Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know (MCQ Test + PDF) Week 36 – Day 3

The movement toward realism in the English novel of the nineteenth century reached its acme with the works of Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. Charles Dickens was a prolific* writer. Among his copious works are Oliver Twist, a candid* exposure of the repugnant* poor laws; Nicholas Nickleby, in which the life of boys in a boarding school is vehemently attacked; Hard Times, in which the author wanted to depict the infamous* life in a factory during an early period of the industrial revolution; The Pickwick Papers, about a naive gentleman who has numerous misadventures. The novels, aimed at exposing the sordid* and pernicious* elements of English life, were said to have helped galvanize* people into action leading to improvement in these conditions.

Sample Sentences: Use the new words in these sentences.

At the _____ of his power, the dictator was obsessed* with the belief that those who dissented* were trying to usurp* his position.