<p>Passage section: (Blue Book Test 2 Section 7)</p>
<p>New york was darker than I expected, and, in spite of the cleansing rain, dirtier. Used to the sensual curves of Puerto Rico, my eyes had to adjust to the regular, aggressive two-dimensionality of Brooklyn. </p>
<p>Question: (#16)</p>
<p>In the second sentence, "regular" most nearly means</p>
<p>*When I looked at this question, I immediately crossed off A and B, and though I wasn't completely satisfied with E, I picked it because I thought unvarying and recurring were too similar. Could someone please shed some light on why the answer is C? This is the second or third time I've had trouble with this type of question.</p>
<p>I really have a hard time seeing the difference between unvarying and recurring in context. What’s the difference between the city having recurring two-dimensionality throughout and unvarying two dimensionality throughout?</p>
<p>To start with, unvarying and recurring don’t actually mean the same thing. Unvarying means never changing, always the same. Recurring means happening over and over. A thing can be unvarying without ever going away, so that it could not recur; a thing can recur, but in a way that’s subtly (or even markedly) different every time it happens.</p>
<p>I don’t see how it makes sense to choose average when you’d be putting it right next to the word aggressive.</p>
<p>Finally, the word regular can mean arranged in a definite pattern or happening at constant intervals. The writer is contrasting the rigid angularity of New York (think straight, flat streets and sidewalks, and tall, vertical buildings) with the “sensual curves of Puerto Rico.”</p>