Home / Flashcard library / Vocabulary / Arts & Culture / Set 1: Practice

Vocabulary

Arts & Culture — Set 1: Practice flashcards

6 of 15 questions free to study here · 8 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys

Fifteen sentence-completion questions on the Set 1 words, set in galleries, theaters and concert halls: four choices, one blank, and why the tempting wrong answer fails.

Get the app All Arts & Culture decks

Practice deck · part of Arts & Culture · written against: 150 words of literature, music, art, architecture, theater and film. Updated 2026-10-10.

Study the free sample

6 questions from the deck as they are. Flip, rate yourself, filter by topic; your progress stays in this browser.

The 6 sample questions as a list
  1. Although the villain gets the best lines, the film belongs to the brave young beekeeper, the ______ whose choices set every event in motion.

    A) antihero
    B) protagonist
    C) understudy
    D) nemesis
    B) protagonist

    The main character whose choices drive the plot is the protagonist. Antihero is tempting, but an antihero is a lead with obvious flaws such as cowardice, and this beekeeper is brave.
    Literature
  2. The new English translation of the Russian verse novel gives up ______ entirely, choosing exact meaning over matching sounds at the ends of lines.

    A) rhyme
    B) alliteration
    C) meter
    D) imagery
    A) rhyme

    Pairing lines whose last sounds match is rhyme. Alliteration is tempting, but it comes from nearby words that open with the same sound, not from lines that end alike.
    Poetry
  3. The museum hired a painter to make a ______ of its retiring director, showing her seated at her desk in a bright green jacket, smiling out at the viewer.

    A) silhouette
    B) still life
    C) portrait
    D) cameo
    C) portrait

    A painting of a particular person is a portrait. Silhouette is tempting, but a silhouette is a solid black outline, which could not show her smile or her green jacket.
    Visual Art
  4. The 1931 ocean liner's dining room, with its stepped silver lamps, zigzag inlays and sleek lacquered walls, is pure ______.

    A) art deco
    B) baroque
    C) surrealism
    D) realism
    A) art deco

    Zigzags, stepped shapes and sleek materials from around 1930 are art deco. Baroque is tempting because the room is lavish, but baroque belongs to 1600 to 1750 and is ornate, not sleek.
    Architecture & Style
  5. Commuters kept missing their stops over the cheerful history of the postal service, a ______ with no villains, chases or sad scenes.

    A) page-turner
    B) tearjerker
    C) cliff-hanger
    D) showstopper
    A) page-turner

    A book so gripping that readers can't stop is a page-turner. Cliff-hanger is tempting, but a cliff-hanger is a suspenseful adventure or the tense ending of a chapter, and this cheerful history has no chases at all.
    Reviews & Museums
  6. The foundry won't cast the penniless sculptor's bronze until she pays, and the gallery won't pay her until the bronze is cast: a ______ with no exit she can see.

    A) Pandora's box
    B) catch-22
    C) Trojan horse
    D) Holy Grail
    B) catch-22

    A no-win bind where the problem itself shuts off every escape is a catch-22. Pandora's box is tempting, but it releases a flood of troubles, while this is one closed loop.
    Allusions & Myth

Unlock the whole deck

You are studying a free 6-question sample. All 15 questions of Arts & Culture — Set 1: Practice, the other 7 Arts & Culture decks, and spaced-repetition scheduling are built into Willys. 14-day free trial, then $14.99 a year.

Get the app

In Willys, tap Exam Library at the top of your Decks (or Browse Exam Library… under the + button), find the exam on its shelf or by search, tick it and tap Add.

More Arts & Culture decks

Set 1: MeaningsSet 1: Quick DrillsSet 1: In ContextSet 2: MeaningsSet 2: Quick DrillsSet 2: In ContextSet 2: Practice

← All Arts & Culture decks, with the study guide and topic outline.

About these cards

Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.

Checked against:

  • Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Learner's, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
  • Word selection is our own, from general-reader news, textbooks and frequency data (wordfreq, CC BY-SA 4.0); no publisher's list is reproduced.

These are independent study notes written for Willys. They are not official exam material, may contain mistakes, and are no substitute for your course, your teacher or the exam owner's own publications. Found an error? Tell us — corrections ship as a new version of the deck.

Use of these pages is covered by our Terms of Use.