Usage of 'voluble'

[Aishwarya.89]

Hi All,

"she is an extremely voluble young woman who engages in soliloquies not conversations".

The other options were
1. Reserved
2. Eloquent
3. Articulate
4. Terse

I chose Reserved, but it was wrong. Suggested answer was voluble. From my understanding, Voluble refers to talkative or free flow of speech.
Could someone please tel me how 'voluble' is appropriate, doesn't it change the meaning totally?

Thanks,
Aishwarya

 

[TheParser]

Hi All,

"she is an extremely voluble young woman who engages in soliloquies not conversations".

The other options were
1. Reserved
2. Eloquent
3. Articulate
4. Terse

I chose Reserved, but it was wrong. Suggested answer was voluble. From my understanding, Voluble refers to talkative or free flow of speech.
Could someone please tel me how 'voluble' is appropriate, doesn't it change the meaning totally?

Thanks,
Aishwarya

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) My dictionaries tell me that "voluble" means speaking without stopping.

(2) Your sentence says that she does not engage in conversations (A says

something; B listens and answers; B says something; A listens and answers;

etc.).

(3) The young lady in your sentence apparently does not listen. She just

gives speeches as if she were the president talking to the nation.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Voluble" is not a word I have ever heard used before, but it is correct in that sentence.

 

[TheParser]

Hi All,

"she is an extremely voluble young woman who engages in soliloquies not conversations".

The other options were
1. Reserved
2. Eloquent
3. Articulate
4. Terse

I chose Reserved, but it was wrong. Suggested answer was voluble. From my understanding, Voluble refers to talkative or free flow of speech.
Could someone please tel me how 'voluble' is appropriate, doesn't it change the meaning totally?

Thanks,
Aishwarya

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) About an hour ago, I read this sentence in a newspaper:

The normally [usually] voluble [Mr. X] is keeping an exceptionally

[very, very] low profile."

(2) Mr. X. is a lawyer. As you know, some lawyers talk and talk and talk.

Some lawyers love to be in the newspapers and on TV because they love to have

people pay attention to them.

(3) But Mr. X (who usually talks and talks and talks) is very quiet because he

is having many problems at the present time, so he is keeping a low profile ( = he

does not want people to pay attention to him now).

 

[White Hat]

"She is an extremely voluble young woman who engages in soliloquies not conversations".

The other options were
1. Reserved
2. Eloquent
3. Articulate
4. Terse

I believe the correct answer is 2 - Eloquent (characterized by persuasive, powerful discourse). It could be 3 (Articulate - endowed with the power of speech) too, but I guess "articulate" implies more "orderliness" than "verve".

 

[Raymott]

"She is an extremely voluble young woman who engages in soliloquies not conversations".

The other options were
1. Reserved
2. Eloquent
3. Articulate
4. Terse

I believe the correct answer is 2 - Eloquent (characterized by persuasive, powerful discourse). It could be 3 (Articulate - endowed with the power of speech) too, but I guess "articulate" implies more "orderliness" than "verve".

I agree with the official answer and Dave. I wonder how you deduce "persuasive and powerful" from the index sentence. The woman is a chatterbox who doesn't shut up. There's no indication of 'eloquent' or 'articulate', and the others are contradicted.
But this might be a cultural thing. Are women in Russia thought to be powerful and persuasive if you can't get a word in edge-wise during a conversation?
(Don't be confused by the reference to soliloquys into thinking that this means the woman is simply given to Hamletesque philosophical monologues. The statement is sarcastic.)

 

[White Hat]

Yes, my fault. Of course, the right answer is "voluble". For some reason, I got confused and it totally slipped my mind that the 4 options were not the final ones! :up: