A) facile
B) straight
C) intricate
D) complicated
E) involute
This type of sentence completion question
will be encountered in the verbal section of GRE. Can you guess the
answer?
Even if not, don't
worry!! Read on to learn some simple tips to answer these
questions.
Before I explain the strategy to solve these questions, let me tell the format of sentence completion questions.
Format
Before I explain the strategy to solve these questions, let me tell the format of sentence completion questions.
These questions
test your vocabulary and your ability to understand what sentence
intend to express.
Format
These questions will have a sentence with
either one or two blanks. It will be followed by five words or set
of words out of which you will have to choose the correct word(s), to fill the
blank.
As per the recent changes introduced in 2007 there may be a question with three blanks. The options will not be grouped together for three blanks. There will be separate set of choices for each blank. (This a little bit trickier than the initial with one or two missing blank. But you should not worry, since there will be none or at most one question of this type.)
e.g. After conducting ______ trials, the team was _____ to see the results which indicated that the medicine was functioning as __________.
Even with the missing blank you can understand what the sentence intends to convey and thus find out the word or at least the kind of the word that could fit in the blank.
Careful! There may be more than one choice that could fill the blank but there will be only one BEST choice. Select the BEST possible choice as you will not get scores for choosing the second best option.
Since you have 30 minutes to answer 28 questions on verbal section, so to pace up, you should not take more than 40-45 seconds to answer one SC question.
1) Don't look at the answer choices. First read the sentence carefully and try to perceive the overall meaning of the sentence. The missing blanks will not make the sentence incomprehensible. Figure out the meaning of the sentence and then think of the possible words that could fill in the blanks without looking at the answer choices.
Tips:
As per the recent changes introduced in 2007 there may be a question with three blanks. The options will not be grouped together for three blanks. There will be separate set of choices for each blank. (This a little bit trickier than the initial with one or two missing blank. But you should not worry, since there will be none or at most one question of this type.)
e.g. After conducting ______ trials, the team was _____ to see the results which indicated that the medicine was functioning as __________.
Even with the missing blank you can understand what the sentence intends to convey and thus find out the word or at least the kind of the word that could fit in the blank.
Careful! There may be more than one choice that could fill the blank but there will be only one BEST choice. Select the BEST possible choice as you will not get scores for choosing the second best option.
Since you have 30 minutes to answer 28 questions on verbal section, so to pace up, you should not take more than 40-45 seconds to answer one SC question.
Here's the strategy
you need to follow.......
1) Don't look at the answer choices. First read the sentence carefully and try to perceive the overall meaning of the sentence. The missing blanks will not make the sentence incomprehensible. Figure out the meaning of the sentence and then think of the possible words that could fill in the blanks without looking at the answer choices.
Do not look at the
answer choices unless you have figured out the meaning of the
sentence and the words or at least the kind of words that could fit
in the sentence. Otherwise, it might lead you into
trouble.
The following clues will help you figure
out the possible words for the missing blank.
I Does the sentence contain any of the following words?
AND ALSO IN ADDITION TO FURTHERMORE
LIKEWISE SINCE FOR INDEED SIMILARLY TRULY
These are support indicators.
e.g: Since the Sensex is falling down, the traders are _____________ about the huge losses they may incur.
a) perturbed
b) calm
c) unconcerned
d) relaxed
e) apathetic
Explanation: The word Since supports the two clauses of the sentence. Since the sensex is falling down so it is obvious that the traders will be worried. The missing blank would be similar to the word concerned or worried. Perturbed (meaning worried) is the answer.
I Does the sentence contain any of the following words?
AND ALSO IN ADDITION TO FURTHERMORE
LIKEWISE SINCE FOR INDEED SIMILARLY TRULY
These are support indicators.
The use of these
words in the sentence indicates that first part of the sentence
supports the second part of the sentence and the answer will be
synonym of word(s) in the sentence.
e.g: Since the Sensex is falling down, the traders are _____________ about the huge losses they may incur.
a) perturbed
b) calm
c) unconcerned
d) relaxed
e) apathetic
Explanation: The word Since supports the two clauses of the sentence. Since the sensex is falling down so it is obvious that the traders will be worried. The missing blank would be similar to the word concerned or worried. Perturbed (meaning worried) is the answer.
II Does the sentence contain Contrast
indicators?
ALTHOUGH HOWEVER DESPITE IN CONTRAST TO BUT
YET UNLESS WHILE NEVERTHELESS.
e.g: Despite the heavy fall in Sensex,the traders
were _____________ about the huge losses.
a) unperturbed
b) vexed
c) concerned
d) apprehensive
e) fretful
Explanation: Here the word Despite sets up a contrast and the word would be opposite to what the traders will be feeling about if the sensex is falling down. The traders are unconcerned about the huge losses in spite of the fall in sensex. The word unperturbed fits in the sentence.
III Does the sentence contain cause and effect indicators ?
BECAUSE FOR THUS HENCEFORTH THEREFORE
If...Then
The _________ requirements by client for approval of new design, do not ________ designers when it comes to research & development because of the profit potential.
