GRE Verbal Analogy Intro1

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ANALOGIES I

In analogy questions, the relationship between the words is more important than the meanings of the words themselves. The analogy section of the GRE is one of the easiest parts of the test to improve on.

Before You Look at The Answer-Choices, Think of a Short Sentence That Expresses The Relationship Between The Two Words.

Example: FISH : SCHOOL ::

How are FISH and SCHOOL related? Well, a group of fish is called a school.

Example: JOURNALIST : TYPEWRITER ::

Paraphrase: A journalist uses a typewriter as a tool of his trade.

Example: ORCHESTRA : MUSICIAN ::

(A) story : comedian

(B) band : singer

(C) garden : leaf

(D) troupe : actor

(E) government : lawyer

Paraphrase: "An ORCHESTRA is comprised of MUSICIANS." Now, a STORY is not comprised of COMEDIANS. Eliminate (A). A BAND may have a SINGER, but a BAND is not comprised of SINGERS: there may be a drummer, guitarist, etc. Eliminate (B). Similarly, a GARDEN is comprised of more than just LEAVES. Eliminate (C). But a TROUPE is comprised of ACTORS. The answer, therefore, is (D).

If More Than One Answer-Choice Fits Your Paraphrase, Make Your Paraphrase More Specific.

Example: CLUB : GOLF ::

(A) type : book

(B) ball : soccer

(C) glove : baseball

(D) racket : tennis

(E) board : chess

Paraphrase: "A CLUB is used to play GOLF." However, this paraphrase eliminates only answer-choice (A). A more specific paraphrase is: A CLUB is used to strike a ball in the game of GOLF. Similarly, a RACKET is used to strike a ball in the game of TENNIS. The answer is (D).

Note: The parts of speech are consistent throughout an analogy problem. Hence, if the given pair is an adjective and a noun, then each answer-pair will be an adjective and a noun, in that order. This helps you determine the intended meaning when one (or both) of the given words has more than one part of speech.

Eliminate Answer-Choices That Do Not Have A Clear And Reasonably Necessary Relationship.

Educated guessing is a very useful technique on the GRE. If you can eliminate one or more answer-choices, you will probably increase your score by guessing.

Example: CORROSION : IRON ::

(A) sloth : energy

(B) disease : vision

(C) atrophy : muscle

In choices (A) and (C) there are clear and reasonably necessary relationships between the words of each pair: a SLOTHFUL person lacks ENERGY, and ATROPHY means "the wasting away of MUSCLE." But in choice (B) there is no necessary relationship between the words: most DISEASES have no effect on VISION. Hence, eliminate choice (B). The correct answer is (C) since CORROSION is the wasting away of IRON, just as ATROPHY is the wasting away of MUSCLE.

Note: Be careful when eliminating answer-choices to hard analogy problems because the relationship may not be strong, or it may actually be between esoteric (rare) meanings of the words. This is often what makes a hard analogy problem hard.

Watch Out For Eye-Catchers

Unfortunately, the writers of the GRE often set traps by offering an answer-pair that reminds you of the original pair but has a different relationship. The correct answer-pair, of course, will have the same relationship as the original pair, but the words in the answer will typically be in an entirely different category. The following diagram indicates how the relationship functions between the original pair and the correct answer, and how the relationship functions between the original pair and the eye-catcher.

MONARCHY is an eye-catcher since it reminds one of GOVERNMENT--it's a type of government. Now, a paraphrase for ANARCHY : GOVERNMENT is ANARCHY is the absence of GOVERNMENT. Similarly, FREETHINKING is the absence of DOGMATIC thought. Notice that GOVERNMENT and DOGMATIST are in different categories: a DOGMATIST is not a GOVERNMENT.

Example: EXCERPT : NOVEL ::

(A) critique : play

(B) review : manuscript

(C) swatch : cloth

(D) foreword : preface

(E) recital : performance

Notice how in answer-choice (B) MANUSCRIPT reminds you of NOVEL: a manuscript could be an unpublished novel. However, a REVIEW is not part of a manuscript. Whereas, an EXCERPT is part of a NOVEL. (What is the other eye-catcher in this problem?) The answer is (C).

In Hard Problems, Eliminate Any Answer-Choice That Reminds You (However Vaguely) Of The Original Pair.

Eye-catchers are sometimes the answer to easy problems; rarely are they the answer to medium problems; and virtually never are they the answer to hard problems. When an average student guesses on a hard problem he chooses an answer that reminds him of the original pair. But if the eye-catcher were the answer, then the average student would get the problem correct and therefore it would not be a hard problem.

Example: EXORCISM : DEMON ::

(A) matriculation : induction

(B) banishment : member

(C) qualm : angel

(D) heuristic : method

(E) manifesto : spirit

This is a hard problem. Hence, eliminate any answer-choice that reminds you (however vaguely) of DEMON. A DEMON is a SPIRIT. So eliminate choice (E). Next, choice (C) is not strictly speaking an eye-catcher. But an ANGEL does remind one of a DEMON, and this is a hard problem. So eliminate choice (C). Now, to EXORCISE a DEMON means to drive it away. Similarly, to a BANISH a MEMBER of a group means to drive him or her away. The answer is (B).

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