GRE Verbal Reasoning cheat sheet

Question types: main idea, explicit detail, inference, author's attitude, structure/function, vocabulary-in-context, select-in-passage, and evaluate/strengthen argument.

The correct answer must be supported by the passage; outside knowledge, however true in the world, never justifies a choice.

Main-idea answers must cover the whole passage; a choice describing only one paragraph is a partial-scope trap.

Inference answers must be necessarily true from the text; if a choice needs an assumption the passage does not supply, eliminate it.

Vocabulary-in-context: substitute each option into the original sentence; the right choice preserves the passage's logic, not the word's most common meaning.

Function questions ask what a sentence or paragraph does (evidence, concession, counterexample, thesis), not what it says.

For select-in-passage, click the exact sentence answering the question; a paraphrase or adjacent sentence scores zero.

Standard wrong-answer patterns: out of scope, true but not answering, reversal of passage logic, extreme wording, and misused detail.

Attitude answers are usually moderate; harsh, emotional, or absolute wording rarely describes an academic author.

Single blank: read the full sentence, predict a word from the clues, then choose the option closest to your prediction.

Multi-blank: fill the blank with the clearest clue first; blanks constrain each other, so the final set must fit together.

Pivot words split into contrast (although, despite, yet, rather than, notwithstanding) and continuation (because, thus, moreover, indeed, since).

A colon or semicolon typically introduces a restatement or definition of the preceding clause, fixing the blank's meaning.

In single-blank items, two choices with nearly identical meanings are usually both wrong, since only one answer can be correct.

Extreme, slangy, or emotionally loaded words rarely fit academic sentences; prefer neutral, precise vocabulary.

Test the completed sentence for grammar as well as meaning: part of speech, transitivity, and preposition must all fit.

An appositive or comma-set phrase often defines the blank directly; match the answer to that description.

In multi-blank items, eliminate any combination that makes one clause implausible even if the other blank fits well.

Sentence Equivalence presents one blank and six choices; exactly two produce coherent sentences alike in meaning, and both must be selected.

The two answers need not be synonyms of each other; each must fit the sentence, and the resulting sentences must carry the same meaning.

A pair of synonyms among the options that does not fit the sentence's logic is a designed distractor; reject both.

Predict a word for the blank before reading options, then search for two choices matching that meaning.

Pivot words govern direction: although, despite, and yet reverse the blank's meaning; because, thus, and indeed keep it consistent.

When two synonyms differ in intensity, one may be too strong or too weak for the sentence's stated degree of certainty.

Both chosen words must satisfy syntax: same part of speech, correct transitivity, and compatible prepositions.

Credit is all-or-nothing; one correct selection scores zero, so commit to a second only when it jointly fits meaning and context.

Consider secondary dictionary senses; a word may fit the sentence in a less common meaning.