The implication in this sentence is that quite a few people at least have abilities in subjects to a decent degree, even if not one that is superlative. When someone has “competency” in something, he or she is said to have an adequate amount of skill, at least enough to be able to do the task. It is indirectly related to words like “compete,” “competitor,” and “petition.” All of these words come from Latin roots meaning “to seek,” (implied by the “-pet-” portion of the word).

The contrast here is between obscurity and clarity. When something or someone is “lucid,” he or she is able to express ideas or thoughts in a clear manner. The word actually comes from base words for “light,” which are found in English relatives like “lucent,” “translucent,” and even “Lucifer” (the so-called “light bearing angel” who later fell from grace, according to Christian tradition).

The implication in this sentence is that the house was in more disrepair than even many other deteriorating houses in town. The best word to match this sense is “dilapidated,” which means “falling apart due to age or lack of care.” It is derived from the prefix “di-” meaning “apart or down from” and the Latin word for stone, “lapis.” The stone lapis lazuli is so named because it is the stone (lapis) from the place in Persia (now Iran) that was Latinized as Lazulus.

The important thing to note in this sentence is that, in his experiment at least, the physicist is unconcerned with the question of the soul’s immortality. The question could be said to be “outside” of his concerns or irrelevant for his considerations. When something is called “extraneous” it is being described as being thus unrelated. The word comes from the Latin for “external” or “foreign.”

The key expression here is “having little real content.” The words were therefore empty or “vacuous,” a word with clearly related terms like “vacuum” and “vacuity.”

The sentence calls for a word that describes the type of movements of a trapeze artist, specifically the ability to walk a tight rope or fly through the air. The word that most closely fits this description would be “nimble.”

As the young men avoid her, the elderly woman obviously dislikes modern dating habits, which rules out “approving” and “laudatory” as possible correct answers. Similarly, the young men’s unwillingness to talk indicates she was not “inquisitive,” or "curious." “Censorious,” meaning stern and critical, is the only possible correct answer.

We can infer that because Jason's creative writing piece was full of overused sayings, we need to pick out a word that means something like "overused" to describe those sayings. Neither "authentic" nor "novel" will do, because each of those words is an antonym to "overused." "Trite" is an adjective that is used of a remark, opinion, or idea and means "overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness," and because it is the answer choice that best suits the sentence's context, "trite" is the correct answer.

Since we know from the sentence's context that Chelsea's sister talks a lot, we're looking for an adjective that has to do with speech, and specifically means "talkative." While "garbled" has to do with speech and messages, it means distorted and refers to speech itself, not the people who speak. Since "garrulous" means talkative, it is the correct answer.

Since no one knows who wrote the story, we're looking for an adverb that describes something done in a way so as to have one's identity remain secret. While "anomalously" and "anonymously" sound extremely similar, they have very different meanings: "anomalously" means "done in a way that deviates from expectations or norms" and "anonymously" means "done in a way that does not identify someone by name." So, "anonymously" is the best answer choice.