The mayor is usually a ________ when speaking to local business owners, but on rare occasion she abandons the flattery and speaks her true opinions.
(a) disparager
(b) sycophant
(c) pedant
(d) novice
(e) sophist
On rare occasion the mayor abandons flattery and speaks her mind. The norm for her then is to be a flatterer, or a suck-up. So usually she is a sycophant. By the way, if you don’t know any of these words, then I hope you’re seeing yet again how crucial vocabulary power is to success on the SAT. This is true for both the Reading and the Writing sections. The answer is (B).
source: collegeapps.about.com
