GRE Sentence 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.

Tips for answering Sentence Equivalence questions

Just as for regular text completion questions, you should read the question carefully and try to think of a word of your own to fit the blank. Once you are sure of the overall meaning of the sentence look carefully at the answer choices. The words you select will be synonyms (or at least closely similar). There may be more than one set of synonyms among the answer choices so ensure that the words you select make logical sense once inserted in the blank.

You will find that you need good reading skills to understand the intention of the sentence. You can sharpen your understanding by looking for clue words. For example, �but� and �however� indicate changes or contrasts, whereas �and� and �moreover� indicate similar ideas. By reading the explanations to the questions you get wrong you will see what clues you might have missed.

You also need a good vocabulary. You need to be fully familiar with our word lists. Since this type of question involves finding synonyms you will find the synonym section of our ebook Word Focus especially helpful.