GREFOCUS

ONSENTENCE EQUIVALENCE

Sentence Equivalence questions require you to complete a sentence by choosing TWO words either of which will fit the blank. The two words must both produce a sentence with the SAME overall meaning.Both choices must be correct; there is no credit given for getting one of the choices correct.

The basics…

DirectionsSelect two answer choices each of which can be used to complete the sentence in a logical manner, and both of which produce sentences with closely similar meanings.

Example:Jones and Smith declined to invest in the start-up and had little cause to ____ their decision until many years later when the company they had spurned suddenly became the flavor of the day.(A) change(B) eschew(C) defer(D) rue(E) abrogate(F) regret

Example

The goal of sentence equivalence questions is to test your abilities to reason and interpret context and meaning.

For these types of questions, having a strong handle on vocabulary is not enough; you need to be able to interpret meaning from the words given, attempting to formulate a specific message within that sentence.

A strong hold on contextual vocabulary and synonym pairs is also important.

What is being tested?

Try to arrive at the answer BEFORE you look at the answer choices. For these question types, synonyms are quite helpful.

Look for key words that indicate a shift or a continuation or support of a certain idea.

Always re-read your sentence with your chosen answer choices. Listen for grammar, style, logic, and fluidity.

Always use the process of elimination to help arrive at the answer.

STRATEGY

Just as with text completion questions, on a sentence equivalence question you should attempt to mentally fill in the missing word or words before you look at the answer choices. This is not because you want to guess the right answers (remember there are two answers!), but because you want to actively think about the questions. Most often you'll have at least a vague idea of the main point of the sentence and so you'll find that your solution to the missing word may be a synonym for one—and hopefully two—of the answer choices. Again, because you have to select two answer choices for these question types, understanding the context of the sentence is extremely important. Remember that words can have different definitions in different contexts. 

Synonyms - Filling the Gap

Even though he was embarrassed, Billy decided to forgive the _______ comments that Ken had made about his weight.

a) fatuousb) disparagingc) nurturingd) fetchinge) vividf) belittling

TRY IT OUT…

If you were trying to mentally fill in the blank, you would notice that the sentence refers to a negative act by Ken. Perhaps you would assume that the comments made by Ken were hurtful or inappropriate.

If so, you might think of synonyms for the words hurtful or inappropriate and begin eliminating some of the answer choices. We know that fatuous means playful, so we can automatically eliminate that one.

Disparaging is the same as discouraging, and within the context of this sentence, it seems as though it could work. We know nurturing is out, as it means the opposite of hurtful. Fetching means beautiful, and that doesn’t make sense, and vivid means lively, which doesn’t seem to fit correctly. Belittling could work, as it implies an act of discouragement.

Thus, by process of elimination, you are left with disparaging and belittling, which both have similar definitions: they both imply an act of discouragement and deprecation.

Last, but not least, read the sentences with your answer choices to make sure they sound grammatically, stylistically, and logically correct.

Explanation

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0789734133.pdf

http://web.mit.edu/ehliu/Public/GRE/Kaplan%20-%20Gre%20Verbal%20Work%20Book.pdf

http://www.studenthandouts.com/Test-Prep-Games-06/10.01-Verbal-Reasoning-Synonyms-and-Antonyms-Word-Pairs-10-Question-Multiple-Choice-ACT-SAT-GRE-Practice-Test-10.1-MC.html

Resources…

Similar to the tactics for text completion questions, the correct answer to a sentence equivalence question will always maintain the overall flow and meaning of the sentence.

To easily detect the flow of a sentence, you'll want to look for key words which indicate a shift in meaning, tone, etc., or which otherwise maintain certain tone and hence imply continuation of a theme.

For example, consider the following sentence:

In most ways Sarah was traditional; however her taste in music was _____.

a) multifariousb) peculiarc) demandingd) predictablee) eccentricf) voracious

Key Words

Even before you look at the answer choices, you should note that this sentence is a compound sentence—there are two statements, joined through the use of a semicolon.

Most importantly, notice that the second part of the statement begins with the word “however,” which is a contrast word, and so the general tone and meaning of the second part of the sentence should be in contrast to the first. In the first part of the sentence the main idea is that Sarah is, in most ways, a traditional person. The second part of the sentence should imply the opposite, as indicated by the use of the contrast word “however.” Perhaps possible answer choices for the blank would be words like unique, original, and strange. What we do know for sure is that the answer choices must be the opposite of traditional.

If we think about the word multifarious, it means varied, or having many parts. That doesn’t seem to work.

Peculiar means unusual, or strange, and that could work. Demanding seems to extreme for the context of this sentence. Predictable is too similar to traditional, and seeing as how we are looking for an opposite, it won’t work.

Eccentric is the opposite of traditional, meaning unconventional, so that would definitely work.

