GRE Exam: A Simple Guide To Solving Sentence Equivalence Problems

Sentence Equivalence questions consist of a single-sentence passage with one blank. You will be given six choices and asked to use logic and the context of the sentence to identify two words that best fit in the blank. There is no partial credit for Sentence Equivalence questions.

How to Approach Sentence Equivalence Questions
The approach to Sentence Equivalence questions is very similar to the approach to Text Completion questions.

Your goal should be to identify contextual clues, understand the relationship they create between the blank and the rest of the sentence, make a prediction for the word in the blank, and then identify the words that best match your prediction.

Let’s look at a sample question and the steps to take.
Despite their obvious hostility toward each other, the two teammates remained silent on the issue since they both believed that verbalizing these feelings would undermine the ___________ necessary for the team’s long-term success. (A) harmony (B) imbalance (C) malevolence (D) tacitness (E) cooperation (F) diligence

The causal word “since” indicates that the teammates’ feelings about verbalizing their feelings explains why they remained silent. You know that the feelings were “hostile” and the teammates were afraid that these feelings would “undermine” something necessary for the team’s success. So to make the prediction, ask the following question: What component of team success would “hostile” feelings most likely “undermine”? A good prediction is unity. Now look at the choices, and find the two words closest in meaning to unity. The best choices are harmony and cooperation. The correct answer is A and E.

Look for Synonyms
As shown previously, the general strategy for Sentence Equivalence questions is very similar to the general strategy for single-blank Text Completion questions.

However, one key difference between the two question types is the fact that you must select two words for the blank in Sentence Equivalence questions. Though it might appear that this format makes Sentence Equivalence questions more difficult, you can take advantage of this fact by recognizing that the correct answers will almost always be synonyms.

This strategy is beneficial because you can usually eliminate answer choices that have no synonyms.

For example, let’s block out the sentence in the Sentence Equivalence question below and only show the choices. Look at which choices you can eliminate:

2. Success in this business requires constant of one’s reputation, since even one negative perception can often. (A) determined (B) morose (C) dejected (D) apathetic (E) exaggerated (F) motivated

Since determined and motivated have similar meanings, you can keep A and F. Since morose and dejected have similar meanings, you can keep C and D. But notice that there is no synonym for apathetic and no synonym for exaggerated. Thus without even seeing the sentence, you can eliminate choices D and E! This strategy could have helped you in the original question in this section. Perhaps you chose diligence as one of your answers. However, if you look back at the choices, you’ll notice that there are no synonyms for diligence. Thus diligence could not have been correct.