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GRE Verbal Reasoning 2023 past questions and answers

This 2023 GRE Verbal Reasoning set has 29 practice questions. Try these 5 free sample questions, tap a question to reveal the answer and explanation. Then practise the whole 2023 set with instant marking.

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Sample GRE Verbal Reasoning 2023 questions

1. Although the municipal archive's catalogue lists thousands of items, its apparent comprehensiveness is ____: records of domestic workers were rarely preserved, and many surviving ledgers omit them altogether.
  1. illusory
  2. scrupulous
  3. incidental
  4. incontrovertible

Answer: A. illusory

The catalogue only seems comprehensive because important records are missing, so its comprehensiveness is illusory.

2. Unlike earlier critics who sought a single cause for the port's decline, Lin's account is deliberately ____; she maps competing explanations without pretending that the available evidence can settle the dispute.
  1. dogmatic
  2. provisional
  3. derivative
  4. exhaustive

Answer: B. provisional

Because Lin refuses to claim that the evidence resolves the dispute, her account is provisional rather than final or dogmatic.

3. The sensor's readings were so ____ that researchers could not tell whether the sudden temperature shifts reflected real conditions or merely instrument noise.
  1. consonant
  2. meticulous
  3. erratic
  4. salient

Answer: C. erratic

Readings that fluctuate unpredictably and cannot be distinguished from instrument noise are erratic.

4. Because the mayor apologized only after polling showed that residents blamed her for the delay, the statement seemed less ____ than strategically timed.
  1. candid
  2. magnanimous
  3. temperate
  4. spontaneous

Answer: D. spontaneous

An apology issued in response to polling seems calculated rather than spontaneous.

5. The narrator's certainty is ____: she speaks in categorical terms, yet each chapter quietly revises one of her earlier claims.
  1. ostensible
  2. unassailable
  3. tacit
  4. ephemeral

Answer: A. ostensible

Her certainty only appears firm, since her later revisions undermine the categorical confidence she initially projects.

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