Having hired a new master chef, the restaurant manager was surprised when regular patrons commended the _______ quality of their favorite dishes.
(A) innovative
(B) consistent
(C) slipshod
(D) decadent
(E) protean
Read the sentence, looking for clues
Despite the new master chef, the manager was “surprised” at the reaction of regular patrons, who “commended”, or “praised”, a particular quality of their favorite dishes as made by the new chef; the missing word will describe that quality.
Predict an answer
Since all that is known about the master chef is that she’s new, the only way for the reaction to be surprising is if the food was commended for being not new, or “unchanged.” Regular patrons would not be happy if their favorite dishes were changed.
Select the choice that most closely match your prediction
This prediction perfectly matches (B) consistent, which would indicate the food had stayed the same. (A) innovative is the opposite of the prediction, since it would not be surprising for a new chef to bring innovations to the cuisine. (C) slipshod is negative; it wouldn’t make sense for patrons to commend carelessly cooked food. (D) decadent or “overly indulgent” may be used to describe food, but here has no keywords to support it, since the only thing known is that the chef is a new hire. (E) protean, or “changing”, is the opposite of the prediction.
Check your answer
Having hired a new master chef, the restaurant manager was surprised when regular patrons commended the consistent quality of their favorite dishes.
TAKEAWAY: Watch out for words that fit the general subject matter of the blank but which don’t fit the specific clues of the sentence.