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GRE Verbal Reasoning 2026 past questions and answers

This 2026 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 2026 set with instant marking.

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Sample GRE Verbal Reasoning 2026 questions

1. For decades, the observatory's logbooks were treated as a comprehensive record of local weather; researchers now recognize that gaps in the entries often reflect staffing shortages rather than calm skies, making any climate reconstruction from the logs necessarily ___.
  1. conclusive
  2. tentative
  3. redundant
  4. impartial

Answer: B. tentative

Because missing observations may conceal storms as well as fair weather, conclusions from the logs must remain tentative.

2. The architect's early sketches seem almost ___ beside the finished library, whose intricate stonework and daring cantilevers depart radically from their spare, boxlike outlines.
  1. prescient
  2. ornate
  3. meticulous
  4. rudimentary

Answer: D. rudimentary

The simple outlines contrast with the finished library's complexity, so the sketches seem rudimentary.

3. Although the biographer praises the poet's technical command, she is ___ about the poet's supposed political influence, noting that the few surviving letters offer little evidence that officials ever read the poems.
  1. skeptical
  2. effusive
  3. uncompromising
  4. indifferent

Answer: A. skeptical

The biographer's observation that officials may never have read the poems expresses doubt about their political influence.

4. The committee's report was not a ___ defense of the proposed dam: it catalogued benefits, but it also devoted several pages to displacement risks and uncertain estimates of seasonal flow.
  1. candid
  2. measured
  3. uncritical
  4. circumspect

Answer: C. uncritical

By addressing risks and uncertain estimates, the report avoids being an uncritical defense.

5. Because the survey relied on volunteers who already belonged to conservation groups, its findings may be ___: the sample could overstate public familiarity with endangered species.
  1. inconsequential
  2. unrepresentative
  3. unprecedented
  4. replicable

Answer: B. unrepresentative

A sample drawn from conservation-group members may not represent the broader public.

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