Lexicology, Phraseology, and Stylistics
Lexical units and meaning
Lexicology studies the word and the vocabulary. Candidates must distinguish direct (ուղղական) and figurative (փոխաբերական) meaning, polysemy (բազմիմաստություն), homonymy (համանունություն), synonymy (հոմանիշություն), antonymy (հականիշություն) and paronymy (պարանունություն). A key trap is confusing polysemy with homonymy: related meanings belong to one word, while unrelated meanings that happen to share a form are separate words. Paronyms are similar in sound but different in meaning and are a favourite question type; learn pairs such as զգուշանալ 'be careful' and զգուշացնել 'warn'.
Phraseology and style
A phraseological unit (դարձվածք) is a fixed expression whose meaning is not the sum of its parts. Do not translate idioms literally. Stylistics classifies vocabulary as neutral, colloquial, bookish, official, poetic or expressive, and asks you to judge whether a word suits a context. Watch for tautology, pleonasm and mixed registers.
Worked example
Նա ականջ դրեց զրույցին։ The idiom ականջ դնել means 'to listen attentively', not 'to put an ear'. A literal reading is the trap. In style, the expression is neutral-colloquial and would be out of place in a formal official document, where լսել or ուշադրություն դարձնել would be preferable.
Rule of thumb
Ask whether the meanings are related (polysemy) or unrelated (homonymy); ask whether an expression can be understood word by word (free phrase) or only as a whole (idiom).