two-word completions

Which of the following best describes the organizational structure of paragraph two

Cause and effect

Credence is best defined as

Acceptance

Which of the following best describes the authors attitude toward the subject of the passage

Factual

The meaning of feckless is

Incompetent

The effect of the last sentence in the passage might best be described as

Ironic

Reconnaissance is best defined as

Scouting expedition

From the passage, it is clear that

The fire started in or near the O'Leary's barn

From the passage, you can reasonably infer that all of the following played a role in the spread of the fire except

The fleeing population

Substantiated most nearly means

Verified

Someone with a ________ nature is generally very good at __________, while more honest people give off unconscious cues that they are not telling the truth.

devious...dissembling

the film reviewed emphasized the dramatic ________ manner in which the lead actor delivered his lines in the final scene.

histrionic

the minister remarked on the surprising gift _________ to the church building fund given by an anonymous donor.

largesse

Distraught is best defined as

Frantic

From the top of the mountain that summer afternoon, I looked out on a(n) ________ panorama of fields and pasturelands through which countless streams and rivulets __________ like so many serpents slithering lazily across a carpet.

verdant...undulated

The meaning of incendiary (line 4) is

Inflammatory

The primary purpose of the passage is to

Tell the story of the Chicago fire of 1871

Despite the somewhat strident ___________ of some professional critics and the inane _________ of a few literary pedants, the work enjoyed a notable popular success.

animadversions...carping

hearing his unexpectedly critical ________ comments changed the team's opinion of their new coach.

carping

Little did we realize, as we _____________ blithely on the beach during those ___________ and cloudless days of spring of 1914, that the world was moving inexorably into the maelstrom of total war.

cavorted...halcyon

The senator hoped his colleagues would find his __________ argument about the deficit to be ________

coherent...tenable

Someone who is by nature as skeptical as I am usually refuses to give any __________ to the kinds of wild allegations thrown about in an election until they have been ___________ by solid evidence.

credence...substantiated

For what must have been the first and only time in his life, the overly cautious general did not ____________ or vacillate but committed his troops to battle with ____________ celerity.

temporize...unwonted