And voracious, meaning eager, does not make any sense in this case. Thus, the answer choices peculiar and eccentric seem to work best, as they both signify the opposite of traditional. Last, but not least, read the sentence with your answer choices to make sure they sound grammatically, stylistically, and logically correct.

Explanation…

When all else fails on a GRE sentence equivalence question—when you've employed the tactics of using key words, when you've eliminated as many choices as possible, when you've made sure to eliminate those words that make the flow of the sentence go awry -- what can you do, then? Simple. Listen to the sentence; perhaps even read it out loud.

Do you stumble over the words or do they flow freely? When you read the sentence, is it choppy? When you read the sentence out-loud, does the flow of words change, or

cause you to speed up or slow down in order to understand what is being said?

If the flow of the sentence is choppy or if something does not sound right, then chances are that something is not right. Consider the two following sentences; can you spot which one of the two is correct and which one is not?

The boisterous laughter of the swelling crowd deafened our senses. The trepidity laughter of the budding crowd deafened our senses. If you don't know the meanings of the words boisterous, trepidity, swelling, or

budding, then first consider each sentence, one word at a time. "Boisterous laughter," sounds okay, as so does "swelling crowd". The fragment "trepidity laughter", however, sounds odd, and in fact, trepidity, which means fear or distress, does not fit the meaning of the sentence at all, both in meaning and in grammar. The key fact to note here is that in addition to having to know your vocabulary and understanding the context of the sentence, you'll sometimes need to rely on your intuition to arrive at the right answer, and it's only after you practice and hone in your so-called inner-ear, that you'll be able to zip right through the sentence equivalence questions.

When All Else Fails

A common shortcut on Sentence Equivalence questions is to dive directly into the answer choices, and pick a pair that matches. This can be an effective strategy, especially when the sentence itself is complicated, and you find yourself scratching your head. To follow this strategy indiscriminately – that is, to never read the sentence, but to always look directly at the answer choices – is fraught with dangers.Sometimes, there are two pairs of synonyms, so you will need to read through and analyze the sentence, coming up with your own word.Unless you are running out of time, you should always read a Sentence Equivalence question first, and try to come up with your own word. Only if you are stymied should you resort to the strategy described above.Have a go at the following sentence:Brutus is often held up as the embodiment of ______ – while it is true that he deceived his friend, Julius Caesar, one must not forget that Caesar had become both a danger to himself and the Republic.

(A)  wisdom(B)  prudence(C)  treachery(D)  selflessness(E)  perfidy(F)   cowardice

TRAPS

If you dive straight into the answer choices, then answers (A) and (B) create synonymous sentences. If you plug those answer choices in, they would seem to work, as well. After all, Caesar had become so problematic that it was prudent on Brutus’s part to dispatch the megalomaniacal leader.’

But, if we read the sentence carefully, we will notice that the clue is “deceived his friend”. The rest of the sentence is trying to convince the reader not to think of Brutus as the embodiment of deception (our own word). Therefore, we need two synonyms that mean deception. The word treachery, which means disloyalty/deception, is an obvious match.

For the final answer choice, though, we have to be more careful. You may be tempted to pick cowardice. But, remember, we need similar words that create similar sentences. To say that someone who is a coward is always disloyal is clearly untrue. So, do not be afraid to pick answer choice (E) perfidy, just because you are not sure what it means. (D) selflessness is clearly not the answer as it doesn’t match our word, nor the context of the sentence. Therefore, (E) perfidy has to be the answer.

Always read the sentence, and try to come up with your own word. Only if you are unable to do so should you attempt to pick synonym pairs. Instead, come up with your own word, and make sure the two answers are similar words.

Explanation…

The Scattered Clue

In Sentence Equivalence questions, a good strategy is looking for the clue—the part of the sentence that tells us what word goes in the blank. Sometimes, on Sentence Equivalence questions, clues tend to be scattered. That means you have to rely on several parts of the sentence to construct an overall meaning.

That the nightmarish depictions common to most 20th century dystopian novels are exaggerated should by no means diminish the — power of these works, for many of the visions they conjure up are reflected, albeit in less vivid form, in many totalitarian governments today.

(A) sustained (B) relevant (C) comprehensive (D) political (E) revelatory (F) prophetic 

Difficult Questions

Construct MeaningA very useful strategy is to construct meaning from several parts of the sentence; highlighting important parts.

That the nightmarish depictions common to most 20th century dystopian novels are exaggerated should by no means diminish the — power of these works, for many of the visions they conjure up are reflected, albeit in less vivid form, in many totalitarian governments today.

(A) sustained (B) relevant (C) comprehensive (D) political (E) revelatory (F) prophetic From these highlighted parts, I can construct meaning. First, I need to rephrase the sentence in my own words. In the past,

I referred to this strategy as breaking down the sentence. What this means is you put the sentence in your own words

This is a vital strategy on which many students get stuck. Instead of trying to put the sentence in their own words, they continue looking down at the text of the Sentence Equivalence.

STEP BY STEP…

Simplifying the Sentence Equivalence Question

With this Sentence Equivalence above, I could break it down as follows:These books exaggerated the future will be but they are still — because some of those predictions are more or less true.

Notice I’m avoiding the jargon of the sentence, “nightmarish depictions”, “albeit in less vivid form”, etc. This is the very jargon that ensnares students, and so they are unable to look away from the text.

Again, breaking down a sentence consists not just of looking away from the sentence once you’ve picked up on/translated the important parts (the scattered clue), but of simplifying the complex.

ETS has created Sentence Equivalence questions because they want to make sure students are able to pick up on the “big picture” when reading a sentence. Getting tripped up on the verbiage, however, makes seeing the big picture difficult.

Come Up with Own Word

I’ve constructed my own simplified sentence and I’ve left room for a blank. Now it is time to put in my own word and match that word with the answer choices. Let’s take another look at my simplified sentence.

These books exaggerate the way the future will be, but they are still — because some of those predictions more or less came true.

Relevant and prophetic are two words that jump to mind. True, these are both answer choices and so I’m probably biased to them. Maybe you could have used pertinent or even a phrase, such as “accurate gauges of the future.”

Regardless, the meaning is the same, and you could very well be left with the answer choices (B) relevant  (F) prophetic. However, we are forgetting an important step.

It may be argued that relevant doesn’t work because stylistically it doesn’t connect with the word power. Phrased another way, what does it mean for something to have relevant power? Relevant works for the entire sentence, i.e. dystopian novels are still relevant today, but the word relevant doesn’t quite fit in the blank.

Synonymous Pair The answer choices have to be similar. Does

relevant mean the same thing as prophetic? Well, if I make a prediction and it turns out to be true then that prediction is prophetic. Would that prediction be relevant? Maybe, in fact, it very well could be relevant. But to say it is relevant does not mean that it is the same as prophetic.

Therefore as relevant and prophetic differ as synonym pairs, they are not eligible choices together.

Final Strategy At this point, we must employ our last Sentence Equivalence

strategy—find words that are similar in meaning and create synonymous sentences.

Let’s start with relevant. Are any of the other words synonyms for relevant? Sustained means constant, undiminished. This word is not a synonym for relevant. Is it a synonym for prophetic? Nope.

Now the next word (C) comprehensive, which means thorough. This word is not synonymous with either of our words. The next word, political (D), also fails the test.

Finally, there is revelatory. If something is revelatory, it reveals the future. This is clearly a synonym for prophetic, but not relevant. And here we have our other answer.

Therefore, the final answers are (E) revelatory and (F) prophetic.

Final Step…

1. Read and look for scattered clues2. Use the clues to build own sentence3. Look away from the sentence equivalence4. Create simplified sentence (avoid using jargon from sentence)5. Come up with own word6. Match Word with Answers7. Look for synonymous pairs of words

In Sum…

1. The prize competition was ____ as a showcase for new technology, but instead the competition was marred by disqualifications and disputes.A. disappointing B. conceived C. touted D. heralded E. promising F. required

2. The new institute provides intensive postgraduate teaching to a wide range of students, in the hope that these students will use their knowledge to boost the country's ____ economy.A. languishing B. emerging C. booming D. domestic E. bankrupt F. flagging

Practice…

3. Like other metaphors, the "book of Nature" has two facets: it is ____ but if taken literally, it may mislead.A. heuristic B. perceptive C. poetic D. insightful E. prosaic F. iconoclastic

4. The increasing interactivity emerging in the latest computer systems means that the traditional view of the computer as a ____ of information now unduly limiting.A. gleaner B. transformer C. processor D. producer E. repository F. cache

5. Turing’s life exerts a powerful and ____ effect on writers – the combination of the highly intellectual and the personally dramatic is hard to resist.A. abiding B. pervasive C. perennial D. irresistible E. unmitigated F. multifaceted

6. As a result of his regimented upbringing, that left him unable to see the nuances of complex situations, he was often accused of being ____ .A. indecisive B. tyrannical C. obtuse D. boorish E. xenophobic F. imperceptive

7. It is paradoxical that String Theory inspires such widespread respect when it is so ____ that few could ever hope to master its claims.A. intractable B. confusing C. elevated D. arcane E. obscure F. rigorous

8. Those with a reputation for ____ behavior seldom inspire respect: unwavering adherence to a viewpoint is more admired than flexibility.A. capricious B. bombastic C. dogmatic D. fickle E. honorable F. stalwart

9. The courtiers of the time had to be ____ in order to survive in an atmosphere where the least sign of rebellion could lead to banishment or worse.A. taciturn B. fawning C. docile D. self-serving E. upright F. servile

10. Forgiveness was fine in theory, but she had trouble in accepting a religion that would allow ____ evil-doers access to heaven.A. repentant B. contrite C. blatant D. venial E. pardoned F. recalcitrant