Scholastic Assessment Test Vocabulary: Time and Change

Since the year the annex opened, a perpetual second hand has swept the hallway clock, and the maintenance binder records no final stop. Does the clock ever arrive at a last tick?

A perpetual process keeps going and has no ending. The second hand has swept since the annex opened, with no stop recorded.

A vaccination tent, transient on the library lawn, folded before Monday and never applied for a mailbox. What does the missing mailbox show about how long the clinic meant to remain?

Transient describes a stay that is only passing through. The clinic never sought a mailbox because it planned to leave before the week began.

Every winter for seven years the stairwell ceiling grows the same damp stain, a chronic leak that two patch jobs failed to end. Seven returns of that stain describe a problem with what duration?

A chronic problem continues for a long time or keeps returning over a long span. The stain has come back every winter for seven years.

Gangway chains are lifting. The horn has given its last short blast, and departure is imminent. How near is the ferry's leaving?

Imminent means about to happen at any moment. The ferry is on the verge of pulling away.

Whoever drafted the land deed reached for an archaic phrase, and the clerk had to open a glossary because nobody at the counter still says it. What age clings to that phrase?

Archaic language comes from an earlier time and has fallen out of ordinary use. The clerk needed a glossary because people at the counter no longer say that phrase.

Bricklayers finished the community kiln this spring with contemporary burners ordered from a supplier that is still taking orders. Those burners belong to what time?

Contemporary means belonging to the present time. The burners were bought this spring from a supplier that is still selling them.

Once the lab moved to digital files, the film splicer became obsolete and went to a closet, since nothing on the benches accepts that film. Why has the splicer been put away?

Obsolete means no longer used, usually because a newer method has taken over. The splicer has nothing to do once the lab stopped handling film.

Borrowed ladder, shared notebook, bylaws still blank: the orchard co-op is nascent. Blank bylaws leave the co-op at what point of coming into being?

Nascent means just beginning to exist. The co-op has a few borrowed tools and no finished bylaws yet.

Nobody buys seed for the roadside ditch, yet perennial reeds fill it every April. What brings the reeds back each spring?

Perennial describes something that returns year after year. The reeds come up each April without anyone planting them.

Boaters can count the harbor beacon. It flashes, goes dark, flashes again, an intermittent signal with even gaps. Why are there dark gaps between the flashes?

Intermittent means stopping and starting, with gaps in between. The beacon is dark between its flashes on purpose.

Monday morning turned the basement sump pump on, and the incessant run has not allowed a single quiet minute since. Since Monday, the pump's running has lacked what?

Incessant means continuing without a pause. The pump has not had a quiet minute since Monday morning.

Over the quarry a rainbow appeared and, fleeting, dissolved before the camera lens could focus. The lens never caught it. The rainbow's visit was notable for what speed of passing?

Something fleeting passes very quickly. The rainbow was gone before a photograph could be taken.

Wagons once used the bend, then gravel, then asphalt, and the enduring stone mile marker stayed through all of it. What has the marker managed to do across those road surfaces?

Enduring means lasting through a long stretch of time. The mile marker remained while the road changed around it.

A wave of perfume crossed the parlor and, evanescent, thinned to nothing as soon as the sash was raised. Where did that scent go so quickly?

Evanescent describes something that fades almost as soon as it appears. The perfume vanished as soon as the window opened.

Bronze on the foundry gate states the founding year. The charter forbids recasting it, treating the date as immutable. Can that year on the plaque be revised?

Immutable means not open to change. The founding year is fixed in bronze, and the charter will not allow a recast.

The cylinder press jammed as soon as the crew loaded an antiquated type case whose letters no current manual still lists. What problem does that type case have with the present shop?

Antiquated means outdated, left behind by present practice. The type case belongs to an older printing method the new press cannot use.

Musicians were zipping cases after the last bow when a belated apology finally reached the orchestra hall. At what point in the evening did the note arrive?

