The following text is adapted from Jane Austen’s 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility.
Marianne’s strong feelings did more than color judgments she had already made. After a disappointment, she withdrew into solitude, offering an elaborate account of why company was intolerable; when a friend tentatively encouraged her to return, she did so, now explaining with equal confidence why remaining alone was absurd. Because each explanation was polished, the pair might suggest deliberation. Yet the explanations track her opposing inclinations so exactly that they seem to formalize decisions already taking shape rather than to produce them. Her _____ temper was most apparent in that pattern.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
When several Words in Context options match isolated details, identify the precise relationship emphasized by the whole passage. Distinguish words describing visible behavior, such as changing or responding, from words describing the underlying process by which a choice is formed.
Hints
Consider every detail
Notice that the passage provides evidence of reversal, responsiveness to circumstances, and confidence. Determine which detail the final two sentences emphasize most strongly.
Track cause and sequence
Compare the roles of Marianne’s inclinations and her explanations: which one appears to shape her decisions, and which one gives those decisions a polished form?
Distinguish behavior from process
Look for the choice that describes how Marianne reaches her decisions, not merely how firmly she expresses them or how readily her conduct changes.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the competing descriptions
Several choices have support in the text. Marianne’s opposing inclinations suggest emotional change, the disappointment and encouragement prompt responses, and her equal confidence suggests temporary firmness.
Interpret the key contrast
The text contrasts the polished appearance of deliberation with the actual role of Marianne’s explanations. Those explanations do not produce her decisions; instead, they give formal shape to decisions that her inclinations have already begun to determine.
Choose the most precise trait
Impulsive describes a tendency to let immediate feelings or inclinations shape choices before careful deliberation. It therefore captures not merely Marianne’s reversal or responsiveness but the relationship between her inclinations, decisions, and later explanations.