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Life, as the play demonstrates , is too complex for _________ endings.
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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