Three-Blank Text Completion GRE Practice Question

Here’s the answer to yesterday’s practice question, thanks for sending in all of your answers!

Brand loyalty plays a(n) (i) _________ role in many consumers’ buying habits. Market research shows that consumers are likely to spend more on a product they grew up using than they are to try a generic brand that offers the same (ii) __________ at a lower price. The question is, just how much more are shoppers willing to spend for (iii) __________?

Blank (i)	Blank (ii)	Blank (ii)
A. speculative	D. constituents	G. nostalgia
B. quotidian	E. accolades	H. paranoia
C. appreciable	F. idiosyncracies	I. quality

 

(C) appreciable, (D) constituents, and (G) nostalgia are the credited responses.

The key terms are “loyalty”, “grew up using”, “generic”, and “how much more”.

 

Blank (i)

(C) appreciable means enough to be measured. Since the market research has undertaken quantitative analysis to determine the effect of brand loyalty on consumer buying habits, appreciable is the best fit for this context.

(A) speculative means not based on fact or, in some cases, risky. The second sentence claims that market research has demonstrated that brand loyalty factors into consumers’ buying habits, so speculative is an inappropriate choice.

(B) quotidian means mundane. If brand loyalty increases the sale of one product over another, is unlikely to be considered banal. Quotidian is not logical here.

 

Blank (ii)

(D) a constituent means a component or element. Generic products typically offer the same or similar components as their brand name counterparts; thus, constituent is a good match.

(E) an accolade is an award or honor. It is not likely that a generic brand will have achieved the same level of recognition as a brand name product.

(F) an idiosyncrasy is a peculiarity of character. This term does not make sense here because an idiosyncrasy is typically a human trait rather than that of an inanimate object.

 

Blank (iii)

(G) nostalgia is a longing for something of the past. This word relates to consumers’ brand loyalty to products from their youth and is the best fit for this sentence.

(H) paranoia is fear of persecution or danger. This word is inappropriate because the context does not suggest that consumers exhibit brand loyalty out of fear.

(I) quality is a good distractor here because brand names are often compared against generic ones based on questions of quality. It is not, however, the best fit because the preceding sentence suggests that consumers are loyal because of tradition or sentimentality.

 

Helpful Hints

Don’t skip over a seemingly straightforward component of the sentence simply because its language is less difficult. In this case, “a product they grew up using” is essential in solving for the final blank.

 

Video Explanation

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnop-dTjUj8]

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