2019 DepEd English Proficiency Test (EPT) Reviewer with Answers

Part I. ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST

Directions: Read the sentences carefully. Choose the letter of the

correct answer. Write the letter of your answer on the space provided
for.

A. Sentence Completion
_____1. She is well loved by the people for being ______________.

a. slanderous
b. virtuous*
c. ambiguous
d. condescending

_____2. Davidlee is an ____________ diver. He always wins the gold

medal.

a. inept
b. efficient
c. adroit*
d. aggressive

_____3. The ____ student _____ going to school.

a. delinquent; abhors*
b. awkward; abhors
c. industrious; dislikes
d. obedient; dislikes

_____4. The reporter was adjudged guilty of _____ for spreading false
accusations.
a. calumny*
b. rebellion
c. treachery
d. mutiny

_____5. Ewan played the violin with such _____, everyone was
amazed.

a. anxiety
b. inanity
c. deity
d. virtuosity*

_____6. Today, Alfred Wegener’s theory is _______; however, he died

an outsider treated with ___ by the scientific establishments.

a. unsupported: approval
b. dismissed: contempt
c. accepted: approbation
d. unchallenged: disdain*

_____7. The revolution I art has not lost its steam; it _________ on as
fiercely as ever.

a. trudges
b. meanders
c. rages*
d. ambles

_____8. Biological clocks are of such _____ adaptive value to living

organisms, that we would expect most organisms to _____them.

a. obvious: possess*
b. ambivalent: develop
c. meager: evolve
d. significant: eschew

_____9. The peasants were the least ______ of all people, bound by
tradition and _____ by superstitions.

a. conventional: encumbered
b. pinioned: limited
c. free: fettered*
d. enthralled: tied

_____10. The conclusion of his argument, while _____, is far from

______.

a. germane: relevant
b. esoteric: obscure
c. stimulating: interesting
d. abstruse: incomprehensible*

B. Synonyms
_____11. The virulent drug he had mistakenly taken killed him in an
instant.

a. effective
b. expensive
c. sedative
d. toxic*

_____12. Argentina is one of the world’s leading honey-exporters. It

maintains a large apiary.

a. Place where birds are bred.

b. Place where apes are grown.
C. Place where bees are raised.*
D. Place where honey is stored.
_____13. Eugenio Joshua admires his teacher’s deportment during
class.

a. demeanor*
b. speech
c. banishment
d. intelligence

_____14. His recommendation was rejected because it might be

inimical to the company.

a. insubstantial
b. useful
c. costly
d. disadvantageous*

_____15. Marvin Jay’s supervisor asked him to elucidate his proposal

during the presentation.

a. clarify*
b. extend
c. improve
d. shorten

C. Antonyms
_____16. The mother has been doleful every when she lost her son.

a. miserable
b. cheerful*
c. prayerful
d. anxious

_____17. Juan Carlo acquiesced to his friends’ plan of going to Baguio

comes February.
a. agreed
b. objected*
c. rejoiced
d. abided

_____18. John Dan’s house is full of a motley collection of furniture,

including antiques, woodcrafts and glasswares.

a. diverse
b. attractive
c. homogenous*
d. expensive

_____19. Jeric Angel’s nervousness was palpable despite the confident

façade he was showing.

a. evident
b. increasing
c. decreasing
d. hidden*

_____20. He had learned that everything in life is evanescent.

a. temporary
b. permanent*
c. extraordinary
d. luminous

D. Analogy
_____21. ARTICULATE::SPEECH

a. predictable: event
b. coordinated: movement
c. active: thought
d. erratic: path
_____22. INCEPTION:: CONCLUSION

a. departure: arrival*
b. culmination: upshot
c. approach: return
d. escapade: punishment

_____23. SCINTILLATING: DULLNESS

a. erudite: wisdom
b. desultory: error
c. boisterous: calm*
d. exalted: elevation

_____24. SHARD: POTTERY

a. seed: flower
b. smoke: fire
c. chair: furniture*
d. mystify: enlightenment

_____25. PROSAIC: MUNDANE

a. obdurate: foolish*
b. ascetic: austere
c. loquacious: taciturn
d. peremptory: spontaneous

_____26. ATTENUATE::SIGNAL

a. exacerbate: problem
b. modify: accent
c. dampen: enthusiasm*
d. elongate: line
_____27. SALACIOUS:: WHOLESOME

a. religious: private
b. expensive: profligate
c. conservative: stoic
d. mendacious: truthful*

_____28. PENURY:: MONEY

a. starvation: sustenance
b. independence: freedom*
c. infirmity: illness
d. spontaneity: care

_____29. MASON:: STONE

a. soldier: weapon
b. lawyer: law
c. carpenter: wood*
d. teacher: pupil

_____30. REPEL:: LURE

a. miscarry: succeed*
b. dismount: devolve
c. abrogate: deny
d. abridge: shorten

E. Reading Comprehension
Passage 1

Much of what goes by the name of pleasure is simply an effort to

destroy consciousness. If one started by asking, what is man? What are
his needs? How can he best express himself? One would discover that
merely having the power to avoid work and live one’s life from birth to
death in electric light and to the tune of tinned music is not a reason for
doing so. Man needs warmth, society, leisure, comfort and security: he
also needs solitude, creative work and the sense of wonder. If he
recognized this he could use the products of science and industrialism
eclectically, applying always the same test: does this make me more
human or less human? He would then learn that the highest happiness
does not lie in relaxing, resting, playing poker, drinking and making love
simultaneously.

