paint.
the fact is that the paint is large.
the illusion is that the paint is small.
the transfer of the large size (fact) to small size (illusion) due to optical illusion would cause the paint to diminsh in size

the optical illusion made us see it as small, so the optical illusion diminshes its size and made it appear as if small.

yes it is really confusing

[mystic87]

lol you're absolutely right...what a tricky little bugger. i must concede that E can be the right answer then.

Thanks for pointing that out!

[shah khan]

1. E
2. A

1) The painting was larger than it seemed since its size was diminished because of the location or surrounding that it was in. So the perspective made it look smaller than it actually was.

2)Virtue is something essential and it is being affected in a negative way by 'speaking one's mind'.