Sentence Completions
The novel's protagonist, a pearl diver, naïvely expects that the buyers will compete among themselves to pay him the best price for his pearl, but instead they — to — him.
- (A) venture . . reward
- (B) pretend . . praise
- (C) conspire . . reimburse
- (D) refuse . . cheat
- (E) collude . . swindle CORRECT ANSWER
Explanation:
The sentence states that the pearl diver expected one kind of behavior from the buyers, but instead they behaved in a different way. Since the pearl diver expected the buyers "to compete among themselves to pay him the best price," the correct answer must be two words that make the last clause describe an opposite situation. Choice (E) is the answer, because with these words inserted in the sentence, the last clause now states that the buyers "collude" (or conspire) to "swindle" him.