These questions ask you to separate words that look or sound similar but perform different jobs. Read the whole sentence for its intended relationship, then check whether the gap requires a noun, verb, adjective or exclusion marker.
Choose by meaning and grammatical job
Use two passes. First name the meaning in plain language, such as receive, leave out, enter, modify or begin using. Then check the word class around the gap. This prevents a familiar spelling from overriding the sentence's logic.
| Signal | Form and a fresh example |
|---|---|
| Receive or agree versus exclude | Use accept for receiving or agreeing: The editor will accept the revised title. Use except to leave something out: Every window except the small one was open. |
| Entry or use versus an amount beyond a limit | Use access for entry or use: Members can access the reading room. Use excess for too much or the extra amount: Drain the excess water. |
| Change to suit conditions versus choose for use | Use adapt when something is adjusted: We adapted the recipe for a smaller pan. Use adopt when something is taken up as a routine: The club adopted a new timetable. |
| Indirect reference versus misleading appearance | Use allusion for a reference that is not stated directly: The poem contains an allusion to an old myth. Use illusion for a false impression: The painted arch creates an illusion of height. |
| Draw out versus forbidden | Use the verb elicit for causing a response to emerge: Her prompt elicited a laugh. Use the adjective illicit for something unlawful or forbidden: Police seized illicit goods. |
Reject the tempting lookalike
| Temptation | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Except where the sentence describes agreement or receipt | Exclusion reverses that meaning. If someone says yes to terms or receives something, the verb is accept. |
| Access for an overage, or excess for entry | Ask whether the sentence concerns permission or use, or instead an amount beyond what is allowed. The first points to access; the second points to excess. |
| Adapt for a policy taken up unchanged | Adapt necessarily introduces adjustment. When a group formally chooses a procedure and starts using it, adopt is the precise verb. |
| Elicit used as a description of forbidden conduct | Elicit is an action verb and normally takes a response as its object. Illicit is an adjective that can describe prohibited trade, activity or goods. |
Try it
The museum is open every day ___ Monday, when the galleries are cleaned.
- except
- accept
- access
- excess
Mirrors made the narrow hallway seem twice as wide, but the extra space was only an ___.
- allusion
- illusion
- excess
- access
Which sentence uses one of this topic's words as an adjective modifying a noun?
- The design creates an illusion.
- They accept card payments.
- Birds adapt to urban noise.
- The audit exposed illicit activity.