Sentence Completion Strategies

VEA Online

Briana Songer

2014

S.A.T. Preparation Course

1. Memorize and apply this strategy for answering sentence completion questions:

Step 1: Read the sentence for clue words Step 2: Predict the answer Step 3: Choose the best match Step 4: Put the answer choice back into the

sentence and read aloud

2. How to avoid tricky wrong answers, figure out tough vocabulary, and guess intelligently.

Today you will learn:

A. ONE-BLANK SENTENCE COMPLETIONSThe word you are looking for to fill the blank will have three potential relationships as a whole:

1. Definition (similar meaning to key word in sentence)

2. Contrast (a contrasting word to a key word in sentence)

3. Cause and Effect (makes sense in the context of sentence)

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

B. TWO-BLANK SENTENCE COMPLETIONSIn two-blank sentence completions, the relationships between the words will relate to each other in three ways:1. Definition2. Contrast 3. Cause and Effect (both make sense in the

context of the sentence)*Note: Both words must fit in the sentence. If one word fits and the other doesn’t, the answer is incorrect

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

Step 1: Read the sentence for CLUE WORDS:BUT, ALTHOUGH, EXCEPT, EVEN THOUGH, DESPITE,

HOWEVER etc (expect a contrast in the next part of the sentence)

AND, MOREOVER, ADDITIONALLY, FURTHERMORE, SUCH AS (expect a continuation of the same idea)

Example: The king’s __________________decisions as a diplomat and administrator led to his legendary reputation as a just and _________ruler. (continuation)

Example: The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s quickly _____________the popular imagination, but the precise significance of the scrolls is still ___________by scholars. (contrast)

4 STEPS TO SUCCESS: STEP 1

Step 2: Predict the answerMemorizing vocabulary by categorizations of simple words will help you with the strategy. Try to guess the general idea of what word makes sense in the sentence BEFORE looking at the answers. Think about whether you need a pair of synonyms or antonyms if there are two blanks. Example: The king’s __________________decisions as a diplomat and administrator led to his legendary reputation as a just and _________ruler. (continuation)

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s quickly _____________the popular imagination, but the precise significance of the scrolls is still ___________by scholars. (contrast)

4 STEPS TO SUCCESS: STEP 2

fair

good/smart

interested unknown

STEP 3: CHOOSE THE BEST OPTIONCompare your prediction to each answer. Read every choice before deciding.Example 1:The king’s __________________decisions as a diplomat and administrator led to his legendary reputation as a just and _________ruler. (continuation)A. quick…capriciousB. equitable…wiseC. immoral…perceptiveD. generous…wittyE. clever…uneducated

4 STEPS TO SUCCESS: STEP 3

You should be looking for two words with similar meaning, both positive. In A. quick and capricious are not necessarily positive, and

they are not similar in meaning (capricious means erratic) In B. equitable means fair. Equitable and wise are similar,

and they’re both positive, so B. seems like the right answer, but make sure to check out the other answers first.

In C. immoral and perceptive are not similar at all; moreover, perceptive is positive, but immoral is not.

In D. generous and witty are both positive, but they are not very similar, and they don’t make sense in the sentence.

In E., clever and uneducated aren’t similar, and clever is positive, but uneducated isn’t.

Thus, B is the best match.

EXAMPLE 1 ANSWER EXPLANATION

Example 2: The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the

1940s quickly _____________the popular imagination, but the precise significance of the scrolls is still ___________by scholars. (contrast)

A. impressed…understoodB. alarmed…obscuredC. troubled…perceivedD. sparked…disputedE. eluded…debated

4 STEPS TO SUCCESS: STEP 3

The word but indicates contrast, and the first is positive and the second is negative (in that exact order).

In A. impressed could be the answer, but understood is not a contrast.

In B. both alarmed and obscured are negative In C. troubled is negative, so that’s out.In D. makes the most sense with the word interested

and imagination. The contrast of disputed (they haven’t come to an agreement), indicates that this is the perfect answer. So this is the best choice. But still read answer E.

In E. eluded and debated are not opposite in meaning.