Belated means arriving after the proper time. The apology reached the hall only after the performance had ended.

Frost returned to tomato seedlings that a premature April planting had already set in the cold frame. What was off about that planting date?

Premature means happening too soon. The seedlings were planted before the weather was done with frost.

Before a single fence board was unloaded, the antecedent survey had staked every corner of the yard. Which piece of work came first in time?

An antecedent comes before something else. The survey was finished earlier than any of the fence work.

Floodwater left the fields on a Tuesday. A soil test subsequent to that flood carries the date of the following Monday. Where does the soil test sit on the timeline?

Subsequent means coming afterward. The soil test is dated the Monday after the flood, not before it.

String players and the lighting crew kept concurrent hours in adjoining rooms, and neither group waited its turn. Did one rehearsal have to finish before the other could start?

Concurrent events happen at the same time. The two rehearsals shared the afternoon instead of taking turns.

Keys from the outgoing principal are already in the safe. The next principal starts in August, so an interim supervisor covers only the gap. What stretch of time is that supervisor covering?

An interim is the in-between period. The supervisor's work exists only after one principal leaves and before the next begins.

Teams were still in the tunnel. Drumline cadences, a prelude to the opening whistle, rolled across the stadium anyway. What function did the drumline serve before the match?

A prelude comes first and introduces a larger event. The drumline played before the match and led into the whistle.

The river sits below the porches now. Main Street is mud, broken branches, and ruined stock, and the shops are living in the aftermath. The town is living through which phase of the disaster?

The aftermath is the time after a major event, when its results are still being handled. The floodwater has dropped, and the town is dealing with the mud and ruin it left.

Harbor Journal closed volume 12 on the 2014 storms and, after a hiatus with no issues, opened volume 13 only in 2019. What sits in those five unpublished years?

A hiatus is a gap when something pauses. The journal published nothing for the five years between those volumes.

Until the habitat study ends, a moratorium stops the harbor board from issuing any new dock permit. What official pause did the board place on those permits?

A moratorium is an authorized temporary halt. New dock permits are stopped until the study ends, and the halt is not meant to last forever.

At mile 18 a shade tent gave runners a respite of water, a bench, and ten minutes off the sunbaked road. What did those minutes give the runners?

A respite is a short break from something difficult. The tent let runners rest for ten minutes in the middle of the race.

Lunch orders stopped at 1:10. The diner switchboard then entered a lull that lasted until the first dinner reservation at 1:30. How should that quiet half hour be understood?

A lull is a temporary quiet between busier times. The switchboard was calm only from the end of lunch until the first dinner call.

The portrait is dated 1848 and shows a pioneer camp. One sitter's wrist carries an anachronistic watch with a plastic band. The clash concerns which era?

Anachronistic means placed in the wrong period of time. A plastic-band wristwatch does not belong in an 1848 portrait.

Swamp cores bring up primordial peat from beneath every farm, road, and fence the county has mapped. Peat from below every mapped farm belongs to which end of the timeline?

Primordial means from the earliest age. The peat formed before the county's farms, roads, and fences existed.

On the latest hull the boatyard brushed a novel varnish, a mix no one there had used on any earlier boat. What had the boatyard never done with varnish until this hull?

Novel means new, not used before. That varnish mix appeared for the first time on this hull.

Rain came and dry weeks followed, yet the pond gauge has held one stagnant notch since June. Has the water level changed at all?

Stagnant means stuck in one state, without change as time passes. The pond's level has neither risen nor fallen since June.

Evenings from January to March lengthened in a gradual creep, a few minutes at a time and never in a single jump. By what manner did the daylight grow?

Gradual change happens slowly, by small steps. The evenings grew longer a few minutes at a time.

Mid-sentence, an abrupt whistle ended the shift and the line stopped at once. Was there any wind-down before the workday stopped?

Abrupt means sudden, without a lead-in or wind-down. The whistle cut the shift off immediately.

