Читать книгу GRE 2022 For Dummies with Online Practice - Ron Woldoff - Страница 55

First, figure out what the sentence is saying. If you know this, then you know the meanings of the words that go in the blanks. How else do you know which answer choices work, and more importantly, which ones don’t work?

While interpreting the text, don’t look at the answer choices! Each answer choice not only seems to fit perfectly but also gives the sentence a very different meaning. Then, you have no idea what the sentence is trying to say, and you’ve turned a relatively workable question into something that’s impossible. Whoa, right into the trap. Instead, get the meaning of the sentence first and then look at the answer choices!

To avoid involuntarily glancing at the answer choices, cover them up with your scratch paper. Hold that scratch paper right up on the computer screen. (You’re not working math now, anyway.) Silly? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Students tell me it’s a lifesaver.

The following example illustrates the different meanings that a sentence can convey using different words in the blanks. If you first try out all the answer choices, it becomes impossible to tell what the sentence is actually saying, so they’re not shown here yet.

Coerced by his kids into watching The LEGO Movie, Andy was (i) _____, although the movie surprisingly turned out to be (ii) _____.

First, interpret what the sentence is trying to say. The word although in the middle of the sentence tells you that the two phrases have different meanings — that the words in those blanks should be opposite, or close to it. Although is an example of a transition word, which can function as a valuable clue. (See the later section “Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases” for more on this.)

Ask yourself this: Was Andy eager or reluctant? Was The LEGO Movie surprisingly lame or good? That he was coerced tells you that Andy didn’t want to go, so he probably was reluctant and expected a lousy movie. Then he was surprised, so the movie was probably pretty good. This is how you tell what the sentence is trying to say.