hyom wrote:
a quick question to gre gurus: For SE questions, would answers always be the synonyms to each other?
Now this is a great question!
The answer is "most of the time they are clearly synonyms of each other - but not always!"
Here is an example from the textbooks used in the
Veritas Prep GRE course. While this is not an official question it is very similar to several questions from official GRE materials. I use this question because it has two advantages. 1) You have likely not seen it before and 2) It is a perfect illustration of my point.
Let's start with the answer choices:
A) Solution
B) Mixture
C) Explanation
D) Extension
E) Settlement
F) Attenuation
If you were to just look at these answers you would say that the synonyms are what?
A and B or A and C, right? A Solution is a Mixture on the Quant section! And a Solution is an Explanation here on GRE Club!
But what about when we put it into the sentence?
"As the city’s activities ground to a halt because of an impasse in the union’s negotiations with management, all eyes turned to the president in the hopes that he would create an equitable _____________ to the weeks-old transit strike."
What is the correct answer now?
Remember that the two correct answers create a SENTENCE with the same meaning. And while the answers themselves are usually synonyms, they do not have to be.
OA
_________________
David Newland
Veritas Prep GRE Instructor
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46% (00:22) correct