Weekday after weekday the bakery van is punctual, nosing into the cafe alley at 6:10. What habit of arrival does that van keep?

Punctual means arriving at the set time. The van reaches the alley at 6:10 rather than early or late.

Eleven days past the date on the slip, a tardy field atlas finally reached the museum loan desk. The return landed on which side of the deadline?

Tardy means later than the expected time. The atlas missed its due date by eleven days.

Noon sun filled the mudroom, and still the coats held a lingering trace of a campfire put out the night before. Why hasn't that smell left yet?

Lingering means staying on longer than one would expect. Smoke from a dead campfire was still in the coats at noon.

A momentary flicker dropped the lights and brought them back before anyone could stand. Could a kettle have boiled during that outage?

Momentary means lasting only a moment. The outage ended before anyone could stand, far too short for boiling water.

Signed in 1986, the sister-city pact is an abiding agreement, still observed through four decades of council turnover. Forty years and four councils later, the pact is notable for refusing to do what?

Abiding means lasting a long time without falling away. The pact has continued for forty years through changes of council.

Silt on the lower fence marks recurrent spring floods in 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025. Do those flood years describe a single occurrence?

Recurrent means happening repeatedly. The floods returned across later years rather than happening only once.

Only the first Monday in March is circled for the lighthouse lamp, an annual inspection and not a monthly one. On what schedule does that inspection fall?

Annual means once each year. The lamp inspection is set for March and for no other month.

Seedlings in the greenhouse keep a circadian rhythm because the lamps brighten and dim across a full turn of day and night. The lamps are copying which daily rhythm?

Circadian refers to a cycle of about twenty-four hours. The lamps follow a day-and-night pattern so the seedlings keep that daily timing.

Counters for the moth census work a nocturnal shift, arriving after streetlights outshine the sky and leaving before sunrise. During which part of the day is the counting done?

Nocturnal means taking place at night. The moth count runs after dark and ends before sunrise.

Stall rules are diurnal. Trade is allowed while the sun is up and must stop at dusk. The rule binds the stalls to what portion of the sun's arc?

Diurnal means taking place during the daytime. The stalls may trade while the sun is up and must close at dusk.

June through August is the only window for a second channel ferry, which then stays tied, a seasonal boat. What ties that extra boat to the calendar?

Seasonal means tied to one season of the year. The extra ferry runs in summer and is tied up the rest of the year.

Last Thursday is the date on the catalog slip, which makes the field guide on the desk overdue today. Today versus last Thursday, the guide's return stands where against its deadline?

Overdue means past the time when something was due. The guide should have been back last Thursday and is still out.

A hearing date for the pilot's license change is printed on the board. The change itself is pending, with no vote recorded. Has a decision been made?

Pending means not yet decided or not yet happened. The license change has a hearing date and still no vote.

Brass trolley tokens belong to a bygone fare system. No car on the line still has a slot that accepts them. To what vanished time does the token belong?

Bygone means belonging to a time that has passed. The token worked when trolleys collected that fare, which they no longer do.

The comet booklet is forthcoming, absent from the shelf today and promised for hand-out next Friday. When does the shop expect readers to receive it?

Forthcoming means coming soon. The booklet is not on the shelf yet and is promised for next Friday.

Covers are already dragged to the rows because an impending hard freeze is forecast for before sunrise. Is there still a full day of mild growing weather ahead?

Impending means approaching and about to occur. The freeze is expected before sunrise, so the mild weather is nearly over.

Four hours and twelve minutes have elapsed since the autoclave door locked, and the clipboard records that figure alone. Have those hours and minutes already passed?

Elapsed time is time that has already gone by. The four hours and twelve minutes are the time since the door locked, not time still remaining.

A two-week treaty visit stretched into a protracted negotiation that filled three calendars. Why did so many calendar pages fill up?

Protracted means drawn out over a long time. Talks that were planned for two weeks lasted through three calendars.

Taped to the gym doors, a provisional bell schedule will come down when the board votes next month. The paper schedule's authority lasts until when?

