The most disputed and therefore discussed question on the September 12, 2026 SAT focused on the meaning of the word LAMENT in a passage from Virginia Woolfe’s 1919 novel Night and Day. In the passage, Mrs. Hilbery gathers her family to mourn the decline of the grand Victorian age following the passing or retreat of its most famous literary and artistic figures. Here’s the passage:
“In times gone by, Mrs. Hilbery had known all the poets, all the novelists, all the beautiful women and distinguished men of her time. These being now either dead or secluded in their infirm glory, she made her house a meeting-place for her own relations, to whom she would lament the passing of the great days of the nineteenth century, when every department of letters and art was represented in England by two or three illustrious names.”
The vocabulary in context question asked students to determine if LAMENT most nearly means ENUMERATE or REGRET? Many students focused on the final phrase “two or three illustrious names” and concluded that Mrs. Hilbery was counting and thus ENUMERATING names.
A closer examination of the passage reveals that Mrs. Hilbery is actually lamenting and thus REGRETING the “passing of the great days of the nineteenth century.” You cannot ENUMERATE a passing. Given the emphasis upon Mrs. Hilbery’s feelings, LAMENT most nearly means REGRET.
LAMENT – to express regret over the loss of someone or something
ENUMERATE – to list or count