The Verbal Section of the GRE consists of 4 types of questions- Reading Comprehension, Sentence Completion, Antonyms and Analogies.

Analogies?

Yes, analogies. In general, an analogy is the use of a similar example or concept. In GRE context, analogy questions require you to identify relationships between words.

The task is simple enough- you’re given a pair of words, which I’ll call the base pair. Then you’re given 5 more pairs of words as choices. You have to choose the choice pair that exemplifies the same relationship as the base pair. For example, Big:Small has the same relationship as Clean:Dirty, since they’re both opposite pairs.

How do you answer there?

The first step is to identify the relationship between the words, which is easily done by trying to come up with words that describe it. For example, big is the opposite of small. Another example- for Slap:Pain, A slap causes pain.

Next, go through the choices, one by one. If any of the pairs you know don’t fit into that type of relationship you found earlier, eliminate those options. If there are words you don’t know, leave them, and if you’re unsure just guess. You don’t have a lot of time for these quesitons, just one minutes per question, so don’t spend too much time trying to figure out words you don’t know.

Also, remember to eliminate words that clearly have no relationship, even if you don’t know what the base pair words mean. You can also check things backwards- instead of Joke:Tears, go with Tears:Joke. It might help you see things more clearly.

Common relationships:

The GRE usually has a few common relationships that you might find:

• X is a type of Y (Blue:Color)
• X causes/leads to Y (Knowledge:Intelligence)
• X is the opposite of Y (Static:Moving)
• X is Y to a greater degree (Hate:Dislike)
• X has/is characterized by Y (Summer:Heat)
• X is used to Y (Rope:Skip)

There are a few more of these, but you get the idea. Also, remember that their opposite relationships also appear, so X can be characterized by the lack of Y, for examlpe.

Another point:

Vocabulary is important! Just like the rest of the GRE, Analogy Questions rely heavily on tyour knowledge of the words presented. While you might be able to guess or derive some meanings, a part of your GRE preparations should include going over word lists and dictionaries in order to improve your vocabulary.

Analogies Examples:

Hospital:Health

1. Closet:Clothes
2. Factory:Machinery
3. Court:Justice
4. Rules:Order
5. Bed:Blanket

Answer: The base relationship is easy to see- being in a hospital leads to health. Now go through the choices- does being in a closet lead to clothes? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. A closet contains clothes, but a hospital doesn’t ‘contain’ health. Same for Factory:Machinery. Rules lead to order in a similar way to hospital leading to health, but rules aren’t a place. Bed and blanket don’t get near to our relationship. However, being in court leads to justice. That’s perfect, so C is correct.

Script:Movie

1. Voice:Singer
2. Opera:Headache
3. Radio:Frequency
4. Book:Author
5. Score:Concert

Answer: Here, a Script is written to make a movie. While ‘a voice is required to make a good singer’, this isn’t exactly what we’re looking for. Go down the list and you’ll eventually discover that the musical score is written to make a concert, so E exemplifies the same relationship as the base relationship. Great.

Online GRE Practice Tests

Use these tests to practice reading comprehension and other parts of the Verbal Section:

, GRE Analogies Practice (10 questions), GRE Analogies Test (10 questions), GRE Analogies (10 questions), GRE Antonyms (10 questions), GRE Antonym Practice Tests (10 questions), ,

More Verbal Questions:

Check out the other types of questions in the Verbal Section of the GRE- Antonyms, Sentence Completion and Reading Comprehension questions.