A) toilsome....provoke
B) onerous....dissuade
C) complex....encourage
D) vague....support
E) arduous....incite
Explanation: Because of the profit potential the designers will be highly encouraged i.e they will not be dissuaded.Looking through the options one can find out that word dissuade seems to be a good match for second blank.Now let's see if onerous(burdensome)could fit in.The burdensome requirements do not discourage designers due to profit potential.
e.g: He is ____ speaker,his discourses are always informative and inspirational.
A) an eloquent
B) an amateur
C) a novice
D) an inarticulate
E) a prolix
Explanation: The second clause describes the discourses of a person as informative and inspirational, which gives us a clue that the missing blank should relate to informative and inspirational discourses. An eloquent speaker is the one whose discourses are informative and inspirational.Hence A is the answer.
2)
Review the answer choices: After thinking of the
possible words that could fit in, review the given choices and look
for synonyms of your words.ALTHOUGH HOWEVER DESPITE IN CONTRAST TO BUT
YET UNLESS WHILE NEVERTHELESS.
If the sentence
contains any of these words that sets up contrast between two parts
of the sentence, the answer will convey the opposite meaning of a
word or words in the sentence.
a) unperturbed
b) vexed
c) concerned
d) apprehensive
e) fretful
Explanation: Here the word Despite sets up a contrast and the word would be opposite to what the traders will be feeling about if the sensex is falling down. The traders are unconcerned about the huge losses in spite of the fall in sensex. The word unperturbed fits in the sentence.
III Does the sentence contain cause and effect indicators ?
BECAUSE FOR THUS HENCEFORTH THEREFORE
If...Then
The _________ requirements by client for approval of new design, do not ________ designers when it comes to research & development because of the profit potential.
A) toilsome....provoke
B) onerous....dissuade
C) complex....encourage
D) vague....support
E) arduous....incite
Explanation: Because of the profit potential the designers will be highly encouraged i.e they will not be dissuaded.Looking through the options one can find out that word dissuade seems to be a good match for second blank.Now let's see if onerous(burdensome)could fit in.The burdensome requirements do not discourage designers due to profit potential.
IV Does the
sentence have Apposition structure?
In the apposition structure
sentence the second clause clarifies or gives evidence of
the first clause which is separated by
comma,semicolon,hyphen or parenthesis. Also the
comma is not followed by words like and,for,yet that gives you an
indication of the
appositional structure.
e.g: He is ____ speaker,his discourses are always informative and inspirational.
A) an eloquent
B) an amateur
C) a novice
D) an inarticulate
E) a prolix
Explanation: The second clause describes the discourses of a person as informative and inspirational, which gives us a clue that the missing blank should relate to informative and inspirational discourses. An eloquent speaker is the one whose discourses are informative and inspirational.Hence A is the answer.
3) Use Elimination
Strategy: If
the missing word is a positive one you can simply eliminate all the
negative words and vice-versa. In dual-blank questions, always work with
the easier blank first. Then narrow the choices down to the ones
that work with that easier blank and eliminate the remaining
choices. Now use the harder blank to decide on the best possible
answer choice.
4) Don't let
unfamiliar words intimidate you.(Don't know what
intimidate means? What are you waiting for. Look for its meaning
and note it down in your notebook. This will help you increase your
vocabulary.): Even if you find options with the words you are
unfamiliar with, don't panic! Try to infer the meaning of the word
by looking at prefix and suffix. If still you are not able to get
its meaning, move on to the next choice. If none of the choices fit
in except the one with unfamiliar words, don't worry about using
this option as the best answer.
Now since we have
read on the steps we need to follow to arrive at the answer, let's
discuss the answer to the first question.
Life, as the play demonstrates , is too complex for _________ endings.
It is very obvious that complex endings will be complicated but here the word too is used which implies that one will find only something that is simple and smooth to be too complex. The word too suggests that the word in blank is opposite to complex.So the missing blank could be something related to simple,smooth etc.Since we have guessed the word for the blank,its time we look at the answer choices.The options intricate,involute,complicated all meaning complex can be crossed out.Now we are left with two options facile and straight.Facile, meaning simple, is the exact opposite of complex and fit in the best.
Life, as the play demonstrates , is too complex for _________ endings.
It is very obvious that complex endings will be complicated but here the word too is used which implies that one will find only something that is simple and smooth to be too complex. The word too suggests that the word in blank is opposite to complex.So the missing blank could be something related to simple,smooth etc.Since we have guessed the word for the blank,its time we look at the answer choices.The options intricate,involute,complicated all meaning complex can be crossed out.Now we are left with two options facile and straight.Facile, meaning simple, is the exact opposite of complex and fit in the best.
Tips:
- Do not look at the answer choices at the first glance. First try to infer the sentence overall meaning.
- Look for transitional words (like although and likewise) that will help you in suggesting the possible answer choices that may fit in the blank.
- After you have thought of the word that could possibly be the solution, look at the answer choices. Consider all the answers to make the best choice.
- Try to first fill in the easy blank in sentences with two missing blanks. Eliminate the choices if the word does not fit for either first or second blank.Fitting in one blank alone doesn't make sense in the sentence.
- With the remaining choices, find out the one that fits in best are most logical.
- Practice, Practice, Practice!
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