Read the sentence, looking for clues
According to this sentence, the family "abjured" (or avoided) "store bought
cards", because they wanted to express the "proper sentiment in a tasteful manner,"
which pre-made cards were too "cloying," or overly sweet, to do. If you weren't
familiar with "abjure", you can still infer that they felt negatively about them,
since they don't express "proper sentiment."
Predict an answer
The right answer will be an adjective that describes these cards, and since all
that's known is that they're overly sweet, it will be in line with that
meaning.
Select the choice that most closely matches your
prediction
The clues lead to (D) mawkish, meaning "overly sentimental" as the
correct answer. (A) rancorous would
refer to bitter sentiments, and (B) brusque means "gruff" or "blunt"; while both would make the cards
undesirable, they don't describe "cloying" cards. (C) candid, meaning "honest," would describe
appropriately expressed sentiment, not inappropriately expressed sentiment, so it
is
also incorrect. Finally, (E) sanguine,
meaning "confident" or "optimistic," is, like candid, too positive to match the prediction.
Check your answer
The family abjured store-bought cards, deeming the cloying quips to be too
mawkish to express proper sentiment
in a tasteful manner.
TAKEAWAY: If there's an unfamiliar vocabulary word in the sentence itself, use
other clues in the sentence to figure out what the blank means.