Provisional means in place only for a limited time, until a later decision. The taped schedule stands in until the board votes.

Inside one semester after the mill closed, enrollment took a precipitous drop and whole grades of students were gone. What shape did that drop take?

A precipitous change is sudden and steep. Enrollment fell sharply within a single semester.

The folder was supposed to hold Tuesday's satellite photo by noon, but the photo is delayed and still absent on Wednesday night. What went wrong with the photo's arrival?

Delayed means happening later than planned. The photo missed Tuesday noon and had not arrived by Wednesday night.

Ten minutes after the firehouse call, prompt sandbags were already stacked on the levee. How much lag sat between the call and the bags?

Prompt means done quickly, with little or no wait. The sandbags were on the levee ten minutes after the call.

Wheat heads were filling the very week the rain arrived, and the growers treated the rain as timely. Did that weather's timing serve the crop?

Timely means happening at a fitting or useful time. Rain came the week the wheat could use it.

Peach buds opened, and that same night an untimely frost struck them. Was that cold on the trees' side?

Untimely means happening at a harmful or poorly chosen time. Frost arrived the night the buds had just opened.

Limestone on the ridge holds an ancient footpath, worn in long before any living mapmaker surveyed the county. No living surveyor cut that path. Its origin sits where in time?

Ancient means extremely old. The path was worn into the ridge long before anyone now living surveyed it.

From opposite ends of the harbor, two diaries hold contemporaneous entries about one eclipse, both dated the night of March 4. Do the writers share a time?

Contemporaneous means happening in the same period. Both diaries record the eclipse from the same night.

Witness titles in the town charter match the Middle Ages, and the document itself is medieval, dated 1342. Which broad historical period contains that year?

Medieval means belonging to the Middle Ages. The year 1342 falls in that historical period.

Platforms, tubes, and ticketing that the city has not built fill a futuristic transit sketch drawn for a decade still ahead. The drawing borrows its machines from what not-yet-real time?

Futuristic means suggesting a time that has not arrived yet. The sketch shows transit the city still has not built.

Visitors to the harvest exhibit start at this year's loaves. The show is retrospective and walks them backward to the first recorded planting. Which direction in time does the exhibit face?

Retrospective means looking back over earlier events. The exhibit leads visitors from this year toward the first planting.

Every figure in the prospective parks budget estimates a season that has not happened. Have any of those seasons already taken place?

Prospective means aimed at what is still ahead. The budget estimates seasons that have not taken place.

Earliest field note at the front, latest at the back: the binder keeps chronological order. What ordering principle arranged those notes?

Chronological order follows the sequence of time. The notes run from the oldest date to the newest.

One shared instant, not a sequence: the church bell and the school bell were simultaneous. Did they take turns?

Simultaneous means happening at the same moment. The bells rang together, so neither one came first.

Cores came up on Monday, seed went in on Friday, and the sampling was prior to the planting. Relative to the day the seed went in, when were the cores taken?

Prior means earlier than something else. The cores were taken on Monday, before Friday's planting.

Peas went into the cold week. Beans, the latter sowing, waited until the soil warmed. The bean sowing holds which place in that pair?

The latter is the second of two in time. Beans went in after the peas, once the soil had warmed.

Captain Nguyen took the island route in 2019. Captain Ortiz, the former captain, still has a name on the older log. Whose term sits earlier on the roster?

The former is the earlier of two. Captain Ortiz held the route before Captain Nguyen took it in 2019.

Detour signs stay up. Jackhammers are still on the bridge deck because the repair is ongoing. The jackhammers and the signs leave the repair in what state of completion?

Ongoing means still in progress and not finished. Jackhammers and detour signs show the repair continues.

Drought or not, the falls stayed ceaseless and poured the whole summer without a dry hour. Through that drought, the falls went quiet at which hour, if they ever did?

Ceaseless means without a stop. The falls kept pouring through the whole dry summer.

