English Blues - Dr Albert P’Rayan 30 Oct 2011
Topics: English
The focus of this week’s column is on two types of vocabulary questions — synonym and antonym questions and word pair questions. These types of questions appear in all levels of verbal ability tests.
Synonym and antonym questions: These questions assess the candidate’s knowledge of synonyms and antonyms of words.
A synonym is a word having the same or similar meaning. Look at the following examples:
to begin — to start ; usually — normally; rubbish — garbage; couch — sofa ; closed — shut
An antonym is a word of opposite meaning. Some examples:
dangerous — safe; more — less; asleep — dead; to buy — to sell; better — worse
The test-taker should know the precise meaning of the words given in order to select the appropriate synonym or antonym. Some sample questions:
Which of two of these words are opposite in meaning?
A) simple B) clear C) easiness D) complex (Ans: A and D)
Which of two of these words are similar in meaning?
A) infringe B) violate C) follow D) comply (Ans: A and B)
Word Pair Questions:
These questions assess the test-taker’s ability to identify the relationship between words and then apply this verbal analogy. They are given a group of words and asked to identify the relationship between the words in this group. They can then select the word from the answer option which best fits with the group. Look at this example:
capital, arch, column
A) pilaster B) edifice C) bridge D) temple
In the example above, the words ‘capital’, ‘arch’ and ‘column’ are all architectural features which can be found on buildings. Answer A is the only word in the group which shares the characteristics.
Examples of word pair question:
Medicine is to illness as law is to ____
A) anarchy B) discipline C) treason D) etiquette (Ans: B)
Paper is to timber as ______is to hide.
A) tree B) seek C) ox D) leather (Ans: B)