How To Answer Verbal Analogy Questions

Verbal analogies test your understanding of word meanings and your ability to grasp relationships between words and ideas.

There are various classifications of relationships, such as similarity (synonym), opposition (antonym), cause and effect, and sequence.

A verbal analogy may be written in mathematical form (CLOCK : TIME ::
THERMOMETER : TEMPERATURE) or expressed in words (CLOCK is to TIME as THERMOMETER is to TEMPERATURE).

A verbal analogy has four terms in two pairs. You may be presented with the first complete pair, which establishes the relationship, and the first half of the second pair followed by a list of possible matches. Or, you may be given just the first pair and then a selection of paired terms from which you must find the pair that implies the same relationship as the fair pair.
1. Read each question carefully.
2. Establish what the exact relationship is between the two terms in the sample pair.
3. Study the selection of possible answers carefully, and eliminate any pairs that do not share the same relationship as the sample pair.
4. Read the remaining choices through again, this time substituting the key relationship word from the sample pair (for instance, CLOCK measures TIME; THERMOMETER measures TEMPERATURE).
5. Answer the easy questions first. You can come back to the others later.