Between midnight and dawn the baby managed only fitful sleep, dozing and waking with no even pattern. What texture did that sleep have?

Fitful means irregular, with starts and stops. The baby did not sleep in one continuous stretch.

Each morning since the beaver dam settled, the creek gauge has shown the same steady pace. The creek's speed over those mornings has behaved how?

Steady means holding one pace over time. The creek has stayed at the same speed instead of swinging between fast and slow.

The committee date keeps wavering from Tuesday to Thursday and back. Tuesday, then Thursday, then Tuesday again leaves the date with how much fixity?

Wavering means shifting back and forth instead of staying fixed. The meeting day has not settled on one point in the week.

Quarter by quarter the bus counts fall. Ridership is declining, each tally below the one before it. Across the year, is ridership lessening?

Declining means becoming less as time goes on. Each quarter's ridership is lower than the quarter before.

Last bench in April, lead caster by the autumn pour: the apprentice's rise was meteoric. How fast did that ranking climb?

Meteoric describes a rise that happens extremely fast. The apprentice moved from the last bench to lead caster inside one season.

Borrowers' names fill a clipboard at the neighborhood tool library. Shelves are still bare boards, and the whole effort is budding. Bare shelves and a clipboard of names place the tool library how far past its start?

Budding means at an early stage of development. Names are collected, but the library does not yet have working shelves.

March filled every row at the noon lecture. April left gaps, and by May the fading attendance was mostly empty chairs. Attendance from March to May has done what?

Fading means gradually becoming less. The lecture's audience shrank from full rows in March to empty chairs in May.

Minute by minute after four, glare leaves the west windows as the light keeps waning. After four, the glare is moving in which direction?

Waning means decreasing over time. After four, the window light grows weaker minute by minute.

Monday's moon was a thin slice. By Thursday the waxing moon showed a much thicker bright edge. Is the bright part shrinking?

Waxing means increasing over time. The moon's bright edge grew thicker from Monday to Thursday.

After midnight the kitchen pulled one experimental loaf, the first sign of a dawning night-shift bakery. What is just now starting in that kitchen?

Dawning means just beginning to appear. The night bakery is at its start, marked by a first experimental loaf.

Three years of depot work ended when Saturday's ribbon-cutting brought the restoration to its culmination. What high point of the work did Saturday reach?

A culmination is the final high point of a long process. Saturday's ceremony ended three years of depot restoration.

No funds had been voted when the footbridge project had its inception at a Tuesday meeting and the first sketch was drawn. Where in the project's life does that meeting sit?

An inception is the moment something begins. The Tuesday sketch meeting is the project's start, before any funds or building.

No permanent pipes were laid to the tents. The camp is transitory housing and will be folded the week the gym shelter reopens. Is that housing meant to remain?

Transitory means lasting only a short time and not intended to stay. The tents come down when the gym shelter reopens.

Passengers had been aboard since dawn when a ninety-minute layover turned interminable. How endless did that wait seem?

Interminable describes a stretch that goes on so long it feels endless. Ninety more minutes after a ride that began at dawn seemed to have no end.

The brick sign still reads cannery. That was the building's erstwhile life, and the last shift was years ago. What earlier role did the building hold?

Erstwhile means former, from an earlier time. The building used to be the cannery and no longer is.

Survey instruments could not find any shore matching the archive map, whose coastline looked antediluvian to the crew. The chart seemed to date from what remote age?

Antediluvian means so old that it seems to come from a remote age. The mapped coast belonged to a shoreline the crew could no longer find.

The month the computer index went live, the card catalog turned outmoded and the drawers rolled into storage. What fault of currency did the catalog develop?

Outmoded means no longer current. After the computer index started, the card catalog was a method the library had moved past.

Arrows on a napkin are the whole winter-market plan so far, and it remains inchoate. Dates and a vendor list are still missing. Could someone book a vendor from this plan today?