EXAMPLE 2 ANSWER EXPLANATION

PUT THE ANSWER CHOICE BACK INTO THE SENTENCE. Read the sentence aloud to yourself with your

answer choice. If you’ve gone through the four steps and more than one choice still looks possible, eliminate the choices that you can, guess from the remaining choices and move on.

If all the choices look great or terrible, circle question and come back to it later or leave it blank entirely. Remember that you will be penalized ¼ of a point for answering incorrectly, so guess intelligently! If you can narrow it down to two answers, then go ahead and guess.

4 STEPS TO SUCCESS: STEP 4

Sentence Completions go from easiest to hardest, though some sections will start with medium-difficulty questions.

The higher the question number, the harder the question.

IF YOU GET STUCK….Avoid tricky wrong answers.Take apart tough sentences.Work around tough vocabulary.If all else fails, guess intelligently.

STRATEGIES FOR ANSWERING THE HARDEST QUESTIONS

Toward the end of the set, watch out for tricky answer choices. Avoid the following:Opposites of the correct answerWords that sound right just because they’re

hardTwo-blankers in which one word fits but the

other doesn’t Go the example on the next slide.

AVOID TRICKY ANSWERS

Granted, Janyce is extremely ___________; still, it is difficult to imagine her as a professional comedian. A. dullB. garrulousC. effusiveD. conservativeE. wittyRead the sentence carefully or you might get tricked. If you read too quickly, you might think “If Janyce is hard to imagines as a comedian, she’s probably extremely dully or conservative”. But the sentence is saying something else.

Tricky Wrong Answer Example 1

Remember to focus on the clues:

Granted, Janyce is extremely ___________; still, it is difficult to imagine her as a professional comedian.

-granted (can admit something, in this case substitute even though)-still (although, but)

So, it’s like saying “Sure Janyce is very funny, but I still can’t imagine her being a comedian”. Therefore the word int eh blank must resemble funny. So, witty is the correct answer.

Don’t pick garrulous or effusive just because it sound impressive. Garrulous means talkative and effusive means expressive.

Tricky Wrong Answer Example 1

Some sentences are difficult because they seem to lack sufficient context to find the correct answer. Example:Although this small and selective publishing house is famous for its ______ standards, several of its recent novels have appealed to the general public. A. proletarianB. naturalisticC. discriminatingD. imitativeE. precariousThis sentence is vague and the choices are advanced adjectives. What sort of publishing house is it? It’s not clear immediately.

Sometimes the only thing to do is plug in all the words and make the best guess. Here we are looking for a word that describes standards that would keep the publisher from publishing books that the public likes.

TAKE APART TOUGH SENTENCES

A. Proletarian standards? Hmmm..this means characteristic of the working class, so in fact, it’s the opposite of what we need.

B. Naturalistic standards? Not great. It doesn’t seem to contrast popular.

C. Discriminating standards? Seems to fit. If the publisher is discriminating, it is very selective and would probably not publish books that are popular with the public.

Imitative standards? Sounds weird and doesn’t make sense.

Precarious standards? Nope. This means uncertain or unclear, so it doesn’t make sense.

TAKE APART TOUGH SENTENCES

Try to break down this example. Choice the easier blank first if one of the blanks is vague:

These latest employment statistics from the present administration are so loosely documented, carelessly explained, and potentially misleading that even the most loyal senators will __________the __________of the presidential appointees who produced them. A. perceive…intelligenceB. understand…tenacityC. recognize…incompetenceD. praise…rigorE. denounce…loyalty

Your Turn!

Fortunately you can use the context of the sentence to guess, even if you don’t know some words. Look at this example:

Despite her _____of public speaking experience, the student council member was surprisingly cognant and expressed the concerns of her classmates persuasively.

A. hopeB. depthC. methodD. lack E. unionClue words: despite, and, surprisingly.=looking for contrast. If you don’t know the word cognate, work around it. She expresses the needs and is persuasive, so we need an opposite/negative=D-lack.

WORK AROUND TOUGH VOCAB

You will have 30 minutes to answer 24 sentence completion questions.

Teacher distribute practice questions and keep track of time.

(Kaplan, pg 207-210).

PRACTICE TEST QUESTIONS