From the course: Test Prep: GRE
Sentence equivalence overview
- [Voiceover] Each GRE verbal section will contain about four sentence equivalence questions. So like text completions, these are fill-in-the-blank-style questions. And they always just have one sentence and you have to pick two choices that create similar meanings for that sentence. So in this video, I'll go over some of the basics of sentence equivalence questions. So here we have a sentence equivalence question. You can see that it is just one sentence. And the big thing we have to do that's different is you notice now there are six choices, pick two of them to get the question correct. So, we're going to actually kind of follow the same steps that we would for a text completion and we'll just have to do one final difference at the end. So first, get the main idea. So if we look at this thing, I would say that the main idea that the author has this cosmopolitan flair. So we have an understanding of what's going on now. Then step two is we want to try to predict. So just to remind about prediction, it's just an idea, you don't have to worry much about the wording. So for this prediction I am going to just draw a little arrow from the word cosmopolitan and say that that's my prediction. Just kind of keep it simple with the word in the sentence, which actually is a good idea, it keeps it from the deviating from the meaning of the text too much. So now that we have an idea it's time to go onto step three, which is to look at the choices. Okay, we need to pick two things. So, if something means sort of cosmopolitan flair, urbanity is a great fit for that. Blandness - no, banality - no, liveliness is positive, but it doesn't mean the same thing as sort of sophisticated and urbane. So sophistication is great, and then dullness doesn't work. So I'm picking A and E, because they fit the clue. The author has a cosmopolitan flair would make sense that he is writing with urbanity or sophistication. And we have even more confirmation that that thing should contrast with provincial, which kind of means sort of unsophisticated and rural, since it belies or contradicts that provinciality. So, kind of the same technique that you should be familiar with to some degree from text completion. But one major difference is you want to make sure that the words you pick really make the sentence mean the same thing or as close to it as possible. So just to review, like text completions, you can use the same basic steps. Read the question and summarize it. Predict an idea for the blank based on the text. And then verify support for your choices. So the key difference really is, in sentence equivalence, that multiple possibilities can sometimes make choosing or predicting an answer difficult. You really have to look at the choices and make sure that those two choices are creating similar meanings for the sentence. Now what that means is almost always, I'd say 98% of the time, those choices you're picking are synonyms of each other. Once in a while you'll see two choices create similar meanings for sentences are not really great synonyms, but most of the time that's going to be true. So just a tip for this course. Most of my advice in Chapter 12, which is text completion, is also going to apply to sentence equivalence. So this is going to be stuff like transition words, how to deal with complex sentences, how to deal with tough vocab. So most of these concepts are going to apply to text completions and sentence equivalence in the exact same way. Please make sure that you review Chapter 12 when you're thinking about sentence equivalence as well. So in this chapter, I really only focus on the differences between the two question types. So remember the big difference between text completion and sentence equivalence is that for sentence equivalence you need to make sure at the end of the day the two answer choices you're picking are not only supported by the sentence, but that the two sentences they create have very similar meanings.
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Contents
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Overview of the GRE essays1m 52s
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Review sample GRE issue essay prompt2m 9s
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Review sample GRE argument essay prompt2m 19s
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Scoring criteria for both essays1m 58s
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Develop a thesis for the issue essay2m 15s
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Issue essay examples1m 57s
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Argument essay flaws2m 44s
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Language, grammar, and writing mechanics1m 44s
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Analyze an issue essay2m 55s
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Analyze an argument essay2m 42s
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Using the calculator2m 19s
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Quantitative comparison technique4m 58s
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Estimation technique3m 8s
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Backsolving technique3m 21s
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Translation technique2m 25s
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Variables in choices (VIC) technique3m 26s
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Adding numbers technique2m 41s
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Make things look alike technique3m 8s
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Find patterns technique3m 43s
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Trial-and-error technique3m 27s
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Integers: Factors, multiples, and remainders2m 7s
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Integers: Even and odd and primes3m 29s
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Order of operations2m
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Number properties3m 46s
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Adding and subtracting fractions3m 36s
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Multiplying and dividing fractions1m 22s
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Decimals3m 9s
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Mental percents2m 55s
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Taking percents and increasing by percents1m 55s
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Percent change3m 36s
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Ratios and proportions4m 20s
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Direct proportion and inverse variation3m 6s
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Exponents2m 7s
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More exponents2m 7s
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Fake exponent rules2m 10s
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Scientific notation3m 32s
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Square roots3m 45s
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Cube and fourth roots2m 34s
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Operations with expressions3m 46s
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Multiplying expressions1m 42s
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Algebraic identities3m 5s
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Linear equations2m 1s
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Linear equations with two variables3m 33s
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Quadratic equations4m 5s
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Linear inequalities1m 37s
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Functions4m 6s
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Symbol functions58s
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Coordinate geometry4m 26s
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Function graphs1m 5s
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Distance between points2m 56s
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Equation of a line3m 16s
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Finding intercepts2m 15s
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Special slopes3m 2s
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Solving incomplete points and equations2m 21s
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Solutions of lines and inequalities3m 8s
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Quadratic equation graphs3m 6s
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Circle equations2m 47s
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Absolute value graphs and graph shifts4m 6s
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Point, lines, segments, and planes1m 29s
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Angles2m 4s
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Parallel lines2m 19s
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Polygons2m 37s
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Triangles4m 2s
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Pythagorean theorem3m 11s
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Special right triangles3m 51s
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Area of a triangle2m 30s
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Congruent triangles2m 17s
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Similar triangles2m 40s
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Quadrilaterals4m 30s
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Circles3m 6s
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Circle area and circumference4m 10s
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Boxes5m 1s
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Cylinders3m 26s
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Frequency1m 22s
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Mean, median, mode, and range2m 57s
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Quartiles and percentiles3m 6s
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Standard deviation2m 48s
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Normal distribution2m 21s
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Intersection and union of a set2m 13s
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Venn diagram problems2m 15s
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Permutations3m 23s
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Combinations3m 35s
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Basic probability3m 21s
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Either/or probability3m 42s
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Probability word problem example2m 27s
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Graph and chart questions2m 33s
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Overview of text completions2m 30s
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Learn the text completion technique3m 41s
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Use signposts2m 23s
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Double-blank text completions2m 15s
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Triple-blank text completion4m 22s
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Analyze complex sentences2m 23s
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Difficult vocabulary in text completions2m 21s
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Review text completions1m 23s
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Reading comprehension overview2m 33s
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Read for the big picture5m 49s
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Read critically3m 48s
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Basic question technique3m 27s
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Detail questions2m 33s
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Whole passage questions3m 26s
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Word-in-context questions2m 29s
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Inference questions3m 41s
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Select-all and select-in-passage questions1m 55s
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Wrong answer types1m 55s
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Review reading comprehension questions1m 48s
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