Test: Sentence Equivalence - 1 - GRE MCQ

Meanings for the words given in this question are provided in the table. Before going through the detailed explanation, check whether you are able to arrive at the answer after knowing meanings for the words.

Let us start by focusing on the keyword. The word that holds the key to understanding the meaning of this sentence is “Although”. We know that the word “Although” implies contrast. It means that something that happened was not expected to happen.

In the context of this sentence:
The industrial revolution brought about a lot of changes and new techniques in the area of machine design. So what is the expected result of that? We might expect these new changes to bring changes and improvements in printing and book binding. However the word “although” indicates that the author says that this did NOT happen. So printing and book binding must have remained the same.

This rules out all the answer options except C and E. The techniques remained unchanged and unmodified. Note that the words which you select as answer options need not be the same, but the sentence has to have the same overall meaning when you plug in the answer options.

Word clues such as “simper,” “snide,” and “insubordination” indicate that Katie’s daughter is rebellious. (B) zealous and (D) primal, even if you’re not sure what they mean, don’t have synonyms in the sentence. (A) docile means teachable, which are too positive for the sentence. The answer is (C) incorrigible, which means unreformable, and (E) irredeemable.

Both "oblivious" and "inattentive" convey the meaning of not being aware or paying attention to something.

Meanings for the words given in this question are provided in the table. Before going through the detailed explanation, check whether you are able to arrive at the answer after knowing meanings for the words.

This sentence asks you to make a judgment on the quality of music which makes it popular among audiences. We know from the second half of the sentence that the musicians became popular with youth. The blank should contain a word which makes these musicians popular.

At this point, you can pause and ask yourself what kind of music would make musicians popular. Is it music that sounds good or bad? Music that sounds good, of course. That immediately rules out the words hoarse, cacophony and dissonant – all of which are words that describe bad noise. We are left with dulcet, bohemian, all of which are “positive” words.

The author talks about the image of the musicians as well as the tone of their music. The sentence clearly emphasizes the tone AS WELL AS the image of the musicians. But what does the blank describe? Does the blank describe both the tone AND the image? No, because the word in the blank describes the tone whereas the word “appealing” describes the image. So the blank has to be filled with a word that can describe a sound. Can a tone be dulcet or bohemian? Yes. 

The phrase “While many…others” implies a contradiction within the sentence. Thus, the answer should be opposite in meaning to “enlightening” or “continually relevant.” Your word to fit the blank might be something like “obsolete” or “irrelevant.” (A) archaic and (D) antediluvian both mean outdated. A trick answer is (B) inane, which means empty or silly. This would make sense in the context of the sentence, but since none of the other answer choices are a close synonym, (B) cannot be an answer. The answer is (A) and (D).

Both "platitudes" and "truisms" refer to overused or clichéd statements that lack originality and interest.

Meanings for the words given in this question are provided in the table. Before going through the detailed explanation, check whether you are able to arrive at the answer after knowing meanings for the words.

This is a relatively straightforward sentence in which the blank has to describe the journalist Murrow. We know what fellow journalists think of Murrow. They consider him one of journalism's greatest figures, who delivered news honestly. So what kind of word would fill the blank? A positive word or a negative one?

The word in the blank has to be of course a positive one. That rules out answer options D, B, E and F, leaving us with A and C.

Since she has “surpassed frugality,” the blank must mean frugal to a greater degree. Look for words then that mean “cheap.” The answer is (a) and (e).

Both "convoluted" and "intricate" describe something complex and difficult to follow or understand.

Meanings for the words given in this question are provided in the table. Before going through the detailed explanation, check whether you are able to arrive at the answer after knowing meanings for the words.

t is very helpful to understand the background story before attempting to answer any sentence equivalence question. So, what do we know about the story behind this sentence? Can we construct a story with the details provided in the sentence?

“Common Sense” might be a book. Who wrote it? Was John Adams the author? No, because according to the quote in the sentence, John Adams spoke about the author of “Common Sense”. So the book was clearly written by someone else. Now, what does John Adams think about the book? Let us look to his quote to understand his view. He says, quite poetically, that “without the pen of the author, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain” (Does that remind you of something? The pen being mightier than the sword?)

The point that John Adams wants to make is that the Pen (figuratively the ideas and thoughts) are so important that without these ideas that were expressed in his book, the battle (represented by sword) would have been pointless. Adams seems to think that the ideas were the cause and the battle was the end result.

So the writing of Common sense was influential in (use your own word here)...encouraging, inducing or triggering the revolutionary war.

Know your vocabulary, and use process of elimination. If he has trysts with supermodels, he is probably known as a womanizer. Eliminate the answers you know don’t mean that, such as (B) philanthropist, (E) patriarch. The answer is (A) and (D).

Both "momentous" and "groundbreaking" convey the meaning of being very important or significant.

Meanings for the words given in this question are provided in the table. Before going through the detailed explanation, check whether you are able to arrive at the answer after knowing meanings for the words.

This is a simple sentence which presents a blank before the word “publicity”. Coetzee is known to be reclusive, and a reclusive person is solitary and keeps to himself/herself. How would such a person react to being in the spotlight? A shy person would not want to be in the spotlight. So, Coetzee shuns or avoids publicity. This rules out the words welcomes, courts and gathers. This leaves us with options B and D. The Correct Answer is B and D.

The phrase “rather than” lets us know the blank is opposite in meaning to “subjective.” You might come up with the word “objective” for the blank. The answer is (c) and (e).

Both "lucid" and "clear" describe something that is easily understood and not confusing.