Inchoate means just begun and not yet fully formed. The plan is still arrows on a napkin, without dates or a vendor list.

On the dam's north face an incipient crack, no wider than a hair, has only just appeared. The crack's progress amounts to what sort of start?

Incipient means at the very start of coming into being. The crack is only a first hairline sign, not a long-established break.

Last month the Saturday farmers' line fit on the sidewalk. It is burgeoning now and wraps the block. That change arrived at what pace?

Burgeoning means growing quickly. In a few Saturdays the line went from the sidewalk to a wrap around the block.

All weekend the guests had guessed who moved the lighthouse lens. Sunday breakfast was the denouement, the hour when someone finally explained it. Sunday breakfast played what part in the weekend?

A denouement is the final unraveling after the main events. Breakfast was when the weekend's mystery received its explanation.

Act I ended. House lights stayed up for an interlude, and nobody spoke a scripted line until Act II. The lit pause between the acts amounted to what inside the evening?

An interlude is a separate interval between larger parts. The lit, unscripted time stood between the two acts.

March through June brought an interregnum that left the town with no mayor and no acting mayor between two administrations. The mayorless months occupy what space in the sequence of leaders?

An interregnum is the gap between one administration's end and the next one's start. Those months had no mayor because one term had finished and the next had not begun.

Wiring failed in the hall, and a postponement moved the recital from May 2 to May 23. Moving the date did what to the original evening?

A postponement moves an event to a later time. The recital left May 2 and was set for May 23.

Cold was forecast, then a warm spell gave the orchard a reprieve of one extra picking week. What temporary mercy did that week give the pickers?

A reprieve is a temporary delay of something unwelcome. The warm week held off the cold long enough for the fruit to be picked.

Tools, songs, and harbor work from 1947 to 1971 are displayed together as one epoch. Those years are being presented as what block of history?

An epoch is a distinct period set off from the time around it. The exhibit treats 1947 to 1971 as one such block of history.

Friday's vote is a juncture: restoring the mill race or leaving it dry will be chosen that night and not before. Why does that particular date matter on the town calendar?

A juncture is a particular point in time, often when a choice is made. Friday is the night the mill race's future gets decided.

A cable linked the two metronomes and they turned synchronous, clicking on the same beats. Were their clicks staggered in time?

Synchronous means happening in step with something else in time. The metronomes clicked together once the cable linked them.

Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night, the crew worked consecutive shifts and had no night off between them. Those three nights were arranged in what unbroken way?

Consecutive means following one right after another with nothing in between. The night shifts ran Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in a row.

No wet year was inserted among three successive drought years. Did any wet year break that run?

Successive means coming one after another in sequence. The drought years lined up with no wet year among them.

The wildfire burned on Monday. Wednesday's rain, in the ensuing days, sent a mudslide off the bare slope. Did the mudslide come before the wildfire?

Ensuing means following afterward in time. The mudslide came in the days after Monday's fire.

Tuesday holds only a preliminary hearing. The full council will not see the petition until the month after. The Tuesday hearing stands where in the sequence?

Preliminary means coming before the main event. Tuesday's hearing happens first, and the full council review comes later.

On a five-day voyage, Thursday is the penultimate day and only Friday remains after it. Thursday occupies which slot in that five-day count?

Penultimate means next to last. Thursday is the fourth day of the voyage, with only Friday after it.

No earlier boat has used the new horn signal. This morning's sailing is the inaugural crossing under it. Today's departure is special in what way as a beginning?

Inaugural means marking a first occasion. This sailing is the first crossing to use the new horn signal.

Sirens had sounded since dawn. Their cessation came at noon, when the all-clear replaced the wail. At noon, what change came over the sirens?

A cessation is a stopping. Sirens that had sounded since dawn ended at noon.

Classes stayed canceled while the boiler was down. Heat returned, and with it came the resumption of classes the next morning. Monday's classes represent what, after the pause?

A resumption is a starting again after a pause. Classes met once more the morning the heat returned.