GRE® Verbal Practice | Text Completion Q1

This GRE Verbal Practice question is an interesting question in text completion that helps understand the use of the word "Unlike" in a sentence. Try the question without looking at the answer explanation. If you face difficulty in arriving at the correct answer, take help from the detailed explanation provided below.

Question 1: Unlike the expatriates of yester years, who gave nothing back to their native lands, those today are making _____________ investments.

1. more or less the same
2. much smaller
3. truly commendable
4. mandatory
5. obligatory

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Explanatory Answer

A single blank text completion question can sometimes be trickier than multiple blank sentences, because multiple blank sentences are (usually) longer and contain more clues. So, it is easier to work out how the blanks affect each other.

This single blank text completion question offers us a clue in its very first word. The sentence starts with the word “Unlike”, which we know describes a contrast. For example: “Unlike A which is high, B is low”.

The comparison in this sentence is between expatriates of yester-years and expatriates today. The expatriates of yester years gave back nothing to their native lands. IN CONTRAST what are the expatriates of today expected to do? They are expected to be generous and contribute to their native lands.

So, a comparison of their contributions will reveal that expatriates today will be a lot more generous and will make more significant investments that are truly commendable.

Choice C is the correct answer.