Overlarge, uneven, and ultimately disappointing, the retrospective exhibition

Adam Lyons, Magoosh Tutor

Hi Kang,
No, prosaic doesn't really fit this context. It means basic or commonplace, but this painter had "real" talents. Common people don't have art exhibitions in their honor :) So prosaic is too negative here.
Second, I like to think of prosaic as meaning "the opposite of poetic." But we wouldn't describe someone's talents as poetic. In the same way, it doesn't really make sense to call talents prosaic either, that is, un-poetic.
Hopefully that clears things up a bit :)

Nov 23, 2019 • Reply

Adam Lyons, Magoosh Tutor

Hey there!
The word "partial" doesn't really work when used to describe talents. It means something like "incomplete," or just part of the whole. But are anyone's talents complete? And what is the "whole" talent? So that's why we don't describe talents as whole or only partial. Further, "limited" and "circumscribed" match each other much better.

Hope that helps!

Jul 21, 2019 • Reply

Adam

Hi Ankur,
Yes, that's true. Contrasts or shifts in TCs will always be indicated by shift words or phrases. Of course, these can become quite subtle, but most of the time they're quite clear. You can read more about these here:
https://magoosh.com/gre/2015/shift-words-and-phrases-on-the-gre/

Oct 24, 2017 • Reply

Adam

Hi,

These three words that describe the exhibition are all negative. That implies that the artists aren't very good, not that they are hidden or undiscovered. Thus we should choose words that describe the artists as not very good.

Sep 6, 2016 • Reply

, Magoosh Tutor

Hi Rajat! I can see where you got a little confused. First off, "retrospective" doesn't mean "delayed." It merely means looking back at an artists work. (Here is a more official definition:"an exhibition or compilation showing the development of the work of a particular artist over a period of time").

Next, you are correct that those first three words are modifying exhibition and those three words are pretty negative. There is no reason to assume that the blank should contrast with these words. We don't have a shift or contrast word in this sentence, so we have to choose words that agree with this idea that the exhibition was not that great. The writer seems to imply that the expectations for the exhibition were high, and the actual exhibition was pretty disappointing.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more of an explanation. :)

Dec 28, 2013 • Reply