Adapted from an essay by George Orwell

_____31. The author implies that the answers to the questions in

sentence two would reveal that human beings ________.

a. are less human when they seek pleasure*

b. need to evaluate their purpose in life
c. are being alienated from their true nature by technology
d. have needs beyond physical comforts

_____32. The author would apparently agree that playing poker is

_____.

a. often an effort to avoid thinking

b. something that gives true pleasure
c. an example of man’s need for society *
d. something that man must learn to avoid

Passage 2

Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a

salamander or newt. It is a minute spheroid – an apparently structure
less sac, enclosing a fluid, holding granules in suspension. But let a
moderate supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic
matter undergoes changes so rapid, yet so steady and purposeful in
their succession, that one can only compare them to those operated by
a skilled modeler upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible
trowel, the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller
portions. And, then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be
occupied by the spinal column, and molded the contour of the body;
pinching up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning
flank and limb into due proportions, in so artistic a way, that, after
watching the process hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily
possessed by the notion, that some more subtle aid to vision than a
microscope, would show the hidden artist, with his plan before him,
striving with skillful manipulation to perfect his work.

Adapted from an essay by T H Huxley

_____33. The author makes his main point with the aid of _______.

a. logical paradox
b. complex rationalization*
c. scientific deductions
d. observations on the connection between art and science

_____34. In the context of the final sentence the word “subtle” most
nearly means _____.

a. not obvious
b. indirect
c. discriminating
d. surreptitious *

Passage 3

There are not many places that I find it more agreeable to revisit when
in an idle mood, than some places to which I have never been. For, my
acquaintance with those spots is of such long standing, and has ripened
into an intimacy of so affectionate a nature, that I take a particular
interesting assuring myself that they are unchanged. I never was in
Robinson Crusoe’s Island, yet I frequently return there. I was never in
the robbers’ cave, where Gil Blas lived, but I often go back there and
find the trap-door just as heaven to raise as it used to be. I was never in
Don Quixote’s study, where he read his books of chivalry until he rose
and hacked at imaginary giants, yet you couldn’t move a book in it
without my knowledge. So with Damascus, and Lilliput, and the Nile,
and Abyssinia, and the North Pole and many hundreds of places — I
was never at them, yet it is an affair of my life to keep them intact, and I
am always going back to them.

Passage 4

The books one reads in childhood create in one’s mind a sort of false
map of the world, a series of fabulous countries into which one can
retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life, and which in some
cases can even survive a visit to the real countries which they are
supposed to represent. The pampas, the Amazon, the coral islands of
the Pacific, Russia, land of birch-tree and samovar, Transylvania with its
boyars and vampires, the China of Guy Boothby, the Paris of du
Maurier—one could continue the list for a long time. But one other
imaginary country that I acquired early in life was called America. If I
pause on the word “America”, and deliberately put aside the existing
reality, I can call up my childhood vision of it.

Adapted from: The Uncommercial Traveller, C Dickens (1860)

_____35. The first sentence of Passage 3 contains an element of

a. paradox
b. legend
c. melancholy
d. self-deprecation*

_____36. By calling America an “imaginary country” the author of

passage two implies that ___.

a. America has been the subject of numerous works for children

b. his current vision of that country is not related to reality
c. America has stimulated his imagination
d. his childhood vision of that country owed nothing to actual conditions*

_____37. Both passages make the point that _____.

a. books read early in life can be revisited in the imagination many

years later *
b. imaginary travel is better than real journeys
c. children’s books are largely fiction
d. the effects of childhood impressions are inescapable

_____38. Both passages list a series of places, but differ in that the
author of passage three ___.

a. has been more influenced by his list of locations

b. never expects to visit any of them in real life, whereas the writer of
passage two thinks it at least possible that he might
c. is less specific in compiling his list*
d. wishes to preserve his locations in his mind forever, whereas the
author of passage two wishes to modify all his visions in the light of
reality.

