Verbal Reasoning
The one source of truth
Every judgement item is decided by the passage alone. A statement is True when the passage plainly confirms it, False when the passage contradicts it, and Cannot say when the passage is silent - even if you happen to know the statement is probably true in real life. The most frequent error is importing outside knowledge or taking one inference step too many.
Traps to expect
- Extreme quantifiers. Words like all, never, only and must convert a modest passage claim into an unsupported one. If the passage says "many customers", a statement about "most customers" is usually Cannot say.
- Paraphrase versus contradiction. A correct restatement rarely reuses the passage's wording. Judge meaning, not matching words.
- Reversed relationships. Subject and object, or cause and effect, quietly swapped.
- Half-true statements. If one element is contradicted, the whole statement is False.
Word-level items
For synonyms and antonyms, place the target word in a short sentence and substitute each option into the same sentence; discard anything that shifts the meaning. For odd-one-out, look for a category that exactly three options share. For analogies, state the relationship in a sentence first ("a needle is a sharp tool used in sewing"), then test each pair against it.
Rule of thumb
Before answering, try to underline the exact words in the passage that decide the statement. If nothing can be underlined, the answer is Cannot say.