Reading Comprehension Flashcards
7 cards from real C2 practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Reading Comprehension flashcards as text
A passage describes a historical figure as 'a man whose rectitude was never in doubt, even by his fiercest opponents.' The word 'rectitude' most nearly means:
Answer: Moral correctness and integrity
Rectitude means morally correct behavior or thinking — uprightness of character.
When a C2 reader identifies 'bathos' in a passage, they have found:
Answer: A sudden shift from the sublime to the trivial or absurd, creating a deflating effect
Bathos is an abrupt, jarring descent from the elevated to the ridiculous, often for comic or ironic effect.
A passage states: 'His reservations, though not entirely without merit, do not ultimately vitiate the core argument.' The word 'vitiate' means:
Answer: Impair, weaken, or make invalid
To vitiate means to impair or make something defective or invalid — here the reservations do not destroy the core argument.
An author argues that a text is 'palimpsestic in nature.' A sophisticated reader understands this to mean the text:
Answer: Layers new meanings over older, still-detectable ones
A palimpsest is a manuscript where earlier writing shows through later writing — 'palimpsestic' describes texts with layered, traceable influences.
A writer argues 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' reasoning is flawed. This Latin phrase refers to the fallacy of:
Answer: Assuming that because B followed A, A caused B
'Post hoc ergo propter hoc' means 'after this, therefore because of this' — the fallacy of confusing sequence with causation.
A passage contains an 'anaphora.' A C2 reader identifies this as:
Answer: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses — 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds' is a famous example.
At the C2 level, 'inferential comprehension' differs from 'literal comprehension' in that it requires the reader to:
Answer: Draw conclusions from implicit information not directly stated in the text
Inferential comprehension involves reading between the lines — deriving meaning from what is implied rather than explicitly stated.