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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tips:
This practice tools help, I will keep in mind.
hey…that's awesome..tutorial…thnx alot..
sir i am a fresher 2 this hub can u pls direct me in preparing
for my GRE according 2 syllabus
please send me the syllabus n explain HOW TO START THE PREPARATION?
|
Normally with a very good preparation plan (of course
execution as well) you will not need more than 4 to 5 months
to get a very good score. Initially take a diagnostic test
and analyze your performance in the different subject areas
of the test. Since you have already joined our GRE Prep community you can also
take separate tests for Verbal Ability and Quantitative
Ability available in the community. Of course there are quite good number of students who join coaching institutes but before doing that I suggest you to take a diagnostic test and browse our GRE community . Based on this experience if you think that you need to join a coaching institute then you can go ahead and join. Your experience on Learnhub will definitely help you to differentiate between what you need and what you don’t need from a coaching institute and this will save lot of time besides money. Even if you join these coaching institutes you will still have personal doubts regarding Test Preparation which these institutes are never bothered. It is here you can get in touch with our team. Please go through the lesson Ask the Experts in order to get in touch with the Learnhub experts. Please go through the 8th, 9th and 10th math text books especially to get a good command over the basics of Geometry and Algebra. Also go through Quantitative Aptitude by R.S Agarwal but see that you are going through only the required topics and not all of them. For verbal ability follow Barons as well as Kaplan. See that you are going the vocab section on a regular basis. Also try to put extensive practice on RC right from the beginning. Go through all the lessons and tests in our GRE Prep . Also don’t commit a serious mistake by not going through the Question Bank of our "GRE Prep"http://studyuk.learnhub.com/lesson/page/8534-ask-the-experts community. For more practice on Verbal Ability join our SAT Prep, and GMAT Prep communities as well. Coming to Quantitative Ability get a good command over the topics like Inequalities, Geometry, Permutations and Combinations, Statistics Equations and DI. Learnhub features very good lessons and tests on all these important areas. Overall I would like to say that your conscious efforts for the next 4 months coupled with Learnhubbing and staying in touch with the Learnhub Experts will ensure you a good score. |
SIMPLE LOGICS
PLAY HUGE
ROLE
THANK YOU
FOR UR TIPS
can we have more sentence completion tests
Hi,
We have very good number of sentence completion tests here on Learnhub. Please click the below link for more tests on sentence completion.
very helpfu..pls post more of these
Good techniques. Very well presented. Thanks :)
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