F. Idiomatic Expressions
_____39. We are affected as much as you are by the rising prices of
gasoline; we are all “in the same boat”.

a. Suffering the same predicament*

b. Hindering the success
c. Empathizing with everyone on his suffering
d. Acknowledging the suffering

_____40. The members of the public are demanding for better public
infrastructure and more public services, but at the same time they are
demanding for lower taxes. It is becoming a “Catch-22 situation”.
a. A challenging situation
b. A dilemma from which it is impossible to escape*
c. A problem that involves government efficiency
d. A condition of no great importance

_____41. That lady should not have become a war correspondent. She
is a “square peg in a round hole”.

a. A person who has been given an opportunity to change her

profession.
b. A person who has no interest in her job.
c. A person who takes part in every event.
d. A person who is not suitable to her work or surroundings*

_____42. “It slipped my mind” that I will have with Davidlee tonight.

a. I determined, in spite of my schedule.

b. I forgot as a result of carelessness*
c. I wished.
d. I planned delicately.

_____43. The idea of expansionism “has not taken root” in the

Philippines.

a. Has not become popular

b. Has not been heard
c. has not established itself*
d. has not been monitored

_____44. Ewan Gregory does not mind how much resistance he

causes; he like “sailing against the wind”.

a. Being popular
b. Interfering
c. overcoming the opposition
d. opposing the popular view*

_____45. Although Marvin Jay had only a minor role in the play, he
“stole the thunder from” the lead actor.

a. Borrowed the role from

b. Diverted the attention to himself from*
c. succeeded in portraying
d. transformed the character of

_____46. I had a “heart to heart talk” with my teacher on my plans to

study Linguistics or Microbiology at the university.

a. Sentimental meeting
b. Superficial talk
c. serious discussion*
d. successful arrangement

_____47. Juan Carlo decide “to keep his peace” until he finished
examining the situation.

a. Not to talk*
b. To be forthright
c. to be relaxed
d. to be reserved

_____48. The company needs a couple of million pesos for its

expansion. It is likely that the Php 100 000.00 the partner has offered is
“a drop in the ocean”.

a. Useful
b. More than enough
c. a tiny fraction of what is needed*
d. useless until the amount is complete
A. Cloze Test (Part 1)
Introduction:

This is the School 49) _________ Plan of the East Central Elementary
School, San Fabian District II, Pangasinan II Division, was
50)________________ and 51)_______________ through the
concerted efforts of the teaching 52)___________ with the other
stakeholders of education headed by the principal. It
53)_______________ the vision or educational goals which
54)________ to uplift or improve the school performance in terms of the
following areas of development namely the pupil, staff, curriculum and
physical facilities development which will 55)__________ as the
56)_________ for evaluating the performance of the school. It presents
the school and community profile and the expected activities of the
school.

Through the 57)_________ of this School Improvement Plan, with the

unwavering 58)___________ of the officers and members of the PTA
as well as the School Governing Council and other stakeholders of
education, it is 59)________________ that the goals vision and mission
of the East Central Elementary School will be 60)___________.

49.

a. improving
b. improves
c. improved
d. improvement*

50.

a. conceptualized*
b. conceptualizes
c. conceptualizing
d. conceptualize
51.

a. evolving
b. evolves
c. evolved*
d. evolve

52.

a. staffs
b. staff*
c. staffed
d. staffing

53.

a. present
b. presenting
c. presents*
d. presented

54.

a. aims*
b. aim
c. aimed
d. aiming

55.

a. serves
b. serving
c. servicing
d. served*
56.

a. basis
b. bases*
c. basing
d. based

57.

a. implement
b. implementing
c. implementation*
d. implements

58.

a. support*
b. supporting
c. supports
d. supported

59.

a. expect
b. expects
c. expecting
d. expected*

60.

a. realize
b. realized*
c. realizing
d. realizes
H. Cloze Test (Part 2)
Madam 61) _____

I have the honor to request permission 62)_______ you good office to

63)__________ an action research in Science 64)_______, “Enhancing
the Performance of the Grade VI Pupils in Science and Health through
Counteractive Lecture “for the Grade VI pupils of Greater Heights
Elementary School for this school year 2014 – 2015.

Hoping for your 65)________ approval.

66)________________

EWAN ETHAN LEE C. RIVERA

Teacher

1st 67)___________
68)_______________________

Respectfully forwarded 69)__________ the Schools Division

Superintendent, Pangasinan Division II, Binalonan, Pangasinan,
recommending approval of this basic communication.

70)_____________________________
DAVIDLEE DV. ROMERO JR.
Public Schools District Supervisor

61.

a. ;
b. :
c. ,
d. .

62.
a. to
b. for
c. your
d. from*

63.

a. conduct*
b. conducts
c. conducted
d. conducting

64.

a. entitle
b. entitles
c. entitled*
d. entitling

65.

a. kind*
b. kinder
c. kindest
d. modest

66.

a. yours,
b. sincerely yours,
c. Truly yours
d. Very truly yours,*

67.
a. indorsment
b. endorsment
c. indorsement*
d. endorsement

68.

a. With date*
b. No date
c. —–
d. —–

69.

a.to*
b. from
c. with
d. for

70.

a. Truly yours,
b. Very truly yours,
c. Sincerely yours,
d. No complementary Close