2014-08-01 09:00:44

Nearly every nation has some sort of award given for ______ service to the nation; in France, for instance, awards the Legion of Honor for citizens who do outstanding work for the nation.

(A) exemplary
(B) empirical
(C) extraneous
(D) efficient
(E) enervating

The correct answer is A
Explanation: To find the missing word, try to predict its meaning by using keywords in the sentence. Here, the key phrase is "outstanding work for the nation" which serves as example of the type of "service to the nation" described by the missing word. Thus, it follows that the missing word means something akin to "outstanding." Choice A is correct, then: "exemplary" means "outstanding or representing the best of its kind."

None of the other choices work either:

empirical: based on observation rather than theory
extraneous: more than is necessary
efficient: achieving maximum output with minimal input
enervating: sapping or draining of energy