FREE ELPT Vocabulary Questions and Answers

Question 1

She invited to stay with her in succession various poor ladies who presumed on a distant tie to call her Aunt Eliza, and they accepted her summons, more imperious than a royal command, with gratitude by no means unmixed with fear, bearing the servitude meekly as a cross which in the future would meet due testamentary reward.

What does “imperious” most likely mean?

Accepted Answer

Peremptory

Answer

Explanation:
Here, you could notice that "imperial," or emperorly, shares a root with "imperious." We can also derive the word's meaning from context, though. The poor ladies are "forced to accept her summons," and her imperiousness is greater than "a royal command." The only choice that makes sense in this context is peremptory.

Question 2

The old tyrant, much as she hated her relations, hated still more to live alone; she needed someone on whom to vent her temper, and through the illness of a niece, due to spend March and April with her, had been forced to pass a month of solitude; she wrote back, in the peremptory fashion which, even with Miss Ley, she could not refrain from using, that she expected her on such and such a day by such and such a train.

What does “peremptory” mean?

Accepted Answer

High-handed

Answer

Explanation:
"Peremptory" is defined as imperious, high-handed, or even dictatorial. Even if you didn't know this, you could still eliminate those answer choices that don't fit Miss Dwarris's personality and actions. Magnanimous and munificent both mean generous, lascivious means lustful, and quizzical means puzzled or curious.

Question 3

The pride of being ladies had something to do with it: the Brooke connections, though not exactly aristocratic, were unquestionably "good:" if you inquired backward for a generation or two, you would not find any yard-measuring or parcel-tying forefathers-anything lower than an admiral or a clergyman; and there was even an ancestor discernible as a Puritan gentleman who served under Cromwell, but afterward conformed, and managed to come out of all political troubles as the proprietor of a respectable family estate.

What does “proprietor” mean?

Accepted Answer

Owner

Answer

Explanation:
The surrounding context is useful for this question. The beginning of Sentence 4 establishes that the Brookes' social class was respectable, and the end of the sentence establishes a similar idea: the family "managed to come out of all political troubles" with a "respectable family estate." "Owner" is the only choice that makes the idea of the second half of the sentence match the first half. (A harbinger is an omen, a spendthrift is a person who squanders money, and an iconoclast is a rule breaker. None of these choices make sense in context.)

Question 4

"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit."

What is the best definition of “glimpse” in this passage?

Accepted Answer

A momentary or partial view

Answer

Explanation:
Glimpse means to view/see something for a brief time. "To catch a glimpse" means to see all or only part of something quickly.

Question 5

"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit."

Which word could best replace pervaded in the above passage?

Accepted Answer

Filled

Answer

Explanation:
To pervade means to fill, permeate, and spread through. Poe describes a feeling of gloom spreading through and FILLING his spirit.

ELPT - English Language Proficiency Test Practice Test

ELPT - English Language Proficiency Test Practice Test

FREE ELPT Vocabulary Questions and Answers